•••

Doyle steadfastly ignored Xander and Spike's whispering as he led them across yet another crumbling bridge. When they saw what was just ahead of them, however, the two travelers drew closer to their ghostly guide. "Erm, Doyle? What is that?" Xander inquired. Below them lay a seething river of blackness. Thick, searing liquid burbled and gurgled, sending up steaming wafts of burnt odor.

"That," Doyle said slowly, "Is pitch, and if I were you I'd avoid getting any on me." Spike nodded. After all, he knew just what the stuff was. When the vampire made to pass Doyle on the bridge, however, Xander stopped him.

"What the hell are those?" Xander whispered, pointing ahead of them. The three men turned to see a group of black-skinned, winged and clawed demons gathered a short distance away. One of them had a pitch-covered man in his grasp, dangling the soul from its ankles. As the travelers watched in horror, the demons poked and prodded the man with their staffs, laughing gleefully at his pain.

After a few minutes, the demons dropped the man in favor of another damned soul--this one a woman. She screamed vicious profanities as the demons tortured her, and Xander was privately glad when they returned her to the pitch. That voice could have peeled paint. Eventually, though, the demons stopped playing with their captives.

"You two stay back behind those rocks," Doyle hissed, waving the two away. "I'll deal with this bunch."

Before either man could protest, Doyle was approaching the demons. "Hey, you! Don't you have something better to do?" He called out, capturing the attention of the grisly clan ahead of him.

"Hey, look, Malacoda! Fresh meat!" One yelled. The group began to move towards Doyle, brandishing their spears.

Doyle rolled his eyes. "On a mission from up above, here. Lay off or you'll never hear the end of it, eh?"

The demons stopped abruptly, their leader's face a mask of disappointment. "Well, fuck. You're no fun at all." The head demon, Malacoda, waved off the others, who backed away from Doyle, albeit reluctantly. As soon as the demons were away, Doyle motioned for Spike and Xander to join him.

"Let's get going," Doyle murmured, motioning for Xander and Spike to get moving.

"You're gonna want to head up thataway," Malacoda said, pointing away from where they were walking. 'The bridge down that way's been out for ages."

Spike glanced over and saw that, indeed, the bridge was out. "Now what?"

Malacoda shrugged. "Was planning to send Barbariccia and a few others over that way, so I guess you can go with them. Safer that way." The other demons nodded, moving off towards the path.

Just as Xander turned to follow them, the demons as a group turned to face Malacoda. They smiled--a grotesque parody of a smile, anyway-- and stuck out their tongues. "Eww, didn't need to see that!"

Spike saw Barbariccia turn but was unable to move before the demon saluted his captain--with extended and ghastly flatulence.