Title: You Forgot To Mention Hell, Horatio
Author: JR
Email: JRR42@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Status: Complete
Warnings: Nope. Not this time.
Category: Crossover with Highlander
Disclaimer: All other characters belong to their respective owners and are used without permission. This story is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights, nor is any profit being made from it.
This is what happens when you get involved with too many different fandoms.
Universe setting: For you Highlander fans, this story takes place sometime after ‘Archangel’ (sorry to all those Richie Forever people). Please forgive me for playing with the timelines of the shows, but hey, it’s fan-fic and I can do that ;-)
Thanks: As always, to Carrie, and to Marius, the oak and the ash to my birds in the forest.

‘Damndamndamndamndamn!’ Cordelia thought nervously. For the hundredth time since she entered the sewer, the beautiful teenager wondered just what in the hell she was doing in the dank, dark tunnel. Drugs. It had to be drugs. Not herself, of course, since Cordelia would never consider taking anything recreational. But, she considered, her mother must have taken something while she was pregnant -- something that was legal back then that had since proven to cause temporary bouts of insanity in kids that made Cordy willingly put herself in immediate danger...

The sound of loud footsteps pounding against the slick, stone ground of the tunnel dragged the cheerleader out of her mental musings. Fumbling with the fire hose she held in her hands, she barely managed to find the ringed pressure valve on the edge of the nozzle.

“Oh shit!!” Cordy squealed out loud as half a dozen panicked and angry vampires bore down upon her.

With more luck than skill, the heavy rubber of the gloves on Cordelia’s hands caught on the metal surface, providing enough traction for her to twist the value open.

Hit with the full force of the hose’s spray, the vampires stumbled backwards for just a moment. They did, however, recover enough to regain their forward momentum.

At least until their skin began to smoke and burn.

“Oh, that’s so gross,” Cordelia winced. Nevertheless, she was still pleased to have the upper hand for once while fighting vampires.

As she watched the creatures of the night twist and writhe under her assault, she had to wonder just where in the hell this cute Adam Pierson guy had come up with an entire truckful of holy water?

Seeing the telegraph of the blow Eleni was about to deliver to Willow, Angel cried out again. There was little else he could do but look on in total horror. The redhead, however, was simply too stunned to move. Just as Eleni was about to shift her weight forward to make the strike that would end the young witch’s life, the throbbing in Angel’s head intensified.

‘Pierson!’ Angel choked in relief. The Immortal had to be moving towards them, but there was no way of knowing whether or not he would arrive in time to save Willow.

At the moment, however, it didn’t seem to matter. For if Angel was discomforted by the Immortal’s closing presence, then Eleni was bowled over by it.

Not prepared for the onslaught of pain that attacked her from within, the vampiress instinctively stepped backward, away from the coming danger. Although she managed to stay on her feet, the small retreat provided Angel the opportunity for which he had been praying.

Even though he had his soul, Angel was still a vampire, and therefore, just as greatly affected by the Immortal’s presence. He, however, had a distinct advantage over the others of his kind in the chamber. Unlike the rest of them, Angel knew the source of the pain, having experienced it often enough by that point in time to retain some semblance of control over the terrified demon within himself.

Pulling together every scrap of willpower in his two-and-a-half-century-old body, Angel reached upward, wrapping his hands around the chains that held him suspended above the floor for support. Rocking his legs back to gain momentum, he then contracted his powerful abs, swinging his lower body forward.

In a fraction of a second, Angel managed to wrap his long legs around Eleni’s upper body. The souled vampire managed to pin the vampiress’ arms against her sides by locking his ankles against each other.

The shrieks of outrage that poured forth from her lips were inhuman, pounding against Angel’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. Furious that her captive had suddenly become her captor, Eleni struggled with every ounce of her vampiric strength at her disposal. It was, however, not enough.

Although Angel was weak, he more than made up for his physical shortcomings with sheer determination. Dually motivated by both his need for revenge and his burning desire to protect Willow at all costs, he somehow managed to hang on to his prisoner.

“Now Willow!” Angel bellowed.

Barely aware of the mortal danger she had just been in, the commanding tone in Angel’s voice implored the witch to set aside the painful throbbing in her side that literally stole her breath. Willow immediately grasped the situation with a single upward glance.

For the first time, Willow’s piercing gaze left Eleni’s face. Her sharp emerald eyes roved upward for a quick inspection of Angel’s battered body. As her line of sight wandered up and down his still-chained form, the redhead made a haphazard inventory of his visible injuries.

The cuts in his wrists were horrifying. In fact, Willow was certain that if not for the blood oozing out of the wounds, she would be able to see the very bones of his lower arms. Even with the thick smoke obstructing her view, the witch could clearly see the gashes and bruises marking her friend’s chest. Above all, however, it was the tortured, exhausted expression on Angel’s face that caused Willow’s prior uncertainty to rapidly fade.

Angel had suffered far too much at Eleni’s command. To Willow’s way of thinking, it was long past time for her to settle the score -- on her friend’s behalf. Once she had fortified herself with that justification, the tremors running through Willow’s hands completely ceased. Dropping her gaze to meet that of the beautiful vampiress, the witch’s normally warm green eyes narrowed in anger.

Up until that point, Angel had been too concerned with containing Eleni to give Willow more than a cursory glance. He watched in trepidation as Willow took a few steps forward, placing herself directly in front of the vampiress. Moving slowly, as if to draw out the tension of the moment, the witch’s slender right hand began the long, upwards journey. As soon as it was about halfway to her waist, Angel noticed something unexpected.

Willow’s fingers were trembling like leaves in an autumn breeze -- not from hesitation or fear, but in outrage on Angel’s behalf.

As if suddenly aware of the shift in the teenager’s temperament, Eleni began to struggle in earnest. As she peered into the unforgiving green eyes, the vampiress experienced an emotion that she had not known in centuries. For the first time in five hundred years, Eleni was afraid.

Eleni, however, was not the only one affected by the change in the redhead. Tightening his leg muscles, Angel did his best to keep Eleni immobile while stealing a glance at Willow’s face. As soon as he did, the cool, stolen blood in his veins turned to ice.

For the first time in the two-and-a-half years he’d known her, Angel could not find a single trace of compassion in Willow. Sure, he’d seen her take out demons and vampires alike in the past. However, in the heat of the fiercest battle, despite the fact that she was killing creatures of pure evil, there had always been the slightest signs of remorse over her actions. It was the one thing that separated her from and -- in Angel’s opinion -- raised her above all the other Slayerettes.

But at that moment, he saw nothing but cold fury. There was no spark in Willow’s eyes, no trepidation over the inevitable ending of their current situation. The only thing he saw in her narrowed eyes was determination. His shy, compassionate little Willow had at some point transformed into an instrument of vengeance. Angel felt lost, somehow, and adrift at the thought, cursing both himself and Fate for putting them all in their respective positions.

Knowing that Angel could not hold on to Eleni forever, Willow decided to bring their little scenario to an end. By the time her hand finally resumed its upward journey, it was as steady as a rock. In fact, Willow’s hand almost seemed to float upwards as if caught in some kind of bizarre slow motion. And through it all, those piercing green eyes stayed focused solely on Angel’s. The warm chocolate orbs not only provided her with strength, but also with the support and solidarity she hadn’t even realized that she needed.

And then it was time.

It was only at the last possible moment that Willow’s line of sight flicked rapidly from Angel to Eleni. With a menacing tilt of her head, the witch took one last look at the hissing vampiress. Then, as calmly as she pleased, Willow none-too-gently pressed the palm of her hand against the exposed skin of Eleni’s right shoulder.

Mindful of getting caught in the backlash of Willow’s protection spell, Angel quickly unwrapped his legs from around the vampiress. The vampire knew that there would be no danger to his friend, at least not anymore. It took only a fraction of a second for Eleni to begin succumbing to the effects.

“Nooooo!”

The gut-wrenching cry echoed through the hallway. All over the room, vampires and humans alike paused at the sound, uselessly attempting to find its source through the heavy haze of smoke. But the man who bellowed cared nothing for the other people in the arena sans one -- his beloved mistress.

The first wave of pain caused by Adam’s Immortal presence had sent the Spanish vampire straight to his knees. It was only when Tonio caught sight of the subsequent random violence breaking out among the assembled crowd that the native Castillian shunted aside his own pain in favour of his duty to Eleni. When fire began sweeping through the great hall, dozens of his frightened brethren had attempted to storm the altar, seeking the higher ground for shelter from the encroaching flames. Pulling a ceremonial dagger similar to the one his Mistress had used out of his belt, Tonio joined some of the other, more loyal, guards as they jumped to the floor proper. From there, they challenged all comers in a deadly version of ‘king of the mountain’.

The Spaniard kept a close eye on his Mistress, despite the never-ending line of opponents and the obscuring smoke and fire. In fact, when last he looked, Eleni was about to stab the little redhead. Less than a minute passed, however, before he heard the absolute terror in her voice as his Mistress screamed aloud.

Viciously backhanding his current opponent, Tonio took off at a run for the stage. With the fire starting to peter out, there were suddenly breaks in the thick haze that clouded the chamber. The smoke rolled through in waves, parting just in time for the Spaniard to see Angelus’ mortal girlfriend inflicting great pain on his Mistress. Yet even at his best speed, he was too far away to prevent the incomprehensible action taking place less than ten feet from his position.

Eleni’s cry continued for a long moment before the magic began to do its work. Then, as if someone had simply thrown a switch, the flesh underneath Willow’s hand began to deteriorate. The effect spread through the vampiress’ body rapidly, until the five-hundred-year-old body simply collapsed into a pile of dust.

Both the ensouled vampire and the witch watched the ashy remains settle to the ground at Willow’s feet. Although neither knew it at the time, they were both having the same thought. With all the build-up of the evening, Eleni’s demise was so simple, it seemed almost...anti-climatic at best.

Now that they were out of immediate danger, the two friend’s eyes met once again. The emotions were different, though. Their mutual relief over each others’ safety was almost palpable. In fact, with the excess adrenaline flowing through their veins, they were both almost giddy, a fact which left them smiling at each other in celebration of their successful team-effort survival.

The moment, however, was broken by a menacing growl. Not surprisingly, Angel’s vampiric sense of hearing registered the noise first. Willow’s gaze followed Angel’s as his head turned sharply to one side. But the smoke had shifted once again, the tendrils of the latest cloud weaving in between them. Despite the lack of visual reference, both of them were experiencing a sense of impending danger strong enough to make the hair on the backs of both their necks stand up. Willow heard Angel gasp, but there was no time for either of them to do anything but gasp in horror as the growling grew closer.

Then, out of nowhere, an eerie ‘whooshing’ sound came from the thick bank of smoke. It was followed immediately by something that flew out directly towards Willow. Angel watched with sick fascination as Tonio’s severed head burst into ash at almost the same time it impacted with the teenager’s chest.

“Wha...,” Willow began, unmindful of Angel‘s sudden, agonized writhing. What had just happened had occurred so quickly that even her powerful intellect could not process it just yet.

All the pieces snapped into place as Adam Pierson majestically emerged from the smoke with his sword in hand. The relief on his face at seeing his new-found allies relatively safe was plainly evident, even through his heavy oxygen mask. Although he would never admit it, finding Tonio in the thick haze of smoke had simply been a random stroke of good fortune.

Immediately noticing Angel’s discomfort, Adam moved quickly towards the vampire. Reaching upward with his free hand, the Immortal grasped Angel’s strong jaw, forcing the visual connection that would end the vampire’s pain. That done, Adam took a step back in order to assess his companions’ condition.




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