Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 7 - LAKE OF FIRE

People cry, people moan.
Look for a dry place to call their home.
Try to find some place to rest their bones.
While the Angels and the Devils try to make THEM their own.

(Nirvana, Album - MTV Unplugged with thanks to Zanthinegirl for the suggestion)




Chapter 7.04
Friday, July 12th, 2002


The bringers smashed into one side of the defensive circle like a black wave breaking on the shore, but though the circle deformed slightly, it didn't break. Watchers and potentials fought side by side to hold back the eerily silent harbingers. At first, without risking serious injury, the front line could do little more than simply fend off the attacks of their all too numerous opponents. Gradually, those in the central circle were able to take carefully chosen shots and disable or slay the black-robed figures. Maybe that was simply how it seemed to James, his adrenaline-hyped senses allowing him to see what was happening immediately around him with a clarity that was akin to viewing events in slow motion. Beyond the watcher's field of vision, those at the edges of the bringer tide found themselves double teamed and were rapidly culled unless they stepped back, away from the potentials' defensive line, a move that made them safer targets for the bowmen, as it lessened the risk of them injuring the people on their own side. It seemed that the outcome would be hard-fought but inevitable.

James found himself in the heart of the melee, calmly keeping the bringers nearest him beyond the reach of the broadsword he carried. He scored an occasional slash or nick on his opponents, but it fell to those in the row behind to claim most of the finishing blows. His current adversary stumbled forward, as if pushed from behind, and almost in the same moment as he skewered it, he twisted his wrist to relieve the suction on the blade and kicked the harbinger, who had yet to realise it was dead, from his sword. A chilling scream that ended in a gurgle came from his left and he twisted his head to see the young watcher, who just weeks ago had told Giles that Turok Han were a myth, fall at the hands of the very creature he had been so certain didn't exist. The man had been using a halberd that should have allowed him to keep opponents at bay, but the vampire had simply knocked it from his hands with a backhanded swipe and moved in for the kill. The petite Italian potential who stood between James and the other watcher paled, but sidestepped to stand over the body before the ubervamp could take advantage of the hole it had created. From behind, hands grabbed the watcher's clothes and dragged him backward into the safety of the centre and James sidestepped, too, moving closer to the vampire as another bringer made a lunge toward him.

---

 

The awning split before Faith could completely recover from her fall and she had to twist in mid-air like a cat to land on her feet. She crouched, legs bent and fingertips barely touching the ground, as she assessed the scene. From down here she couldn't see the ubervamp, just the bringers who had shifted around to surround the potentials. Fighting was fiercest on the far side off the circle, but Buffy, due to the style of fighting they had chosen, was no more free to swap position than any of the others who stood beside her. As she rose, Faith drew a curved dagger, a souvenir of her outing with Wesley, from a sheath inside her boot, and selected a longer than average stake from an inside pocket of her jacket for her off-hand. Sticking to the shadows at the side of the street, she loped toward the conflict.

The bringers had been thinned to little more than a single ring by the time she arrived. She picked off two of them who were engaged with the potentials near the Turok Han in rapid succession, yanking them off balance by grabbing a handful of the back of their hoods and then using her dagger to slit open their throats. By the time The First's forces were aware of the enemy at their back the slayer had snapped the neck of a third and the Turok Han found itself with three opponents at its front and a slayer at its back. Turning to face Faith, it caught her with a spinning kick that knocked her stumbling to one side. The Vampire followed on from its attack, driving her back further with another kick until it was out of range of those who formed part of the circle. Bolts thudded into its back and side every time the distance between it and Faith allowed the good guys to fire on it with a degree of safety, but it seemed to swat them off as if they were mere inconveniences.

Faith grinned and twirled the stake in her hand. "Let's go, buddy."

---

 

The little Italian potential caught James' adversary with a gutting slash from the side, just as Buffy gave the command for them to, "Mop up!" Those in the centre drew swords and other weapons and took position around the injured. The outer circle dissolved, its people freed at last to pursue the enemy. James dropped his sword and picked up the polearm that lay on the ground by his feet. As if he were ten feet from the goal line with a line of opposing players in his way, he used all his speed and body mass to give him the forward momentum he needed and charged the ubervamp. When the tip of the halberd hit it square in the back he kept going, even though his arms juddered with the shock. He felt an impact at his back and recognised Buffy's voice urging him to push. Then, there was nothing holding them up and he and the slayer tumbled to the floor, as Faith dodged to one side to avoid being impaled.

"Geez, B, ain't that vamp hottie you're gettin' hitched to enough? This one's taken." She reached down and, grabbing a handful of the watcher's T-shirt, she hauled him up far enough to steal a kiss.

 

---

By the time Giles and Bee made it to the basement, where he and Anya had stacked away several hundred candle holders, a couple of dozen safety lighters and a couple of thousand tea-lights, the former demon had already beaten him to it and was standing guard over the supplies. The four candles she had lit illuminated the stairs and the area nearby, the only light that Giles had seen in the building.

"I've sent Dawn and Brandon around all the dormitories to get one person from each to come down and get supplies. I told you we'd make a killing if this happened. Here. These are for upstairs. I've allowed us double because we've got all those individual rooms to light." She pushed two boxes of candle holders, two trays of candles and two safety lighters in Bee's direction. She lifted a nearby clipboard, scanned down until she found the line marked 'Attic: 24 bulb style candle holders, 2 x 12 tea-lights, 2 x safety lighters' . She stabbed at the box next to it with her pen. "You need to sign here. It looks better than if I do it," she told Bee. "Come back tomorrow between three and four for more candles. Giles will be here."

She picked up a magic shop gift bag and passed it to Giles, who seemed slightly nonplussed by this announcement. "One small room package," she told him, watching to make sure that he, too, signed for his and Lydia's allocation. "It's easier to pass them out while it's still light, and I shall be at The Magic Box. I am sure that those people who do not treat this as a cue to leave town will wish to purchase extra candles. I intend to fetch the slug candles from the store room and offer them for sale at a discount. We could bring some here and issue them to Mr Travers for his personal use. Of course, for him, we would charge full recommended retail."

 

---

They didn't really expect the ambulance service to be running but Lydia tried dialling nine one one on her mobile phone, in any case. When she couldn't get anything other than a busy signal, she rang Giles instead and when it turned out that he still hadn't got into the habit of carrying his mobile with him, Buffy rang Xander's number.

Less than ten minutes later, Xander's car pulled up next to the group and they manoeuvred the watcher who had been most seriously hurt into the back seat. One of the potentials, who had a deep but not life-threatening cut on her arm, climbed into the passenger seat and Xander headed for the hospital.

When he got there, the place was in total disarray. Although it had an emergency generator, and unlike most of the other buildings it still had limited electricity, staff were scarce and it appeared that many of those who were there were spending more time trying to discharge patients where possible and get others reallocated to other facilities in the area than admitting new arrivals. In the end, Xander picked a random white-coat as he bustled through the emergency waiting room and dragged him over to where the watcher lay sprawled across a sectional sofa. "Fix him! And while you're doing that you can find someone to stitch her up, because once that shirt's soaked through I'm not stripping down any further," he added with a nod in the direction of the blood-stained blue denim shirt that the potential had wrapped around her arm.

 

---

 

Giles didn't need to ask how it had gone as he watched the group trail wearily back down the drive.

"Hey, you waiting up for us?" Buffy asked.

"Actually, I'm still waiting to hear from Spike and Wesley."

"It might help if you kept your mobile with you," Lydia remarked dryly, as she curled an arm around the older watcher's and stood on tiptoe to give him a tired peck on the cheek.

"I do. I mean, I did."

Lydia held out her hand and Giles reached into his pocket and placed the device on her palm. "It also helps if it's switched on."

"Well, I didn't switch it off!"

"But I bet you didn't charge it either?" Buffy asked.

"Wounded to the kitchen. Everybody else get what sleep you can. No training until tomorrow afternoon," Faith called, giving Giles a nod of greeting as she made her way past him and the blondes to get the first-aid post set up.

"Well, em..."

"Nice to know that you still haven't made your peace with technology. I bet you're even enjoying the atmospheric candlelight. Come on, we'll swap in the battery from one of the spares, otherwise Spike'll break every speed limit in the state to get back if he can't get through."

"Or he might try ringing you at two in the morning or whenever it is that they expect to get there."

"He'll do that anyway once he knows we're back from patrol. Oh, and tell Wes to call Marie, too."

Giles dutifully followed Buffy to the attic, but he saved his questions about patrol until he returned to Lydia's office. "How bad was it?" he asked, his eyes on the blonde who was already stretched out on the sofa with a quilt covering her lower body, her golden hair draping her shoulders, so that Giles was unable to tell whether she wore anything under the covers or not.

"Massey won't make it out of hospital any time soon, and Claire Wisniewski should probably get out once they stitch up her arm, but it'll scar... badly."

"And the Turok Han?" Giles asked, pulling his shirt off over his head and sliding off his jeans before he joined the woman under the covers and wrapped his arms around her satin draped frame.

"Toast, but we both know there'll be more tomorrow."

Neither of them bothered to extinguish the few small candles that lit the room before they curled around each other, and hours later when Spike called, Giles still lay awake in the same position. He didn't think Lydia had slept either.