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Author's Chapter Notes:
There is a character death in this chapter.

Thanks again to cordykitten, magnus374, bridget and Photographynut for their reviews and kind words! Thanks, also, for all those who viewed my story! You rock my universe and make me a better writer!

Just letting everyone know that, since this is very AU, Buffy and Willow haven't met, since Willow is slightly older and goes to school with Cordelia.

Anyway, on with the story!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

C. G. was preparing to look at "Letterman" when the phone rang. The cop picked up the receiver, his instincts telling him that this was THE call that would be life altering for him.

"Hello?" he asked.

"C. G., the hospital called. Chief Walsh was picked up and she requested your presence there," Tater Edwards' voice was saying over the phone.

The Deputy Chief breathed a sigh of relief that for once his instincts had been wrong, and that it wasn't THAT call. He had lost many that he respected on the force; he couldn't stand another death of someone close to him just yet.

"I'm on my way," C. G. told Tater. When he asked if he could accompany C. G., he responded in the negative.

"Besides," C. G. finished, "there can't be too many visitors at the hospital, and we don't want to excite her. I'll go there first and if she's up to more visitors, I'll let you know."

At the Police Station, Reggie "Tater" Edwards cursed inwardly. He knew however that his coworker and friend was right. Even so, the Dallas cop just KNEW something was wrong, and his instincts were correct most of the time.

"Okay," Tater agreed, "but call me irregardless."

"Will do, Tater," C. G. promised. He got into his Trans Am and drove to Sunnydale Hospital.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Presently, the Deputy Chief walked down the quiet corridor on the Fifth floor to Chief Maggie Walsh's room. He was stuck by the lack of activity on the floor, but then, it was a little later than the normal time for visitors. He was glad that the Chief had pulled some strings on his behalf so that he could be with her. Maggie was like a sister to him, C. G. realized just then, and her health and happiness meant everything to him.

"C. G.," Walsh greeted from her room. The television was on in the background. As C. G. entered, he took in the IV unit and her gaunt appearance. She looked a little under the weather, he decided, but otherwise, she at least seemed coherent.

"Sorry I didn't bring flowers," the male cop began, smiling.

Walsh grinned back, saying, "It's okay, Angler. I just wanted you to be here, not any petunias that would be dead in 48 hours."

The male cop asked his boss, "What happened to you? You look like hell."

Walsh told him, "I ran afoul of some hoodlums, and I ended up here, but as you can see, I wasn't shaken up too badly. The doctors just want to keep me here for observation, then I can go."

"The boys and girls at the Station can't wait to have you back," C. G. responded.

Walsh grinned again, saying, "And I can't wait to be back!" She motioned for C. G. to come closer.

"Do you want me to fluff up your pillow or something?" the Deputy Chief asked.

"I just want a hug," Chief Walsh responded. When C. G. looked as though he was going to protest, she went on, saying, "I know, I know…I usually don't go for that sort of thing, but given that we aren't in the Station, and that we're practically friends, I just thought that a hug wouldn't exactly be out of line."

When Maggie held out her arms expectantly, C. G. said, "Sure."

He bent over to hug her. As he touched her, he was instantly struck by how cold she was. His eyes darted to the heart monitor and the cord attached to it which was still plugged into the wall. The male cop pulled back, horrified, when he saw that there was no indication of a heartbeat.

He stared at Chief Walsh. The woman no longer sported a human appearance, but had ridges and was growling at him with a perfect set of canines.

"Oh, no…" C. G. whispered.

"Oh, yes!" the former Chief said.

C. G. whipped out his gun in lightning fashion, but the Chief threw off her covers and yanked the tube out of her arm. C. G. shot her; she collapsed to the ground. He slammed her door shut, looking for anything in the corridor that he could use as a barricade. The cop saw a metal chair and shoved it against the door.

He ran down the hall looking for something stronger and bumped into Riley and two of his men. "For once, I'm glad to see you!" C. G. told the Army Commander.

"What happened?" Riley asked when he saw C. G.'s blood spattered shirt.

"Chief Walsh, she's been…" C. G. said, unable to process the information for a moment.

"What?" Riley asked. He commanded his men to be ready for anything. Two more men walked up and down the corridor.

"She's one of them," C. G. said, his hands clenching into fists. Riley gasped. They both turned at the sound of the door to Maggie Walsh's room buckling. The chief burst through the door, her glowing yellow eyes staring at them.

"Riley," Walsh greeted, "so glad you came in response to my telephone call." Her eyes took in the men who walked up and down the hall.

"You brought your men!" she squealed with delight. "I always wanted to meet, or should I say eat your men!"

"Not on my watch," Riley said in a menacing tone.

He stared at the formerly human Chief, looking for any advantage that he could use to attack her with. Meanwhile, C. G. backed away and went down the hall looking for any kind of a makeshift stake. Riley and the Chief fought for several moments when suddenly, former Chief Walsh exploded into a cloud of dust at the hands of C. G. and a long umbrella with a sharp metal tip on its end.

"Thanks," Riley said, adding, "not that I want to make a habit of this. You rescuing me, I mean."

C. G. responded in a teasing tone, "Don't worry. I won't. Next time I'll let them get you." The pair walked down the hallway when Riley's communicator bleeped.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Sir," Private Jones' voice drifted over the device. "You'd better come and look at this! Rec Room, third door on the right."

Riley and C. G. ran to the room, and both men stared at the bodies of the medical personnel and patients on the floor and on the battered couch, their eyes open with the horror of a grizzly death, or closed forever.

"Shit!" C. G. exclaimed.

He whipped out his cell phone, calling for backup as Riley told his men to not let any personnel or visitors on the fifth floor.

"Also," Riley commanded his troops, "search the other floors. Make sure there aren't any other surprises waiting for us." The men dispatched as C. G. closed his phone. Ever the detective, the cop went back into Walsh's room to see if he could spot any clues.

A moment later, he emerged from the room as Riley stood beside him, saying, "Look at this."

Riley saw the paper with the address to the warehouse on King Street on it. "So?" he asked C. G.

"This warehouse is defunct," the cop reminded him. "No one has used it for years. You wanna bet that some undead elements might be there, and that Chief Walsh could have spent some time there before she ambushed us at the hospital?"

Riley needed no further urging. "Private Jones," he said into his communicator.

"Sir!" Jones said.

"Secure this hospital. We're going to the source!" Riley said into the device.

"Yes, sir!" Jones responded. Riley and C. G. left the hospital and went to the Commander's jeep. They took off in a cloud of smoke.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Buffy and Spike looked at each other as they pulled apart from another embrace. The Slayer's ringing cell phone broke the silence.

"Hello?" Buffy asked into her receiver.

"Hey, Buff," a voice said into the phone. "I know we haven't met, but I've heard so much about you."

"Who is this?" Buffy asked. She heard the man's laughter, a mocking, cruel sort of laugh.

"Just a well wisher who wants to throw a party in your honor…" he said, adding, "oh, and William's, of course."

Spike saw Buffy's frown and asked, "Buffy? What is it?"

Buffy didn't say a word, but she lowered the phone. Spike grabbed it, asking who it was.

"Oh, Willie boy? Is that YOU?" the man's voice asked.

"Angelus," Spike grunted. "Where are you?"

Angelus tsk-tsked, saying, "Now, is that any way to greet your older brother, PRINCE William?"

"'S the only greetin' you're gonna get, you wanker!" Spike spat back. "Where are you?"

"You know the warehouse on King Street downtown?" Angelus asked.

"Yeh," Spike said.

"We're waiting for you, along with some friends that I believe you and the Slayer know," Angel teased. "Now while they are future entrees for us, they're known to you as Wesley, Anya, oh, and Willow."

Spike told Buffy, "He has Wesley and Anya, an' someone called Willow."

"She went to the same school as my sister, Cordelia," Buffy supplied. "I don't know her very well." She grabbed the phone from Spike, asking into the receiver, "Who else do you have there?"

"Find out, Barbie doll," Angelus told Buffy. "Come alone with BILL, and no tricks, or we won't wait for you to arrive before we snack on the human appetizers."

Angelus terminated the call. Buffy looked at Spike, who shared her determined expression. The decision had become academic: they were both going into the lair of the Beast.





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