SquidgeWorld Archive

(This is original creative material copyright Chris Kenworthy, based on characters that he has no right to owned by someone else blah blah biddy blah...)
Author's note: The scooby gang is trapped in Limbo, a Hellish copy of Sunnydale in a pocket dimension of the Hellmouth. Angel is there, and apparently, somehow, pregnant. Buffy and Xander are an item, and Cordelia has been through a lot since finding out about them and is still not totally okay with it. For more detail, see the earlier eps.

Prolog

Buffy paddled down the stream, the stars and bright quarter moon shining overhead. A stiff breeze blew, raising small waves, but the canoe forged on steadily. "Boy, isn't this beautiful?" she said out loud in appreciation.

"Oh, yeah," a young man said from the front bench. "Sandwich?"

"Uh, okay."

Her boating partner turned around a bit, and it was Xander! He picked up something from beside him and tossed it back to her. It was a split roll wrapped in thin plastic, apparently sliced with some kind of meat inside. "Uh, great."

Suddenly a big dark shape swooped out of the night air, right at Buffy. She felt a slight sharp pain in her neck, batted at the dark whatever-it-was, and it flapped away. Buffy's hand flew up to her neck by reflex, and a trickle of blood came off on it. She stared at her bloody finger in shock for a second.

"What the..." Buffy looked up and scanned around. Xander was still paddling from the front, oblivious to what had just happened. And someone, Cordelia no less, was walking towards them... on the choppy water!

"You didn't keep your guard up," Cordelia said, "did you, Slayer?" Buffy's mouth dropped open.

"Hey, Buffy?" Willow said. Buffy did a double-take and looked around the dark lake again. Where was Willow?

"C'mon, Buffy, wake up!" And suddenly Buffy was in bed, in the room she had taken over in the Chase house. Willow was sitting at the edge of the bed, and her face broke into a smile. "Oh, man," Buffy moaned, "did I miss the alarm again?"

"No, I think the alarm missed you," Willow said. "This one's running slow. But *it's* about to start." One of the weirdest things about the dimensional limbo the Slayerettes had found themselves in was that clocks didn't seem to run at the same rate. It had taken a while, filled with some unfortunate misunderstandings, before they had even figured that out, and longer for Willow to try to sort out an unambiguous way of keeping time... which Xander had immediately nicknamed "Willow time," of course.

"How much time do I have?" Buffy replied, charging out of the bed.

"Five or ten minutes," Willow said. "Plus the time to walk back there, and give or take a Willow-minute, of course."

"Gotcha."

* * * *

Buffy and Willow swept into the Rosenberg living room. "Hey," Oz said to Buffy. "Nice outfit." Buffy was wearing a sheer off-white blouse over a pale grey skimpy halter top, and a tight short skirt, light blue. "You'd better stay away from Angel dressed like that," Oz added.

"Thanks," Buffy said icily. The whole 'keeping her and Angel apart' thing had turned into this big running joke, and she wasn't happy about it. "He's not the one I'm wearing it for," she told him.

"Where do we stand?" Willow asked Oz, with a meaningful glance upwards.

"He's moving around up there," Oz reported simply. "We think he'll be coming down here in a few minutes."

"Is everything ready?" Buffy asked.

"Almost," Oz told her. "We'll be done when the time comes, probably."

"Probably?" Buffy repeated disbelievingly. "There's no room for probably. Everything has got to be right by the time he gets here," she told Oz. "This isn't a game, understand?"

"Uh, sure," Oz replied.

Suddenly Buffy's keen hearing picked up heavy footsteps on the stairs. "So much for that. He's coming!" she called out. Quickly the lights were all turned out and everyone got into their assigned concealment positions.

The footsteps made their way down the rest of the steps and into the darkened living room. "SURPRISE!"

"Whoa!" a very surprised Xander muttered as someone flicked the lights on.

* * * *

"Awake," a voice muttered.

Darla stretched in pleasant relief. Her legs banged into some kind of wooden wall when she tried to shift them too much, though. That was odd - the human legends might describe vampires sleeping in ornate coffins, but like most of her kind that she knew of, Darla preferred a more open space to take her rest. A hard surface, if possible, but that was a matter of taste from one vampire to another.

Wait a second... how was it that she had woken up at all? The last thing that Darla remembered was the fight with the Slayer, her miserable little friends, and *Angel*. She had been about to cripple the foolish little girl, Buffy, when Angel had staked her. The strike had taken her by surprise, yes, but in that last moment she had known the strike was true. Darla had been doomed.

So why, then, was she seemingly perfectly alright? Darla's eyes snapped open in frustration. She was lying in an wooden box, open at the top, but remarkably coffin-like. A blonde lady, probably a vampire, had been looking down at her, but turned away as soon as she saw that Darla was awake. Her clothes, thin white robes, billowed as she swirled away.

Who was that? Darla could swear that she had seen the woman before, but couldn't immediately match the name with the face - she had over four hundred years of memories stored up, after all. Still, the flash of unfufilled recognition puzzled Darla all the more. She hitched herself up on her elbows to take a better look. She was in a squarish gray room, several pieces of richly designed furniture contrasting with the sparseness of the rest of the space.

There were four other boxes like hers scattered nearby, each with a similarly confused vamp looking around. One was her old and trusted compatriot Luke. (Well, not *too* trusted... but never mind that.) Luke had *definitely* been slain - well, no sense worrying about the unexplainable. The other vamps... one had been a minor sergeant in the Master's army, the next was another of those faces she could remember but didn't know from where, and the last she wasn't even sure if she knew.

Just then, someone came into the room Darla *definitely* knew... the older man who had always been running around somewhere nearby when Summers was around, the one they said was a Watcher.

Darla didn't even think - she just leapt from the coffin at the Watcher, striking him to the ground with a single fist just as she landed. "What," she growled angrily at the watcher as he began to scramble back up, "the hell is going on here??"

Act One

Buffy wandered about the party, a faint smile tugging at her face. Xander was at the other end of the room, mobbed by birthday well-wishers, and Buffy didn't see the need to be constantly hovering by his side, even if she *was* his girlfriend.

"I was wondering," Angel said to Vanessa, "if now that things have calmed down somewhat, there was anything that could be done as far as... investigating the causes of... my condition."

"Your pregnancy?" Vanessa clarified. "Yes, I think there are some experiments we might try. I'll round up my people, and talk to the Watchers, after the party. Oops - I need to have a word with Buffy. Excuse me, please?" The elegant witch crossed over to Buffy.

"Hey there," she said to the Slayer with an expectant smile.

"Hi," Buffy replied, curious as to what Vanessa wanted.

"Back when we first came to you," Vanessa started, "you said you didn't ally with people whose motives you didn't understand. Later events made our alliance a 'fait accompli', but I feel as if I still owe you some information. But it'll have to be privately, and kept between us. Even my own circle doesn't know what I'm about to tell you."

"Uh, okay," Buffy said uncertainly. "We'll, um, set something up."

Suddenly the lights switched off. "Happy birthday to you," Willow sang, walking into the living room with a muchly-candled cake. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Xander, happy birthday to you." She set the cake down on the coffee table in front of Xander. "How come no-one joined in?" she inquired in a stage whisper.

"What, and completely ruin the performance?" Buffy joked.

"Yeah, I like your singing," Xander said. Willow blushed bright red.

"Well," Buffy prompted, "what are you waiting for, birthday boy? Make a wish and blow!"

Xander paused a moment in thought, gathered a deep breath, and blew. All the candles winked out impressively. For a second the room was lit only by Limbo-light through the windows, and someone rushed to flick the lights back on.

"I always said you were full of hot air," Oz joked as Xander made the first cut and started serving out cake.

* * * *

"So," Xander said, dropping down beside Buffy on the couch. "Does... mmph!"

Buffy took a few seconds finishing Xander's birthday kiss, since it had to be a good one, then broke off and let him start his question over again.

"Does the whole 'if you tell anyone your wish it won't come true' thing count," Xander started, "if the person you tell your wish to could help it come true?"

"Ooh," Buffy whispered in a scandalized tone. "Well, baby, that depends on how far this person would have to go." She winked teasingly at him.

Xander broke out in nervous laughter, then composed himself. "No, no, it wasn't that kind of wish, Buff. This time, at least... though if you're offering..."

"Na," Buffy replied with a waving gesture. "This offer valid only on genuine birthday wishes made while blowing out candles." She giggled. "So, what is it?"

"I want you to teach me how to fight."

Buffy's jaw dropped. "Huh? I, um, mean... what??"

Xander smiled weakly. "I don't mean to fight as well as you; I know you can't teach that. But, well, given that I'm going to be getting into tough spots as long as we're in each other's lives, I thought I should finally learn to defend myself." He paused to try to decipher the look on Buffy's face, then made one further attempt at persuasion. "You did it with Willow - she's the student watcher and she *knows* how to take care of herself in a fight now. That's what I want."

Buffy found her voice. "Are you sure? It's not gonna be easy - Willow'll tell you that."

"I'm sure."

Buffy considered a moment. "Done, then. Meet me in the basement after lunch. Wear... um, those clothes should be fine."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xander whined back, a slightly hurt tone in his voice.

* * * *

"That is enough!" the white-robed woman called out in a deadly voice. Quickly she strode across the room to help the Watcher to his feet. "If you have questions, I shall answer them. But you will treat me and my people with respect!"

"Why?" Darla snarled. "Who the hell are you?"

"You don't remember me, Darla? I'm offended. Queen Kaliya."

"Oh, right," Darla said, memory returning at last. She had been the ruler of a local vampire territory in France, back when she and the Master had been still working the Master's homeland in Germany.

"I am also the one who has restored all of you to undeath."

"What is *he* doing here, milady?" said one of the others, the one that Darla had thought was vaguely familiar. Apparently he recognized both this Queen Kaliya and the Watcher, whom he was pointing at.

"Mister Giles has become one of the brethren. He is my right-hand man. Anyone who has a problem with him has a problem with me... and trust me, you do not want me to have a problem with you."

"Fair enough," Darla said. "But I hope you're not naive enough to think that you can force or threaten us into working for you. I am Darla the Defiant, Consul of the Order of Aurelius, and I will *not* be compelled." She turned to face the Watcher and asked him, "What became of my Master? Of our order??"

"Your Master was destroyed," Giles said, with a slight bragging tone in his voice, "by the Slayer, as the gates of Hell were opening. The order, under the Annointed one, attempted to restore him, but Summers stopped that too. William the bloody slew the Annointed one and pressed what remained of his followers into his own service. As I understand it, the order of Aurelius lies in ruins."

"Damn her!" Darla swore.

"I've never cared for 'Orders,'" Kaliya interjected, "except for the orders I give to those I command. But if revenge would satisfy you, joining me will mean taking part in the final defeat of the Slayer Summers."

"*That*," Darla told her witheringly, "I can do myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Kaliya said with a smile. "She has taken stronger vamps than you, Darla. And this isn't the world you remembered. We are trapped in a dimensional Limbo between Earth and Hell."

"Well, I would explore this limbo and consult with my compatriots before making decision on your offer, your majesty." Darla said the last two words mockingly.

"I need no time to decide," the other vamp said. "I stand with my lady, as I did in days gone by."

"No, Jasper," Kaliya told him. "Go with them. Speak to them as my representative, since you know me. They cannot deny you, for you are one of them." She looked over to Darla. "Can you?"

Darla considered. "No," she said. "If he wishes to come and tell us of you, we will listen."

* * * *

The music coming from the door to Cordelia's room was fairly loud, and Willow put a good deal of effort into her knock, trying to make it noticeable.

"Who is it?" Cordelia called out hollowly.

"It's Willow."

A few seconds later, the cd, (Dar Williams, maybe?) stopped. "Come in."

Willow tentatively opened the door and stepped inside. "Hey, there." Cordelia's room was elegantly furnished and decorated, and quite a mess at the moment. Cordy herself was sitting disconsolately on her bed, wearing, (and Willow gasped at this in spite of herself,) sweats. Willow wouldn't have even thought that Cordelia *owned* sweats.

"What is it?"

Willow took the two books out of the crook of her arm and waved them a little in the air. "Watcher diaries. We thought you'd want to read the parts about your mother."

Cordelia gasped just the tiniest bit, and her face took on a little more interest. The recent crisis had revealed the possibility that Cordelia's long-lost mother had been a Vampire Slayer, and Willow's research into the Watcher diaries had confirmed it.

But Cordelia didn't hold out her hands for the books. "Well? I'm sure that you've read them. Summary?"

Willow sighed. "She was named Julia Caplin, grew up outside Portland, was found by Richard Dennon, her watcher, at fifteen. When she was eighteen, her parents were killed by the Sect of Sadrinum, an order of vampires who try to 'control' the number of watchers and potential slayers through arranged murders. They had been trying for Julia.

"Dennon became her guardian and took her to Sunnydale, to monitor the Hellmouth. There she fell in love with a young entrepreneur, Lear Chase, and after a few months they ran off to Las Vegas to get married. Dennon wasn't happy about that, thought they had been kidnapped by vamps or something, and the argument was big enough that Dennon was persona non grata in the Chase-Caplin house until he helped Julia fight off an attack of vampires during the christening of Julia's baby. That would be you, by the way, Cordy."

Cordelia acknowledged that with a curt nod.

"Julia started training again with Dennon after that, and a month later the active Slayer died and Julia was called to full service."

"Wait a second... she wasn't a vampire Slayer before?"

"She was a pre-Slayer. Like Kendra was before Buffy died the first time. In training, but not in full action." Cordelia nodded. "She and Dennon had to go off to Europe to stop someone there from ending the world, and Julia didn't think she could tell Lear and bring him and the baby with him. So she left him. They kept in touch by mail, and Dennon was trying to persuade Julia to tell him and ask them to come, but she wasn't going to do it. Then, Julia died, wiping out a cell of the Sect."

"And Dad got the news on my first birthday," Cordelia said, probably remembering when her father had told her his side of that story. "Whoa. What happened to that Sect, by the way? It's not like I can do anything about it, but I kinda have a score to settle with them."

"I think Buffy's predecessor finally wiped them out," Willow said. "They were kind of a priority threat. But there might still be some former Sect members running around... like that guy Damien, perhaps." Cordelia's face flashed over with pain, and Willow realized that this was still a difficult subject and changed the subject.

"You're not the only one who has a family secret in these diaries, by the way." Cordelia looked up in a silent question. "There's a mention in Richard Dennon's account of my father. He was the son of a Watcher, and meant to possibly be a Watcher himself, but he didn't make the cut." She smiled to herself. "I should have guessed that, maybe; Ira means 'watcher.'"

Cordelia smiled. "Thanks, Willow."

Act Two

"Okay, people!" Vanessa called out. They were gathered again in the basement of the Chase mansion, converted into a Watcher's library and witch's workshop. "We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to if we're going to solve this little puzzle, and standing around and chatting isn't going to help get it done. Are the practicioners all here?" The rest of the witches waved, faintly, and the ghost Giles and Jenny did too.

"Where's Willow?" Amy asked, realizing that she hadn't waved.

"Oh, she must still be up checking in on Cordelia," Giles said. "She'll be along in a few shakes, I'm sure."

"Okay, well, we'll start without her. Ground rules: non-practicioners please stay out of the way and don't bother anyone who's busy with idle questions. Practicioners, I'm going to be working you hard, so tell me when you need breaks. Okay?"

"Okay," said Willow, stepping down onto the landing and smiling.

* * * *

It was at least five Willow-hours of complicated workings, blood tests, preliminary divinations, dry research and unfathomable spells later when Buffy and an exhausted-looking Xander came by the workshop.

"Hey, what have you guys been doing?" Willow called over to them. "Nothing I wouldn't do, I hope!" She winked teasingly at them.

"Nothing you *haven't* been through, Will," Buffy replied, and Willow made a pretend-shocked face. "Just training."

"Ah," Willow smiled knowledgeably. "So, how tough was it, Xander?"

"Well, I'll live, I think," Xander moaned.

"I was tough on him," Buffy admitted. "But he did very well. I was thinking that we could go out on patrol together after dinner."

"Really?" Xander asked, pleased surprise on his face.

"Yeah," Buffy assured him. It's not like we ever find anything on patrol anyways, she thought to herself.

"Buffy, could I see you upstairs?" Vanessa asked her across the room.

"Uh, yeah."

"Continue this," Vanessa muttered to Amy as she excused herself from whatever experiment was going on at her bench. Buffy followed her dubiously up the stairs.

"I thought it was a good time for us to have that conversation," Vanessa said as she grabbed a container from the fridge and put it in the microwave.

"Um, good time, not so much, but let's hear it," Buffy said, sitting down at the table.

"Okay." Vanessa sat down opposite her, setting a glass of water down in front of each of them. "I'm not just any ordinary practicioner of witchcraft."

"Go on."

"Have you ever heard, from Giles or someone else, of the Children of Avalon?"

Buffy thought for only a second before answering. "Nope."

"Well, it is the Grand Council of witchcraft, responsible for protecting the great secrets of magic and apprehending those who would abuse the art." Vanessa took a deep breath. "I am one of them."

"I kinda figured," Buffy drawled back. "Knew you weren't just telling me all this for the fun of it."

Vanessa gave her a wry smile and nodded. "I first came here to Sunnydale about two years ago, when we first realized that Catherine Madison had gone out of control. I was to deal with her... except that you managed to beat me to it."

"Well, I would have left her for you," Buffy shot back. "Had I but known, that is."

Vanessa didn't dignify that with a response. "I soon came to realize the power of the Hellmouth, and that there were many young people with potential in the area. I started to train them, first Darrell, then Amy and the others. Then came the unfortunate misadventure with Miss Chase, after which I thought it would be best to leave town. We were just passing through town on a routine inspection when we got caught by the Limbo spell."

"Okay," Buffy said, finishing off her water and standing up. "Will there be anything else, Miss Bateman?"

Vanessa sighed. "Jim's a little restless... he doesn't have much to contribute to our investigation. May I assign him to patrol with you and Mister Harris?"

"Sure, whatever."

* * * *

"Okay, attention please!" Vanessa called as she returned to the basement workshop. "First off, Jim, you're going to be going on patrol with Buffy and Xander this evening. Secondly, everyone finish off what you're doing. I think we've learned about as much as we can with these nickel-and-dime tests. It's time for the big secrets. Darrell, Amy -- start preparing the space for the Ritual of Mededelen. Uh... Willow? Do you think you can get the focus ready?"

"Now hold on just a second!" Giles interjected. "What gives you the right to just decide that we're doing this?"

"Angel asked *me* to conduct this investigation, Mister Giles," Vanessa responded. "As I see it, that gives me the freedom to choose our lines of research."

"But not to co-opt a student watcher without asking her mentor," Giles shot back. "That ritual is... is..."

"What?" Darrell Flatt called out. "Black magic?" He snarled out the words sarcastically.

"No!" Giles shouted back. "Dangerous and risky magic!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Vanessa asked him forthrightly. "But the risks can be negotiated and the danger minimized. Trust me, Giles - I know what I'm doing."

Giles didn't look completely satisfied, but he stepped back away as the witches cleared away a wide space in the middle of the floor and drew a circular diagram on the concrete in colored paints. Jenny Calendar went over to talk to the few remaining observers, who quickly headed off for the stairs.

"Okay, are we ready?" Vanessa looked around. "Willow, wait for me to cue you, alright?" The student watcher nodded.

"Areverden, areverden!" Vanessa called out. "We call upon Wahrthier the Incorruptible, from this lost and lonely place!"

"From the depths of our confusion we call upon the knowledge of the Shadowed one," Darrell continued. "Guselia, parat od venies contratuur."

"From Limbo unto the darker realms we call, yet neither do we call upon the darkness," Vanessa said. "Let the nexus protect us from the greater evils as we speak and hear." She gestured vaguely off in Willow's direction.

Willow came forward and carefully stepped over the threshold of the diagram, into the protected triangle directly in front of Vanessa. "Marnox root," she muttered silently to herself, carefully pressing on something inside a small ceramic bowl with a pestle. "And a virgin's saliva." She blushed faintly, carefully leaned over it and spat, bringing a fleeting smile to Vanessa's face. Vanessa well remembered the days when it had been so easy to provide such a spell component. Willow carefully set the bowl at the point of the protected triangle, near the center of the diagram, and hurried back out.

"All is complete." Vanessa called out chantingly. "The center is defended. Let Wahrthier now come to us in spirit!" A wind blew up and the lights in the basement seemed to dim somehow. "Come!" The breezes grew stronger, and a nebulous something began to swirl at the center of the diagram. "COME!!"

The amorphous darkness clarified into a strangely inhuman face. "Who calls on me??" it said in a booming voice that was somehow not as loud as it seemed.

* * * *

"Well, this Kaliya seems to have been telling the truth about a few things," Darla decided out loud. "This place is precisely Sunnydale, except without the people... and with the changed sky." The multicolored streamers that made up Limbo's sky seemed almost to wave slightly at her in acknowledgement. "Where to next?"

"See what's beyond the town?" the strange bald vampire who called himself Dalton offered. "If this really is a dimensional Limbo, I'd expect it to start looking different somewhere."

"Hmm. I agree." Absalom said, and started leading the way.

Darla sighed and fell back to speak with Luke. "What do you make of all this?" she asked him in a whisper.

"More than strange," he admitted. "But I believe our best choice may be to join with Kaliya. If our Master is no more, what better choice to serve than one whom he treated as an equal?"

"He treated this 'Kaliya' as an equal?" Darla was surprised by that piece of news. "When? I know I knew her, but I can't remember the details."

"You never remember the details," Luke chided her gruffly. "She was in charge at Carnac back in the 1870's. We met with her in Wales, to discuss an attempt to open a portal at the Standing Stones."

"Right," Darla agreed. "They couldn't get an agreement worked out."

"No," Luke agreed. "She came to the Master's court, as well, in Germany. In 1898; you were off with Angelus at the time - hunting Gypsies in Romania." Luke snorted - they both knew how poorly that particular hunting trip had ended, losing the brilliantly cruel Angelus to gypsy magic.

"What did she want?"

"Routine matters, as far as I knew... except that she brought that vamp Jasper with her. He was my doing - an impudent little wretch from that small town in Wales; I'd meant for him to die without even realizing what he'd become. But Kaliya took him in, made him her protege. She'd brought him to 'meet his sire.'"

"Whatever," Darla shrugged this off. "What else do you know about Kaliya?"

"She's got power... quite a bit of it. Strong witch from her mortal life, chose freely to become a vampire and mesmerized a marauding vamp to change her. Worked India for a long time... picked up some strange psychic abilities over there, and foreign magics. No slouch in personal combat, either."

"Remarkable!" Dalton's voice came from up ahead. "Truly astounding."

Darla hurried ahead. Dalton, Absalom, and Jasper were standing beside what seemed like a curved black wall, arching up over their heads until it blended into the sky.

"Limbo ends here, it would seem," Jasper observed. "What now?"

"The Slayer," Luke announced.

"Right," Darla said. "Kaliya may have been telling the truth about Limbo, but I'd like to see the Slayer and her friends firsthand before I accept it all."

"This way," Luke said, nodding his head. "I can smell her - the Slayer. I'll lead you to her."

"You can??" Dalton said wonderingly. Luke ignored him and led the way back into town.

"He can smell her?" Jasper repeated aloud. "Yeah. That's attractive."

Act Three

"I, Vanessa Bateman, heir to the arcane secrets of the Parche'ma, ask your help, Wahrthier the Incorruptible," Vanessa intoned impressively to the demonic apparition.

"Very well," Wahrthier boomed back. "Ask, and it shall be considered."

"I beg of your wisdom on behalf of this one," (Vanessa turned and gestured impressively towards Angel,) "who has been touched by the mystic forces in a way we comprehend not. He seems to be, that is... well..."

"He is with child," Wahrthier observed, with an expression that could be considered a smirk, with a bit of imagination.

"Uh, yes," Vanessa confirmed, a hint of flush rising into her cheeks. "We are trying to figure out exactly how that could happen... and why."

"Of course," Wahrthier assured her. "I may be able to help with that. But first, I will need to hear more of the Angel's experiences in the Inferno."

Angel stepped up, his head shaking in confusion for a moment. "My trip to Hell, you mean?" The demon's face nodded slowly. Angel looked around, and one by one Vanessa, Willow, and Giles nodded at him. "Okay, well, let's see."

"The vortex came, and swirled around me, and suddenly I was somewhere else - a dark, featureless plain, like a desert that had never seen the light of day. I looked around in every direction, but they were all the same - rolling dunes and hills, black trees, and a featurelessly blacker sky. There didn't seem to be any advantage to staying where I was, though, so I picked a heading randomly and started moving.

"As I walked, the memories of Angelus' escapades began to return. How he had tormented Buffy, threatened her - and my - friends, killed Jenny Calendar... I, uh," Angel looked down towards his feet. "I broke down and cried right there where I stood...

"I also came to remember how Angelus had unearthed Acathla to suck the world to Hell. That's when I realized where I was... and because Buffy and the furniture of the mansion hadn't shown up, I surmised that Buffy had managed to close the vortex.

"I don't know how long I had been walking when the first one came. It had the body of a giant ant, the head of a wolf and the arms of a man. I tried to run away, but the thing could outdistance me without even trying. It grabbed me and held me in the air as it looked me over.

"'Well, well,' the beast somehow said through its lupine mouth. 'Passing strange - a vampire child with the spirit of a mortal. Are you mortal, little vampire?'

"'No... I'm a demon, like you,' I said challengingly. I mean, I am, in essence.

"'He is a demon,' another monster called out, 'but he has a human soul. And for the sake of humanity, he hunts and kills our brethren on the Earth.' The new demon walked up beside the ant-thing, and I could see it clearly - a giant ape with huge translucent fly-like wings, scales on its forearms and demonic claws instead of paws, and two extra heads - a dragon's and a man's. A snake coiled around the monster's thick legs - I couldn't be sure if it was a pet or somehow attached to him.

"'But he is on the Earth no longer,' the ant-thing called out. 'We must exact vengeance, for the sake of our brethren.' And suddenly, in an instant, the hill was filled with hundreds of strange creatures, whose mutations I couldn't even begin to describe. I was tied to one of the black, spiny trees, and tortured many different ways for a period of short interminability.

"And then a new voice called out over the plain. 'Stop! Release that vamp at once, for his time to face eternal torment is not yet! This Angel has a long road to walk before the likes of you may have him.' And the demons obeyed! They untied me from the tree and left me alone.

"From then on I didn't see such creatures again. Occasionally some manner of demon spirit would come to torment me, minor devils such as the Horrors, but mostly I simply wandered on in isolation, never seeing an end to that horribly lonely desert.

"But the voice from the sky spoke with me several more times. About good and evil, demons and mortals. Some times it seemed to be trying to persuade me of something, or convert me to something, but I could never be sure. It talked much of there being no such things as good and evil, only loyalties to one's own kind. It argued that even though I had human sensibilities, I wasn't a human anymore, but a vampire, and that the only 'good' for me was to work with my own kind. I didn't believe the voice for a long time, but as time passed, I lost my ability to argue with it.

"I'm not sure how long I was in Hell. There was never any change in the sky, and the hunger never came upon me, though I drank no blood. Then, all of a sudden, I beheld a wall of rippling light beyond the next hill, and ran to see what it was. Through the wall, I saw Buffy and her friends fighting Queen Kaliya and her vampires. Willow saw me and called out, and I rushed over to the aperture. Buffy touched the wall at the same time I did, and... well, do I need to go on from there?"

"No," Wahrthier said. "Many of your conclusions are true, Vanessa of the Children of Avalon. However, Angel's condition is not an idle mischance. It was carefully arranged by that power that spared him from the demon hordes of the Black Desert. Queen Kaliya's spell was caused to be started, establishing the Hellmouth connection from the Master's lair to Angel, and it was intended to be interrupted in exactly such a way as it was. Careful manipulation of the quantum threads and the dimensional possibilities created this child within him - a mix of Slayer, vampire, and something beyond."

"Which power was this?" Vanessa called out, and winds began to blow around the basement once again. "Tell me his name!!"

"Samael." With that, Wahrthier's face winked out and the room returned to normal.

* * * *

"Aaah!" Xander exclaimed. "What's that... behind me!?" He spun about and executed a crescent kick with a gutteral 'hai!'

"Take... that," he continued, turning partway to the right and striking out with a karate chop. "And that, vampire scum!" He jerked his elbow violently back behind him.

"Mm-hmm!" Xander turned around at the sound of a throat clearing, to see Buffy and Jim staring at him. Jim was smiling, or perhaps smirking, but the look on Buffy's face was annoyed.

"Look - I think it's great that you're enjoying this stuff, Xander," Buffy began slowly, "but I'm gonna have to ask you to *not* do that." She smiled at Xander for a moment, then resumed a serious face. "While we're out on patrol, at least. We're not the power rangers here!"

"Oh, okay," Xander said, purposely letting his face fall with disappointment. Buffy frowned, then caught the twinkle in Xander's eye and grinned, slapping him playfully.

"Say," Jim broke in as they turned a corner, "how many times have you patrolled Limbo, Buffy?"

"Um, I dunno - maybe twenty-five," she guessed.

"And how many times have you actually found anything?"

"Well, counting our initial survey... one."

Jim gave her an annoyed, 'then what are we doing out here?' look.

"Make that two!" a deep voice called from behind them. Buffy spun about, and the others followed. Buffy's mouth dropped open in shock.

Five vampires, all of which she recognized, and four of which she had killed, stood before her in a tight pack. Luke, the Vessel of the Harvest. Darla, Angel's unholy sire. Jasper, the rogue mercenary who had almost killed her with a magic sword and ring. A dark-skinned vampire who had been at the Master's interrupted restoration and a bald one she had seen with Spike rounded out the party.

"Jeez, you guys really never do give up, do you?" she asked sarcastically.

"Now, what would be the fun in that?" Jasper replied, pulling out a short knife.

Buffy knew that bravado wasn't going to intimidate these vamps... well, maybe she could scare the two in back, but they weren't the big problem. She grabbed the stake from inside her sleeve and waited for what was coming next.

They charged as one, or did their best to, and Buffy was knocked to the ground by Luke as she tried to block Jasper. Someone else gave Luke a flying tackle, occupying him for a second, but Darla kicked her in the ribs and dropped down onto her torso, weighing Buffy's midsection down through her knees and grabbing her shoulders to keep her still for the bite.

But Buffy knew how to deal with that. Her legs were now free, and she put them into play. First one knee shot forcefully up to hit Darla on her tight butt just as the vamp was about to bite. Then the slayer wrenched both her knees up to close like clamps about Darla's hips and throw her partway off of Buffy. A blow from Buffy's open palm to Darla's forehead finished the job, and the Slayer sprang to her feet and surveyed the situation.

Luke and Absalom were menacing Xander and Jim, both of whom were pinned up with their backs to a wall fifteen feet away, and Jasper was standing right between her and them, his blade at the ready. Behind him, Dalton skulked nervously, but there was a cold gleam in his eye. "En guarde, Slayer!" Jasper called out.

"Oh, great," Buffy muttered to herself.

Act Four

Jasper leapt at her, knife first, and Buffy was able to dodge him only with difficulty. The vamp mercenary turned and oriented on her again, and as if that wasn't enough to worry about, Buffy saw Luke reaching for Xander out of the corner of her eye.

With a flash of desperate inspiration, Buffy jumped away from Jasper towards the still-stunned Darla, kneeling beside her and putting the stake up to her chest. "Stop!" she called out.

The other vampires reluctantly stood still. "Any of you vampires want Blondie dead," Buffy continued in a hoarse cry, "all that you have to do is move. Anyone? Anyone??"

Nobody moved.

"Xander, Jim, come towards me. Remember, Luke, one move is all it takes." Luke and the vampire next to him seemed uncertain, but allowed the human boys to pass by them and come near to Buffy.

"It doesn't matter, Buffy," Jasper said. "I'm not about to let you go for the sake of someone I hardly know - even if you are my grand-sire, Darla." Darla scowled back at Jasper.

"Okay, if that's the way you wanna play it, I just stake her now and we get on to the main event," Buffy said. "But I staked you once, Jasper. Are you sure I wouldn't be able to do it again? I'll put my life up against all of yours, with these guys watching my back - I know I'll at least take some of you with me." She glared at Jasper. "On the other hand, if you want to call the whole thing off, I let Darla up and we all walk away."

"One condition," Darla groaned. "That we talk."

"Talk? You didn't seem much interested in talking before," Buffy pointed out.

"Well, it's a question of priorities. Priority one is killing you. Failing that, priority two is to talk."

Buffy considered, and shrugged. "No problem with me. Are we all agreed?"

Everyone nodded, and Buffy let Darla back up. "Okay, so talk."

"So..." the vampires gathered together again as Darla considered. "Are we really in a dimensional limbo?"

"That's what it looks like," Buffy confirmed.

"The one who calls herself Queen Kaliya," Luke asked gruffly. "She brought us here?"

"Hmm," Buffy thought about that. "I'd call it more of an accident, to do with her spell, but close enough."

"Anything else?" Darla asked her companions. Nobody had any more to contribute, and the five vampires turned and left.

"Not even a thank-you," Buffy complained. "Typical. Come on, guys, let's get back to base camp. I'm sure the watchers will be interested in knowing we got a case of old enemies never dying."

* * * *

"So," Willow said as she, Angel, Vanessa, and Giles headed into a spare room, "Samael is behind Angel's pregnancy?"

"He *may* be behind it, Willow," Giles corrected her. "Wahrthier may be unaligned with the other demon powers against humanity, but he is far from reliable. We cannot afford to take what he told us as a certain truth."

"Then why were we talking to him?" Willow asked plaintively.

"Because I thought it might give us a good clue of where to look next," Vanessa said. "But I didn't expect him to be saying anything like that."

"Still, why would he lie about something like that?" Willow asked. "And what does it really matter?"

"Because if he told the truth," Angel said quietly, "If my release from Hell and the conception of this child was a plan of Samael's... I'll kill myself."

"What??" Willow noticed suddenly that Angel was holding a wooden stake in his hands, playing with it idly. "You... you wouldn't. You couldn't!"

"Why not?" Angel raised his face to her, and there was fearful determination in his eyes. "I've done it a hundred times before. It wouldn't, um," and he swallowed with effort. T'wouldn't be much different just because it was my own heart, now would it?"

Willow was absolutely dumbstruck for a second. "But Angel - why?"

"Why?" The word came out in a sudden cry as anger flooded Angel's face. "You need to ask me why after you looked up Samael to stop Kaliya's spell? I've... that is, Angelus knew vampires who worshipped Samael - who could actually contact him in Hell. He is the purest incarnation of evil I could ever think of. He wants nothing other than a return to the old times - the ancient demons ruling over the Earth with supreme indifference, the lesser fiends free to run amok through humanity, hunting and killing wherever they please."

Angel stood up, possibly so as to diatribe more effectively. "Witches prostituting themselves at the feet of the Old ones for the sake of power and magic, and EVERYBODY else either enslaved, in torture, or dying!! That's the 'after' picture for all of his schemes, and I don't think I need to tell you, it goes against everything that any of us stand for. There's no sacrifice too great to stop him!"

Willow stood up herself and grabbed Angel's wrists in her hands. "Yeah, yeah, I know that," she told him soothingly. "But let's look at the cases, Angel. Worst-case, yeah, this child really is some sort of hellspawn destined to bring the apocalypse. Then, can you be sure that killing yourself will really kill it, here in Limbo where were we can hardly tell up from down some days and everything seems to be stacked in favor of the demons and vampires?"

She looked piercingly into Angel's eyes. "And what if it's not, if Wahrthier was just selling us a load of brimstone? *You'd die*, Angel. And all you'd take with you is an innocent child who deserves a chance to make a life for itself. It's a stupid risk, Angel."

Angel looked inscrutably back at her. "I know that," he finally admitted. "And I wouldn't do it - not unless I were sure."

"Well," Willow said, "I think I can happily speak for all of us when I say we're *not* sure." She sat back down in quiet triumph.

Angel looked down at his own hands and dropped the stake.

"I had better go speak with Darrell," Vanessa said. "Giles?"

"Hmm?" Giles looked up at her. "What?"

"I think they need a moment, Mister Giles."

"Oh, yes. Quite right." He followed Vanessa out of the room.

Willow and Angel looked at each other for a long moment. "I didn't want to do it - you know that," Angel told her once the moment was done. "I just needed to be sure that I wasn't blinding myself to the truth out of cowardice."

"Cowardice?" Willow repeated disbelievingly, standing up again. "Do you think it's cowardice to make a choice for life? You're not afraid of death, Angel; if I know anything about you I know that. But do you know what really takes courage? To choose the long and lonely road, like you just did, and to stay on it."

"It can't be that lonely," Angel said, giving her a tentative smile. "Not if you've got friends who will walk it with you."

"Yeah," Willow replied, a faint blush coming to her face. "So, are you feeling better now?"

"A bit," Angel said, sighing.

"Need a hug?" Angel looked over at Willow in surpise, then grinned and nodded. "You really are a good friend, Angel," Willow whispered as she put her arms around his chest in a comforting embrace. "Really." Rising to her tiptoes, she kissed the vampire on the cheek.

Angel froze in surprise for a second, then moved his mouth over and kissed Willow gently on her lips. He broke it off after a second, but Willow suddenly wrapped her arms around Angel's neck and kissed him back with more passion.

The door opened behind him. "Hey guys, what's..." Oz broke off as he realized what was going on. He stared at them, wide-eyed, for a few seconds. Willow looked from Angel over to her boyfriend, for some reason unable to break off the forbidden smoochie. Until Oz swept back out of the room and slammed the door closed. Willow and Angel disentangled themselves and Willow hurried out after Oz.

She caught up with him in the front hall, as he was about to walk out the front door. "Wait, Oz..."

The wereboy turned around. "Do you like him?" he asked Willow challengingly.

"What?" Willow shook her head in confusion. "Do I like Angel? Well, sure, he's a great friend..."

"No," Oz corrected her. "Do you *like* him... like you like me?"

"Huh?" Willow had to stop a moment and think about that one. "Uh, well, yeah, I guess... a little," she admitted reluctantly. Oz opened the front door to the Chase estate and left without a word. Before the door had even swung closed, it was caught by another hand, and Buffy, Xander, and Jim walked in. "Hey, Willow," Xander said. "What's with Oz?"

Willow burst into tears.

* * * *

The ringing knock on the security door of the hideout brought Kaliya striding quickly out of her study. After a rapid exchange of gestures with the vamps on guard, she nodded, and the door was opened and the five reborn vampires came into the hideout. "Well?" she asked.

Darla looked at the others for confirmation, then nodded. "Yeah. We'll work with you."

Kaliya smiled broadly. "Good. Let's get you acquainted with the details of our tactical situation. This way please." She pointed the way back into the rear corridors of the hideout.