Room 406, Late at night, NFB

[izzyalienqueen]

After a rather disturbing conversation earlier in the evening, Parker and Isabel had returned to Isabel's room to dreamwalk Bel.

Parker took a seat on Xander's old bed, her feet curled up beneath her. "You're sure about this?"

"I'm sure," she nodded.

Isabel stretched out on the bed, last year's yearbook open to a picture of Bel, and placed her hand over the image. Too keyed up about what she might find, it took a long while for her to fall asleep. But eventually she did.

	On the floor above, the Source slept. Being evil was tiring work. Inside him, what remained of Bel's battered spirit slept as well, bound in chains that bruised and cut his flesh. It was to his dreams that Isabel came, but the dreams matched the reality. He was on his knees, bloody and broken, thick chains binding him to a stone wall. He looked up as Isabel approached. "Isabel?" he said weakly. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!"
	Isabel wasn't sure what she expected to see. But it wasn't this. "Christ Bel," she exclaimed, dropping to her knees next to him. "What's going on?"
	"Get out of here, Isabel!" Bel said urgently. "He'll kill you and I can't stop him!"
	"Who's he?" Isabel asked, studying the chains and wishing like hell she could actually do something. "What's running around wearing your face?"
	"The Source," Bel said, and pain stabbed his head. It still hurt even now to try to say it. "The Source of All Evil," he finished in a whisper. "My former liege."
	"You can never do things simply. Why couldn't it have been a nice simple little ghost or something?" It sounded flip even to her own ears, but it mostly just a sign of how nervous she was. Isabel remembered what little Bel had told her about the Source. "Okay, I"m not leaving you here like this. So how do we get you to be the one in charge?
	Bel wearily shook his head. "It's too late. I'm not strong enough to stop him," he said. "You have to get out of here. If he finds you here, he'll kill you."
	"Bullshit. You're strong enough. What's going to happen if you don't stop him?" she asked. "What do you think he'll do to Phoebe? To all your friends."
	"He already has hurt them," Bel said bitterly. "And I couldn't stop him then. He's too strong."
	"So what am I supposed to do? Just walk away and leave you here?" Frustrated, Isabel banged her fist against her leg. "And how are we supposed to stop him?"
	"You can't," Bel said miserably, already defeated. "He's the most powerful demon the Underworld, and now I am him."
	"No you're not. If you're here like this, it means he's out there. There has to be way to separate the two of you. Think damnit." She closed her eyes, trying to think of something.
	"The only way to stop me is to kill me," Bel said. "He's not at full power yet. He needs to do rituals to do that, and to destroy what's left of me here." He tugged uselessly at his chains. "It's too late for me, Isabel. I'm dead already. But you can save yourself."
	"So I'm just supposed to go and kill you? And then tell your girlfriend that gee, sorry, he was possessed by the Source of All Evil? Yeah, that'll be a fun conversation." But that made her think. Maybe if she got Phoebe? Brought her into Bel's dreams with her?
	Bel winced at the mention of Phoebe. "You have to," he said. "I can't control what I'm -- what he's doing. Get Angel. Get Piper. Anyone with power. Before it's too late. You don't know what I've already done...."
	"I know some," Isabel said, thinking of Anders and whatever the hell was going on there, then she remembered some of the other weird events of the last few weeks. "Oh my god, whatever it was that kidnapped Angela, that attacked Buffy? Cally? That was him?"
	Bel dropped his gaze. "And Dr. Wilson. And Piper, Veronica, and Cam. And he's going to do much worse."
	"Then I'm going to leave and I'll get help and we'll figure out a way to stop him," she promised. "And get you out in the process. Because I don't leave my friends behind."
	"You can't save me, it's too late," Bel said, shaking his head. "He's right." The voice was Bel's, but this time it came from behind Isabel.
	"Oh crap," Isabel muttered. In the movies this would be the part where the heroine stayed and traded witty banter with the bad guy. But this wasn't the movies and Isabel was going to get the hell out of there. "I'll be back," she promised Bel quietly, before concentrating on waking the hell up.
	"You're not going to get away that easily," the Source snarled, making a grab for Isabel. But she was gone. No matter. He could find her easily enough.

Comments

[demonbelthazor]

"I think I've just achieved a fantasy with you, Parker," Bel said. "You, unable to say a word." He smirked again, twisting the metaphorical knife deeper. "You can't even warn anyone about what I'm going to do next -- which is bring an old friend of ours back."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker got it immediately, and she screamed. Or tried. Angelus? NO!

Frustration made her stamp her feet and pick up another lamp to decimate in an attempt to brain him.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

It took a second for Isabel to realize who he meant. And what that would mean for a lot of people. Frantically Isabel looked about for a weapon.

[demonbelthazor]

"Belthazor's still rather attached to him," the Source said. "And I can use an ally like Angelus. He's been bound by that soul for far too long. Fortunately, I can take care of it."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker threw the lamp, then grabbed her purse, yanking out her phone and dialling in Angel's number. Before it even rang, she realized it wouldn't work. Damnit!

Then she tried to type in a text message:

ASLKDURLKMCEUR!!$#$45K FTJLIUJPODSF/?

...the hell?

[demonbelthazor]

Bel chuckled, highly amused by the flailing. "You'll find you can't communicate at all," he said. "The spell silences more than your voice."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel was already backing towards the door, somehow they'd figure out a way to get the alarm out.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

If they could still think about it, there had to be someone who could reverse it. Parker snarled soundlessly at Bel, then threw a chair at him before rushing toward Isabel and the exit.

Screw him! He's stupid, he fucked this up, there has to be a way--

[demonbelthazor]

Bel ducked the chair. "Not so fast," he said. "Sopor!"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

Isabel's hand was on the doorknob when she suddenly slumped to the ground unconscious.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker's legs went out from under her before she reached Isabel, and she didn't have time to think more than No-- before she was sprawled on the carpet, already asleep.

[demonbelthazor]

Bel prodded the unconscious women's bodies with his foot. The spell would keep them sleeping for several hours. Definitely time enough for him to make his preparations for LA.

He blazed out of the room.