FicWad

- Without You -

11

"What the hell is he doing here?"

The bell rang a second time when the door to the Magic Box closed behind the dark figure that stood before Riley.

"I called him," Dawn squeaked from the corner of the room - behind the staircase - where she'd been sat with her arms wrapped around her knees all day. Head-in-lap. This must have been the first time since Buffy disappeared that she'd stopped shaking.

The dark figure, dressed in black, drew himself up to Riley until they were face-to-face. "She told me what happened."

Riley gritted his teeth. Exactly how much he hated being this close to the newcomer he couldn't say, but to think that Dawn had felt the need to call on him ...it felt like salt in an open wound.

"She asked for my help," the dark man stated with more smugness than Riley could stand.

"We don't need it," Riley shot back.

"That's not what I've heard."

What had Dawn said to him? Riley turned to see her drop her gaze away from him. Then he looked back at the newcomer who said: "Maybe she doesn't feel safe with /you/."

That was the final straw! "Tara, can you take Dawn into the back? ...Angel and I have a few loose ends to tie up."

To Riley's surprise, Tara said: "No. We d-don't have time for this. Buffy, Giles, Xander, Anya and W-Willow," she stopped a moment to gather her feelings, "are missing. F-for all we know in /Hell/. Do you want to get them back, or not?"

Riley was shocked by her sudden forcefulness.

Angel saw Tara's worry. Though he didn't know the girl, she was clearly right. If things really were as troubled as Dawn had indicated then there was no time to be fighting Riley. Plus, Buffy wouldn't be too happy about it if he did. So he decided to try diplomacy. "Dawn was just worried. She only wants to get her sister back. That's all any of us wants."

The sun had not long since set, and Angel's journey from Los Angeles had been spent cowering in the back of his Plymouth convertible in the safety of the shade. He'd spent the entire trip listening yet again to Wesley's exaggerated tale of his recent outing in which he'd had to pose as Angel in order to protect a girl who, it seemed, was now his girlfriend. With that in mind, he was glad to have arrived. But, as much as Angel wanted to uncover the Scoobies' mysterious disappearance, he also wanted to get it done and get back to his city quickly. He knew Gunn and Cordelia could cope alone for as long as it took, but now that Darla was back - living and breathing - somewhere ...he had to find her. Before Wolfram and Hart did.

The doorbell sounded once again and Wesley came ambling in. "The parking here's outrageous! You really ought to get yourself one of those disabled stickers, Angel." Seeing the confrontational stand-off between Angel and Riley, he stopped. "Angel ...you promised."

"I know," he replied, stepping further into the shop. Both to look around and to give Riley his space. "How did it happen?"

"Well...what did Dawn tell you?"

Angel wandered up to the table where Tara sat with a stack of opened books. "Box. Light. Poof. Gone."

"That's about all there was to it," Riley responded, clearly finding it difficult to remain civil with Angel. The bitterness from their last meeting still fresh in his gut. "There was an inscription on the box. Dawn ...she..."

Tara picked up the remainder of his sentence: "She didn't mean to read it."

"So she was coerced?" Wesley asked.

"I d-don't think it was as simple as-"

"I'm right /here/!" Dawn called.

Wesley realised they'd been talking around her rather than to her. "Yes. My apologies. You didn't read the inscription of your own free will?"

She shook her head slowly, tears filling her eyes. "There was something inside my head ...making me do it." Her head fell between her curled up knees and she wept quietly.

"But you didn't want to do it?" Wes prodded.

Without looking up, she said: "It made me want to do it."

"I see," Wesley said, thinking it over. "At least that gives us something to work with."

Angel gave Dawn a quiet minute before he asked Riley: "What's the situation here?"

Riley faltered. "I...I'm not sure. Buffy didn't really ...that is, I haven't..."

That was all Angel needed to hear. "She kept you out of the loop, huh?"

"No. Not exactly. I've ...been busy."

"What's the matter? Things not working out between you? Can't say I'm surprised, really. I never could see her settling with someone so..." Angel searched for the word he wanted.

"Alive?" Riley cut in quickly.

"I was going to say boring."

"As opposed to the thrilling life that is brooding? Those exciting summer days spent staying in and not having sex?"

In a flash, Angel was in Riley's face again. "I've lived enough for three lifetimes and I may just live a hundred more. Face it, Boy. I'm more alive than you'll ever be."

"Got a pointy piece of wood right here that begs to differ."

Wesley approached them with raised hands. "Now, now, gentlemen..."

Both men hit him with a warning glare.

"...don't let me stop you," he finished, backing away.

"You gonna stake me, Finn?"

"Just give me an excuse, vampire/. Wait...that /would be the excuse!"

At that, an unexpected knock came at the door to the shop.

At first, Riley looked to Angel. Maybe it was another of his group. But the vampire shook his head slightly in the negative.

"It's open!" Riley yelled, still seething from his face-off with Angel.

Nothing moved.

The group exchanged puzzled looks between themselves before Riley moved over to the entrance, motioning for the others to stay back. They certainly weren't expecting anyone. Besides, there wasn't anybody left in town to expect.

He saw no one through the front windows, so Riley gripped the door handle tightly and held it there during a moment of apprehension. Then he quickly turned it, and tugged the door open. What greeted him was quite unexpected. A short, sickly looking creature with a bad skin condition stood humbly in the small doorway wearing a simple brown robe.

"I am Dreg." He bowed slightly and continued: "The wonderfully splendiferous Glorificus has asked me to collect an item of hers that is, at present, in your possession."

Riley frowned at the odd demon. "What item?"

"A Key," Dreg responded with holy wonder.

Finn stepped to the side so that Tara could see the creature and looked to her, hoping she knew something about his purchase.

Tara shrugged. "Would you like us t-to wrap it for you?"

With a sardonic grin, Dreg answered: "That won't be necessary. We will take it as it is."

'We...?'

The rear of the shop came to life suddenly as a horde of Dreg's cousins stormed the Magic Box. They appeared from the back - through the training room - and came at them wielding axes.

Riley grabbed Dreg by the flap of his robe and pulled him roughly into the shop, drawing back a fist to beat him with. But the demon, who had other ideas, pulled a knife from the belt of his gown and tried to stab it into Riley's side. Finn saw the movement in time to catch his arm and he redirected the knife deep into Dreg's stomach. The demon whimpered once, then collapsed.

Before Dreg's vile body even hit the floor, Riley was already extending his baton and joining the fight. Though his body was moved to combat, his mind whirled with the question of just what in the hell was going on.

Angel caught the underside of the axe-blade with Giles' old broom, which splintered and bent. It was enough of a pause in the demon's attack for the vampire to crack a heel into its kneecap, causing the creature to buckle in a fit of pain.

It soon halted its squealing, however, when Angel lanced it with one half of the broom-handle. The other half he threw dart-like - catching another one in the neck. The demon went down, the brush end of the broom protruding comically from its throat.

Behind the chaos, Dawn slipped along the rear wall, the demons apparently oblivious to her presence. She'd almost made it to the training room door when two late arrivals ran into her on their way in. The pair of robed demons were about to shove her to one side when one of them suddenly stopped and recognised her. She was the one. The girl. "It is the Key!"

Angel saw them from his position near the counter. When they took hold of Dawn - who was screaming frantically - he stepped onto the round table and leapt over the action around him. Landing next to Dawn, he scared the demon-monks enough that they let her go. He thanked them by ploughing his fist into their faces. Hell, wasn't like they could get any uglier.

Angel was beginning to notice how pathetic these creatures were. He'd hit them both fairly hard in the face, and that was usually enough to get a demon mad, but one of them was already out cold and the other was clutching its face, whining like an infant. They clearly were not fighters by nature.

He backed Dawn into a corner where he could more easily protect her. "You alright?"

She nodded.

"Stay down."

Riley always loved The A-Team. Especially when B.A used to hurl people over counters and cars like they were stuffed teddies. So, when one of the scabby monks copied Angel and jumped at him from the table, he caught it mid-leap and flung it behind the shop counter with considerably less ease than Mr T. The demon hit the shelves on the wall and disappeared behind the till with a thud. As Riley moved round the counter to finish it off, he caught sight of another coming at him with its weapon raised.

The robed creature swung its axe at Riley's head, which he blocked with the fold-up section of the counter. His attacker tried to pull the blade from out the wood, so Finn responded quickly by pushing the heavy till off the worktop - right onto the thing's foot. Screaming in agony, the demon bent down to free itself.

Riley saw the chance he'd hoped for. He ripped the axe from the counter, letting the hatch fall shut, spun the axe in his hands and planted it nicely between the demon's shoulder blades. It didn't scream after that.

With Wesley guarding over her, Tara hid under Giles' desk by the round table. She was desperately trying to remember words to spell-cast, but her mind had decided to suddenly go blank on her. What she really needed was a spell book. The Lexicon of Fire or something. Then she could do some damage.

Wes picked up the biggest spell book on the table. He recognised it as The Lexicon of Fire, a book of spells he wouldn't have minded flicking through sometime. He smashed it into the side of a demon's face. Two more came at him unarmed. One pounced onto his back and wrapped an arm around his neck. Before he could counteract, another rushed at him with a fist.

Wesley instinctively heaved the book up before his face, and the punch was blocked with the breaking of bones. As the demon cried out and fell to its knees, a third appeared in its place - swinging an axe.

Wes quickly swung the Lexicon over his shoulder, catching the one on his back at the top of its hairy scalp, and, when it dropped away from him, he threw the heavy book at the face of the third one. All his attackers were down, but they were not out, so he lifted the fallen blade and went for them with a mind to kill.

Riley caught the wood of an axe and belted the demon under the ribs with a tight fist. It released the weapon and fell breathless to the ground leaving Riley holding an ancient, long-handled hatchet. What he failed to see was the robed creature behind him - swinging a blade wildly at his head with such force that the air screeched.

When Riley turned, he saw the edge of the axe-blade resting less than an inch from his eye. Held there by Angel's hand.

The arm holding the blade twisted in Angel's grip and he brought a knee up into the demon-monk's stomach. As it let go of the weapon, Angel spun with it and cut the beast down.

Something clambered behind Finn, and he saw the one he'd just jabbed a moment before getting back to its feet with determination in its eyes. So he took the axe in both hands and buried it deep in the demon's chest. It hit the floor and rested there. No more of them attacked, and all about the shop floor were scattered bodies.

When Riley looked back, Angel was still standing there. "Thanks. Guess that means I owe you one."

"Forget it," Angel replied. Apparently he really meant it, as he left Riley to go check on his friend.

Wesley dropped the axe and laid the dented book back on the table. Straightening his glasses, he looked around them at the dozen or so fallen bodies. "Whatever in the world just happened here?"

"More to the point," Angel corrected, "what did they want with Dawn?"

The young girl didn't come out from the corner. Her distress was now absolute.

Tara crawled from under the desk and went over to Riley. "Could this be connected to...to what happened yesterday?"

"What happened yesterday?" Angel asked.

Finn began to explain: "The shop was broken into-"

"Was anything taken?" the vampire cut in.

Riley frowned with thought. "Tara?"

"Oh ...they took ...there's a..." She recovered some papers from behind the counter and picked one out. "A Sobekian Blood Stone and Khul's Amulet."

"Good God," Wesley uttered in surprise. "Those two items should never be brought together! Giles kept them both here?! The man was a Watcher for goodness sake! What on Earth was he thinking?"

Riley frowned. "What's this got to do with anything?"

"Sobekites," Wes answered.

"Who?"

Tara quickly gave him the answer: "They were an ancient Egyptian cult who...who once practised dark magic."

"How dark?" Angel asked.

"The darkest," said Wesley. "Their powers of transmogrify were world-feared. But, as I recall, the Amulet and Blood Stone are completely of no use without the scroll containing the transmogrification spells. Those were supposedly lost aeons ago."

"Supposedly?" Riley replied questioningly.

Angel didn't want to take any chances. "What could they transmogrify if they had the scroll?"

"Well," considered Wes, "the Sobekites were reptile worshippers of the Temple of Sobek. With the power to transform creatures into ...well, into another form of creature - with the ability to 'see that which is shrouded in shadow' - a form of second-sight. Without inspecting the Amulet I can't be sure, but it would likely appear in the form of a reptilian/demon hybrid."

"Like a big, mutant-ninja snake monster?" Riley offered bluntly.

"You've seen it?" Angel inquired in an anxious tone.

"We were outside - fixing the door back on - when we were attacked by something that looked a lot like what you just said."

That had to be more than a coincidence.

"You stopped it, right?" Angel said to Riley.

"No. It almost had Dawn, but ...I dunno ...it just took off before I could do anything."

"Dawn was pretty scared," said Tara. "We all were."

"I'm alright," Dawn assured them. She didn't look it.

"I tried catching up to it," admitted Finn, "but it was too fast. We were trying to find out what happened to Buffy and the others, until that happened. We've been pretty crazed with the research since then."

Wesley offered some new information: "Whoever called forth the spawn of Sobek must have been extraordinarily powerful!"

"The mystery blonde?" Tara thought aloud.

Angel frowned. "Mystery blonde?"

Riley took the opportunity to prove he was up to date on events in his girlfriend's work. "Buffy said she was, like, a super-strong demon-chick."

"She and this 'Glorificus' may be one in the same," Wesley theorised.

"We need to change research," Angel decided. "Find out what the mystery blonde is and why her people tried to take Dawn."

"What about Buffy?" Riley opposed.

"And Willow ...and the others?" added Tara.

Wesley approached them. "We can't help them if we're dead. Until we know how to defend against this demon-woman's attacks, she has the advantage."

Angel set the team their tasks: "Wesley - help them find out what you can about this 'box'. Where it could have taken Buffy and the others. I'll see if I can find Giles' notes. They should tell us everything there is to know about 'Glorificus'."

Tara checked on Dawn before returning to the books on the table. She sat down and began to move some aside and pull others out from the bottom of the pile.

Wesley joined her at the Scoobies' round table and helped her to find the relevant volumes.

As always when nervous, Tara stammered: "Most of these references are n-nonsense. ...Myth. It's hard to find any r-real truth in any of them."

Wesley took that as a fair challenge and set about reading. "Well, let's see if we can't separate the wheat from the chaff, then, shall we?"

Tara stared at the relative stranger for a moment with a quizzical frown. "...Right," she said, putting his oddness down to being British, and began to re-search the research she'd already researched with little result.

Angel started his own search in the training room and spent almost an hour looking for Giles' diary before moving back into the shop.

He was feeling under the worktop behind the counter looking for any secret Watcher compartments; somewhere Giles might keep the notes he always wrote, when Riley approached him awkwardly. "There's something else," the man said to Angel. "It's Joyce...Mrs Summers. She went in for a ...a CAT scan yesterday. ...They..." He wasn't sure how best to say it. Wasn't even sure if Angel had the ability to care. "They found a tumour."

For a mere instant, Riley saw a flash of something cross Angel's dark eyes. Something that had looked remarkably like sorrow.

"They're waiting to find out if it's operable. She's at the hospital now. She's not doing too well, though. Especially with Buffy...missing. It's not helping her condition." Riley leant on the counter, finally giving in a little to the exhaustion he felt. Even his eyes ached. Closing them, he applied a soothing degree of pressure to them with his fingers.

Everything was a mess. Buffy was ... gone. Even if she wasn't, he knew things weren't right. But she was gone. And the past few days he'd been trying to take on her patrols as well as look after Dawn, which was getting real hard since her mom took a turn. He was even trying to be carer to Joyce. Forced to adopt the roles of Slayer, sister and daughter so suddenly ...It was just too damn much to juggle. He was totally unprepared for it. Such responsibility was beyond his ability to manage, and all the while ...all he wanted to do was ...try to handle loosing his girl. And the frustration he felt at allowing her to get lost. Not doing something to...

Well. It was just too late.

Now the feeling that ate away at his insides was one of abandonment. He felt so alone. And, since the strongest part of him had disappeared, he realised he felt ...So terribly frail. The thing that hurt him most of all, however. The thing that really stabbed at his heart. ...Was that Buffy might be in pain somewhere. And he couldn't reach her. With all these thoughts and pressures, he simply could no longer think straight. His mind was a big, blurry mush.

"Truth is," he said to Angel quietly after a long silence, "I don't know what the hell to do."

Riley opened his eyes then and looked right at Angel. He was surprised to see the vampire wore an expression of intense seriousness. "I admit defeat. Thought you'd be happy."

"Not really," Angel replied simply. He could see that Riley looked distraught. The man clearly loved Buffy. In some human way that maybe even Angel couldn't hope to touch. The stress Finn wore traced deep lines into a face not yet aged enough to bare them. The poor guy. He looked at the end of his tether, for Christ's sake. And wasn't it Angel's job to help people in that position? Even if it was Riley. Angel knew he didn't particularly like the guy but ...he was on the right team.

His fingers came across something, and a hidden drawer slipped out from the counter. Bingo.

After a thoughtful pause with no further reaction from Angel, Riley went on to say: "I should really take Dawn to see her mom before visiting hours are over."

"This is insufferable!" Wesley groaned, dropping an old cloth-wrapped book onto the table.

"No luck?" Angel asked him while flicking through the small notebook he'd picked from the secret drawer.

"Oh, there's no end of exaggerated tales of the creation of the box. Apparently it was one of two that were created to hold the Spirit and the Mastery of some dark force that plagued the Old World. But there's no detail. No explanation of how the box might work, or why it would vanish into thin air with a roomful of people."

"Well, I've found Giles' notes," Angel reported. "...Here's something: 'recent research indicates that the glowing orb discovered by Buffy is the Dagon's Sphere; created to repel 'that which cannot be named' '. That's all there is. The last entry. Nothing about Glorificus."

"The Dagon sphere?" pondered Tara. "I think Giles keeps that in the basement."

Riley picked up the keys to the basement door. "I'll go see if I can find-" He stopped when he saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Well, if ya want somethin' done right, I guess ya really do have to do it yourself."

It was a woman. Young, sexy and extremely beautiful. Her hair was blonde and hung in loose waves, and she wore a simple yet attractive red dress that showed off the flesh of her shoulders. "Mmm. Who's the tall, dark and handsome vampire?"

He glanced at the others to be sure she was talking to him. Then he remembered he was the only vampire in the room. "I'm Angel. And you are?"

"Wouldn't you just love to know, Angel-cakes?"

"I take it, then," Wesley surmised, "that you are 'Glorificus'."

"Have those scabs been yackin'? It's a good thing they're dead already or I'd rip their tongues out myself." Then her sudden anger subsided and she smiled confidently. "Minions. And the name's Glory."

Angel was about to address her when her face lit up with glee at the sight of Dawn. "There you are! My precious! Aren't you just the sweetest sugar in the jar? But where's the Slayer? I expected her to have at least been here to protect the Key. Besides, I so owe her a bucketful of pain."

No one answered.

"Well, never mind. I'll just take the little princess and be on my way."

"Stay away from her," Angel warned.

"What do you want with the girl?" asked Wes, stepping alongside his boss to block her path.

"If you're just using her to get to the Slayer ...then take me," Angel offered.

"Or me," Added Riley, damned if he'd let Angel come out the hero.

"My, how noble you gents are," she responded falsely. "But there's only one Key that fits my lock ...so I'm just gonna have to take her."

Wesley remained defiant. "Then, Miss, you shall have us to deal with."

"All of you?"

"All of us," Riley confirmed.

"It's a deal."

She moved like lightening. Before Angel knew what was happening, he found himself flying back and slamming hard into the staircase. His body hit the steps and skidded down to the ground.

Riley hooked her arms behind her back in a standard military restraining manoeuvre, giving Wesley the opportunity to hit her.

But he hesitated. She was a woman. Realising his mistake too late, Glory brought her leg up, sending Wes soaring past the table onto his back.

Finn tightened his grip to hold her still. Man, she was strong. But, when he felt the back of her head connect with his nose, the pain - like a thousand needles in his face - made him let go and stumble back. Glory turned and shoved him over the counter.

Angel, on his feet again, ran for her. He tackled Glory down to the floor, surprised to find himself being flung over onto his back. When he got back up he managed to catch her arm as she tried to back-hand him. But when her other fist cracked into his side, he realised she was not what she appeared. He doubled over and her knee in his face sent him into a rack of shelving.

Whilst the others kept the woman at bay, Tara crept over to Giles' 'miscellaneous goods' rack and picked up a small jar of Norvic firedust, along with some channelling stones and a pouch of Wiccan herbs and slipped back to the table with them.

Now that he was sure that she was not human, Wesley picked up the nearest axe and ran at Glory with it. She saw him coming before he'd even made the swing, and she caught the edge of the blade with her hand.

Wesley paused. She caught the blade! With her hand! No blood!

He felt the butt of the axe-handle smack him on the chin, and he dropped on his ass.

Glory chuckled to herself and turned the weapon around in her hands. This had been a little bit of fun - some stress relief - but now it was time to get what she came for. No more time for play-fighting.

Wesley saw her standing over him with the hatchet raised over her head and his breath caught in his throat.

Tara mixed the stones and the herbs in with the dust and tightened the lid back on the jar. She double-checked the ingredients in the Lexicon and turned to the page with the fire-barrier spell.

Angel wrapped his hand around Glory's wrist and she turned her attention from Wesley to him. So, he quickly spun with her - throwing her to the ground, back towards the door.

Glory slid to a stop, found her bearings and began to clamber back to her feet.

Wesley grabbed the axe she'd held over him.

"You're going to regret-" she began. But when she looked at them it was just in time to see the flying axe smash into her face. She fell back to the floor.

"That does it!" she threatened, getting up again without a scratch on her. No sooner had she brought herself to a standing position, when Riley lifted the till in both arms and threw it along the mustard carpet, taking her well-dressed feet from under her and she went down again.

The group readied themselves for another onslaught, and when Glory got to her feet this time, she was extremely pissed off.

"Okay. I'm really getting bored now. When I'm done with you, you'll all be deader than last season's wardrobe! Though I see that most of you are still dressing for the nineties. And black," she said to Angel, "Is out." She rolled her eyes and started towards them. "SOo passé."

At the table, Tara sat with the Lexicon of Fire. She raised the small jar high, and sent it crashing to the floor where it smashed - the ingredients burning away to ash in a sudden and momentary burst of flame. "Dark Thane of Fire, hear my call, let nothing pass through the firewall!" she recited.

After a brief instant of confusion, a burning wall of translucent mystical fire formed around the group, separating them from Glory.

Unfazed, Glory approached the wall. "Wicked! A witch! That is so cool. I might just save you 'till last ...and suck you dry."

Glory drew back her arm and smashed through the flame, breaking the spell easily.

Tara gasped, feeling the spell break as if it was one of her own bones. "Nulla mensa sine impensa!" she said firmly, re-establishing the barrier.

Again Glory broke through the firewall - coming for them.

Tara directed every part of her force and channelled it into her centre of power. "Nulla mensa sine impensa! Nulla mensa sine impensa! Nulla mensa sine impensa," she went on repeating.

Glory tried again to bring the wall down. And again, And again. Every time, with Tara's focused concentration, the barrier regenerated.

"You can't keep that up forever, you know!" Glory cried out. She seemed to grow increasingly agitated. "Sooner or later it's gonna wear you down! And when it does, I'm gonna be there to ram those dog-stinkin, cursed-reeking, Witch-Bitch, Hell-Sniffin, Ear-Aching words right down your God-damn, filthy, fleshy, dirty, Human THROAT!" She took a breath. "Now you've upset me. ...But I could really go for some brain-food about now ...so I'm going to leave ...but when I return ...I won't be holding anything back. Understand? So, if you're smarter than you look, you'll give me the Key. And I wouldn't waste energy trying to run. I'd find you in a second." She turned on her heels and stormed out of the shop, disappearing into town.

When Tara felt certain it was safe to let the firewall drop, she stopped reciting the words and a sudden wave of dizziness hit. Her muscles went limp and she collapsed to the floor.

Riley rushed to help her up.

"I...don't think I'll be able to try that one again," she conceded.

"She was holding back?" Wesley asked in disbelief.

Tara sat back at the table, clearly fatigued from the spell. "I'm thinking she's no demon. But don't worry ...I still have a few good spells up my sleeve."

"What about this 'Dagon sphere'?" Angel recalled.

Riley recovered the keys. "I'll go take a look in the basement."

Angel nodded. "I wanna be ready for her when she comes back."

Then he looked himself up and down. "Passé?"