Disclaimers : Check back to part one for full disclaims and what not
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Part Five
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Jenny Calendar paced quickly through the familiar halls of Sunnydale high. Cordelia was really panicking on the phone so she had gotten there as fast as she could. When she reached the library, a sick sense in her stomach told her why.
"Oh my God," she exclaimed as she entered through the doors.
Cordelia was trying to clean up a bit. She needed to keep her mind occupied or she was going to have a nervous break down.
"Cordelia - what happened?" asked Jenny astounded.
Cordelia quickly ran down the events of the past couple of days.
"Well - how are we going to find them all?" she asked.
"Oh no, " replied Cordy defiantly, "I am not going on a wild vampire chase. I've already broken my curfew, my parents are going to kill me!"
"This is more important than a curfew Cordelia. They could all be dead right now! We have to go after them!"
Before Cordelia could reply, a stirring on Giles' desk caught there attention. Cormerik was starting to come around. Ms. Calendar and Cordelia watched in amusement as the bird pulled itself up on it's spindly little legs and swaggered around on the table top in a few experimental steps. It started flapping it's wings madly for a moment. Once he was certain no permanent damage had been done, he calmed down and gazed up at the women.
"What is that?" asked Jenny, pointing at the bird.
"Oh - that's Callista's bird. Umm ... Cornflake ...no .... Cornmeal .... convoy ..."
Cormerik, obviously frustrated with the girl's lack of memory, squawked madly in protest for a moment. If birds could have facial expressions, he'd look mighty disturbed.
"The bird's name is not important ... no offense," she added, gazing back at the perturbed raven, "What is important is that we track this Catherine down and rescue them."
Cordelia sported a really defiant look on her face. The prospect of facing vampires and an immortal evil was not very appealing. However, as much as she would have rather been at home with a nice Swedish massage, she realized that in the long run she had no choice.
"Fine, I'll help. But if I get killed, it's all their fault."
"Good. Now, we just need to know where to find them."
Both of them thought long and hard. Suddenly, the tiny little light of an idea flickered in the back of Cordelia's mind.
"Didn't that Spike guy used to hang out in that old factory?" she asked.
"Yes," replied Jenny, "We were their when they were trying to reassemble the master. That's as good a place as any to start."
Cormerik had heard enough. He decided that if he was going to find Callista, he would have to take things into is own hands - I mean wings. He leaped off the desk and flapped as fast as he could out of the library and down the hall. Ms. Calendar reacted by grabbing Cordy by the arm and pulling her after the bird.
* * *
"She's doing it again," complained Xander, "You're her sire, make her go away."
"Oh, and what am I going to do? Offer her a cookie?" replied Angel hotly.
Drusilla was still hanging around them. It was obvious to them all that she was a dangerous vamp (not that all vamps aren't dangerous, but psychotics are impressively vicious). She still rambled on and on, but now it was only to make them uncomfortable. It was like a weapon for her.
"Do I bother you?" she asked innocently.
"Yes, you're a Loony Toon," replied Xander uncomfortably.
"That's not very nice. If you don't behave, you will have the same punishment as Ms. Edith."
Drusilla held up her doll. One of the eyes had been poked out. "Ms. Edith is in darkness now. She has been bad, and will not have her play time."
Xander recoiled in disgust. Spike, who had been watching the little exchange with mild amusement, was starting to get bored.
"ENOUGH!" he cried, "Cat, what are we waiting for. I say kill the lot of them."
"Oh come now Willy, let's rush into things. I'm waiting for Callista here to get her strength back so I can fight her. Then the rest are yours," replied Catherine.
"But it'll be like shooting fish in a bloody barrel!"
"Oh but what's the fun in doing it that way?"
"The fun of killing them!!!" exclaimed Spike impatiently, "Besides, the longer their alive, the more likely they are of coming up with an escape plan."
Catherine burst out laughing. "And how are they going to get out? Is Cordelia going to come and rescue them?"
"Hey! exclaimed Xander.
"Oh, don't look so surprised Hon. You know, she's probably out getting a manicure or lying unconscious somewhere - OOPS! I've spoiled the surprise," laughed Catherine in pure delight.
"What are you talking about? What did you do?" demanded Xander.
"Did you kill her?" asked Dru softly.
"Relax, I haven't killed Cordy, although I may send somebody after her later just for fun."
Xander was clearly getting angry. "Don't you touch her."
"Or what? You'll kill me? You're hardly in a place to be making any threats."
* * *
Outside the factory, Cordelia and Ms Calendar pulled up inside Cordy's beamer. They got out of the car and approached the old building warily.
"Okay we're here. Now what?" asked Cordelia. She really didn't want an answer.
"We need to find a way in," said Ms. Calendar as she examined the old building.
"Now there's a plan," replied Cordelia sarcastically to herself
Jenny simply rolled her eyes and went around the side of the building. Cordelia stayed where she was. A few moments later she saw Cormerik fly overhead. He flew into an open window.
*Pfft, he has it easy* she scoffed to herself.
"CORDELIA," called Jenny a few minutes later. Cordelia rushed around the side of the building to find Ms. Calendar standing at an unlocked and unguarded back door.
"Doesn't this seem a little too convenient?" she asked the older woman.
"Maybe so but it's our only shot."
Jenny grabbed Cordelia by the arm and pulled her inside. It was dark and musty. The perfect place for vampires. The crept silently and cautiously through the maze of halls and old boxes until a dim light could be seen ahead.
"Get down Cordelia," she whispered as the light grew brighter. By now (much to Cordy's dismay) they were down on their hands and knees. But they could now see the clearing of the factory - and it's occupants. Buffy and Callista were a mere three feet away from them, tied up. Xander, Giles, Willow, and Angel were being confined in a large metal cage thing, and the place was crawling with vampires. The moved as close as the possibly could to Callista, who was the most easily accessible.
"Callista. Psst. Callista," whispered Cordelia.
She failed to get Callista's attention, but Angel, who was staring at Buffy, noticed movement in the shadows. It was Cordy and Ms. Calendar.
"Hey you guys. Look over there," he said quietly.
Everyone turned as nonchalantly as they could to see the two intruders.
"I told you she could get help, " scoffed Xander, however this was not an appropriate time for gloating.
Now they had Callista and Buffy's attention. Or more accurately, the knife sticking out of Cordelia's back pocket had their attention.
"Cordelia," whispered Callista, "Cut us loose."
Cordy carefully reached for the knife. She pulled it out and began slowly cutting through the ropes that bound Callista's hands. They were thick so it took a little extra effort on her part.
"Hurry up," said Buffy over her shoulder.
"I'm trying ... there, I almost got -" Cordelia was sharply interrupted when she felt something cold and hard pressed against her back. She turned and found herself staring down the end of a gun. One of the vampires had spotted her. She looked around frantically. Cordelia saw another vamp holding Ms. Calendar.
"Get up," ordered the vampire with the gun.
Cordy stood up slowly with her hands in the air. "I don't need this y'know," she complained.
"Shut up," snapped the other vampire. With a movement of the gun, the vamp in front of Cordelia motioned for her to move into the middle of the room. The second followed closely with Jenny.
"Hey Spike, look what we found nosing around," announced the one with the gun.
"Well, well, "said Spike smiling, "look who's come to play."
"Hello Cordelia. Glad you could make the party," teased Catherine. She looked over to Jenny,
"And Ms. Calendar ... I didn't know you were in on the little conspiracy. Geeze Buffy, does that whole school know you're the slayer? You're not that good at keeping secrets. No matter ... she can die with the rest of you. In fact, I think it would be a grand idea for a random execution. What do you think Dru?"
Drusilla, who had been watching Cordelia with interest, smiled. "Start with the pretty one. Her blood is talking to me."
Spike signaled for the vampire holding Jenny to toss her into the cage. The one with the gun held it on the occupants of the metal prison while the deposited Ms. Calendar.
"Good choice, "commented Spike snidely, "She's all your's pet."
Xander watched in horror as Drusilla waltzed over to Cordy, vampire face and all, and looked at her neck in longing.
"NO, " he yelled as Drusilla stood directly in front of Cordelia. She grabbed her away from the other vampire and prepared to bite. Cordelia was petrified through the whole thing, and could only whimper.
"Hush little lamb," breathed Drusilla, "I bring you the gift of eternal life. We can be best friends."
Callista worked furiously at the ropes. She only hoped Cordelia had cut through them enough so she could snap them on her own. She rubbed them against the metal chair with all her strength, until she felt them weaken and finally - they broke.
Just before Drusilla sank her teeth into Cordy, Callista jumped to her feet.
"HEY," she yelled. She got the attention of everyone in the room. In surprise, Drusilla dropped Cordelia. She scrambled over to the cage. Catherine ran forward.
"Why can't you just die!" she yelled.
What happened next was like something off of Xena. Catherine extended an arm forward and red lightning shot right out of her fingertips, straight at Callista. Callista reacted quickly. She brought her arm up and from her fingers shot blue lightning. The two streams of light collided, creating a shower of spark. Both vampire and human watched stunned in a mix of horror and fascination. After a few minutes, both girls stopped. The act had expended their energy. They glared at each other in silence for a moment, breathing heavy.
"I didn't know you could do that," exclaimed Giles.
"You didn't ask," said Callista, giving a small half-smile.
Callista glanced quickly around the room. She saw her sword and sheath sitting on a small table on the other side of the room.
"It ends tonight Callista," proclaimed Catherine.
"You're absolutely correct."
Callista saw her opportunity. While Catherine was slightly weakened, Callista did a cartwheel and then a huge back flip over Catherine's head, past Spike and Drusilla, towards the table. She landed gracefully, grabbed her sword off of the table, and flipped back to her original position. She then ran towards Buffy.
"Hold still Buff," she said, raising the sword.
Buffy cringed a little. "You do have hand-eye co-ordination, don't you?" she asked hopefully.
She closed her eyes. Callista then brought down the sword, swiping at the roped. They snapped easily. Buffy was loose.
Spike surveyed the scene before him. The slayer and that girl were loose. The plan was crumbling around him, and all of his vampires were just watching dumbfounded.
"Well don't just stand there you idiots, GET THEM!!!" he yelled .
Cordelia, who was also free, ran up to Buffy and Callista. She was eager to help, even though she was well aware she risked certain doom. "What do you guys want me to do?" she asked.
Buffy thought for a minute. "Okay, we need to get those guys out of there, which means we need keys."
"That one has keys," replied Cordelia, pointing to a rapidly approaching vampire.
Buffy whirled around to see the approaching vamp. As soon as it was close enough, she delivered a roundhouse kick to his face, sending him flying. She pulled at the sleeve of her jacket and a small thin stake came out. She always kept some on her in case of an emergency. She got down onto the incapacitated vampire, and staked him right through his heart. He vanished in a puff of dust, but a set of keys clinked on the ground where he once lay. Buffy picked them up and handed them to Cordelia.
"Here. Go let them out," she said, as another couple of vampires approached her.
Cordelia grabbed the keys and ran for the cage. Giles, Angel, Jenny, Willow, and Xander crowded around the front while she opened the door.
"Good work Cordelia," said Angel as he jolted out of the prison to Buffy's side.
"Yes, good job," added Giles.
"What do we do now?" asked a slightly terrified Willow.
"What choice do we have, we've got to help Buffy and Callista," replied Xander.
The group spread out and cautiously began to pick fights with some of the smaller vampires. Xander however, foolishly went after Drusilla while Spike was occupied with Angel. He snuck up behind her, and then jumped her. He leapt onto her back and put his arms around her throat. She began screeching wildly and thrashing around.
"I hate you," he yelled while he was trying to strangle her. He wasn't sure if you could strangle vampires, but he couldn't find a stake and was willing to find out.
Cordelia saw Xander trying to get Drusilla, and wanted to help him. She remembered she had dropped Cataluna's knife down by the boxes. She retrieved it, and stupidly decided to try something. He needed help anyway. Drusilla had thrown him off of her and crashing into a pile of boxes.
"You've been a bad boy," she scolded," now you can die."
Cordelia tiptoed up behind her, and mustering all of her courage, yelled, "Hey Drusilla."
Dru turned at the sound of her name. Cordelia had the knife concealed behind her back.
"Little lamb," responded Drusilla smiling wickedly, "Did you come to watch me kill your boyfriend? Don't fret. You get to go with him."
"I don't think so Little Miss Psycho," exclaimed Cordy. She pulled the knife and hurled it at her. Xander ducked under the boxes, because Cordelia didn't have the best aim in the world. It stuck Dru right in the neck. Cordelia knew it wouldn't kill her, but it would put her out of commission for a while. Drusilla collapsed in pain, calling weakly for Spike, but he couldn't hear her. Cordelia ran over to Xander.
"Are you okay?" she asked, helping him up.
"Yeah, I think so," replied Xander, rubbing his head.
"What the hell did you think you were doing? You could have gotten yourself killed. God, you're an idiot," exclaimed Cordelia, quite irritated.
"Gee, I didn't know you cared," he said sarcastically.
"I do," she said softly.
Meanwhile, Angel had his hands full with Spike, although Angel did have an advantage because Spike was till hurting from the last time they met.
"Why can't you just die like a good boy," muttered Spike as he took a swing at Angel (and missed).
"Because, I don't know when to give up," replied Angel. He flung his body at Spike and the both went crashing into some boxes. Angel stood up and watched Spike as he tried (but failed) to get up.
Buffy was dealing with about five vampires at once. The circled her from all sides. Armed with makeshift stakes from bits of wood she had collected, Buffy waited for them to start attacking. She saw Giles sneaking up on one of them with a long piece of plywood, which he had sharpened into a point. He staked the vampire, who had no idea what had even happened until he vanished in a puff of light and dust.
The remaining four rushed Buffy. She met one with a kick to the jaw, and heard the sound of snapping bone. He fell to the ground, blood coming from his mouth. Buffy turned around sharply and punched another Vampire right in the nose, and he fell down too.
"Giles, catch," yelled Buffy as she threw a stake to him. The librarian caught it, and then plunged it into the vamp with the broken jaw. He disappeared and the piece of wood fell to the floor. Giles picked it up, and stabbed the other one with it. He smiled to himself, pleased with his work.
The only vampire that remained was the one with the pistol. The fifth vampire had run off in fear that Buffy was gonna kill him.
"I'm going to shoot you slayer," he exclaimed, cocking the gun.
"I wouldn't be to sure of that," replied Buffy.
Before the vampire could pull the trigger, Buffy hurled her last piece of wood at him. She had originally intended for it to go into the end of the gun, but it missed, and ended up impaling his heart. He collapsed to the floor.
"Okay, that'll do," responded Buffy to her own error.
Callista and Catherine were faced off in the center of the room. With most of the vampires staked and running away, Buffy and friends turned to watch the drama unfolding. The two girls were circling each other. Catherine had produced a sword from somewhere, so they were now both armed with the pointy weapons, which they were pointing at each other.
"I've been dreaming about how I'm going to kill you Callista," said Catherine.
"Well, I sorry to disappoint you. Is it everything you hoped for?" asked Callista as she lunged forward.
Catherine reacted by doing the same, screeching at the top of her lungs. The swords clashed together. Catherine swiped madly at Callista, and missed as Callista swerved out of the way. This continued for several minutes. The sounds created by the metal clanging together were deafening at times. Both girls remained strong and confident. It was obvious that they were both highly skilled in sword work and in various forms of martial arts. The advantage would switch frequently - sometimes Callista would have momentum and other times Catherine would.
"Just die, bitch," screamed Catherine as she took a mighty swing at Callista.
The swords clanged together, but Catherine had enough force with the swing to knock Callista off of her feet. She dropped her sword, which clattered against the cement floor and skidded several feet away, and she tumbled to the ground. Callista remained frozen as Catherine approached her, pointing her sword directly at her neck.
She laughed menacingly. "This is it ... it's over," she declared as she raised the weapon above her head and prepared to strike, "Today I am a god."
Buffy and her friends watched in horror as it seemed that this would be the end of Callista. Another being that was also watching, namely the feathered kind, felt it upon himself to act on Callista's behalf. Cormerik, who had been watching the entire fray from a perch high above the factory floor, swooped down screeching all the way. He shot straight at Catherine. She dropped her weapon and began waving her arms madly.
"AHHHH ... get off me you little rat with wings," she screamed as Cormerik clawed and flapped at her face.
She finally managed to slap him away, after he had taken a major chunk out of the side of her face. Blood ran down her cheek as she reached for her sword. She turned back to Callista. But she wasn't there. Callista was not on the floor where Catherine had left her.
"Where did you go?" yelled Catherine.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around stunned. Callista stood right behind her.
"You're wrong Cataluna ... *now* it's over."
Before Catherine could react, Callista plunged her sword into her chest. She screamed loudly as the metal pierced her heart and went through her entire body and poked out the other side. As if only for effect, bright white light began to shoot out of Catherine's mouth and eyes and the gaping hole in her chest. Callista backed up and put her arm over her eyes to shield them from the intense light. Catherine's screams continued to echo eerily throughout the building as streams of light kept shooting out of different places on her body until she was entirely engulfed by it. And in a final blaze of horror, Catherine's terrified shriek could be heard as her body totally imploded on itself. There was a brilliant flash of light - and then it was all over. There was dead silence in the room. The only sound was that of metal falling to the ground as Catherine's sword hit the cement.
Callista, realizing her victory, stared down at the burnt spot on the floor. This was all that remained of her mortal enemy. Suddenly, all the years of fighting and sacrifice had a meaning. The world would be safe from her evil.
"Okay, does anyone else feel the need to roast marshmallows?" asked Xander as he tried to break some of the tension.
"Oh god, can you just shut up?" replied Cordelia, mildly irritated.
Callista extended her arm and Cormerik came to her, a ritual Buffy had observed several times. She and the bird went to Buffy's side.
"I think it's time to leave," she said quietly.
Buffy nodded. The large group of "Slayerettes", one Slayer, one Watcher, and a now completely immortal girl left the factory with no regrets, except the fact that the only brought one car. They took no notice of Drusilla with the knife in her throat or Spike unconscious in a pile of boxes. Those two would have their turn eventually.
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