The Coming of Lilith: Part Five
by Elf
The image was blurry, smoky, moving in slow motion. Angel walked slowly in the warehouse, the rotting zombies and other vampires ignored him. It was like walking underwater, it had a distinctive dreamlike quality.

Then Angel knew he was dreaming. There was an upper level, a cat walk. There was a rope suspended from the ceiling, and suspended to the rope was a person. A small familiar figure. He walked closer.

Lilith's slim form appeared above him, sitting on a crate. She crossed her legs and looked down at him. Her laughter echoed strangely in the dim, candle lit room. The demoness said, "Look up Dark Angel. Look up and see what I want you to see."

He looked up and gasped.

Buffy was the dangling person. Her long blond hair fell into her face, obscuring it. She turned her head and looked down at him. Her enormous green eyes were even wider in terror. She cried out, "Angel!"

"Buffy!" He shouted back at her, ready to fight all of the undead, vampire or not, in this room to save her. Lilith threw back her head and laughed.

Angel growled and approached her. He climbed to the crate that Lilith was lounging on. He grabbed the demon witch by her leather bodice and jerked her off the ground. She laughed even harder.

Angel snarled at her, "Let her go."

Lilith laughed and replied, "If you ask nicely."

"Angel!" He looked up at Buffy again. The look she gave him was of one that knew that she was going to die. Her body crumbled to dust before his eyes.

Lilith laughed, "You didn't ask nicely."

Angel screamed Buffy's name helplessly.

"*Buffy*!" Angel bolted upward, realizing that he was in his bedroom, that it had all been a dream. He got out of his bed and quickly dressed. He walked into the office and looked at Cordelia and Doyle.

Doyle asked, "What is it Angel?"

Angel looked out of the window, there was still two hours of daylight left. Angel answered, "Lilith." Then, before Doyle could ask another question, Angel told Cordelia, "Call up Giles. Now."

Cordelia nodded as she picked up the phone. He started to pace the room. He wondered if the dream was conjured from his imagination or if it was a prophecy. He wasn't physic, but, somehow he always knew when Buffy was in trouble. If that demon bitch touched one hair on Buffy's sweet blond head, he would send her to Hell, personally.

"Angel's really wigged right now, Xander. He needs to speak to Giles," Cordelia was saying. Angel stopped pacing and turned to face her. Cordelia went pale under her California tan. She stammered, "She's been *what*? Oh my God."

Angel took the phone from Cordelia and said, "Buffy's been taken. I figured as much."

Xander Harris's voice was more than a little agitated as he said, "Yeah. Spike said he felt something weird last night, him and Giles thinks that it was that thing that he sensed that took her."

"I know what took her," Angel told the boy.

"*What*?" Xander exclaimed.

"I know who took her, just get me Giles, I need his help." Angel sat on the desk as the boy ran to get the Watcher.

Doyle and Cordelia were looking at him expectantly. Angel looked out the window. He glared at the sunlight. He wanted to rip that demon witch limb from limb.

Giles's voice came over the other line. He said, "Angel, Xander said that you know who took Buffy."

Angel nodded as he replied, "It was the Dark Mother." Giles would probably know the title.

"Lilith?" he asked, "I thought she was only a myth."

Angel answered, "No she's real, and she's here."

"In Los Angeles?" Giles asked.

Angel nodded as he replied, "The City of Demons. She came here about a week ago."

"Did you face her?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Good God, and you managed to get away from her *alive?*" Giles asked in disbelief. His concern for Buffy was evident in every word.

"Barely. Giles, tell me everything you know about Lilith, any weaknesses she might have and so on," Angel told the Watcher.

He could imagine Giles taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. The Watcher said, "Well, as you know she was the person that the demon fed off of and she, inturn, drank his blood, becoming the first vampire. She is written to be very powerful, and she has the ability to bend minds to her will."

"Yeah, she is also a witch Giles, and a necromancer. With the help of a local witch, I destroyed an army of zombies she rased. She can also cast binding spells without even batting an eyelash," Angel told Giles.

"Good God, my books tell me nothing about that," Giles murmured.

Angel looked at Cordelia and Doyle, both of them were wide eyed as they listened to Angel's half of the conversation. There was the familiar sound of pages turning over the other line. Giles said, with fear and dread rising in his British accent, "There is nothing else about her in any of my books. They all say the same thing, ‘Slayer and Paladin both have faced her and died. She is almost indestructible. Only a creature of demonic proportions may be able to destroy her. Take heed Holy Knight or Slayer who faces her, she has killed many of your kind and you are nothing to her.' Not very encouraging."

Angel narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. He asked, "Only a creature of demonic origins could have a chance to destroy her, why?"

Again, more pages turned. Giles answered, his voice deep in thought, "It doesn't say. It only mentions a spell of protection that only a creature that had survived the flames of Hell can endure."

A quick grin flashed across Angel's features. He told Giles, "Thank you, Giles. I swear that I'll bring Buffy back to safely."

"Angel . . ." Angel hung up the phone before Giles could say anything else. He had a plan. Quickly he dialed Fallon's phone number.

In about fifteen minutes Fallon had arrived. The small, elfin witch stood in the dark privacy of Angel's apartment, away from Doyle and Cordy's prying eyes. Angel watched as the small witch crossed her arms and asked, "Angel, Big Guy, why the hell do you need this crap?"

Various wards of protection and potions were placed on a thick table. Angel picked up a small bottle filled with a thick green liquid. Light shone through it, casting a slight emerald glow on the table face. He put the bottle down and absently answered, "I'm going to face Lilith."

"Who?" Fallon asked in disbelief. Angel remembered that he didn't answer her questions about the zombies.

Angel answered, "The necromancer who raised the graveyard of zombies. She is Lilith, the first vampire."

"No shit," Fallon exclaimed. Then her catlike eyes widened as she said, "Holy shit, Angel, you're gonna go toe to toe, head to head with the first vampire. No wonder why you wanted all this protection crap."

"Do you know anything about her that can help?" he asked as he picked up a small bottle filled with a ruby colored liquid.

Fallon shrugged her small shoulders and answered, "Not much, except she could blast your ass against the wall and that she could fry you as well. That she could do all kinds of funky shit. Like energy crap and stuff."

Angel studied a dark blue potion and asked, "What's this one?"

"Oh, you don't want to drink that," Fallon said, "It's a protection spell. The Elixir of Helious. Very powerful, but only a creature that has, ‘survived the fires of Hell can withstand the horrific power of this potion.' You don't want to take it . . ."

Angel twisted the top off of it and gulped the contents down. Fallon watched wide eyed. Liquid fire pulsed through his veins for a moment before it settled in him in a strong glow. Fallon wondered, confused, "Only a creature who had been to Hell and back . . . That would mean that you . . ."

Angel sadly smiled at her. She cursed, "Holy shit!"

He said, "Fallon, listen carefully. You need to hide. Don't invite anyone into your home. All right?"

The elfin witch nodded as she pushed her light brown hair out of her catlike eyes. She said, "Okay Angel, whatever you say."

"You're gonna go after Lilith. Alone. With no help," Doyle said as Angel put on his leather jacket.

Night had just fallen. Angel knew what he needed to do. He was ready to face Lilith. He had no choice. He ignored Doyle and Cordelia's worried pleas. He had to do this alone. Buffy was counting on him.

That one thought over shadowed every thing else. Buffy needed him. He stood up to his full height and looked at the skyline, projecting all of his senses to find her.

A voice whispered in his mind. Angel thought, She had Buffy, that alone had signed her death warrant.


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