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“Well? What did we learn from this little experience?” a furious Slayer shrilly asked a hung over vampire some several hours later.

“Getting into drinking bouts with Romany chieftains can be hazardous to your health even if you’re dead,” Angel replied miserably, flinching at Buffy’s voice.

Alec, his bandaged face twisted in amusement, was trying hard not to burst into laughter as he regarded the suffering vampire. Buffy sighed and turned to Spike, who looked even worse and seemed to be having difficulty staying upright.

“Was this your idea?” she demanded.

Spike groaned and shook his head, but that caused him to groan some more and he put his hands to his temples.

“No, blame it all on that thrice-damned gypsy,” he growled. “Who would’ve thought one man could put two vampires under the table?” he asked pathetically.

Alec’s and Willow’s hands both went up. Spike glared at them.

“Sod off!” he snarled.

Angel flinched. “Please, Spike, not so loud,” he beseeched the other vampire.

Alec chuckled.

“Look at it this way, Spike. Remember all those poor idiots you did in with a railroad spike to the noggin? Consider this karmic payback,” he commented, grinning.

Spike muttered something obscene as Buffy, exasperated, threw her hands up in the air.

“Well, that’s great, we’re about to pull a raid on a very nasty and unpleasant group of vampires… and look at you!” She gestured contemptuously at Angel. “You look like you’re ready to fall over in a stiff breeze!” she finished, getting into his face.

Angel flinched and hung his head.

“Ah, good morning, my pasty friends!” DeGanon boomed, entering the room, not the slightest bit incapacitated.

Both Angel and Spike slipped into their game faces as they snarled at him, and then grabbed their heads in pain from the effort, their faces shifting back to normal. DeGanon grinned and handed Angel a cup of something thick and foul smelling. The dark haired vampire took it and frowned down at it.

“What is this stuff?” he asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

DeGanon grinned.

“Instant cure for a man suffering from overindulgence. You did not think I would allow you to incapacitate yourself on the eve of such a dangerous mission, did you?”

Angel sniffed at the foul-smelling brew before handing it back to DeGanon.

“I don’t think I can drink that,” he told him hastily.

DeGanon’s grin broadened.

“Of course not, my friend. You will need assistance, yes? Say no more.” The gypsy lord turned to Buffy. “If you wouldn’t mind?”

The Slayer nodded, reached out, and grabbed a hold of Angel’s ear. The vampire opened his mouth in protest.

“Ow! Buffy, what are you-?”

Before he could finish, DeGanon grabbed his face in a meaty hand, forced his mouth open wider and poured the entire cupful of sludge down his throat. Angel thrashed and struggled, trying to spit out the horrid substance, but DeGanon clamped a hand over the his mouth, forcing him to swallow. He did so and doubled over at the waist, gagging, as the gypsy and Buffy released him. He stumbled away from the pair, choking and spitting the residue out of his mouth.

“Oh God, what IS that stuff?” he gasped.

DeGanon grinned.

“It is an old secret recipe. And it has become old, because its contents have stayed a secret, my young friend.”

Angel just gagged and spat some more, though his head was clearing in a hurry. He straightened and inhaled deeply, his eyes wide and alert. He turned to DeGanon.

“That’s… amazing,” he stated in awe.

DeGanon chuckled.

“Gypsy proverb: the worse medicine tastes, the better it is for you.” He gestured to the empty mug. “This brew ought to raise the dead, eh?” he asked grinning.

Angel just nodded his head, amazed that such actions no longer caused him pain. Buffy was trying hard to be stern, but it wasn’t working well. She patted Angel’s face.

“Are we all better now?” she asked.

Angel smiled slightly and nodded. Buffy nodded back.

“Good,” she turned to Spike and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“You get more kisses… after you’ve brushed your teeth. Bleh!” she commented wryly.

She turned to face Willow and Alec as Spike placed his hand over his mouth, breathing out and inhaling. His eyes widened and he nearly swooned at the overwhelming stench.

“Are you two ready?” Buffy asked.

Alec cleared his throat.

“Not to be a sexist git, but,” he turned to Willow, “can’t you just teach me or Buffy the spell? I really am not happy with the idea of you coming down into this sixth circle of Hell or whatever it is.”

Willow smiled and stroked his face.

“It’s not sexist, Alec, a tad chauvinistic maybe, but in a sweet way.” She kissed him gently, relieved that her man did not smell like a distillery. “But I’ve fought with you guys before, and whether or not these dead guys are bad news, I’m still a part of the Scooby gang. I’m Velma, I have to participate,” she finished, smiling cheekily.

Alec grinned and hugged his girlfriend.

“You’re a brave woman,” he whispered, kissing her head.

She smiled and gave him a squeeze before pulling away.

Alec frowned. “Wait a minute, if you’re Velma, then who’s Daphne?” he asked.

“Cordelia.” Buffy, Willow, and Angel cried out in unison, causing Spike to wince in pain.

Alec chuckled and stared up at the sewer exit. “So, from here, where do we go?” he asked the gypsy.

“The graveyard you seek is on the other side of the river. You will have to travel above ground. There is no avoiding the lands of the Khulghaani if you go below ground.”

Alec grimaced; he didn’t relish the idea of dealing with the bald monstrosities, again, any more than anyone else present did.

“Okay, over the river it is,” he affirmed and nodded, then looked around and frowned. “Say, where is everyone else? I thought they’d be here to see us off.”

DeGanon shook his head.

“Alas, this is not so. Many of them are resting; those that are not are assisting with the rebuilding of our defenses are tending to the wounded.” he smiled slightly. “The youngest of your coterie, Dawn, had to be restrained physically from joining us this morning.” He chuckled and gestured to Alec. “Do you inspire such fierce loyalty in all the women you encounter?”

“Yes,” Willow replied, wrapping her arms around her man. Alec smiled and stroked her hands affectionately.

DeGanon laughed and placed his hand on Alec’s shoulders.

“When you return, my friend, you must reveal to me your secret.”

Alec smiled slightly and turned to the group.

“Are we all ready to go then?”

Buffy nodded. “Yup.” Then she frowned and held up a finger. “One second.”

Digging through her bag, she rummaged around.

“I know it’s in here somewh-… A-ha!” she cried triumphantly, removing a gnarled wooden stake from the bag.

Willow’s eyes widened in recognition.

“That’s…” she pointed at the stake.

“Mr. Pointy,” Buffy finished. She smiled, stroking the smooth wood.

Alec frowned in puzzlement.

“ ‘Mr. Pointy?’ ” he asked.

Buffy nodded.

“It belonged to Kendra, the Slayer that came before Faith.” She smiled sadly. “It’s all I have to remember her by,” she confided.

Spike coughed and looked down, uncomfortable, remembering that it was his girlfriend at the time that had ended the young girl’s life.

Buffy turned to Willow.

“I went with Xander to go get it from the camper when he went to go pay for more time.” She shrugged and grinned. “ ‘Don’t leave home without it’,” she quipped, making a staking motion with the lethal looking instrument.

Willow laughed quietly and Alec smiled.

“All right, then. Weapons in hand, let’s go make life miserable for some vampires,” he held out his hand to his sister and she slapped it.

“I say we go teach those guys everything they’ve ever wanted to know about being really, really dead,” she replied wryly.

Spike nodded. “That’s my girl,” he grinned, and then winced. “Ow,” he moaned.

Buffy patted him on the head.

“Be back soon lover,” she smiled as he nodded.

“Good luck, pet,” Spike whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

Buffy smiled and stroked his face before turning to the group.

“Let’s do this,” she told them, her face set in determination.

Spike turned to Alec, his hand outstretched.

"Bring her back safe, mate."

Alec slapped the blonde's hand.

"You know it," Alec replied and began climbing up the ladder.

DeGanon grinned and waved as they left the sewer.

“God be with you!” he cried.

Spike glared at him.

“While you’re offering prayers, mate, could you offer one to me? A prayer for the pain to end?”

DeGanon laughed and led the seething vampire away.



The group made it across the river without incident and quickly found the graveyard.

It was, unfortunately, not hard to miss.

A thin layer of mist wrapped around crumbling, moss-covered tombstones. Hideous stone statues, half-sunk into the ground, tilted crazily. A huge, ominous looking tree dominated the whole scene.

“Okay, this is about as scary as graveyards get,” Willow said nervously.

Buffy was inclined to agree. From the first step upon the spongy, marsh-like ground, there was a palpable sense of evil and decay. She shivered in the cold night air.

“No, dang nabbit, you flea-bitten mongrel, you’re supposed to bring the stick back, not bury it!” a cantankerous voice cried out.

The gang whirled around ready to confront…

…an old man in a New York Yankees baseball cap and an “I LOVE NY” sweatshirt, casually leaning against a mausoleum, throwing sticks to a golden retriever.

“Now, listen here!” the old man leveled a gnarled finger. “I throw the stick and you fetch it! Understand?”

The dog barked and the old man frowned.

“Eh? Guests you say?” he asked querulously.

He turned and peered up at the group.

“Oh, hullo.” The old man smiled, getting to his feet.

“Hi,” Buffy replied a little uncertainly. There was something… odd about the befuddled old man.

The man smiled at them.

“Nasty bit of night, ain’t it?” he sighed. “ ’Course, it’s winter in San Francisco, what can you expect?”

Alec frowned. “Uh… we’re in New York,” he informed the man.

He frowned and looked around.

“Eh? New York you say?” He shook his head. “Well, that would explain why I saw the Statue of Liberty at lunch today.” He grinned. “I went to this little deli on the corner here,” he gestured, “had this cold lamb sandwich with just a dab of Coleman’s mustard.” He beamed at them and licked his lips, rubbing his stomach. “Mmm… very good. Best sandwich in town.”

Buffy finally found her voice.

“Umm… who are you?” she asked.

The old man frowned.

“I’m… I’m…”

He scratched his head, which was dominated by a large, badly battered top hat. The dog barked and the man turned to face him.

“Well, what do YOU want already?” he demanded of the dog.

The dog barked again and raised a paw. The old man felt his hat and smiled.

“That’s right!” he cried.

He turned and stuck out a hand.

“Olive Seuss!” He frowned and retracted the hand. “No, wait, that’s not right.”

He beamed and stuck his hand out again.

“Olive loaf! … No, that’s not it.” He frowned once more and pulled his hand back again.

The dog barked and the old man brightened.

“That’s right!” He looked up and beamed at the three, who were now regarding the crazed man with a little wariness. “Oliver Seuss!” He stuck his hand out a third time. “At your service. Huzzah.”

When he grinned he showed a mouthful of perfectly white teeth, Buffy noticed as she tentatively took his hand. The skin was warm and surprisingly smooth. He had brilliant blue eyes that were deeply lined. ‘Laugh lines’ her mother had called them once. There was something youthful in those eyes. She couldn’t help but smile at the old man’s antics.

“Buffy. Buffy Summers,” she introduced herself. Oliver smiled and gave her hand a firm shake before releasing it. Buffy gestured behind her. “And this is Dusk, Angel, and Willow.”

The three nodded in turn as the old man scrutinized them.

“Bunny, Alice, Angelina, and Wilma. My, what odd names!” he exclaimed in surprise, shaking his head, which was a snowy white underneath the hat. “Well, kids today. One minute it’s ballroom dancing and plays, the next it’s disco.”

The dog barked and Oliver gestured to the golden retriever.

“This here is Mikey.” He smiled at them.

The dog barked again and Oliver turned around, scowling at it.

“Well, out with it!” he demanded of the dog, impatiently.

The dog barked once more and the old man rolled his eyes and, bending over to pick up a stick, tossed it over the dog’s head.

“Fetch, ya flea-bitten mongrel!” the old man cried. The dog barked at him, sounding almost indignant at being addressed so, before turning tail and chasing the stick. “Pain-in-the-butt dog,” Oliver muttered.

Angel stepped forward.

“Sir, you can’t stay here, it isn’t safe,” he warned him.

Oliver looked up at him.

“What’s that my boy? Not safe?” His eyes suddenly widened in terror as he gripped the younger man’s arms. “Jumping Jehosophat! Have the Reds pushed the button? Are they invading? Are they going to drop the big one?”

Suddenly, the old man leapt onto a stone coffin, in a surprisingly agile maneuver for one so old. He thrust his chest out, and his fist in the air.

“We’ll fight to last man, by gumb! Better dead than green!” He frowned and looked down, “Or was it blue?” He shook his head, muttering to himself.

Willow leaned over to address Buffy.

“Uh… Buffy? Maybe it’s not in my place to judge, but I don’t think this guy’s playing with a full deck,” she whispered quietly.

The old man whirled around.

“That reminds me, I have a great card trick to show you!” he cried excitedly. He hopped off the crypt and produced a deck of cards. “That’ll be a donation of one penny, please. Shiny is preferable.”

Alec frowned and reached into his coat.

“Well, listen, I’ve got a dollar here…”

The old man cut him off with an impatient snort.

“A penny, please. Shiny.” He scowled at Alec who was, for some reason, humbled by the man’s reproving stare.

“Here,” Angel huffed, handing him a penny.

The old man snatched it up and peered at it, squinting. He breathed on it and buffed it with his sleeve, trying to catch the moonlight with it.

“Yeah. Yeah.” He chuckled to himself and looked up at Angel, gesturing with the penny, “1853. Good year, lad!” He grinned and put the penny in his sweatshirt pocket before fanning out the cards before the group, who, at that moment, were wondering just what in the world they were doing playing card games with a crazy old man in the middle of a graveyard.

“Pick a card, any card,” he beamed at them.

Alec tentatively took a card from the fanned-out deck. The old man gestured wildly to him.

“Okay, okay, now DON’T tell what it is, okay? Whatever you do, do NOT tell me what it is, got it?” he demanded, his bushy eyebrows meeting in a ‘v’ over his eyes.

Alec nodded as the old man put a hand to his head, concentrating.

“Ommmmm…” he began to chant, “A, E, I, O, U, and some-times Y…” he continued. Finally he snapped his fingers.

“Got it!” he cried. “Your card is the Ten of Diamonds!” he declared proudly.

Alec looked up over the Eight of Spades and shook his head. The old man’s face fell.

“No? I could have sworn that was it. Oh, well…”

He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to a dog carrying a stick. Unlike the other, who had been a golden retriever, this one was a beautiful greyhound.

“Good boy, Mikey!” Oliver cried, crouching down and patting the dog on the head approvingly.

Buffy frowned.

“Wait a second, wasn’t that a…?” she frowned, losing her train of thought.

Oliver looked up at her.

“Eh? What’s that, little lady? Afraid I can’t hear so well, hearing’s going you know?”

Buffy shook her head to clear it.

“Look, never mind, it isn’t safe for you to be here, Oliver, you have to go,” she told him firmly.

The old man frowned unhappily.

“I do?” he asked petulantly, scratching his head. He sighed and shrugged. “Well, okay, Bunny, if you say so.”

He whistled for the dog, who rushed over to him.

“Come on, Mikey! We need to go now.” He turned back to Buffy and beamed at her. “It was very nice meeting you, Bunny. Maybe we’ll run into each other, again, sometime?”

Buffy just nodded, trying to get rid of him.

“Sure, Oliver, whatever you say.”

He smiled cheerfully at the others. “Goodbye, Alice, Wilma, Angelina!”

He frowned and leaned forward to speak to Angel.

“Just between you and me, young man, I’d have a long talk to my parents about that name of yours. Boy with a name like that is just asking for trouble on the playground,” he confided to the vampire. Winking, he waved a hand. “Well, you do what you think is best, Angelina.” He smiled at the dumbfounded vampire, patting his hand reassuringly before heading off.

“Goodbye, nice meeting you all!” He waved before he walked out of the graveyard and turned the street corner.

Alec suddenly started.

“Hey, wait a minute!” he yelled, jumping over a fence. “You forgot your...”

He turned the corner and skidded to a halt.

The old man had vanished.

“…card,” Alec finished, puzzled.

He looked around, scanning the deserted street, but there was no sign of the old man. Sighing, he looked at the card and stopped. The card that had been the Eight of Spades was now a Joker card emblazoned with a cheery laughing face that bore a slight resemblance to the old man. Alec shook his head and returned to the others.

He never did remember that, even mangling his name into ‘Alice’, Buffy had introduced him as ‘Dusk’ to the old man.



“So, where’s this entrance?” Alec asked when he rejoined the others.

Buffy, Willow, and Angel were searching the mausoleums looking for some kind of underground access. They were coming up empty.

“Nada,” Willow declared, exiting from a mausoleum. “Though I did see a rat the size of a small car,” she confided.

Buffy shook her head in frustration.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” she growled. “DeGanon said the entrance to the Deadlands was here.”

“I believe him,” Angel put forth dryly, looking at a particularly gruesome statue, covered in insects.

Willow made a face. “Ugh… yuck,” she blanched.

Alec walked over to her and wrapped his good arm around her comfortingly, which she was quick to accept.

“Could be worse, love, could be frogs,” he quipped wryly.

Willow glared at him. “Don’t mock my frog fear,” she warned direly.

Alec chuckled and kissed her head.

“What about that spell?” he asked suddenly.

Willow’s eyes widened.

“That’s right!” she cried. “I forgot I had it! Buffy!” she yelled.

The Slayer poked her head out of another crypt, frowning at the witch.

“Spell!” Willow replied.

Buffy nodded and walked towards her. Willow dug out the sheet of paper with the spell on it and began to read.

“ ‘Forces unseen, reveal your secrets’!” she finished.

There was a loud bing!, then everything was quiet. A few moments passed then a loud bong! followed.

Willow giggled. “It sounds like my doorbell,” she grinned.

Angel gestured. “It came from over here,” he told them.

Gathering his coat around him he stalked off towards the sound, Buffy, Alec, and Willow following. He stopped before the massive tree.

“This is where the response came from.” He turned to Willow. “It’s like sonar: you emit a sound burst, the sound carries and reflects off the Everstone, sending a different pitch back to you.”

Willow favored him with a condescending smile.

“I do know how sonar works, Mr. ‘Tall, Dark, and Broody’,” she replied wryly.

If Angel could have blushed, he would have.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Alec chuckled as he looked the tree over. “I don’t see any kind of door.”

He began to take a step forward when Buffy slammed a restraining arm against his chest. He stumbled back away from the tree, throwing the Slayer a confused look.

“Uh… sis?” he asked.

Buffy shushed him and picked up a rock. Carefully, she tossed it onto the wet ground before the tree. The ground began to shift and the earth slowly swallowed up the rock.

Alec’s eyes widened.

“That looks… unpleasant,” he commented dryly.

Willow nodded her head.

“Just slightly,” she replied, turning an amazed look to Buffy. “How did you know?” she asked.

Buffy gestured to the earth around the tree.

“No snow or leaves, all the vegetation around the tree is all brown and nasty.”

Alec frowned.

“If all the vegetation is dead around the tree, how can that tree still be standing?” he asked.

Buffy shook her head. “I’ve got a hunch.”

She turned to her brother. “Alec, a little long distance log splitting, please?”

Alec frowned, but nodded. As his eyes became pools of darkness, he reared back his arm and lashed out with a darkness tendril. To their amazement, the instant the tendril touched the wood, it split open, spilling forth maggots and rotted vegetation.

Willow made a face.

“Never seen a tree do THAT before,” she commented.

Alec cleared away the muck and slime with the tendril before dissipating it, not really eager to absorb the grime-encrusted tendril back under his skin. He craned his neck and peered into the tree.

“It’s partially hollow,” he told them. “There’s a really big hole in the center, looks like it leads straight down beneath the ground.” He turned to the group, his eyes fading back to their normal shade. “I’d say this is our entrance.”

Angel frowned.

“So, how do we get to it?” he asked.

“Leave that to me,” Buffy called out, coming up from behind them with a huge stone slab hoisted over her head. With a grunt, she threw it onto the quicksand-like ground, which oozed and flowed, slowly beginning to envelop the stone.

The Slayer gestured. “Come on, quickly. Before the primordial ooze swallows it up.”

Alec leapt onto the sinking stone slab and perched gingerly on the edge of the entrance in the tree. Willow and Angel followed and Buffy had to leap, nearly not making it as Angel dove forward, catching her arms just as the last of the stone disappeared under the ground.

“I’ve got you,” the vampire gritted through his teeth, hoisting her in.

Buffy just nodded, keeping her legs bent so as not to come in contact with the noisome sludge. Carefully, he folded her up into his arms. She sighed in relief, sagging against him. For a moment, the rest of the world seemed to fade away, as she rested her head against his chest, his arms around her.

“Guys?” Alec interrupted.

Buffy and Angel sprang apart quickly. Alec gestured to the gaping hole in the center of the hollow tree.

Willow peered down into it.

“How do we get down there?” she asked.

Alec smiled slightly. “Leave this to me,” he quipped.

Closing his eyes, he focused… and slowly, the shadows in the huge tree coalesced and swirled around the room. Alec opened his eyes, which had turned into pools of darkness once more, and pointed to the gaping hole. The shadows flowed and swirled around the mouth of the pit, before forming a solid ring of darkness around the hole. Slowly the darkness began to fill the ring and, in moments, the ring became a disk of absolute darkness. Alec lowered his arms and walked forward, stepping onto the makeshift platform. He turned to the others, his eyes still dark.

“We need to get going. We don’t know how deep this goes and I don’t know how long I can keep the darkness cohesive,” he told them.

The others nodded, and, only with slight reluctance, stepped onto the disk. Buffy and Willow activated their flashlights as the platform began to slowly descend into the bowels of the tree.

The darkness seemed to be choking, claustrophobic. Buffy and Willow were having trouble breathing the stale air, Angel didn’t have to breathe, and Alec didn’t seem to notice, too wrapped up in keeping them all from plummeting to their deaths.

“This is like the tree-house from Hell.”

Willow commented dryly, then shuddered as the beam from her flashlight caught a large snake winding its way slowly up the inside of the tree, not more that six inches from her face. She whimpered slightly and moved closer to Alec. Buffy leaned forward to peer at a large white stone. She shifted slightly and the stone fell backwards into her hands. She caught it and was nose to nose with a grinning skull. Startled, she dropped it; it fell from her hands and thudded onto the disk. She quickly pushed it off the platform with the tip of her foot and it tumbled end over end to disappear from sight. With a ragged sigh, she kept her eyes firmly on her feet.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the disk exited the tree into a vast, sand-filled cavern. Buffy looked up and around at the vast cave. The walls were made of brownish-blackish sand and seemed to curve upwards towards the ceiling, which was also made up of the strange sand, except for various tree roots, similar to the one they had exited. The roots drifted about thirty feet down before finally touching the ground. Buffy tested the sand with her foot, she sank slightly, but not dangerously and she leapt off the disk on to the thick sand. Willow and Angel followed and Alec, dispelling the darkness disk, joined them.

He exhaled hard. “That wasn’t easy,” he sighed wearily.

They nodded and continued to pan around with flashlights, taking in the chamber.

Willow whistled softly.

“This place is like a giant ant nest,” she observed.

Buffy turned to her. “Will, ping the stone again,” she whispered.

Willow looked back at her.

“Huh? Oh right.”

Closing her eyes, she chanted the incantation, the first ping sounded off, soon followed by the second somewhere behind them.

Willow gestured with her flashlight. “This way,” she whispered.

Buffy and Alec quickly flanked her, Angel guarding the rear, scanning the darkness with his vampire eyes. They walked a short distance and came upon a large wall with a series of small crawlspaces.

Willow shined her light down the small holes.

“Dead end,” she reported.

Angel kneeled down by one of them and inhaled.

“This one leads somewhere, I can smell something coming from it,” he told them quietly.

Buffy crouched down and shined her light down the narrow tunnel; the light shone all the way through and she thought she could see another room in the distance. She inhaled a musty dry odor.

“I’ve smelled something like that before,” the Slayer murmured.

Angel nodded. “The Master’s domain. It’s the smell of death; ancient death,” he replied.

Willow swallowed.

“Couldn’t it smell like potpourri or cinnamon or something nummy?” she asked forlornly.

Alec smiled and kneeled down by the entrance.

“Well, it looks like we crawl.” He peered into the dark, his eyes still roiling pools of night. “Tunnel goes straight for about thirty meters, then seems to slant downwards sharply.” He looked back up at them. “Should be fun,” he commented wryly.

Getting down on his stomach, he lodged himself into the tight cubbyhole and began to crawl, wedging his good arm against the wall and digging the elbow of his bad arm to propel himself forward. For a moment he considered arguing to his sister that he should take up the rear, so that his injuries wouldn't slow them all down.

"Don't even think it," came Buffy's voice from over his shoulder.

Alec smiled ruefully and continued to crawl. Willow went after him.

“I hate this,” Buffy muttered before entering.

Angel smiled. “Sacred duty can be a real pain,” he told her wryly.

She snorted in agreement and began to crawl into the tight space, Angel following.

They made it about twenty meters when they heard it: a soft scribbling sound, coming from inside the narrow walls. Alec turned his head slightly, his nose brushing up against the wall of the narrow crawlspace. Their breath rasped loudly in the tight space, sounding like death rattles. The only light came from Willow’s flashlight, which was being nudged along by the witch’s nose, inch by inch.

The redhead frowned, listening.

“Hey, what is that?” she asked.

Buffy tried to shake her head, but didn’t have the room to.

“Beats me, I’m not the one who loiters underground if she can help it.” She cast a glance to her left. “Angel?” she asked.

His voice came up from behind her.

“Sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

The vampire listened in the dark as the scribbling sound got louder. It sounded not like one sound, but millions upon millions of tiny sounds. His eyes widened in fear.

“MOVE!” he yelled.

Alec, who didn’t bother asking, began crawling as fast as he could, Willow and Buffy following.

“What? What is it?” Buffy had to yell to be heard over the growing din of the chittering.

“Keep going!” Angel yelled. “Don’t stop!”

Alec continued to crawl, gritting his teeth angrily; with his left arm crippled he was slowing everyone down, they would all die unless he did something!

"Must go faster," he whispered to himself and tendrils of darkness leaked out of his hands, propping him up. His hair transformed into thick ropes of tangible shadowstuff and he his pace quickened considerably.

Alec reached the end of the crawlspace, where it slanted down at a forty-five degree angle. Swinging his legs down over the hole, he spun around to look… and immediately went deathly pale.

A steady rolling black mass of… something was pursuing them voraciously, chittering madly. He reached out and grabbed Willow, dragging her towards the edge. She turned and looked back.

“Beetles!” she cried out in recognition.

Buffy followed after Willow frantically while Angel flipped over onto his back to see the swarm of insects advancing. He tried desperately to gauge how much time they had before the ravenous mass was upon them.

Alec turned to Buffy.

“Down!” he yelled.

She looked down. “We don’t know what’s down there!” she cried.

“Guys!” Angel cried, from his vantage point upon his back he was getting an especially good view of the swarming ravenous insects.

“Anywhere’s better than here!” Alec retorted.

Buffy nodded, and crossing her arms, slid down the steep embankment. Alec grabbed Willow and dumped her down the hole. Scrabbling, Angel retreated from the swarm and fell backwards down the shaft. Alec crossed his arms, tucked his chin into his chest, and slid down. He looked up to see the beetle swarm boiling over the edge and begin to fall down upon him like rain. Yelling in terror, Alec threw his good arm up and with a humming crack! a shield of darkness manifested over his arms, like an umbrella against the swarm of insects. They piled up on the shield as Alec continued to rocket down the tunnel.

Finally he emerged from the tunnel into freefall and, throwing his arms out, his coat exploded into a great wave of darkness with which he hovered over the ground. Heaving his arm, he came out from under the downpour of insects, gliding away to his left. Looking down he saw the swarm of creatures skittering away into the darkness. Scanning frantically, he sighed in relief as he saw Buffy, Willow, and Angel perched on a rock ledge in the wall. Adjusting his cloak he glided over to them. Buffy and Willow reached out to pull him in as the insects continued to gush like a black flood out of the ceiling to their right. Alec turned around, his coat shrinking back to its normal size. Finally the insect storm began to slow, then stopped completely as the last creature skittered away into the dark. The four of them sagged against the stone wall in relief.

Willow reached out to hug Alec tightly. “I don’t ever, ever want to do that again,” she whispered hoarsely.

Alec just nodded and turned to Angel.

“You hear something like that before?” he asked.

Angel nodded.

“I was once on a ship that had a serious termite problem. During the day, you could hear them chewing through the hull,” he sighed. “Of course, I wasn’t in a one by one shaft, at the time, being chased by millions of them.”

Buffy smiled, shakily. “Well, sacred duty can be a pain,” she reiterated his words to him.

Angel snorted gently and looked around.

“Whole place smells like death,” he muttered.

Buffy nodded. “Not exactly Holiday Inn material,” she replied.

Carefully, she began to crawl down the stone embankment to the sandy floor below. Angel caught her hand.

“Don’t,” he warned her.

She frowned.

“Why not?” she asked.

Angel gestured to the sandy floor.

“Old vampire trick - sleep in the earth and listen for the food to come to you.” He gestured to the vast sandy plain that seemed to stretch on forever. “A lot of vampires could fit in there,” he told her grimly.

Buffy nodded and climbed back onto the embankment.

“Okay, so how do we do it?” she asked.

Angel looked around and pointed.

“This ledge seems to follow the wall all the way to the end of the cavern.” He turned to Willow. “Can you ping the stone again?” he asked.

She nodded and repeated the spell; this time, the time between the two sounds was only seconds apart.

“We must be close,” she whispered, then gestured down the cavern. “This way.”

Carefully, their backs against the sandy wall, they sidestepped along the ledge, careful not to dislodge any stones off the rocky catwalk.

“You know,” Buffy chimed in. “Not to toss a fly into your logic ointment, Angel, but wouldn’t the torrential downpour of insects have already woken up anyone snoozing in the ground?”

The vampire shook his head.

“I doubt it. Vampires that sleep in the ground learn to ignore sounds like that. It’s steady, regular sounds like footsteps that tend to get your attention,” he replied.

Alec, not taking his eyes off his footing on the ledge, turned his head slightly towards the vampire.

“You, uh… speaking from experience?” he asked.

"Do you really want to know?"

"No, not really."

Willow leaned forward. “Hey, guys, I think I see the-”

…And with a snarl, a rotted corpse burst from the wall behind Willow and tackled her to the sandy floor below.

“Willow!”

Alec cried, leaping from the ledge and landing before the zombie. It looked up and snarled at him, its face contorted in bestial rage. Alec lashed out with his hand; a tendril shot out and severed its head, sending it rolling away. The zombie fell dead upon Willow. Alec raced over and helped her to her feet.

“Are you all right?” he asked rapidly.

She nodded her head.

“Aside from being terrified out of my head, yes, fine, thank you. How are you?”

Alec started to smile when his eyes fell on a patch of earth beginning to shift just above Buffy’s head.

“Buffy, Angel, DOWN!” he cried.

They leapt off the ledge just as another zombie came bursting out of the wall above them. It landed in front of Buffy, who rolled forward and lashed out with her foot, catching the corpse behind the knee. The leg snapped off like brittle bone and the creature tumbled down. Buffy brought her foot up and then down in a vicious axe kick to the zombies head. There was a loud crunch and the creature lay still.

Angel gestured to the floor.

“We’ve got company!”

They all turned to look as clawed hands began working their way out of the ground. Zombie after zombie rose from the soft earth, snarling quietly.

“Okay, these odds suck,” Alec commented. Grabbing Willow’s hand he turned to the others. “Run!” he yelled.

Buffy and Angel joined them as they ran, dodging newly awakened zombies.

“Did I ever tell you… how much… I hated those… old zombie movies?” Buffy gasped as she ran.

Angel shook his head.

“They never… bothered me,” he replied.

Buffy shook her head.

“Well, then you just weren’t… paying attention,” she replied.

He grinned and, with a cry, suddenly dropped from sight. Buffy stopped in her tracks.

“ANGEL!” she cried out.

Angel looked down to see a pair of bony hands gripping him at his ankles and advancing on him; the hands turned out to belong to a pale woman with dark hair and a crazed wide-eyed expression in her eyes. For a moment, Angel had flashbacks to Drusilla, but beyond the impressions of dark hair and madness, there was little similarity.

“Whoa, check out Beatrix Lestrange!” Buffy commented before turning to Angel. “You want to take her?”

“Rise my children!” the woman cried out in a voice that definitely suggested at being unhinged and, instantly, more corpses rose from the ground.

“I got her. You got the minions?” Angel asked.

“I got ‘em!”

“Goody,” Angel commented grimly and together the two warriors charged.

Angel lashed out with a fist. The vampire - because she had to be one, nothing else was usually this strong - batted it aside and responded with a brutal punch, knocking Angel to the ground.

Buffy moved to help, but fell over. Whirling onto her back, she gasped in horror as two pairs of hands grasping her ankles quickly became two zombies, holding her with terrifying strength. One of them placed an icy hand on her shin and suddenly a wash of paralyzing numbness engulfed her body. All the strength left her body and she was barely able to move her head as the zombies picked her up like a rag doll. She looked up past Angel to see Alec and Willow surrounded by zombies. Alec’s darkness tendrils were cracking like whips, severing heads where they came in contact with the shambling horde.

They were surrounded and wouldn’t last much longer. Buffy moaned in fright as she turned her eyes back to Angel who was still fighting the vampire. Suddenly, the woman shot a hand out towards Angel’s chest.

“Mortuus!” the vampire cried.

There was a flash of green light and Angel howled in pain, falling to the ground, clutching his chest.

Buffy tried to call out again, but could only moan. Angel looked down disbelievingly at his chest, the skin there had become dark gray and corpselike and it burned like nothing he’d ever felt before. Wheezing he rolled over onto his back. The vampire looked down at him smugly before turning to the zombies.

“Enough!” she commanded.

The zombies attacking Alec and Willow ceased and stood silently. The vampire gestured to the fallen Angel and the paralyzed Buffy. Alec gave her a grin nearly as unhinged as her own.

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Alec whispered almost sensuously. It made Willow shiver to hear it, even as she sought shelter in his company.

As zombies moved to surround Angel and Buffy, the female vampire charged the young man, throwing kicks and punches that he blocked, albeit clumsily, with only one eye and one arm.

“How wonderful! You are already partially wrapped!” she tittered, gesturing to his bandages.

Alec sneered back at her and smashed his skull into her face. She roared in pain like a wounded animal and reached out, touching him.

“Mortuus!” she cried out.

Alec screamed and spun away.

“No!” Buffy wailed in fear for her brother.

And just as quickly, with a screech that sounded utterly inhuman, Alec whipped back around to face his attacker.

“Wanna try again?” he rasped.

The female vampire gasped. Alec’s bandages had rotted off his face, revealing a slick writhing mass of tiny tentacles slithering in and out of his skull, glistening wetly as cauliflower shaped tumors throbbed and pulsed in and out of his head.

“My god!” the female vampire cried out.

Alec grinned obscenely; half his teeth had become needle-like fangs and blackish yellow ooze leaked out from between them. With a growl, he reached down and tore his sling free. His left arm now terminated into three writhing tentacles that whipped and cracked, hissing slightly.

“If you insist,” Alec croaked…

…and then struck at the woman, quick as a snake. The tentacles bit into her undead flesh and she screamed in pain for a moment. Then, suddenly, her form shifted to become a wraith that hissed and wailed as she fled away from the half-man, half-monster. Alec pursued, his tentacle arm wrapped around the head of a zombie that got too close and crushed it like a grape.

The vampire reformed next to Buffy and Angel and raised her hands high. They began to glow green even as she eyed Alec’s advancing form in horror.

“Stop monster! I shall send us all to the grave if you do not!”

“I promise you, you will never have the chance,” Alec croaked, drool leaking from his distended jaw.

“Alec…” Buffy whispered softly.

Alec focused his good eye on her.

“Don’t… become… a monster. I can… save us. Just please… please stop… for me.”

For a moment, Alec was torn, he had all the power he needed right here, right now. He could kill this woman, kill these zombies, kill everything, get the stone, save his friends, he could do it all!

But this was his sister and she had asked him to do this for her.

With a nod, Alec let his arms go slack.

“I believe in Buffy Summers,” was all he said.

“Take them to the cells. Let them have their last few living moments spent in each others company.”

The female vampire turned to Buffy and smiled thinly.

“Take her to Mercurio,” she commanded.

The zombies surrounded Willow and Alec, although they did not separate them and herded them out of the room. Another pair of zombies picked up the moaning Angel and dragged him away.

“Angel…” Buffy managed to whisper.

The female vampire turned back to her and smiled.

“Not for much longer,” she replied smugly.

The woman gestured and the zombies carried her away.





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