Disclaimer: A vague disclaimer is no one's friend, but you can find it in the earlier parts.

***********

Rupert Giles pulled himself upright with trembling hands. The taxi driver had shrewdly pulled off the road when the earthquake had started, but the violent shaking of the car had still been unsettling.

"That was a good one," the driver offered cheerfully. "Doesn't look like there's a lot of damage though."

"Can we continue?" Giles asked urgently. This hadn't felt like any ordinary tremor to him, but something much more ominous.

"Sure. Looks okay, far as I can see," the driver shrugged, shifting into drive and lurching the car forward. "Almost there, so we shouldn't run into any trouble. Although that was quite a little shakeup we just had. No telling what kind of mess is around...the...corner...holy crap!"

Giles was almost thrown into the front seat as the driver unceremoniously slammed on the brakes, but he was so transfixed by the sight before him that he hardly even noticed. The two men simultaneously opened their doors and got out, standing next to the cab and staring ahead in open-mouthed shock. The street ahead of them was, as they had anticipated, strewn with debris, the asphalt cracked severely in several places, but appeared mercifully free of any kind of human casualty. In fact, there were no other people in sight other than the two of them. Steam rising from the multitude of fissures lent the tableau a misty quality not unlike a dream. Except that several blocks ahead was the stuff of nightmares. One building was shrouded in an unnatural darkness, its damaged façade merely adding to its already existing atmosphere of malevolence. Clouds rolled overhead and a swirl of blue and red lightning was centered over the crumbling roof.

"Is that...?" Giles began, gesturing, and the cab driver nodded, his mouth still agape.

"The clinic. Jesus, the clinic!"

Giles blinked rapidly, righting his once again askew glasses with a steadier hand as he played out scenarios in his mind, coming to the only possible conclusion.

"Good Lord," he murmured to himself. "The clinic must have been built over the Hellmouth."

"What the hell is this? An eclipse or something?" the driver asked, fear edging into anger in his voice.

"Or something. I expect I'll walk from here. What do I owe you?" Giles asked crisply, fishing some bills out of his pocket.

"What? You're not going-"

"You've done more than enough, my good man. But I suggest you get yourself home post haste."

"You know what's happening?"

"I have some idea," Giles confirmed grimly. "My...my girl is in there. I've got to...for her."

"Fire rescue must be on its way," the driver drawled doubtfully. "Maybe we should wait-"

"I cannot," Giles cut him off grimly, shoving the appropriate amount of payment into his hands, then adding almost the same amount as tip. "But I think you should go, now. Quickly."

"I-"

Giles cut off the man by grabbing his shirt roughly and gesturing towards the strange phenomena above.

"Look! It's spreading!" the British man said tersely. "There may not be much time." The cab driver paled and took an involuntary step back, then nodded, settling into the driver's seat of the taxi again. He started his engine, then reached out through the open window, grabbing Giles' sleeve.

"Mister?" the man asked with some urgency. "My nephew...what if he's in there?" Giles said nothing as the man's eyes misted over. "He's a good little boy. Smart as a whip. My sis'll be devastated if..." Giles shook his head in vexation. He scarcely knew what he was going to do to find the Summers girl, let alone launch a rescue mission for which he was ill equipped. Looking into the driver's eyes, however, he knew there was no way he could tell him he would do nothing.

"I'll...I'll try. What is the boy's name?"

The driver nodded as he clasped Giles hand, tears of relief glistening in his eyes. Giles felt the generous tip he had given the man slipped back into his palm as the man spoke.

"Daniel. Daniel Osborne."

***********

Pain. That was all Angel knew for a time, but through the pain he dreamed. He dreamed of a beautiful blonde woman, barely more than a girl, really. He saw her frown at him, and later smile, and later...the girl died, and the pain was overwhelming...

Then she was there again, miraculously alive and reaching out and Angel could almost touch her...could almost...somehow he knew that everything would be perfect if he could...if he could...but no, no, he was losing her...

"Buffy," he moaned, gradually coming back to consciousness, the dream fading away almost immediately as awareness came. Angel attempted movement and immediately stopped with a groan. He couldn't quite remember what had happened or how he got here, or where here was, but it felt like he'd just taken a stake between the eyes. A moment later memory washed over him. The earthquake. The floor. The children.

Oh God. The children!

Angel dragged himself to his feet despite the pain, using his supernatural vision to look around the darkness, his fears realized. They'd fallen into the sewer tunnels, he remembered. But now he was alone. The kids were nowhere to be seen.

"Buffy! Willow! Other kid...Xander!" he called out, near panic. He staggered for a moment before finding his footing and starting down the tunnel, fear keeping him upright as he counted on his advanced healing capacity to restore his strength. They weren't dead, he was certain. He could hear three heartbeats, faint and distant, but he had to find them quickly. Other vampires used these tunnels to travel. And they were sure to smell what he smelled now, the smell that terrified him. That was making it hard to keep his human face on.

Blood...

***********

"Buffy? Where're we goin'?" Willow asked in a small scared voice. The fall through the floor had been one of the most terrifying moments of her life, and that was saying a lot considering her life already had been scary enough to make her stop speaking. She'd blacked out for a moment, mostly from fright, but other than a few bruises she was fine. Angel had broken her fall. Apparently Xander and Buffy had landed on him as well. Still, vampires weren't the softest things; Willow couldn't believe that none of them was badly hurt. Of course, she couldn't see either Buffy or Xander very well, it was too dark, but they both said they were okay. They'd tried to wake Angel, but he'd just moaned a little. Then Buffy had told them to come, and they did, Willow holding on to Buffy's shoulder and Xander holding on to hers. Buffy definitely seemed to know where she was going, but the tunnels seemed endless and Willow was thinking maybe they should have waited for Angel to wake up after all.

"Yeah, it stinks down here," Xander's voice wafted over. Her best friend sounded stressed and exhausted. Willow touched his hand on her shoulder with her free hand, giving it a reassuring pat. "Are we there yet? Wherever there is..."

"We're almost there," Buffy replied slowly. Her voice sounded strange to her friends, kind of sleepy. "Can't you hear it?" Both Xander and Willow strained to listen. They heard nothing that they hadn't been hearing since they'd fallen, including a few random squeaking noises that Willow wished she hadn't. The redhead shuddered.

"No...ummm...Buffy? You okay?" Xander asked nervously, sounding a bit out of breath.

"I think we should have waited for Angel," Willow voiced. "I don't like this."

"Willow's right," Xander panted. "We need to stop and...and..."

"Regroup," Willow offered.

"Yeah...that's what the army people say! Regroup!" Xander said in relief, then added in a low voice, "How do we do that?"

"You're the one who knows that stuff," Willow replied in a small voice. "I dunno how to-"

"Shhh!" Buffy shook Willow's hand off of her shoulder, and they could hear her moving away, the pace of her footsteps increasing. "Hurry! It's almost time." She sounded strangely at peace.

"No, no, no, this is bad," Xander muttered. "Buffy, wait! Don't!" His hand fell off of Willow's shoulder, just as a strange laugh echoed through the tunnels.

"Xander?!" Willow called out, whirling around, unable to see anything in the inky blackness surrounding her. "Xander? Don't leave me!" she wailed. "Don't leave me all alone!"

Suddenly a face emerged out of the darkness, yellow eyes glistening.

"Oh, you're not alone, sweetness," the vampire said mockingly as the girl cowered before him.

Willow found herself without the breath to scream.

***********

To Be Continued...