A/N...before I start I just want to shout a huge thank you to everyone for reading this story. I have just won an award for Best Angst Fic at VK Awards which just blows me away as I never even really classified this fic as angsty! Not that I'll reject the award of course, it's just gorgeous...thankyou Mandi...also a Judges Choice Award...in my book just as good...so I am overjoyed at the support this fic has received...now go and read people!
Chapter Forty-One
It was an awkward walk from the flat to the secret entrance of the Initiative. A tall, reserved brunette flanked either side of the Professor as she attempted to accept that her project would be very soon deactivated.
“Buffy said that Adam gets his power from a uranium core inside his chest?”
Giles was shivering a little from the chill in the air and was determined that after all the trauma of the past few weeks, at least one source of worry would be eliminated. They needed to concentrate on Spike; returning him to form. His lips twisted in a satisfied smirk that Spike himself would be proud of. He was grateful that the problem of the chip removal was already taken care of. With a little luck, this sojourn into the Initiative base would be their one and only.
Maggie Walsh merely nodded, not eager to encourage conversation with her captors just grateful that she would soon be free. She briefly considered activating Adam before he was complete so he could take these two out and rid her of their interference. The memory of Riley, Forrest and Graham giving her looks of disgust and betrayal stopped her though, and she felt cold with the knowledge that this project might have easily gotten out of control and hurt the people that she had been trying to save.
Darkness shadowed every step that they took, beyond blackened and looming trees, jutting out headstones, and dewy brittle grass. The night reeked of the supernatural and of monsters. She shivered with past memories of childhood fears and nightmares.
The Professor had not found it necessary to come and go from headquarters at this entrance, but her intent study of all maps of the Initiative gave her a good theoretical knowledge. She found the entrance without the smallest hint of difficulty.
Though tingles of caution set Angel’s muscles flexing, he held onto her arm as she took them through the tunnel. Once they made it through, they hit an almost blinding light. Angel gripped her arm almost savagely, not allowing her to move forward while he allowed his eyes to adjust to the brightness. He allowed his senses to seek knowledge and make sure they wouldn’t walk into a group of soldiers with guns and be done for before their mission had even begun.
He heard only a few heartbeats and none too close by so with a not so gentle nudge he pushed her forward, Giles bringing up the rear while holding his crossbow at attention.
“You get us to Adam without running interference, and I won’t kill you. If Giles gets killed in any attempt to doublecross us, I’ll have you drained before they could get a taser near me. Understand?”
His eyes were hardened black with glinting amber flecks of determined rage. The knowledge of the retribution to come when they found they could do nothing for the other vampire chilled her heart to a moment of inactivity, and she gasped suddenly and grasped her chest. Struggling to continue breathing though the fear overwhelmed her she nodded decisively and headed to the door marked 314. Maggie’s pass was always with her and she took it out smartly, swiping it with regret and lead the way into the room.
The horrified gasp came from Giles as he finally set eyes on the monster that they had the chance to stop before it could wreak havoc. He was put together from human and demon parts like a giant jigsaw puzzle, and now he understood Buffy’s references to Frankenstein.
“Where did you get the human?” He didn’t really want an answer and so was relieved when she stubbornly remained silent.
Angel said nothing, just clenched his jaw in disbelief that a human could be so unbelievably stupid to create something so hideous. Then again, she had somehow managed to revert Spike back to a prehistoric demon perhaps one of the first to walk the earth. She was dangerous with knowledge and cunning; he and Giles would have to decide what to do with her before he left again for LA. She couldn’t be allowed to remain free for fear she could take this experiment up again. It was a topic that Buffy would have to remain ignorant of, but he knew that Giles would help him do what had to be done. Having settled it in his mind, he turned to her, his face so engraved with hate and disgust that she shrank back a little against her creature.
With an earthshaking growl, Angel lifted the axe he had brought with him, raising it like lightening over his head and appeared to slice it directly at the woman unknowingly shielding 314. With a terrified scream, she dove to the side and the blade of the axe embedded into the chest of the hybrid demon on the gurney. Angel surged forward with another battle cry and slammed his fist into wet, squishy tissue, ripping out a metallic cylinder from its breast. He held it triumphantly in the air. Angel turned to the woman shaking with fear on the floor and took a moment to let his demon relish her scent. Not looking back, he handed the uranium core to Giles, then swung the axe back at the gurney and allowed his destructive side full rein on the abomination. Anger, and hurt, and fear came to the fore and he howled out his misery at the decimated state of his Childe, the loss of his girlfriend, and his demotion in rank with the Scoobies.
By the time he felt his demon begin to calm, Adam lay in a multitude of pieces around the room, gory tissue shredded beyond repair. He sighed with evil satisfaction. Turning once again to the Professor, he grinned at her now red lab coat, and the stringy strips of intestines that dangled from her ashy hair. With a rare laugh, he turned to Giles to see if he was also amused at the sight. The only option was a full burst of hilarity. Dripping from every square inch of the watcher’s jeans and jacket were slices of demon skin and metallic looking wiring. His glasses were splattered with blood and he was currently swiping his face with a hanky usually reserved for the always smudged lenses.
“So, whaddaya think? Should we bag him and take the remains with us, in case they get any more ideas?” The amusement drained abruptly from Angel’s lips as he jerked his head back to Professor Walsh, still cowering on the floor. He received a nod of assent and Giles quickly began to seek something in the room adequate to collect together as much of the remains as possible for later burning.
As Giles took charge of that detail, Angel lowered himself to the Professor’s level and allowed his demon to own his features for a little longer. She shrank back in a mix of terror and revulsion, and he felt the stirring of revenge deep inside. Angel had never felt so torn against his soul to punish a human as he did since meeting her, and was angrier because of it. The precarious hold he had on his soul always worried him, but lately, he felt the control slipping and knew he had to find a way sometime soon to anchor it before he possibly managed to lose it and go on another rampage.
As Giles finished and took a place by the door, indicating his readiness to escape, Angel took a vicous hold of her arm and hauled her from the floor.
“You didn’t think this was the end did you, Professor? We have another demon difficulty to resolve.”
He turned quickly and caught the evil glimmer in the other man’s eyes. With this encouragement from Ripper, he would have even more difficulty keeping himself under control. His need to rip out her throat was charging his body with overwhelming strength, and he dropped her arm, suddenly scared. Grabbing the bag from Giles, he thrust the woman at him, before opening the door and sensing their safety before leading the way out.
In single file they retraced their steps, a wary Angel in the front. Adrenaline surged through the two men as they heard voices heading in their direction, but as they rounded the corner, weapons raised, it was only Finn and his two cohorts that they encountered. Riley raised his hands at the sudden confrontation, and they all stopped, not saying a word for several torturous seconds.
With a whoosh Giles released his held breath and stepped forward, knowing instinctively that Riley would have difficulties taking instruction from a vampire.
“We have destroyed project 314,” he told them, holding up the clear thick plastic containing the gory remains. The soldiers didn’t even flinch, but nodded while still refraining from activating weapons.
“We still need her. For Spike.” The voice that spoke to them was hard and steely and they knew better than to challenge a Master Vampire solid and vengeful in front of them, so nodded, allowing them to continue their passage to the cemetery exit.
As they left, the feeling of dread had dissipated and with a lighter heart, Giles pushed the woman toward his flat so that they could at last get some rest. And just like that, Maggie Walsh realised that she had been stupid to be relieved at being free. The knowing spark in the vampire’s eye was enough to tell her that she would never be free again.
As the thought of her own death wound tightly around her heart she again gasped and clutched at the thumping muscle beneath her breast and had the insane pleasure of knowing that she would outwit them first with her own natural death. She collapsed in a lifeless heap on that dark, but brittle grass, clouded by the darkened shadows of night.
A/N2...you know what to do if you want 42!
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