"If I was you I would drop those cross bows, otherwise you can all watch me slit her throat and lap up the blood," Angel demanded.
Buffy didn't want to, knowing that she lost the advantage, but looking around she decided that she should accept his orders for now. She had heard a saying once, "Where there's life, there's hope". She motioned to Giles to put his weapon down.
Angel got off the bed and walked a few paces ahead. Drusilla immediately sat down next to Cordelia and started playing with her hair. Much the same way a predator plays with its food.
"And get your witch away as well," Xander ordered.
"Oh Geek boy thinks he can order us. Listen worm, I can kill her so easily, all I have to do is give Dru a look and you will be back to lonely nights with the playboy channel. Besides Cordelia has served her purpose. She has no reason to live anymore, so don't tempt me," Angel hissed at Xander.
Xander looked at Buffy. She knew what he was going to suggest, "No Xander don't," she yelled.
"I'm sorry Buffy," Xander replied then turned around to face Angel, "take me instead, let her go."
Cordelia tried all she could to shout but with the gag she couldn't. Drusilla bent down over her and whispered, "don't worry love, Xander won't die alone tonight. My Angel will see to that."
Angel gave the impression he was thinking it over. It was of course exactly what he was expecting. "How noble," Angel replied.
"Stuff you, now let her go," Xander yelled and at the same time he finally broke away from Buffy's grip.
"You know, I think I will enjoy killing you myself, Cordelia and your friends won't make it out of here alive anyway, but if you want to give yourself to me so easily, fine," he motioned Drusilla to untie Cordelia, "get her up".
Drusilla untied Cordelia's arms and legs. She was about to untie her gag, when Angel interjected, "Leave the gag on. I can't stand to listen to her prattling mouth."
After she was released Cordelia tried to stand but found that she had no feeling in her legs. She crashed to the floor. Xander rushed over to help her up. Angel thought about grabbing him then but decided that now wasn't the time to improvise. His plan was going exactly as he had thought it would. He also wanted Cordelia to be very alert when he snapped Xander's neck. " After all if a boy is killed when no-one is around did it really happen," he laughed at his own thought.
Xander picked up Cordelia and carried her back to their friends, handing her to Giles. He never took his eyes off her until he reached the group. Her eyes haunting his soul. He inwardly shuddered thinking about what she must have gone through. He slowly looked up at Giles, "Take care of her."
Giles nodded slowly, his heart pounding with admiration for the actions Xander was taking. Xander once again looked down at Cordelia. Her eyes were filled with tears. He pulled the gag aside, to expose a portion of her lips. He bent down and lightly kissed her whispering, "I love you, I will love you always."
Cordelia grabbed hold of him, she did not want to let go. He whispered in her ear, "We have a plan. Be ready, this is going to be rough". He backed away from her looking her straight in the eye. She looked back. Her mood had changed from heartache to incredulous. Her eyes were screaming at Xander, "You have got to be kidding."
Xander looked over at Buffy, then Willow and then Oz. He hoped that the others would realize that he had changed the plan around. He had decided there was no choice, he had to get Cordelia away. He looked very carefully, straight at his friends, longer than any normal look would be for. Buffy looked back, a flicker of realization entering her stare. "Xander if this works out you and me are going to have a talk about following a plan, " she thought.
Xander turned around and walked slowly towards Angel. He was hoping that the couple of months training would allow him to provide the diversion needed. He looked at Angel. His heart was turning to hate. He was fighting the urge to go over and try to rip out his throat.
Angel motioned for Spike and Drusilla to take Xander and bring him over. Spike was less than impressed. He couldn't understand why they just didn't kill them all. He used to enjoy Angel's little games, but that was before this latest Slayer. She was too dangerous to mess around with. Spike had a contingency plan. He had decided to let Angel have his little game, but if things went wrong he would bring in the rest of them and save the day. That would not only show up Angel in the eyes of the other vampires but more importantly would show Drusilla that Angel was not the infallible person she thought he was. He looked over at her. She bounded across to take hold of the boy like an over eager dog, hoping to please its master. He took hold of Xander's left arm while Drusilla took hold of his right.
Once Xander was held, Angel came up to him, grabbing his hair reefing his neck back, "I am going to enjoy this almost as much as when I kill Buffy"
"I will give you a final warning. Let go now" Xander screamed, not expecting any success except delaying Angel' attack. It worked.
Angel looked down at Xander and laughed, "Xander you insignificant piece of filth, you are the appetizer, your friends the entr�e, and Buffy is the desert. You are all going to die. I just wanted to kill you first."
The delay however had given Xander enough time to make eye contact with Buffy; signaling that he and she were ready. He knew that this was it.
"NOW!" he shouted.
Buffy and Giles reached into their jackets and pulled out a couple of bottles that were filled with Holy Water. Buffy threw one straight at Angel, while Giles through his at Spike.
Angel was about to grab Xander's neck and snap it when he heard Xander shout. He turned around to see what he was shouting at and got hit straight in the face with the bottle Buffy threw. The Holy Water started to burn; Angel recoiled in pain and screamed loudly.
Almost simultaneously the other bottle smashed into the right side of Spike's face. The water covered Xander and Drusilla on her left side. As soon as the bottle hit, Xander was able to get away, taking advantage of his captors' agony. Drusilla and Spike had not been hit with as much water as Angel, but none the less they could feel their skin burning.
Angel could just make out the moving image of Xander. The water had effected his eyesight. He yelled, "Get him, get them all!"
The dozen vampires that had been stationed around the room had already started to move in. Buffy and Giles picked up the crossbows and started firing. Quickly five of them hit the ground and dissipated into dust.
Willow and Oz had been protecting Cordelia, but knew they had to do something more now. Taking a hold of one of the remaining three bottles of Holy Water, Willow opened the top and sprayed it in a semi-circle at the oncoming vampires. Four of them went down screaming, then ran out of there.
Xander by this time had reached them and grabbed a stake. He moved over to take hold of Cordelia. She put her arms around him, "Stay behind me!" Xander said.
A vampire attacked, Xander ducked and was able to land the stake into its heart. Xander sighed with relief. Buffy had explained that if the vampires were new they probably would not be that difficult to kill, however if there were old vampires around, they would be in trouble. Thankfully it seemed that that one was not that experienced.
Spike looked around at the scene in front of him. Half his face was burnt quite severely, if it wasn't for the bottle hitting only his right side he would be in more pain. "Damn Angel, "he thought. He grabbed Drusilla, "come on love let's get out of here."
"What about Angel, " she asked.
Spike looked down at her burned face, "Angel has dug his own grave and now I will have to get him out". Spike picked her up and carried her to one of the doorways. When he got there he set Drusilla down and turned to his left.
From out of the darkness a vampire came up to him. "You left Angel in there?" it asked.
"I couldn't save him, "Spike sort of lied, he didn't try," see if you can."
"What do you want us to do?"
"Get them" was all Spike needed to say.
Buffy staked a vampire in front of her. She quickly looked around. There was only one left, and it was fighting with Giles. She moved over and landed a kick to the back of its head. As it fell to the ground she pounced on it and staked it through the heart.
She looked back at her friends. "C'mon, let's get out of here," she yelled.
They turned to run out of the door when all of the sudden the room started filling with Vampires, from each doorway and from above, they were suddenly surrounded by fifty vampires and they were closing in.
"Oh my god!" Buffy said as she saw the room fill up with vampires, "Giles, our plan has gone a bit out of the window, what do we do?"
"I don't know Buffy, try and get everyone closer to the door as we fight them off, it may be our only chance," he replied.
Buffy tried to get them all moving but in doing that the first couple of vampires attacked, she suddenly had two of them on her. She got in a few kicks enabling her to survey the area. Giles, Willow and Xander were all fighting off vampires. She knew they could not last much longer. The vampires had gathered in a group in front of them, almost like a pack of hyenas waiting for the lions to leave the scraps.
Xander kicked the vampire away and then staked the vampire who was attacking Willow in the back. He grabbed Willow and placed her next to Cordelia and Oz. "Stay here!" he said. He looked up and also noticed the pack in front of them. He also noticed Angel, who had been writhing on the floor in agony had now got to his feet and looked like he was preparing to attack, "Maybe that was why they were waiting," he wondered. He knocked his front pocket and remembered the little surprise he had planned for Angel. He quickly thought about it and decided there was no other choice. We ran over and grabbed the last bottle of Holy Water.
Buffy saw him do it, it between kicking another vampire, "What are doing Xander?"
"Just hold on for a minute, I'll get you out of here," he replied.
"Xander!" Cordelia yelled when she noticed he was moving towards the pack. Xander did not acknowledge her. He didn't want to face her for fear he would not be able to get through with this. The vampires looked surprised that one of the group was moving to face them. The delay did not last long, as they moved forward, Xander sprayed the last remaining water from the bottle, showering the vast majority of them. He knew however that it would not be enough to kill them, or even immobilize them for long. He got however the desired effect when they started worrying more about their burning faces than his friends. He took his chance and went through the pack, straight to Angel.
Angel had seen Xander coming but in this haze that was his eyesight now, he didn't see Xander clearly. Angel struck out at the blur that was Xander. It missed as Xander ducked and leg swept Angel's legs out from under him. Xander jumped on top of Angel pounding on him.
"Spike!" Angel shouted.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Spike has already taken off, "Xander informed him with glee, "It's just you and me," Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe.
Angel started to turn himself over when he felt a pin prick in his back.
"Now I don't know if this will kill you or not, but judging by what the Holy Water has done to your face, I would say injecting it into you heart is not going to give you just heartburn."
Angel tried to move again, but felt the needle being pressed further in.
Buffy had succeeded in keeping the remaining vampires at bay, but now the main group had started to recover. She got her friends together behind her and started to move towards the doorway.
"We can't leave Xander," Cordelia said.
"Cordy I don't want to leave him but he did what he did to give us a chance", Buffy replied, 'so come-on we need to get you all out."
A couple of vampires had seen them moving away and rushed over to stop them. They blocked the exit and forced them back to the center of the room.
Xander saw that his friends were trapped again. It was time to see if it his actions had been worth it.
"Get up," he screamed at Angel.
"Stuff you," he replied.
"O.K. have it your way, either you get up and order your friends to let mine go, or I am going to turn your insides to dust soup," he said while pushing the needle in as far as it would go, to emphasize the point.
Angel thought about it for a split second. His instinct for survival was highly compromised by his hatred of this punk getting one up on him.
The vampires were only a few feet away from Buffy, they were out of Holy Water and unlike before they looked like they would attack at once. "Stop!" Angel yelled.
The vampires nearest to him heard him. They immediately stopped, but the other did not. Xander saw this and got Angel to his feet, "Remember all I have to do is push on this plunger and you are history, if any of my friends are hurt I will do it.". He led Angel over to the pack.
"Stop!" he yelled again. This time the remaining vampires heard him and turned around.
"O.K. Dead Guys," Xander shouted to the throng of vampires, "we are leaving, If you try to stop us, your leader will probably liquefy before your eyes. Now unless you have a ladle ready I suggest you get out of our way."
It wasn't just the vampires that looked at him incredulously, Buffy, Giles, Cordelia, Willow and Oz, now that they weren't fighting for their lives, were speechless at the turn of events. Xander looked at them, "Guys the exit's that way, get out" he yelled.
"You too Xander," Buffy said.
"I will be right behind you" he replied.
"Xander we won't leave you, c'mon," Cordelia pleaded.
Xander spoke softly to her, "Just go Cordy."
Cordelia looked at him, but was pulled away by Willow and Oz. Buffy and Giles made it to the door and pushed the other three threw it. He told them to run as fast as they can back to the school. Buffy turned back to Xander, "C'mon, let's go" she yelled.
Xander turned Angel around so that he was now facing the vampires, while Xander had his back to the door. He judged that he would probably have only an 8 yard head start from when he let Angel go.
"Well," he thought, "it won't be the craziest thing I have done today."
He pushed Angel away, throwing him towards the pack of vampires, hoping that in the confusion the needle would expel its contents in Angel's heart.
He ran as fast as he could towards the doorway, "Buffy, Giles go now, "he screamed at them.
Buffy and Giles took off with Xander a couple of feet behind. The vampires had reacted quickly and were making up distance on the three. Xander looked around, the leading vampires were only a dozen or so feet behind him now and while there was only sixty feet or so to the street, they would then have to make it back to school.
"Hurry Up Guys," came a voice.
Buffy turned to Giles while running, "I told them to get going, we have to really do something about following orders"; Giles couldn't suppress a laugh, which resulted in Buffy giving him a dirty look. They reached the doorway and opened it, throwing themselves through it they were hit by blinding light. It was daylight already.
Xander ran straight up to Cordelia. They held each other, knowing that they could have easily not been able to that again. After a few seconds, Buffy, Willow, Oz and even Giles came over to put their arms around each other.
Giles spoke first, "I know that we are safe here, but let's get away from this place," he smiled at Buffy, she returned it and they walked off.
Angel had managed to survive only by the luck of falling on his front. He had been able to reach around and pull the syringe from his back. He crawled over to his bed, he needed rest. Rest and then this whole damn city would pay for last night.
"Angel," Spike called as he came into the hall, his face still blistered, "you look a little bit weak, would you like to borrow my wheelchair?"
"Don't patronize me Spike. If you and Dru hadn't run off we would be celebrating tonight."
"Cut the crap Angel. You failed miserably again. We lost over half our people, Drusilla, myself and you have badly burned bodies, and you killed no-one, " Spike shouted, "you are a complete failure, you no longer give any orders around here."
"Watch it Spike, you can't take over. Drusilla would never stand for it." Angel replied.
Drusilla appeared from behind a curtain, she was wearing a half mask, much like the fabled phantom. "Angel, darling, there has been a few changes...." She said.
Later that day
Cordelia's house
Cordelia smiled as Willow finished putting the last of the dressings on her arms. Thankfully the blood on her face had been mostly from her arms and she only had a few bruisers. She moved her head over and rested in on Xander's chest. They were half sitting, half lying on the lounge in the living room.
Buffy and Giles emerged from the kitchen with drinks for everyone. Buffy raised a glass, " I didn't think we would be here right now and I don't know what the future will have in store for us. I can say however that I am so proud to have you as my friends. I love you guys."
"Hear Hear," Willow added.
Xander came down the stairs into the living room. Buffy and Giles were there, Willow and Oz having already gone home.
"She O.K.?" Buffy asked.
"Yep, she's sleeping. I'm hoping that she doesn't have any nightmares," Xander replied.
"I think that even if she does, it will be less traumatic than what she has just been through," Giles said, "did she say anything to you?"
"Not really, apart from the fact that I was meant to be the one taken from the Bronze. I think Angel had thought that she wouldn't be a big enough bait for you to come, Buffy," Xander said.
"Well it looks like Angel does not know you as well as he thinks Buffy," Giles replied, " and certainly won't underestimate you again Xander. I wish you had told us what you were planning."
Xander looked down.
"Xander?" Buffy asked.
He looked up, his eyes tear stained. "I was so scared. I couldn't tell you what I was planning, because for one I didn't know if I would go through with it and also you wouldn't have let me"
"Well maybe, maybe not" Giles interjected.
"No you don't understand. What happened wasn't my original plan. I thought Cordelia was dead. I didn't have your confidence that she would still be alive when we got there. So I filled the needle with Holy Water and kept it in my pocket. My only plan was a selfish one. I was going to kill Angel. I didn't care about the mission, I wanted revenge. It was only when I got there and saw everyone fighting as hard as they could to rescue her that I knew I had to do something else."
Buffy moved over to him and put an arm around his shoulders, "You are being too hard on yourself, those feelings are very normal," she said.
"Yes," Giles said softly, "I should know."
"The point is you came through and I refuse to put it down to your experience last Halloween," Buffy gave him a hug. She looked at Giles, 'I think we should be going".
"Yes we should," Giles agreed as he got up.
Buffy turned to Xander, "Are you going to be able to look after Cordelia?"
"Yes that won't be a problem. Her folks are away till Sunday night, so hopefully we will have a good cover story sorted out by then," Xander said with a smile.
Xander let Buffy and Giles out the front door and locked it. He went up the stairs to Cordelia's bedroom. She was still sleeping peacefully. He got out of his jeans and shirt and slipped into bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her. Her body seemed to move back to him as he held her tight.
Lying there Xander could almost believe they didn't have a trouble in the world.
The End
