**********THE END***********

Five Months Later, Winamac, Indiana

The Carnival Macabre had transformed into the Carnivale Magica.  Which was ironic, because with Vincent Barbary�s demise, several of the Carnival�s most talented practitioners of the dark arts had found they were no longer capable of magic. As it turned out, Vincent had acted as a catalyst, sort of a battery they could plug into.  Without him, their talents faded.  And so it was with the necromancer Lawrence, the shapeshifter who had turned into a facsimile of a werewolf at Vincent�s aborted re-energization, and two others who had been skilled in witchcraft.  All four drifted away from the Carnival family. The Carnival had floundered for weeks after the event in Lancaster, and they had just barely escaped the authorities in Winslow, and then in central Nebraska.  They had slipped across the border into Canada in the dead of night, through the forest and a barbed wire fence that delineated the boundary between nations.  It was there, north of the border that they�d finally established a new existence, and the Carnival reinvented itself with Jacob at its helm.  Interestingly, Jacob�s pyrotechnic skills blossomed after Vincent�s demise.  He would wonder for many years whether Vincent had been drawing power from him.

That night before Vincent�s re-energization, when Allura had said she was going to set a trap, Jacob hadn�t understood.  It was not a trap for a person, rather it was a trap for the magic that Vincent would collect from the people of Lancaster, and from the half-angel Katarina.  Allura is Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and human women.  And as such, she possessed awesome primal powers that even Vincent could not fathom.  Vincent�s re-energization process required a cycling of energy from humans and others that would culminate in Vincent absorbing the essence of those other beings.  For it to work, the energy had to be drawn into Vincent, then cycled back to the audience, then back to him many times until all the errant individual powers had blended into one, a single entity power that Vincent could dominate and use.  Allura�s trap only allowed the energy to collect within Vincent.  It could not escape, so it accumulated, and once the process was started, Vincent could not stop it.  The power from all those people, and from Katarina, had consumed him, just as he had hoped to consume all those in attendance for the Carnival Macabre�s finale night of entertainment.  Allura vanished after Vincent was no more.

Jacob had never seen himself in a leadership role.  But the others who could serve in that capacity had left the Carnival.  And the carnies, the performers, and the freaks � they had come to depend upon him.  This was the only family Jacob had ever known, and it was the single best thing he had experienced in his life. He didn�t want to let them down.  So he stepped up, and filled the role.  He moved into Vincent�s trailer.  Found a fortune �nearly four million dollars � hidden beneath the floorboards in a lock box.  It was more than enough for a new start.  Jacob hired a famous trapeze act, bought a roller coaster, replaced two of the aging big tops, and gave everyone raises.  Monetarily the Carnival was doing better than ever. Drawing larger crowds than when Vincent was in charge.  After three months in Canada, they returned to the states and began a series of 15-day stints in the mid-West.  The authorities had either given up on them or with a new name and management, the Carnivale Magica had slipped under the radar.

Rosalie had disappeared for a little more than a week after that last night in Lancaster.  So Jacob thought he�d lost both of the women in his life, which was almost appropriate, because he was starting from scratch in so many ways.  But Rosalie inexplicably showed up again, on a night they were fleeing the Sheriff in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska.  She had �taken care of it� she said.  Dealt with the cops.  Jacob didn�t ask for the details, and in truth, didn�t want to know.  But she�d defended the Carnival, and kept them safe.  That had special meaning for Jacob, and not only because he was wanted for murder in Arkansas.  If he was taken into custody, they would discover who he was and probably lock him away for the rest of his days.  But it was more than that.  The Carnivale Magica was his home, his family.  And Rosalie was a part of that, had defended the family.  Jacob couldn�t imagine another place where he could belong. And that was true of everyone in the Carnivale Magica. It might be a family of misfits, the strangely absurd, and freaks, but it was a family in every sense of the word.  And so the family known as the Carnivale Magica sojourned on, nomads of the highway, frequenting small town America, delighting children and adults alike.  Bringing a little magic into mundane lives, even if that magic was more illusion than real these days.  Oddly, if Vincent could see the Carnival now, Jacob believed he would approve.  Because above all else, Vincent had been a carnie at heart, the ultimate entertainer and showman. There had been no other place in this world for one such as Vincent Barbary, and in a way, he lived on here, a part of everyone and everything that collectively formed the Carnivale Magica.

�Oh hell.�  Why couldn�t things go according to plan?  Just once maybe?  Angel slid a machete-sized sword from a scabbard strapped to his back, under his duster, and set about work on the zombies.  They were coming at them from under the tent flaps, in threes and fours.  More of them were streaming in through the front entrance to the big top, though, lumbering up the bleachers after people.  Some of those people were just sitting, docile, letting the walking dead take them. Eat them. But others were screaming, scrambling away from the horde, and that seemed to break the spell a bit, because a lot of people were trying to get away.

Meanwhile, Angel sliced and slashed every zombie within reach.  They were easy to dispatch.  These were slow zombies.  But they were disgusting and smelled bad, especially once they were cut open.  It was like cutting into a severely rotted melon, black, viscous discharge spilling out from the cut.  Cordy and Giles were also on their feet, battling the horde, while Wesley fiddled with the Mutari Generator.  �Wes, do you think you can get that thing working before the zombies eat our brains?�  If they defeated Vincent with the Mutari Generator, would the zombies just keep coming?  Angel had no idea.  Their resurrection might have nothing to do with Vincent�s powers.  There were plenty of people in the carnival with major abilities, and maybe one of them was responsible for the zombies. 

Wesley mumbled something then dropped the Generator.  It was glowing red hot.  Looked bad.  �Wes?�  The ex-watcher said the machine had shorted out.  Great.  Just great.  Their cover obviously blown, Angel took the battle to the floor of the Big Top, out from under the bleachers.  As he battled zombies, he looked around for Katarina.  If she was out cold, she�d be easy prey.  But he couldn�t see her. Maybe she�d gotten away.

Vincent was going through some major transformations up on that stage.  He wasn�t a man anymore (if he ever had been), in fact he seemed to have shrunk down to a mass of throbbing tissue, maybe twice the size of a beach ball.  It was shot through with pieces of his tuxedo, white bones, and lots of red.  A black, highly polished shoe emerged from the roiling mass and then disappeared into it again. What the hell?  Angel thought Vincent was supposed to just get re-energized, basically renew himself.  Not degenerate into the blob.  Maybe he was vulnerable in that form?  Angel fought his way through the walking dead towards the stage.  Maybe if he could get there, he could slice Vincent/blob into tiny pieces.  Finish him off. 

The people of Lancaster seemed to have awoken.  Most were getting away, although a fair number had been taken by the zombies.  You could tell where one of them had fallen, because there was a writhing cluster of zombies there, busy with something on the ground.  Like a pile of football players after a loose ball. There wouldn�t be much left when they were done.  These zombies were hungry.

Angel was almost there, almost to the stage, slashing through rotted, animated flesh, when the thing that had been Vincent Barbary exploded.  It went off like a bomb, pressure waves of Vincent�s magic knocking everyone and everything in its path over.  One of the bleachers collapsed backwards, taking the tent supports with it. The Big Top came down.  Elephants buggled, people screamed, and the sound of tortured metal bending and breaking signaled the end to Vincent�s reign of terror, which had lasted more than two millennia.

The zombies just fell over, all at once, and didn�t get up again.  The power that had animated them was nullified.  The newspapers in the days to come would quantify the damage.  Twenty-three dead, 95 injured.  They attributed the explosion to a gas line that had been ruptured when the carnies drove in the stakes for the Big Top.  The gas had accumulated inside the tent, the papers said, and was probably ignited by something as insignificant as a cigarette.  The papers didn�t mention the hundreds of dead bodies in various stages of decomposition. Nor did it tell of Vincent�s transformation, witnessed by everyone in attendance.  The reporters wrote it off as mass hysteria, or hallucinations caused by the gas.  But no one who was there would forget what happened.

The Carnival Macabre packed up their booths on the midway and their tents, trailered the merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and other attractions, and simply vanished into the night within 24 hours.  Despite the insistence of the authorities that they stay and answer innumerable questions.  The papers may not have let on that something supernatural had happened in Lancaster, but the police and FBI suspected otherwise. There was no sign of Vincent, and Wesley and Giles believed he was dead.  They didn�t know how or why, but his transformation had gone awry.  He shouldn�t have metamorphosed into a freakish lump of flesh.  And when that lump exploded, it was the end of Vincent Barbary.  Neither did they know what happened to Jacob, Rosalie, or Allura. Probably Rosalie had decided to stay with the Carnival Macabre.  Jacob and Allura seemed to have formed a bond. Perhaps they had left, even before Vincent�s botched re-energization. 

Giles went back to Sunnydale, where life was quite different for him, Buffy, and her friends.  He was an unemployed librarian (Sunnydale High was in ruins) and sacked watcher trying to put his life back together again. Buffy and Willow were in their first year of college, and Xander was off learning how to be a carpenter.  The girl that had come into their lives � Katarina � had survived the zombie horde.  In fact, Angel found her on her feet battling the undead just before the explosion.  When they escaped what was left of the Big Top, she said her farewells, saying she had a life to get back to. Although after all that had happened, Angel suspected her life would never be the same.  The girl was a champion with latent, untapped powers.  He suspected their paths would cross again, sooner than later.

     In the dirt beneath the bleachers, Mr. Giles was arranging a collection of rabbit bones into a pentagram while Wesley was adjusting the settings on the Mutari Generator, which was a device that could siphon off or deliver bursts of mystical energy.  Its capacity for temporarily storing such energy was almost infinite, in that the Generator was a conduit to a parallel dimension, sort of an energy repository in the Cloud.  So the energy simply passed through the Generator.  But the settings and adjustments had to be tuned to the frequency and intensity of the energy, or else the device would either overload and short-circuit, or the energy would be incompatible with the Generator, essentially rendering the device useless.  Giles, having studied Vincent, was most helpful in adjusting the Generator, but it was all still guesswork.  Wesley hoped that if things failed to go according to plan, he would be able to make adjustments on the fly, so to speak, compensating for miscalculations. 

     Katarina was sequestered, just off stage, visible but out of the limelight.  Meanwhile, Vincent was introducing the acts, which were increasingly disturbing if not monstrous.  But the crowd failed to comprehend the danger.  They, of course, thought it was all allusion, just an act.  Wesley heard Giles say, �Incoming�.  Wes looked up to see Rosalie casting a spell.  Channeling the wiccan group in London, Giles chanted a few words that blocked that spell for their small, intrepid group, but not for the spectators all around them. 

     �Good work, Giles!�  The purpose of the spell was not intuitively evident.  But it no doubt was preparing the audience for Vincent�s re-energization in some way.  Wesley peered between the feet of a young boy straight ahead of him in the bleachers.  He could not see Jacob or Allura.  Would they appear at the last minute, and what effect would they have on the transformation?  Allura had always been a wild card.

     Amidst the circus atmosphere of the calliope music, the twirling acrobats, the side stage acts, and other spectacles, Vincent was beginning to change.  He was center stage, and the brightest spotlight was on him.  Oohs and aahs began to be uttered by those in the audience.  Vincent�s body was changing, morphing under his tuxedo.  His hat fell to the floor to reveal lumpish growths that were pulsing from temple to the top of his head.  Bulbous, glandular protuberances formed on his arms.  A pants leg ripped open as a tumorous appendage sprung forth from his left leg.  All the while a bright, yellow light was growing all around him, like an aura.  It was shot through with squirming, leach-like black streaks.  Giles lit a small collection of herbs in the center of the bone pentagram and told Wesley to switch the Mutari Generator on.  As he did, Vincent raised his arms and beams of power began to flow from every person in the audience to Vincent�s fingertips.  A very powerful, white beam flowed from Katarina directly to Vincent�s open mouth.  The girl collapsed.  People in the audience were tumbling over in their seats. 

     Giles� spell detonated � a sonic boom of mystical energy that fractured the connections between Vincent and everyone else under the Big Top.  But the effect would only be temporary.  Wesley heard Giles say, �Now, Wesley!  Power the Mutari Generator up NOW!�  The device was on, and should have been drawing energy from Vincent, but nothing was happening.  �Its not working!�  Wesley fiddled with the adjustments, trying his best to tune it to the Vincent�s energy.

Katarina was immune to the gypsy�s curse as was anything immortal as was the team of angel investigation. A ghostly mist arose from the people drifting across the audience towards the ring master. Vincent was gaining strength. Kat was alarmed. She wanted to save the people, but no one would listen. They were in a dream like trance.

It was time for the main course. Kat felt a sudden pull of energy. It raised her to her feet. It felt like a hand was wrapping around her neck levitating her off of the ground. She felt panicked reaching up to fight with the invisible force. It felt like a second hand was reaching in her chest to crush her heart. It was hard to breath. The more she struggled the more it hurt. Light began pouring out of her, bright and almost blinding. It flowed into Vincent. He was dragging her closer.

She watched in helpless horror as his body began to contort. He was changing. Remembering her place in the plan. She gave up her fight. Tapping into all of her energy to focus it towards her captor.

As the crowd poured in Katarina stood there wide eyed and frightened. She looked like a timid deer. It was too bad a hunter was about to take her down. �Fata de prost,� walking over to her and jerking her by the arm. �Get yourself together girl,� this was her only piece of advice. The only way to face this danger was with courage. �Take a seat. You will know when you are needed,� she shoved her down into a seat in the front row as the lights dimmed.

Rose still had a job to do. The show began. She orchestrated things behind the scenes making sure everyone made their mark. As the time came she took the stage dressed in a skimpier version of her gypsy garb. Twirling around the slit skirt fanning out around her. The skirt appeared to catch fire. It consumed her swallowed in billowing smoke. She fell to the ground as her hand clapped down on the earth bracing her body it extinguished. A dark grin on her face. She stood up sweat dripping down her body completely unscathed. She moved forward summoning a gentleman from the audience. He came to her. She walked around him blowing him a kiss. A clown toss a sheet over him. The cloth drifted slowly to the ground as if nothing was there. He was gone. She looked at the little man disappointed with a wave of her hand she turned him into a flock of crows that rose up flying out of the tent.

Done with her games she cocked her head turning towards the audience. Waving her hands casting her spell on the crowd. Under her thrall they would stay in their seats mesmerized by the show unable to react or think of danger. Like blissful zombies.   

The crew pulled up in a field across from the carnival. They sat in the car staring at the lights. It was buzzing with activity. �It looks like we�re going to have an audience after all,� the butterflies in her tummy amplified. This was comforting. There were so many lives on the line. This plan goes south several people would die. �It�s 6:45. The show will be starting soon. I better get in there,� she slid out of the car. They couldn�t be seen together. This part she had to do on her own. Thanks to her telepathy she should be able to stay in constant contact.

She walked across the field. It had rained earlier. The ground underneath her feet was soft. Her foot sunk with every step. It felt like dredging through a swamp. Stepping into the bustling festival she began looking for Vincent or Rosalie. People squealed and laughed as the rides swing them about. A man threw a baseball at a tower of bottles trying to win a prize. It looked like a happy place. The outward appearance completely deceptive.

One of the workers stopped her as she headed into areas that only staff were allowed to tread. The light was dimmer there. The tone was different. They spoke briefly and he directed her to the main tent. Everything in there was coming together for the show. People were tending to the final touches. The guests would be allowed in within the next fifteen minutes.

Angel had already been up for two hours when Kat knocked on his door.  Wesley had arrived back from Sunnydale at 3:30 am, equipped with the tools and know how to stop Vincent.  Or at least he thought.  But everything was going to have to come together just right.  Turns out the Watcher�s Council had been tracking the Carnival Macabre for more than two centuries, although before 1932 it was called the Carnival Magnifico, and before that just Carnivale.  It had other names in Belgium, Poland, and Austria stretching back at least 600 years.  Vincent had last transformed in the small town of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania in August 1891.  A total of 394 people - men, women, and children - had lost their lives, almost 40 percent of the town�s population.  The Council had been there, had tried to stop it, but failed.  But they�d learned much from their mistake. They�d studied Vincent for over a hundred years.  After some deliberation, scholars from the Council and Wesley agreed that Katarina and her powers were the key to ending Vincent�s reign of terror. But rather than some sort of psychic explosion, which had been Angel�s idea, they recommended using her powers to alter the transformation.  Vincent was at the height of vulnerability within about five minutes before and after he changed.  Tweak the process just a little and he transforms into something entirely different.  Something he would not expect. 

Angel explained all of this to Katarina.  Cordelia came in during the conversation, yawning and rubbing at her eyes, asking about coffee.  All Angel could provide were those packets of instant the motel provides and some hot water.  While Cordy grumbled but prepared the substandard coffee, Angel explained how Wesley had brought along a device that would temporarily remove and refocus Katarina�s powers on Vincent.  He called it a Mutari Generator.  Wesley also brought along someone else from Sunnydale knowledgeable about Vincent and the Carnival Macabre � Rupert Giles.  It turns out that Giles had done a term paper or essay or something on Vincent in his second year at the Watcher�s Academy.  He was quite pleased to be a part of this operation and wouldn�t have missed it for the world.

She stared at the wad of bills. Once this adventure was over she would leave. She was not one of them. She was more of a passing acquaintance at best. Angel hadn�t taken her in as he had Cordelia or Wes. Marcus was still after her. She be back on the run. This money could take care of her for a long time, with it she�d have food and shelter. He was right. It was a ploy. Vincent didn�t care about the dirty pieces of paper. She tucked the bills in her pocket.

Angel suggested she sleep. It was easier said than done. She was going to be bait. This would probably lead to lead unpleasant dreams and visions. She be tossing and turning all night.  Cordelia had some sleeping pills in the bathroom. A couple of those might keep the imagery at bay. She nodded in approval of the suggestion.  Without warning she decided to hug Angel good night. Come tomorrow she could be dead. She never seen her friend again. Things went well she would be leaving. �Night,� she smiled before drifting towards Cordelia�s room.

As planned she took the medication. Slipping into the bed across from Cordy.  In thirty minutes drifted to dream. She didn�t stir.  Various version of tomorrow�s night events played out through her head. The possibilities were endless. One change in proceedings could change everything. Several of them lead to Vincent winning. Bright blinding light engulfed her as he drained her power. She could feel the life slipping from her petite form. It caused her to shiver in her sleep.

The next morning she didn�t speak of this. She showered dressed then walked past the sleeping former cheerleader to knock on Angel�s door for instruction. A faux smile on her face to hide her fears.