Spike stood up off the couch and began to pace. He was doing that a lot lately. It was a nervous habit of his and at the moment he was really nervous. Ilana didn't know he had made a deal with the slayer and he didn't want her to find out. The only thing he wanted at that moment was for him and Ilana to take off for Egypt and never come back. But they had to stay or they would die.
A knock at the door made him jump and he glanced at the clock that sat on the wall.
"Five to nine." Ilana spoke quietly, then went to the door. She opened it and saw Angel and Drusilla standing on the doorstep. Without speaking or even smiling she stepped out of their way and they walked into the warehouse.
Ilana didn't noticed the slayer and her friends when they crept in behind the vampires. Only Spike saw them and made motions with his eyes for them to hide. As Oz, Buffy, Willow and Xander found a place in the shadows, Spike turned to face the other three vampires.
"Angelus." He said softly. "Drusilla. I guess it's time."
Ilana nodded at him and went into the other room. She came back with different herbs and ingredients in her arms.
"Sit." Ilana commanded, pointing at marks on the floor. She had drawn a circle in red paint with an X in the middle. At four points around the circle she had drawn smaller squares for them to sit on. "Angel, you're there." She said, pointing to a square. "Drusilla to his left, I'm on his right and Spike gets the last square."
They followed her instructions and sat at the their places at Ilana set her ingredients out for the spell. She held a white bowl in one hand and her other hand was held out in front of her.
"Angel, pass me the wolfsbane."
He passed her a herd marked with the word and Ilana poured some into the bowl.
"Drusilla. The rat's eyes."
The vampire smiled and passed the bottle of tiny rats eyes over, enjoying the view of them as they moved.
Ilana uncorked the bottle and dumped a few into the bowl along with the wolfsbane.
"Spike, the hellbane and toadstones." She said and he passed them over to her.
She added a small amount of hellbane and one of the toadstones before mixing them all together.
"Do you know what spell she's doing?" Buffy whispered to Willow in the shadows.
She shook her head. "I've never seen those ingredients together before. It's something I've never ever heard of."
The vampire then stood and began to make her way around the circle. As Buffy looked on, each vampire slowly reformed into their demon faces. Spike first ripped his wrist open and let his blood fall into the bowl. Drusilla and Angel both did the same when Ilana came to them.
Willow looked at Buffy and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
They turned back to watch as Ilana added her own blood, crushed the ingredients and mixed them together. She stared deeply into the white bowl for a long moment before holding it up to the ceiling.
"I give to you my Master. I give you the mixture of life and of our blood." Ilana said slowly. "I give you every part of the demon soul and life. Come to us. Take us in to your soul and help us rule. We do this for you Master. It's all for you."
Buffy watched as Ilana began to chant something in Latin and turned to Willow for a translation.
"She's asking the Master to fill one of them with the demon." Willow whispered. "She's telling him that they will reign for him and once all the humans are dead that they'll call upon him and he will live again."
Ilana finished her chanting and stood up slowly. She dumped the contents of the bowl into the centre of the circle and Buffy watched the blood begin to run in four directions. Each trail of blood ran to a vampire and ended where they sat. The four vampires sat quietly, watching the blood.
"It's almost time." Ilana whispered quietly. "He is first going to show us what each one of us will do and then he'll choose one."
The blood in front of the Spike began to quiver madly. It splashed in the small pool of itself then began to form into a solid substance. It raised up off the ground and wrapped itself around Spike's body.
A smile of absolute happiness crossed Spike's face and soon images began to form around him. There were fights, gun shots, explosion. Behind the noises of the fighting there were people screaming at each other, punching each other until there was nothing left but a bloody pulp. There were people purposely hitting each other with cars, rows of men gunning each other down.
Then Sunnydale High School came into the picture. It was chaos. That was the only word that could be used to describe it. Students were screaming at each other, screaming at the teachers. Buffy had to hold back a gasp as she saw an image of Xander slamming a smaller boy into a locker, then dropping him to the ground with a sick grin on his face. She watched as Oz and Willow threw punches at each other, Oz's fist catching Willow in the jaw and making her fall backward. Buffy herself was kicking and punching people, screaming at them to get out of her way.
Ilana smiled. "We have our War."
Spike shook himself out of the trance and the images disappeared. The blood, falling into a liquid again on the floor.
The blood in front of Ilana rose around her next and Buffy braced herself for the images that would follow. There was sickness. Everyone was sick or dying. People on the street coughing up blood. Others lying in their beds, their corpses quickly cooling. Again, Buffy saw her friends. Xander was coughing in his bed, his eyes rolling around frantically in his head. He was losing his mind. Willow and Oz were both already dead. She saw their graves. Her mother, Joyce, was trying to make it to Buffy but the open sores that covered her body forced her from going anywhere. Giles lay in his bed, his eyes wide and unseeing. He died in the same place as Jenny had.
"Disease." Angel spoke a single word as Ilana opened her eyes.
It was then Angel's turn. The pictures that formed were not as horrible as what Buffy had seen with the other two. The people of Sunnydale were skinny, they all looked sick but she didn't understand what was happening. Suddenly a picture of a loaf of bread came up. As soon as they had seen the bread, the people in the images dove for it. They punched and kicked at each other, trying to get to the food.
"Famine." Drusilla whispered and Angel awoke.
Drusilla came last, she already knew what she would be, but it was part of the ritual. There were swarms of bugs. That was the first thing anyone saw. Flies, bees and wasps. Come to kill the people of Sunnydale. The vampires watched in amazement as the people in the images ran from the swarms of bugs. There were slowly being eaten by the bees and ants and wasps.
"Pestilence." Spike hissed, a grin crossing his face.
Drusilla opened her eyes and smiled.
Ilana looked forward at the mixture in the centre of the circle and began to whisper something in Latin.
"It is time my Master." Willow translated to Buffy, without being asked. "We are prepared, we're ready to become you. We the horsemen, war, famine, disease and pestilence are prepared for you to come into us and make us whole."
The four vampires stared forward into the centre of the circle as the mixture burst into flames. Screams sounded from within the burning fire and shrieks of pain and torture. A red glow built around the fire, then move upward hovering in the air.
"This is it." Buffy hissed. "Whoever that glow goes to is a dead man."
"Or woman." Oz added from where he hid behind them.
The vampires watched in awe, waiting for the light to go to one of them. It hovered above them for a moment longer, then dove forward, wrapping it trendils around Angel's body.
"Can you do it Buffy?" Xander asked, suddenly worried.
She nodded. "I can."
As they watched, Angel convulsed and twitched, looking like he was in extreme pain.
"Angel." Drusilla breathed, reaching for him.
Spike smacked her hand out of the way. "God damn it Dru, don't touch him. You'll ruin everything."
She pouted at him for a moment before turning to watch Angel again.
He twitched and writhed on the floor, squirming in pain as the others watched.
"When do I go?" Buffy wondered aloud. "Do I let it take him over?"
No one had an answer for her as they watched the Master's demon take over Angel's body.
Then it was over. It ended as soon as it had begun. Ilana watched Angel's fallen body nervously waiting for him to move. When he did, she jumped in surprise then smiled.
Angel stood and smiled over the other vampires.
"Master." Ilana was the first to speak. She walked over to him and bowed at his feet. Angel placed his hand on top of her head and closed his eyes.
"My little witch." He said. "You have pleased me. With your help I can now live out my dream."
Ilana smiled. "To reign."
Spike knelt at Angel's feet next, griping silently about it. Angel placed his right hand on Spike's head and his left on Drusilla's.
"Together. We can end this pitiful world and make it ours."
"Not if I have anything to say about." Buffy said, coming out of hiding.
Angel turned toward, his eyes narrowed. When he recognized her, he smiled. "Slayer. How nice it is to see you. Another show down between the two of us. This one will be different."
"Yeah, I'll make sure you never come back." Buffy spat, as Willow, Oz and Xander stepped out of the shadows to join her.
"There's a traitor amongst us." Angel said. "One of you told her what to do."
Drusilla snarled. "Not me sire."
Ilana shook her head. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so while the demon was taking over."
Spike looked into Angel's eyes and defiantly shook his head. "It wasn't me."
"Liars!" Angel roared. "One of you told her and after I deal with the slayer, whoever it was, will pay."
He turned back to Buffy, prepared to fight when she punched him in the face.
"I've killed you both once. I can do it again." She hissed.
"Killed us both?" The demon in Angel's body laughed. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
Buffy spun around and slammed her fist into his jaw. "It means I killed the Master and I killed Angel. It's not a problem for me this time."
Angel ducked her next punch and swept his leg under her feet, causing her to fall to the ground. Buffy rolled out of the way as he brought his foot down toward her and she kicked him in the back of the knee. Angel grunted and fell to one knee on the floor. He got up as Buffy jumped to her feet and tried to kick her in the face. She blocked it and retaliated with her own kick, connecting with his midsection.
As Buffy fought Angel, Xander and Oz ran forward to occupy Drusilla. From what they had heard, neither Spike or Ilana was a concern at that moment.
"Spike, what's going on?" She asked, moving closer to him.
He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders and shook his head. "I have no bloody idea love."
"Shouldn't we be helping him? Protecting our Master?"
Spike glanced down at her. "Do you really want to go up against the slayer and her friends?"
Ilana watched them for a moment before shaking her head. "Not really."
Xander tried to punch Drusilla in the face but she blocked his hand with her own. This gave Oz the opportunity to punch her in the stomach, hoping to disable her. It only made her angry and she slashed her nails across Oz's cheek. He stumbled backward, then ran forward again, attacking Drusilla with both hands. She responded with a vicious backhand, that Oz was sure shattered his nose.
Xander watched the blood spurt from Oz's face and suddenly got angry. "Nobody breaks the nose of my best friend's boyfriend." He snarled, then wrapped his hands around Drusilla's neck.
She squealed in response, and broke his grip by bending his fingers. Xander shouted in pain and looked for backup by means of Oz. The man still lay on the ground, trying to stop the blood from flowing.
Drusilla opened her palm and struck Xander as hard as she could. He groaned and reeled backward, hearing something snap in his jaw.
*I'm doomed.* Xander thought, as Drusilla stood over him and Oz. Suddenly there was a noise of something hitting her head and Drusilla's eyes rolled backward. She groaned, then fell forward onto Oz and Xander. They looked up to see Willow standing there, a crowbar in hand.
"Good job Will." Xander said, pushing the unconscious vampire off them.
Angel's eyes blazed yellow as he tore toward Buffy. She ducked his assault and came back with one of her own. Her fist rained onto Angel's face and chest and he tried to push her away. Buffy whipped out her stake and prepared to plunge it into his heart but Angel knocked it out of her grasp. She struck him hard across his face and he felt his lip split, the blood began to spill down his chin.
"Bad move slayer." He hissed, blood dripping from his chin onto the floor.
"No!" Ilana yelled, running forward and trying to wipe up the spilled blood.
"No use young one." Angel tried to speak, through broken teeth and a cracked jaw bone. "She started it. The slayer killed us all."
"What?" Spike glanced around wildly. "Ilana, what the hell is going on?"
"The blood." She sighed heavily. "The Master's blood can create the opening to Hell. We were not supposed to be around when it happened."
"Well close it." Spike said urgently.
She shook her head uselessly. "I can't. It can't be closed by magick alone. He has to be dead." She said, pointing at Angel.
"For God's sake Buffy!" Spike screamed. "Kill him!"
Buffy rolled toward Angel, and away from the blood. An opening had already appeared in the floor and it was getting bigger, fast.
"I need a stake!" She yelled back.
Spike searched the warehouse frantically for something that would work as a stake.
"Spike!" Willow called to him.
He turned to see her clutching a piece of wood from the door. Xander stood beside her nursing a broken hand, Spike guessed from trying to break the door. She tossed the wood to him and he smiled quickly in thanks.
"Buffy here!" Spike yelled and threw the board, praying she would catch it.
"No use." Ilana murmured. "They've escaped."
Spike watched as a black shape floated out of the hole in the floor, then broke into four shapes. Each shape formed into a horse with a person sitting on top of it.
"The four horsemen of the apocalypse." Oz said, sounding sick because of his broken nose.
Spike stared in shock. "I thought we were the horsemen." He said to Ilana. "What's going on?"
She shook her head. "I don't know Spike. But obviously we weren't enough. If they get out into Sunnydale then it's all over."
"Well, help me stop them." He said, running toward them.
Willow, Oz and Xander took Spike's lead, trying to stop the horsemen from escaping the warehouse. Willow banged the crowbar over Drusilla's head once more to make she was still unconscious, then she turned and slammed the crowbar into one of the horsemen as hard as she could. He fell from his horse, onto the floor and Willow continued to beat him, hoping to knock him out.
Xander swung at one of the men with his good hand, causing him to fall of the horse.
"You'd think they would at least take riding lessons." Xander commented as the horseman scared his own horse, causing it to whinny and rear up on it's hind legs.
"You might want to move Xander." Oz warned and Xander took a step back as the horse dropped it's front hooves to the ground, crushing the horseman's skull underneath them.
Xander grimaced in disgust, then moved to help Oz. They pulled the third horseman off his horse and slammed him into the ground. Xander used his good hand to hold him down as Oz pummelled him in the face until he too was unconscious.
Spike and Ilana had taken on the fourth horseman and he was lying on the ground, begging for his life. Spike grabbed his neck and twisted it sharply, breaking his neck. He fell to the ground lifeless and they turned again to watch Buffy.
She now held the piece of wood in her hands and was beating Angel viciously over the head with it.
"I thought she was going to stake him." Spike commented. "Not give him brain damage."
As Angel fell to the ground, Buffy went with him her makeshift stake the only thing between them. As she realized she too would be impaled if she stayed where she was, Buffy shoved the stake forward through Angel's body then rolled out of the way. He fell to the ground with a hollow thud, then burst into dust.
The hole in the warehouse floor suddenly stopped growing and as it faded, so did the bodies of the horsemen and their horses.
Buffy lay on the ground breathing hard until Spike came over and offered her his hand. She stared at it for a moment before accepting it and standing up.
"So that's it?" She asked. "Is it over?"
Ilana nodded. "You stopped it. I didn't think it was possible but you stopped it. We'll still be immune to the sunlight for a day more, but other than that, it's all over."
"What do we do with her?" Xander asked, pointing at Drusilla.
They all looked at Spike expectantly and he shrugged. "Do whatever you like with her." He smiled and squeezed Ilana's shoulder. "I have all I need right here."
"Egypt?" Ilana asked.
Spike nodded and confirmed, "Egypt." He looked back at Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz and smiled. "Thanks for you help, but if you don't mind I'll be going now."
Then he turned and shoved open the door of the warehouse, which Xander had broken. The sun had begun to come up and they all realized how long the fight had taken. Spike held out his hand and as Ilana took it they began to walk away from the warehouse. Away from Sunnydale.
"Hphm." Oz grunted.
"What?" Buffy asked, turning to him.
"When Spike came to us for help, he said he had a motivation but we wouldn't understand it until tonight." Oz nodded toward Ilana and Spike as they walked away. "I think we all understand it now."
"Gee and I sure hope they live happily ever after." Xander said sarcastically. "But maybe we should now go to a hospital since my hand is still broken."
Oz tried to smile but found it hurt too much. "I think he might be right. My nose really hurts."
Buffy nodded. "The hospital it is."
The three others began to walk away as Buffy stood in the aftermath of their fight. The near end of the world. Drusilla lay curled in one corner, Angel's ashes floated in the breeze. Buffy looked at the puddle of blood that covered he floor and the marks where the horsemen had died.
"No one is ever gonna believe what happened here." She muttered, staring at the scene.
"Probably not." Willow answered, and Buffy turned in surprise to see her friend there. "But at least we know what we stopped from happening."
Buffy nodded. "We know."
"I'm proud of you." Willow said. "You finally did it."
"Did what?"
She nodded at the ashes. "You finally killed Angel."
Buffy sighed. "So I did."
"No, it's a good thing."
Buffy frowned. "And how do you figure that?"
"As long as Angel's body was still alive, his soul could never rest. During all the time he's a vampire, without his soul, it just wanders in limbo. Where nothing ever happens. It's not Heaven and it's not Hell. Now that his body has finally expired he can rest in peace. He's not suffering anymore." Willow smiled. "I'm sure he's happy now and I'll bet he's thanking you."
Buffy shrugged. "Wherever he is, I'm happy as long as he's happy."
"Let's go." Willow said, wrapping a comforting arm around her friend's shoulder. "Xander and Oz need a doctor."
They walked in silence for a few moment before Buffy spoke. "Will?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
Buffy smiled. "Everything."
The End