ALL THINGS NEW - PART 10
Part X: Los Angeles, November 2002
The human now officially named Liam Summers thanks to Willow’s hacking made his way to ‘The Gateway For Lost Souls’, underneath the City of Angels. It had been a number of years since he’d been there, but the 249-year-old man still remembered the way and precisely where it was.
And after he entered, Angel instantly encountered both the Oracles.
“You again,” said the male in annoyance.
The former vampire said slowly, “I come in supplication...” but then gave up the humility act and just threw them a vase as a gift. “Here’s a Famille Rose vase. Ching Dynasty. Circa 1811.”
“Lovely,” said the female appreciatively. “Ask what you will of us.”
“There’s something we can’t fight in Sunnydale,” Angel got right to the point. “A shapeshifter, who can be anyone anywhere anytime. A Big Bad who wants to end the whole good versus evil, mortal coil thing. Please, we’re desperate for anything here...”
The brother looked disinterested. “We cannot help you with that. What is happening now, was meant to be.”
The sister looked at her companion. “No. That was and is not entirely true. This one is living proof, after all.”
Angel was confused. “What do you mean?”
“The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from our cause and succeeded,” the female said rather cryptically to him.
The male smiled, somewhat cruelly. “Behold what might have been.”
Visions of the original history passed through Angel’s human brain. Everything, for the last three years.
The man then screamed in horror, “No! NO! It’s not true! I didn’t become a vampire again! And Darla...she isn’t Connor’s mother! And I haven’t seen Holtz since the 18th century! Buffy didn’t die – and I’ve barely even seen Cordy again since I left L.A.! She’s pregnant now with Xander’s child, for God’s sake!”
The sister Oracle looked vaguely sympathetic. “Calm yourself. What you saw is what was, not what is. And according to the Auguries, all is as it should be.”
The male replied in an uncertain tone, “And yet you said otherwise a moment ago?”
“I said as it should be, not meant to be.”
Angel butted in with a horrified voice, “How...how did it all change so much? Wh-who’s responsible?”
The brother Oracle explained, “The lower being calling himself D’hoffryn. You will meet him soon. There is a debt to be settled, between you and him.”
The dark-haired man started to say, “But...”
The male interrupted, “No more will we say. And do not come to us on such a pointless request again.” And just as it happened three years before, he banished Angel from the sanctum of the temple.
~~~~~~
Part XI: Sunnydale, two hours later
The 18th century vampire hunter named Daniel Holtz had certainly had what one could call an interesting life.
In 1764, the soulless vampires Darla and Angelus murdered his wife and family; and turned his existence into nothing but a quest for revenge. For years he tracked the demonic duo, but never got the opportunity for true vengeance.
And then he met the ethereal time-shifter demon called Sahjhan.
In 1773 the terrified creature recruited Holtz, to kill Darla and Angel over two centuries in the future – and save his own hide. But even though Sahjhan could be anywhere at any time, he was not omnipotent and didn’t find out until too late about D’hoffryn’s actions, that altered history that day during 1999.
No longer in any need of Holtz’s services, the demon nonetheless woke up the human to basically say, “Ooops”. As well as to gloat that Darla was now dust, and Angel had become human.
Then he made a big mistake; Sahjhan laughed right in Holtz’s face, over his lost chances for revenge.
It is never a good idea to piss off a man who had spent over seven years fearlessly hunting the terrifying Scourge of Europe, and his deadly paramour.
Holtz dealt swiftly with Sahjhan, trapping his dimensional essence in a Resikhian Urn. Then the human buried the urn deep down in the ocean, and set about trying to find Angel.
The task was almost impossible; all the vampire killer was able to learn from his undead victims was that Angel had left town, back in 1999. But then finally, he struck solid gold...
In the form of the vampires named James and Elisabeth, who were on the payroll for Wolfram & Hart.
Before he had finished torturing them, Holtz learned that Angel had spent some years at a place called the Hellmouth, not that far away in southern California; and after dusting his prisoners, the man headed north of Los Angeles, completely alone in the world.
It seemed that some things truly are inevitable; it came to pass that Holtz got his hands on Angel’s son Connor after staking out 1630 Revello Drive, but failed to get away clean like he’d planned.
“Stay back!!” the man from the 18th century yelled to the gang, as he put a gun to Connor’s head. “I do not wish to murder the infant, but rest assured if you do not let me leave here with him, he will die!”
Buffy was ready to tear the asshole apart, limb from limb. “You bastard, you hurt my son and I’m gonna...!”
“You’ll what, little girl?” Holtz demanded scornfully. “Get that abomination you call a husband to kill me? You are gravely mistaken, if you think that will frighten me...”
Giles tried to reason with the vamp killer, “Mr. Holtz – I know who you are, if not how you got here. I, I know what Angelus and Darla did to you...”
“Oh, they did nothing to me personally, Mr. Giles. But I will have justice for what Angelus did, if not that demon bitch of his...”
“Justice?” Faith said suddenly, sneering at the man. “Come on, pal. Who are you trying to kid here? This is a revenge kick for you, pure and simple. I oughta know – 'cause I used to be just like you!”
“I’ve heard enough of this childish prattle,” Holtz growled, jabbing the gun harder into Connor’s head. “Now step aside!”
“Not going to happen, mate,” Spike spoke up for the first time. “And this revenge thing you got goin’? Ain’t gonna do nothing, but get you killed.
“I have nothing to say to you, hellspawn,” the British human scowled at the vampire. “I only regret that I did not have the opportunity to do to you, what I did to Angelus’ other offspring...”
“And that was?” Willow asked, terrified of what this lunatic would do to her friend’s son. Oz moved closer to her, trying to support and comfort her.
“I don’t think that’s really important right now,” a new voice rang out.
Everyone turned, to see Angel had arrived. Buffy straightaway ran to him and they hugged intensely, to Holtz’s disgust. “Hello, Angelus.”
Angel let go of his wife, and faced his old nemesis. “Holtz.”
The man looked full of hatred. “It’s been a long time. For two hundred years, you know, I slept. For two hundred years – I dreamt of nothing but this moment.”
The ex-vampire shrugged, mouthing the phrase he remembered from the vision. “Which would explain why you look so well rested.”
As Buffy hit him in dismay and exasperation, Holtz scowled again. “Human or otherwise, you haven’t changed...”
“Neither have you; apparently, you’re still human. Do I need to guess how you managed that?”
The vampire hunter laughed, an ugly sound. “I had nothing left to lose, before making a covenant with a demon. You saw to that. And if a man must consummate a bargain with the Devil, it is worth it for one last chance to seek justice.”
“Uh-huh. Newsflash, Holtz; I’ve been to Hell, and I know for a fact those bargains are never worth it. And justice? I killed your son, what were you planning to do with mine? An eye for an eye? Not something I think God’ll forgive you for...”
The hatred bubbled to the surface again. “By whatever black sorcery, Angelus, you managed to become a man again. Perhaps you think this means God has forgiven you – and who knows, you may even be right. It still means nothing; God may forgive you – but I never will! DAMN YOU TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG!!!”
Losing all self-control, Holtz whipped the gun up and shot Angel in the blink of an eye.
Everything then seemed to happen very slowly.
The first thing to happen was D’hoffryn appearing, raising his arms and saying, “Lekko najine forkahdio!”
The second thing to happen was that a portal to Quor-toth, the darkest of all dark worlds, opened up directly behind Holtz.
The third thing to happen was that Spike and Faith, who were just waiting for their opportunity, grabbed Connor and threw Holtz into the hell dimension, respectively.
The fourth thing to happen was D’hoffryn saying, “Forkahdio najine lekko,” as the hole in the air quickly shrank to a pinpoint and disappeared.
Buffy screamed and quickly grabbed Connor from Spike, desperately checking for injuries. When she was satisfied her son was safe and unharmed, the blonde woman almost broke down in tears from the relief.
Giles was supporting the injured Angel, and trying to stop the blood loss from his shoulder. He looked briefly at the lower being, “Er, thank you for your help – and, if I may ask, who are you?”
Willow suddenly gasped. “I remember you!! You’re, um...” she wracked her memory, “D’hoffryn, right?”
The master demon nodded. “You have an excellent memory, Miss Rosenberg.”
Angel started, despite the pain. “D’hoffryn? I, I’ve heard of you...”
The creature that had been recruiting vengeance demons for eons nodded. “And I you, Angelus. I owed a debt, so consider it now paid in full.”
“Huh?” asked Buffy, who was still holding Connor tightly. The two-year-old child seemed utterly traumatized, and the Slayer was very worried over what all this might have done to him.
D’hoffryn explained briefly, “A bargain was agreed to, in another world. In order to be spared my imminent upcoming death, I agreed to aid the Champion of the Powers exactly one time. You may have been released from your fealty, but I keep my word – so, let us consider the request made in your depths of despair granted.”
Then the demon grinned, “And I must say, apart from anything else, I thought you sending that human to Quor-toth did have a certain...supersymmetry.”
Angel then realized, “You remember the other timeline too?!” He saw the confused faces of the others and quickly added, “I’ll explain later...”
D’hoffryn looked amused. “Don’t leave it too long. After all, you’re all doomed...”
“WHAT?!” everyone chorused.
The Lord of the Lower Beings sighed, as he looked at Angel. “Did you think a desire to make all things new, would come without a price? You may have created your own little paradise here with the absence of Mr. Harris and Miss Chase, but without Anyanka’s help you will most assuredly die...”
A satanic smile covered his features. “From beneath you, it devours. All good things in time...”
D’hoffryn then vanished, leaving the white hats wondering what terrible prospects the immediate future held.
THE END
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