Chapter 51 – Darkness Falls
Buffy
stared in horror at Dagon. Fear rushed through her at the danger he was putting
her baby in. She had never thought of this contingency when she had obeyed his
command to make an appearance. There was supposed to be time for the family to
figure everything out and rescue them. Protecting Drusilla and consequently
protecting herself had lent itself to the decision to acquiesce to the
vampire’s call.
“You can’t
do that,” Buffy protested. “The baby could be in danger if it comes too early.”
Dagon
leaned forward. His eyes were icy as they raked over her. “Do you think that I
would put my entire future at risk? I have a doctor coming to deliver my
bride.”
For the
first time Buffy lost confidence that her children would be saved from this
nightmare. His bride. The words
sickened her as the full impact of their meaning penetrated through the fog
she’d been living in for months. If she didn’t find a way out, her daughter
would be raised by this monster before her to have no conscience; to have no
purpose but to rule an evil empire. Her innocent child would be turned in a
ceremony tying her forever to Dagon.
Buffy
panicked, stood and tried to find a way to get to her stake that was still
hidden in the bedroom. It was the only chance they had. She had only taken two
steps when Dagon wrapped his hand in her hair and yanked her back against him.
“Shh, calm
down,” Dagon whispered. He nuzzled her neck as his hand stroked her arm. “You
can’t get away, Buffy. You underestimated me. The stake is gone.”
“I don’t
need a stake,” Buffy declared, flipping him over her shoulder. “Dru help me.”
“No, no,”
Drusilla whined. “Not supposed to be like this.” Her hands danced around her as
she shook her head. “My prince, my prince is coming.”
There would
be no help from Drusilla. Her short period of rationality had vanished in the
disintegration of the plan. Buffy attempted to get to the bedroom again but
Dagon blocked her way. She needed to pull herself together and think as she
faced the vampire.
“There is
no way out,” Dagon said, backhanding Buffy. The pregnancy left her off balance
and she fell to the floor. There was a kick to her upper back before he
straddled her and pulled her around by her hair until she faced him. “Listen to
me, bitch. I don’t give a shit what happens to you. You are a vessel for my
mate and nothing more. We can do this one of two ways.” He wrenched her head
back further until Buffy cried out in pain. “You can cooperate with me and live
long enough to help raise your children and warm my bed. Or I can strap you
down and cut that baby out of you, in which case you’ll die a very painful
death.”
“They’ll
come for us,” Buffy said. “You’ll never succeed.”
Dagon
laughed as he stroked her stomach. “I will succeed. The little messages Elijah
has been sending out have been stopped. The little lad will be sleeping for
awhile. Don’t worry he’s fine but he won’t be helping you out. And if they do
find us I have plans for those weaklings. They won’t live long enough to get to
you.” His fingers brushed across Buffy’s breast. “Or maybe I’ll let them watch
me make you mine first.” He released her and stood. “So, what will it be?”
What choice
did she have at this point? Buffy glanced at Drusilla crying in a crumpled heap
in the corner then to Dagon still standing above her. She was eight months
pregnant, Drusilla couldn’t be counted on and Elijah was drugged leaving them
with no fighting abilities. Their fate was lying in the hands of the family now.
She held a hand out to Dagon.
“I’ll
cooperate.”
~~~~~~~~
They had
figured out what Dagon wanted with Buffy and his baby. Now all they had to do
was find them in time. If the Pisces theory was correct there was less than
seventy-two hours until the lunar change taking them into the next zodiac sign. Spike was terrified of what might happen to Buffy once
the baby was born. Would Dagon let Buffy live to care for the baby or would he
consider her too much of a liability to keep around?
Locator spells
had been tried again to no avail, pictures had been taken of Angel to be shown
around to see if anyone recognized him but so far no luck. Giles felt that if
Dagon was going to all this trouble then his plans had to be meticulously
thought out with little room for error. If his theory was true then they were
going to find few clues to bring his wife and children home.
Spike
hovered on the edge of his family gathered in the living room or rather the
family that was left. Angel and Connor were out trying to find information
about a new vampire in town. Raven, Dawn and Josh were out searching stores
with Angel’s picture in hand to see if anyone suspicious had been buying baby
supplies.
The
doorbell rang and Spike rushed to answer it. It was Bryant.
“Hi, Mr.
Blood,” Bryant said. “Is Sean home?”
“Hey,
Bryant,” Spike said, disappointed that it wasn’t someone with good news. “Yeah,
he’s home but I don’t think it’s such a good time.”
Footsteps
sounded behind him and Spike turned to find his son hurrying his way. He
stepped back to let the two young men greet each other.
“Dad,” Sean
said, turning to him. “I invited Bryant over. I was thinking he could draw the
house if
There was
so much hope for doing something useful in Sean’s eyes that it melted Spike’s
heart. Sean was the only one in a family with extraordinary abilities that
didn’t have any. It often made him feel that he wasn’t contributing as much as
the others even though he did with his own brand of faith. Spike pulled the boy
into his arms and hugged him.
“Thank
you,” Spike said. “Yeah, that will help.”
It was such
a simple thing but yet no one else had thought of it. Details of the house
could lead them to the place. Kate hurried upstairs to waken the witches. Soon
they would have another piece of the puzzle to tackle and maybe this time they
would find the answer.
~~~~~~~~~
Weakness
was an aberration that he couldn’t tolerate. Not now. Not after all these years
of planning, hoping and working for this goal. All those years of pressing his
nose to the glass and never being invited in was going to come to an end if he
had to tear that baby out of the Slayer himself. The bitch was the same as the
other females in the Aurelius line. They all thought Angelus was a god of some
sort. He’d tamed one of them. Drusilla was his for the bidding and every time
he fucked her it was a cause for rejoicing. Taking something away from Angel
and he didn’t even know. Those times when he recognized Buffy in Dru’s body had
left him jubilant. It wasn’t her body but to know he was slowly breaking a
woman that belonged to both Angelus and William the Bloody was the balm he
needed when he felt the twinge of doubt.
Darla had ruined
the lineage of Aurelius by allowing such fools to exist. They both should have
been destroyed long ago and Dagon would be more than happy to do it. The family
would be restored to its prominence within the vampire empire and it would all
be due to him. His greatness would bring the respect and fear that he craved.
In the end he would prove his father and his bitch of a Sire wrong. Dagon was
someone worthy.
He sipped
his drink and walked to the window again. The doctor was late and it caused a
pang of fear in his unbeating heart. Nothing could go wrong at this point.
Everything was planned down to the minute. His camp needed to be ready to
depart by the time that the do-gooders found the house. He wasn’t as ignorant
as Buffy thought and he knew they would eventually figure it out. A smile
crossed his lips as he thought of the traps he had planted around the perimeter
of the house. There was a bomb ready to be activated in the main house that he
could set off from a mile away. The Scoobies were going to go out in a blaze of
glory in their attempted rescue of his hostages.
“Sir,”
Roderick said. “I’m sorry to interrupt you but there was a phone call.”
“What is
it?”
“Dr. Lang
had an emergency delivery and will be delayed.”
“Thank
you,” Dagon said, through clenched teeth. He waited until his servant had left
the room before kicking over the end table. “Fuck.”
It couldn’t
happen. Not now. Dagon lost reason as a crack appeared in his plan. It had to
be their fault. Those bitches had been conspiring against him for weeks now. It
would be stopped. They needed to be shown who was in control. He ran up the
stairs to Buffy’s room, knowing Drusilla would be there. The door was slammed
open and a momentary thrill ran through him as he saw them huddling on the bed
with fear plainly written on their faces. At least they showed that much
respect.
Drusilla
was pulled screaming from the bed and Dagon threw her face first into the wall
to slide to the floor. Buffy tried to attack him but he punched her.
“The baby,”
Dru cried. “It must fly. Fly away from the woodshed.”
“Shut up,”
Dagon yelled, stomping on her arm. “Shut up. I can’t stand your ramblings
anymore. Maybe I’ll just have to cut your tongue out to shut you the fuck up.”
The next
few minutes passed in a blur as he released his rage on Drusilla. She didn’t
fight back. Somewhere she had given up. Everything in her life had been taken
from her and she now accepted her fate at the hands of someone stronger than
her Sire. The smell of blood was in the air when he finally dropped her on the
floor. She only whimpered as she waited to see what he would do next. He left
her with one last kick and turned to the woman on the bed.
Buffy
cowered with her hands covering her stomach. Dagon couldn’t beat her but there
was something as effective as he sat behind her.
“No,
please,” Buffy cried.
It was so
sweet. He had heard the tales of Slayer blood and it was his due. His fingers
brushed her hair out of the way. Her fear was making him heady with power and Buffy
didn’t even fight as he bit into her neck.
~~~~~~~~
“It’s
done,”
Her fingers
were crossed as she watched the blinking message button. They needed a break
because so far nothing else had panned out. Almost everyone was napping
wherever they could find a space. Some were wrapped in blankets on the floor or
some had just fallen asleep where they gave up the fight. Spike was pacing
again to keep himself awake. His hair stood out in tufts from all the times he
ran his hands through it. Black circled his bloodshot eyes and in other
circumstances he probably would frighten anyone that saw him. About five hours
before he’d started smoking again and his hand was never empty now.
“Here,”
Angel said, handing his Childe another cup of coffee. “No one is going to think
less of you if you sleep for an hour or two. I’m awake and will call you if
anything happens.”
“No,” Spike
answered, taking the coffee and downed the cup in two or three gulps. “Not
going to be weak.”
“Angel’s
right,”
Spike
pulled his hand away and headed out of the room.
“Shit,”
“What?”
Angel said, leaning over her shoulder. “Damn it.”
There were
over a hundred matches to the description they had come up with. They covered
over three hundred miles of distance and it was going to be a daunting task to
find which one they needed. That is if Dagon had kept them in this part of the
state.
~~~~~~~~
The key
turned in the lock and Buffy looked up to see if Dagon was returning. Drusilla
slipped from the bed to sit in the chair by the window when their captor
entered with another man on his heels.
“Ladies,
this is Dr. Lang,” Dagon. “He will be delivering Buffy’s baby.”
The man was
probably in his late thirties with non-descript looks that one would forget
three minutes after meeting him. His grey eyes flickered over Buffy and she
struggled to sit up straighter. Deciding it would be easier to appeal to Dagon,
she turned her attention to the vampire.
“Is he
qualified? How many deliveries has he done?” Buffy asked, glancing back at the
doctor as he unpacked the bag he’d brought with him. “Can he handle an
emergency if something happens?”
It was
almost reassuring as Dagon sat beside her. His hands ran along her back and
pulled her close to him.
“Don’t
worry; sweet, Dr. Lang was very carefully scrutinized before I ever considered
letting him deliver this child.” Dagon said a hand rested on her belly. “This
child being born healthy is as important to me as it is to you. By the way we
have your medical records if that helps to calm you. He knows everything about
you and your pregnancy that your own doctor does.”
It did
help. Buffy wasn’t even concerned that if something should go wrong that they’d
let her die. The only thing that mattered was that her baby survived. Spike
would come soon enough for his children. The doctor approached the bed and
Buffy entwined her hand in Dagon’s. He chuckled but she didn’t care. He was the
only one with power right now and she needed his strength to get through this.
“Buffy?”
Dr. Lang asked, sitting in front of her. “I’d like to do an exam before we do
anything else. Make sure that there aren’t any complications before we induce.
Would you like the others to stay or do you want to clear the room?”
“They can
stay,” Buffy said. She didn’t want to let Drusilla out of her sight and she
didn’t think Dagon would leave even if she asked. She looked over her shoulder
at him. “Would you at least look out the window or something?”
Buffy was
relieved as Dagon nodded and headed for the window. The doctor gave her a gown
and she went into the bathroom to change into it. The bed was covered with
towels when she returned. Nausea played havoc with her as she realized that her
baby was going to be here sooner than she planned. She lay back on the bed and
raised her knees as Dr. Lang prepared to exam her. Spike should be here when
his baby was born. And tears slid down her cheeks as she faced what she’d done
by not taking the chance of just telling him everything. She felt someone
brushing her hair back and looked around to find Drusilla kneeling by the bed.
At least she wasn’t alone as she smiled weakly at her companion.
~~~~~~~~~
In the past
couple of hours over forty of the houses had been eliminated as the family
called for more information. They were scattered around the house calling from
their cell phones with their lists in front of them.
“Birds, oh
my God, thousands of them in my head,” Spike muttered. “Bloody
hell.”
“Somebody
knock the guy out,” Xander said. “He’s lost it from exhaustion.”
“Everybody
be quiet,”
“Birds
flapping, crying,” Spike said, tears spilling across his cheeks. “Oh, my God,
the blood it’s everywhere.” He started to wipe at himself. “Get it off of me.
The pain.” He rocked back and forth. “The pain it’s everywhere inside my head.
Buffy, is that you? Buffy…” He was silent for a moment and his eyes closed in
concentration. “It’s all going to make my ears hurt. Everywhere, take a step,
the earth sings with the pain. Sanctuary, Sanctuary, all gone. The journey has
already started. Hang from the cross.”
It was over
as
“They found
a way to reach you,”
“You said
‘they’ reached me,” Spike said. “Who sent the message then?”
“If
Drusilla and Buffy are connected then you’re a link in the chain between them.”
“But
wouldn’t that mean that Drusilla is helping Buffy?” Angel asked.
“Yes, it
would.”
The family
was stunned at the possibility that Drusilla might be on their side instead of
helping Dagon. It changed the whole dynamics of what they thought was going on
with Buffy. Angel stepped into the
middle of the room, ready to take charge.
“Okay,”
Angel said. “Let’s start deciphering the message.”
Everyone
started to scatter to the tables to begin the process of figuring out the clues
they’d been given.
“Hey, everybody,” Max said, from the door. “It
seems I got here just in time.”
To be continued…
