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Now entering the ACTION PACKED FINALIE that will make you desperate for the next post! |
| [Introduction]
They were known as 'The Knights'.
Those in the Darkness feared them like no other. Those in the light did not know they existed. Their order was founded by Merlin the Magician after the fall of King Arthur. Their role was to fight against the darkness wherever they found it. Merlin himself selected them and trained them. Each Knight had their own special abilities. Some could blend into the shadows like they never existed, others were adept at telekinesis. All were deadly with their arsenal of enchanted weapons and armour. One Knight eclipsed them all. He was known as The Hunter. For the prequel to this story, and a concluion to the season finalie, go to.... "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" 
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| Cape billowing around him as he stalked away from the billowing dust that was all that was left from the Vampires after the fight, Matthew Hunter allowed himself a small smile. He was nearly healed after his ordeal last week in Sunnydale.
Thinking back on those events, the smile quickly vanished. He had been sent to the town by his master, the famous Merlin himself, to safeguard Dawn Summers. He had arrived just in time to see the death of the Slayer, and he had honestly believed that he had failed in his mission then and there. But when he had seen Dawn alive, he had also noticed that another Demon was lurking around in the background. That demon had then gone on to recruit a gang to support it's attempts to gain possession of Dawn, and use her hidden latent powers to give him mastery over the Earth, and eventually rival the power of the gods. For Dawn was created by ALL of the gods back in the mists of time. Back then, there had been no barriers between dimensions, so the work of one god was often undone by another, sparking celestial wars. To solve the problem, the gods joined powers and established 'unbreakable' barriers between realities, and made Dawn the key to the only lock. But because she was made by the powers of all the gods, her own power would one day rival and even surpass her creators. That is, as long as she could survive in Human form long enough to master her abilities. Moving his right arm round in a circular motion to flex the still sore muscles, he then re-sheathed his enchanted sword. It was time for his next assignment. That meant getting in toutch with his master. Pulling his cape around him, he stepped into a darkened allyway and lowered himself to one knee facing the wall. Raising his head to stare at the graffti, he sent his thoughts spirlaing outwards till he sensed the familair powers of his master, and locked onto them with his own. Shimmering in the air before the wall, a ghostly image of Merlins wizened features faded into existance. Matthew focused his eyes on those of his master and felt the connection grow stronger. "What is thy bidding my master?" |
| “You have done well, but your time here has just begun. The evil that lurks in this time and in this place is stronger and more destructive than anything you’ve faced since you became a Knight.”
“I understand master. I am ready.” “Silence!” Merlin’s image quivered at the force of his anger. “You think you are prepared to face this unknown evil. If you believe you alone have the power to defeat the demon and his minions and protect the Key, perhaps I have sent the wrong Knight.” Hunter started to protest but thought it better to remain silent. Bowing his head, he prepared to listen to his master’s tirade. “You are the strongest and most adept of my Knights but your strength and skill pales in comparison to the forces that rage here.” He began to examine his choice of Knights for this important task. The Hunter was unquestionably his best Knight, but his headstrong attitude and preference for acting on his own accord could be detrimental to the success this mission and to the lives of everyone in existence – past, present, and future. Merlin came to a solemn and difficult conclusion. He knew what assignment Hunter would next be required to undertake. Merlin’s composure began to soften. “You will require assistance in your endeavor if you are to succeed, and you must succeed. The fate of this and many other worlds depends on you. Look up Hunter. Look into the eyes of your adversary.” Matthew Hunter raised his head and gazed at the shimmering image. Before his eyes the image faded from the old magician into the shadow of the demon he had been searching for since the fall of the Slayer. The demon’s features were unrecognizable, hidden in the shadows and depths of its diablerie. His eyes, however, were clear, dark, and ominous. If the eyes of humans are the windows to the soul, the eyes of this demon are surely the windows to hell. Slowly the vision faded again, this time replaced by a familiar, yet unwelcome face. “Edmond.” Hunter spat his name with revulsion. “Yes,” said Merlin. “Edmond. He possesses the characteristics and skills that you lack. You will be of invaluable use to each other when the time comes to defend yourselves and to ultimately defeat the demon. You will be the yin to his yang, and he will be the same you.” The image of Edmond’s face became haggard and wrinkled as it morphed from his handsome young features to that of the old and shriveled Merlin. “You will find him in the city of Los Angeles. I give you this to help you.” What appeared, at first glance, to be a coin was produced seemingly from the air itself. It fell to the ground with an audible jingle. Hunter reached for it and hefted it in his hand. “This is the Coin of Larin. I have placed on it the spell of Descries. It knows where Edmond is. Take it to the city. It will work like a compass. The closer you are to Edmond the brighter the coin will shine.” “Master,” began Hunter. “Edmond and I, we…” “Stop! You do not need to say what I already know.” Merlin’s image and their connection to each other was fading. The last thing The Hunter heard before the vision was replaced once again by the graffiti covered brick wall was Merlin’s voice echoing through time. “Find him.” |
| Removing the grimace from his face he stood and continued staring at the wall for a moment. He and Edmond had never seen eye to eye. They had competed for everything while they had been trained by Merlin. Though they had only worked on one mission together, that had gone badley as their two personalities had rubbed up against each other.
A year ago, in a race against time to stop the death of the inhabitants of a village in England, that clash had led to the near failure of the mission as Edmond had insisted on waiting till they knew more about what they were dealing with, while Hunter had insisted on action, and taking the fight to the Demons responsible. For the sake of the mission, Hunter had conceeded that information was needed, so he had allowed Edomnd to obtain it. He had believed he would do it through meditation or divination, but he had actually gone snooping round the Demon's lair. The demon discovered him, and attacked. If it wasn't for a telepathic distress message from Edmond, the villagers would have died. If they had gone together to defeat the Demon, three villagers would not have been placed into a coma that they still had not recoverd from. But dwelling on the past wuld not help. Especially remembering the first mission they had both been on whe they were only seventeen. If it was the wish of his master to work with Edmond, then there was little choice. Matthew knew that he was headstrong, as opposed to Edmond who was prone to overthinking events. Sjaking his head, he focused his energies inside. Such thoughts against his comrades were unprofessional. Headstong action alone with his powers and skill had served him well up till now, but with Edmond along, he would have to be more careful lest the other Knight get in over his head. Focusing on that thought, he suddenly realised that it was as arrogant as hell. But a noise off to one side drew his attention before he could furthur analyse his thoughts. Without moving, he sent a tendril of thought outwards. There, off to his right, amongs the normal eddies of the powers of life that enshrouded the universe was a patch that life diverted around. Hunter grimaced. A Vampire, and a powerful one too. Suddenly the life flowing around it shifted as the Vampire moved forwards at breakneck speed. Pivoting on his left foot, Hunter swung out of the line of attack while bringing his right foot up in a roundhouse kick straight into the Vamps jaw, lifting him clean off his feet. Completing the spin, Hunter turned to face the sprawled Vampire. A flick of his left wrist caused the hidden mechanism attatched there to spring a stake out to run parallel with his hand. Allowing the Vampire back to his feet was one of the headstrong things Merlin had acused him of. It would have been much wiser to have finished the Vampire while it was still on the ground. But there was no honour in that. Sinking into a combat croutch, right hand keeping his billowing cloak from interfering with his movements, he stepped forwards into the fray. The Vampire was fast. But Hunter was faster. A chop from the Vamp was blocked by a armored elbow. Using his right hand, Hunter grabed the Vamps arm and applied leverage to spin him down to the ground, with his left hand and the stake following close behind to stab through into the heart. In a flash, the Vamp disintigrated into dust to be carried away by the breeze. Rising to stand in the allyway, Huter turned his back on the graffitied wall and began walking. Head cleared from the brief spell of action, he concentrated on the future and the journey to the City of Angels. It was time for his mission, and he NEVER failed. |
| The abandoned office building where Hunter called his home was located in an area of Sunnydale that was virtually forgotten. For sale signs decorated some of the old dilapidated buildings, but most owners didn’t bother. No one was buying anyway. Sunnydale was full of old dilapidated buildings. It was not the type of city that could support cosmopolitan businesses. The workforce seemed to disappear or die more often than not. Industry was not interested in that kind of a city. Perhaps it was just as well.
Hunter trudged to his make-shift home. Jumping nimbly atop a crate, he managed to slide gracefully in through a window at the back of the building. He had other means of entering and leaving his home, but he preferred to save those easier means for a quick exit should the situation require it. He walked over to an old futon mat that he had recovered from the trash outside a warehouse not far from his home. It was old and dirty and smelled faintly of something he’d rather not dwell on, but it served it’s purpose as his bed. He was The Hunter. He did not need the luxury of a soft mattress, pillows, or sheets. He felt a certain amount of guilt for even using the mat and the threadbare blanket he had. Throwing himself down on the mat, he allowed himself to rest. The Hunter had no use for long episodes of sleep. Sleep was a waste of time. He rarely had any to squander. A simple rest was all that he would spare. He was on his guard at all times. His muscles ready to spring to action, his ears constantly concentrating on the sounds around him. Even in this state of rest a demon had little advantage over The Hunter. Thoughts of that night’s escapades ran through Hunter’s mind. He lived for the fight, the challenge, the victory. Edmond was bound to interfere with his plans to defeat his current nemesis. They did not think or plan in the same way. He would have to have to allow Edmond his say in their ventures. This was almost intolerable to Hunter, but disobeying his master would be an unforgivable sin. After a few minutes rest Hunter sat up and dug the coin from his pocket. At this moment it was dull and dark. He examined it closely. It did not appear to be magical. It did not appear to be anything special, but he knew if it was from Merlin it was both those things and more. He put the coin back in his pocket and stood up. His journey was about to begin. Outside the office building was a small enclosed area that was once used for disguising garbage dumpsters from the sensitive eyes of the office building’s patrons. From this enclosure, which had been locked with a spell only Hunter could release, he extracted his Suzuki Turbo GSXR1100. This was more than a motorcycle, this was a rocket on wheels. Knights in this day and age did not ride noble horses, they rode motorcycles, and this was one of the best. It was black, like his mood, and powerful like his body. Hunter started it’s engine, revved the motor and started on his journey. |
| The Hunter's slick black GXR1100 sped down the highway reaching speeds of 400 miles per hour. Constantly in his mind he was thinking of Merlin's orders to seek out Edmund as a partner. Hunter was perturbed because his master is forcing to do this. "Man! Merlin knows that me and Edmund don't work well together." he thought angrily to himself. As he rode along the highway, night and day seemed to be racing by him at an rapid pace.
After four days had passed Hunter had finally entered into the city limits of Los Angeles commonly known as the City of Angels. As Hunter arrived within the city limits he pulled into a service station to refuel his motorcycle get to a phone book. Hunter turned off his cycle and walked over to the phone booth. Once he got to the booth Hunter picked up the phone booth and leafed through the pages looking for Angel detective agency ad. Once he found the ad he tore the page out of the book and went to refuel his cycle. "Before I begin looking for Edmund, I need to let Angel know what has happened in Sunnydale. Because I know he deserves to know what has happened to Buffy." he thought to himself sadly. Then after he finished refueling his bike and paid the service attendant he revved up his motorcycle and continued on his way..... |
| Hunter braked hard outside the address he had pulled from the directory. Looking up he stared momentarily at the mostly restored facade of the hotel that now housed the Nagel detective agency. Though he had only had a brief contact with Angel back in Sunnydale, the Vampire struck him as as honourable a demon as you were likely to find anywhere on this Earth.
Why had he come here? The thought was fleeting as he tried to concentrate on it, only to spring forward in his mind in words. "Tell him about Buffy!" Hunter frowned. What was wrong abou that statement? CLosing his eyes he focused his mind with a simple meditation technique that he had learnt in his first week of apprenticship under Merlin. The truth hit him like a War hammer. Someone was manipulating him. He had met Angel back in Sunnydale when he had made a brief visit to Buffy's grave. Willow had gone to him to let him know of Buffy's fate. Opening himself more fully to his powerrs, the words floating in his mind vanished like a shadow in full sunlight. Replacing them was what, in his minds eye, looked to be a black tendril snaking into his mind. He had two choices. He could try to follow the tendril of darkenss by using his minds eye to follow it, or he could send his own tendril of thoughs after it. Both had their drawbacks. The first, if he used it would alert the sender of dark energy to his approach. The second probably would alert the sender, and if it did, would alert him, her or it to his potential power. Unfortunatley with his massive resorvoirs of personal power, he was very likely to be detected. If the energies of life were like a lake, his presence was like that of a Supertanker. It was the only drawback to the power. Of course there were ways around that. Smirking to himself, for an idea that came to him, he focused his energies. He took a tendril of thought and focused it so tightly, it appeared as little more than a pinprick of a white line in his mind's eye. Reaching out with that tendril, he wrapped it ever so lightly around the dark tendril and started it tracking the direction. What surprised him was that the sender was so bold as to make little attempt to hide his powers. What surprised him even more was to find the sender was close by. Perhaps only ten miles or so. But those two surprises were nothing compared to the shock he got when he caught a fleeting image. "No...." The image was of Seth. A thirty year old former student of Merlin, he looked like a person off a billboard for army recruiting. Six feet tall, possesed of a widows peak, and only describeable as intense. He had never met him in person, but during his apprenticesship, he had heard the horror stories surrounding the man. He had been Merlin's prize student. Powerful, intelligent and dangerous as hell to those he fought against. He best ability was to manipulate weather. But he had turned on his former master and had gone on a rampage in Asia. He had caused a monsoon to sweep through ther area, and had used the deaths that he had caused to penetrate the barriers between dimensions. But that was ten years ago. Swirilng around in the vision in the background was another image. Trying to focus his disturbed thoughs he cauht a glimpse. A demon’s features, totally unrecognizable, hidden in the shadows. His eyes, however, were clear, dark, and ominous. The same eyes as he had seen in the conversation with Merlin four days ago. The eyes that were a gateway to hell. Suddenly the image of the demon shifted to look at him. Hunter pulled out his thoughts faster than light, as he swallowed loudly to moistne his suddenly dry throat. Merlin had sent two knights to take on the Demon. Now with Seth in the picture, things were getting worrying. Hunter looked back at Angel's home. Reinforcements were on the cards, and he knew just where to get them. |
| Dismounting his bike, Hunter started toward the door of the hotel. At the entrance he stopped. He heard the voices of several different people discussing the aftermath of the demise of the Slayer. He recognized only Angel’s voice. Deciding that the information he might acquire by listening could be useful, he used his powers to blend his body with his mind. Slowly, as he concentrated, his body became less than it was. It had form, but little by little the matter that was is body was fading until he was but a shadow. A shadow of little substance. He easily slipped through the slight openings of the door and slunk into a corner of the foyer. There he waited, watched and listened.
“Angel, listen to me…” It was obvious that this man was a compatriot to Hunter. The man was standing beside Angel with a look of both concern an exasperation showing on his dashing face. “No, Wesley. I know what I have to do. Are you going to help me or not, because if you’re not. That’s fine. I’ll manage on my own. I always do.” Angel brushed passed Wesley. He drifted into the office and sat down behind a desk, put his feet up and laced his fingers behind his head. Wesley and other man, a handsome dark skinned younger man, stood looking at each other. Wesley shook his head and walked into the office. The third man followed, stopping in the doorway. “You cannot go back to Sunnydale.” Wesley stated plainly. “You cannot take Buffy’s place.” “Why not. Huh?” Angel put his feet down and leaned forward on the desk. “I kill demons. I’m practically a Slayer already.” “It just doesn’t work that way. You know the Council will never approve. Besides, I’m sure they are already preparing a new slayer.” “Forget the Council, Wesley!” Interrupted Angel as he jumped from behind the desk and began pacing the room. “I don’t need their help.” “Fine. Fine. What about the work you have to do here. You have a prophecy to fulfill.” Wesley’s voice softens as he walked toward the vampire and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I know what Buffy meant to you, but she’s gone. She fulfilled her destiny. Now it’s time to fulfill yours.” Angled looked into Wesley’s eyes. The pain of loosing Buffy was almost too much for him to bear. He felt he must do something. He hadn’t really been part of Buffy’s life for a long time now. Yet, he would never forget how she made him feel - human. He had never really let go of her. Even after her death he was still holding on tight. “Wes is right, ya know.” The third man stepped into the room. “There are a lot of people in LA counting on you. People that don’t even know they’re counting on you. What about them, huh?” He made a throwing motion toward the ground. “You gonna just toss them away like they don’t count.” “Gunn…” Angel started. “Then there’s Cordelia. What’s she going to do? You don’t seriously think she prepared to go back to that hick town after living in LA, do you? You gonna just leave her here with her ‘Powers-that-Be’ visions.” Gunn walked up to stand beside Wesley and said seriously, “We can’t save the world without you, man.” “I have to do something. I have to make her death mean something…to me.” Angle’s hung his head and all was momentarily silent. During this time, Hunter had drifted unobserved to the office doorway. There he stood watching all that was unfolding before him. Now was the time to reveal himself. He willed himself solid again, separating his mind from his body and becoming his human form once again. “Perhaps,” he said, as the startled trio turned and took a defensive stance. “I have an idea that will be satisfactory to both you and I.” |
| "Who are you?" Angel exclaimed startled as Hunter reappeared just a few inches behind them. Then Hunter whiped his cape behind him and replied sternly. "Oh! I am terribly sorry for startling you all like that. My name is Matthew Hunter and I am part of a secret order of knights trained by Merlin himself." Hunter said intently. "Wow! I've heard of your secret order while I was with the Watchers Council. Most of the things I've heard about Merlin's band of knights is that you all do not work well with other organizations and people and you are highly secretive." Wesley said clearly.
"Yes! It is true that we choose to keep our daily activities to ourselves. Our order has never responded favourably to outsiders." Hunter replied. Then Angel stepped closer to Hunter and said interrupting. "Hey! Why have you come here. And why have you been spying on us." Hunter then gave a huge sigh of relief and exclaimed,"Well! First off I would like to express my fondest condolences on what has happened to the Slayer. I know how much she meant to you. (Angel then nodded in a solemn disposition) But the reason I have come here is because Merlin has sent me here to LA to seek out Edmund a fellow Knight so he can help me protect Dawn Summers. I was wondering if you could provide me with assistance in finding him." Then Gunn, Angel, Cordeila, and Wesley looked at each other with a concerned look on their faces. "Hunter! Can you tell us what is going on and what does Dawn Summers has to do with it." Angel asked intently. Hunter then thought to himself for a moment..... |
| "Listen, i cant give you too much information. If Merlin even found out that i was here asking for your help, he would be.... displeased with me."
Hunter moved over and leaned against the wall, trying to look casual. "You and I have actaully met Angel." Angel looked momentarily confused at this fact. Hunter seeing this confusuion cross his face reached out a hand and gestured at Angels head, while sending a small burst of power into his head to remove the memory block he had installed the last time they had met. As the memory block in Angels mind vanished, recongition dawned. "Wait, i do know you! You were the guy who took on that Demon gang going after Dawn a couple of weeks ago!" Wesley stared hard at Angel, before turning his gaze back to Hunter. "So why didn't you tell us Angel?" Hunter cleared his throat slightly. "He couldn't. Standard procedure for the order of The Knights is to operate as secretly as possible." Hunter gestured casually with one hand in the air. "That way it.... er.... avoids complications. So after we finish our mission, we install memory blocks on some people so that they do not remember our presence." Gunn looked disgusted and he confrontationally moved up to stand closer to Hunter. "What the hell gives you the right to mess with people minds?" Hunter turned his piercing gaze to Gunn, causing his attitude to faulter slightly, before he regained his composure. "Bearing in mind most of the people we save are Human, we do it for the advantage of both parties. We remove the memories of the events, replacing it with something more.... normal, and that they can accept. That gives them comfort to continue their lives, while giving us the secrecy we need to continue our work." Westly sat on the corner of the desk, looking uncomfortable. "So why have you come here and restored Angels memory?" Hunter looked down at the ground, pausing to compose the words he would need to convince them to possibly sacrifice thier lives in a fight that really the Knights own mess, plus complications. "A few years ago, a member of our orger turned against the teachings of our master, Merlin the Magician. In the choas he caused, he escaped capture to another dimension. Unfortunatley he is now back, and he has brought a demon with him." Looking suddenly interested, Westly leaned forward on the desk. "What sort of demon?" "Honestly, we don't know. But it is incredibly powerful, and with the assistance of one of our own knights, they are a power to be reconed with." Angel moved round the desk, taking up a position mirroring Westley's. "Do you know what they are after?" "No." Angel, Westley and Gunn all stared at each other for a second, before turning back and as one said. "NO?" Angel stood again, turning his back on Hunter and staring at a painting hanging on the wall. Westley had only bought it a couple of days ago to 'brighten up the office'. The picture depicted Dante's Inferno, and every time Angel looked t it, it darkened his mood. Turning his head to see Hunter out of the corner of his eye a thought struck him. "You mention Dawn.... Buffy's sister?" Hunter frowned. Had he? He didn't remember it. But then again, it would not be the first time he had received a subliminal message from the powers that flowed through his body. Focusing a thought inwards, he searched out the short term memory center in his brain, and used a tendril of his power to spark the firing of the neurons that would have recorded the last few minutes. Instantly, almost like watching a VCR in picture search re-wind, time started to move backwards in his minds eye. When he reached the begining of the conversation, he played it back. Using soem memory enhancement techniques, he focused on his own actions. The images were crystal clear, with every detail present, inculding the smallest observations like the constant level of the beat of his own heart, the quiet burbling as his stomach continued to digest the nutritional bar he had eaten on the journey to the Hyperion Hotel. Slowing the memories at the appropriate point, he played it back. "....come here is because Merlin has sent me here to LA to seek out Edmund, a fellow Knight so he can help me protect Dawn Summers. I was wondering if you could provide me with assistance in finding him." Now that was strange. Merlin had simply sent him to LA to find Edmund, and together they were to contact Merlin for additional instructions. But there was the memory, clear as crystal in his mind. Taking more power into his body, he focused it on his memories, trying to see if he had been manipulated as he had earlier. But no dark thoughts were in his mind. Then inspiration hit him as a memory of his training surfaced. He was twelve, and six years into his training to become a Knight. It was dawn, and the ground was covered in a very light mist. He was in a small forest clearing, about a mile away from the castle that was his home. He had been there all night, practicing his meditation techniques. As the first ray of sunlight had pierced the canopy and hit his on his face, he had felt so alive and so full of power, he felt that he could have reached out and stopped the sun from rising, or that he could reach out and crush the windpipe of a young girl who he did not know. But that thought was one of darkness. One of many that had been plaguing him over the past month. As he had opened his eyes, he had seen Merlin standing over him, wearing his traditional royal blue 'monk-style' robe, tied with a golden sash round the middle. Merlin had asked what was troubling him, and he had replied that had had dark thoughts. Merlin had smiled sadly and said "It is the future you see." Hunter was shocked. Despite six years of training, it took normally ten or twelve till a Knight had obtained sufficeint skill to see the future. But why would he use his powers to crush the life out of a young girl? He did not know, and Meriln had said not to worry about it. That with time, all would become apparent. Hunter refocused on the present. The clock on the edge of the desk had only moved forwards four seconds, despite the feeling that the trip through his memory had taken minutes. The trip had galvanised his thoughts though, and he instantly knew that after the fleeting toutch with Seth and the Demon, he had obtained a futuristic insight to their plans. Once again, he would have to return to Sunnydale and protect Dawn Summers and her friends. Hunter stared hard into Angels eys, before moving his gaze to Gunn and Westley in trun, before returning to Angel. "Yes I did mention Dawn. She is not in danger yet, but she will be. For now, we need to find Edmund. I know you are a detective agency, and as such i will pay for you time helping me. Will six be enough?" Westley picked up at the mention of money. Since he ad taken over Angel Investigations, he had been worried about the bottom line, and the fact that the agency was loosing money fast. "Six thousand... certainly!" Hunter smiles weakly. "Actually i meant Six Hundred thousand." Gunn and Westley blanched at the mention of the pile of cash. Everyone turned at the sound of a female voice from the doorway into the office. "What did i miss?" |
| “Ah, Cordelia.” Wesley motioned toward Hunter. “This gentleman was just explaining a situation he wanted us to assist him with.” He paused giving her a look that said: Humor him. Be nice to him. He’s actually a potential paying client. All of this was expressed in a single look from Wesley to Cordelia. “He’s offer to pay us $600,000.”
Cordelia’s eyes lit up as they always did when the subject of money was suggested. She was as concerned about the agency’s bottom line as Wesley was. She wasn’t going to let this pile of money get away. “Six hundred thousand, you say.” She practically bounced to Hunter’s side. “Please, have a seat. Can I get you anything. Water, coffee, a sandwich…whew! A bath.” She said as she wrinkled her nose and stepped back. That just slipped out before Cordelia knew what she was saying. It seemed to happen to her a lot. “Cordelia!” All three men starred at her. Hunter was amused. “What?” She looked back to Hunter. “I’m sorry, but you really could use one.” “My personal hygiene does leave something to be desired.” He bowed graciously to Cordie. “I apologize if my person offends your female senses.” “Hey, don’t worry about it.” She said waving her hand. “This is LA. We’ve seen, and smelt, it all. Haven’t we guys? You’ll fit right in.” She patted him on the shoulder, then regretted it as a puff of dust wafted from his cape. Wes, Angel, and Gunn were speechless. Three minutes into the room and Cordie already offended one of their highest paying clients before they even had a deal. Coming back to his senses, Angel motioned Cordelia aside. “Forgive our Cordelia. We’re still working on her manners.” Cordelia shot him a look of annoyance, but moved across the room and took a seat. “So, what is it you need us to do?” “It’s very simple really. I need you to find a fellow Knight for me - Edmond. Should you come across information about that blackguard, Seth and the demon I would be delighted to receive it. I do not suggest you contact Seth or engage in any type of conflict with him or the demon. You do not know what you are up against. Neither do I. At this point it would be disastrous. We must acquire as much information as we can before attempting the defeat these monsters.” Hunter reached into his pocket and withdrew the Coin of Larin., and flipped it into the air toward Wesley. “This will help you in your search for Edmond.” With quick reflexes, Wesley caught the coin and began to examine it. “The Coin of Larin. I’ve heard of this, but I’ve never seen one.” Excited, Wesley walked over to a bookshelf and extracted a thick volume. He began flipping through the pages. “Ah, yes. Here it is.” He began reading. “The Coin of Larin is said to have the power of recognition. A spell is cast over the coin to guide it towards a specific person or item. The coin was created by Merlin the Magician. Only he has the power to cast the Spell of Descries over the coin. The coin will grow brighter and brighter as the holder gets closer to the object or person that was the subject of the spell.” Wesley stopped reading and looked up. “Where did you get this coin? No one has seen it for centuries.” “From Merlin, himself of course.” “But how…” Wesley was an stickler for details. “That does not matter. When you find Edmond, give him the coin and my name. Once he knows I am looking for him he will be able to use his mind to contact me. Until then we are dark to each other. We have a connection, but one that neither of us wished to make strong. Be aware of the darkness that is growing. Collect any information you can about that darkness. I will be in contact with you when I can. If you agree to help me, I will return to Sunnydale. Dawn is in constant danger. I do not wish to be away from her for, too long.” Angel was still perplexed. What did this have to do with Buffy and Dawn. How was helping Hunter going to help him come to terms with Buffy’s death. He posed this question to Hunter. “Buffy gave her life so that Dawn could live. Dawn needs help in more ways than one. She has people around her that love her. They can give her what she needs to become emotionally well again. It will be difficult, but together her friends can do it. They even have the ability to protect her from most forces that wish to use her latent powers as the Key. They are not prepared to deal with Seth and the demon force that is building.” Hunter stepped up to face Angel. “You wish to give reason to Buffy’s death. You can do that by helping me to protect Dawn – the one person she loved most – the one she gave her life for. If Dawn is lost, then you are right. Buffy’s death will have no meaning.” Hunter paused, trying to gauge Angel’s feelings and thoughts. Finally he said, “Angel, will you help me?” |
| Briefly for a few moments Angel stepped behind his desks and folded his arms as he pondered on Hunter's offer. Within his mind he began to think of all the good times he had with Buffy and how they eventually went their seperate ways.
"Okay! We'll help you find Edmond." Angel exclaimed breaking his deep gaze into the past. Then he called Wesley,Gunn, and Cordeila forward to his desks so they could work out a plan on how to find Edmund. "Wesley! I want you and Gunn to take the coin and search the streets during the daytime. Cordeila I want you to talk to any informant who might have any information to his whereabouts." Angel commanded sternly. After Angel had finished talking, Wesley and Gunn grabbed the keys to Cordelia's car and they headed out to begin their search. Then Cordeila looked at Angel seriously and said,"I'll get right to those calls. I will let you know what I find out." "What can I do, because I maybe could be of some assitance." Hunter asked intently. Angel turned his attention over to him and replied,"You come with me. With that Angel grabbed his keys to his car and they went on their search of the city. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city in an alley. All was peaceful until the whole alley became immenced in a bright blue light and all of a sudden a portal slowly opened out of nowhere. Then a figure slowly stepped from the larged opening in the air. The figure who stood 6 ft 3 inches tall with a herculean physique dressed all in black with a cape billowing in the air behind him, and with a dark disposition about him. For a moment he glanced at his surroundings in the alley. "What a rotting decrepid dump!" the figure said silently as he started walking. Then all of a sudden these six hoodlums stepped in front of his path. "Hey Buddy! Give us all your valuables." one of the thieves replied laughing devishly. "Yeah! Or there will be trouble for ya. If ya don't. (By the way man look at this guys cape. We sure hit the jackpot. one of the guys muttered.)" another said sternly. The figure then looked at the six men fiendishly and for the moment he dicided to ignore them until with a rapid movement of his wrist. He sliced through all of them with his katana sword his katana sword hidden within his coat. And with that each of the six men feel lifeless to the ground. He straightend his hair and sheathed his sword back into his coat. "Oh! Hunter oh so how long that I wanted to find you and kill you. And I will get my chance. Haaaaa, Haaaa, Haaaa! For soon all worlds will bow down and serve Seth for all time once I get the key." he said meniacally as he headed torwards downtown Los Angeles. As Angel and Hunter were searching the city for Edmond. Hunter without warning began to recieve dark thoughts into his mind.......... |
| The images flashed into the frontal lobe of his brain like a knife. Pain searing into his eyes, so intense, he thought his head would explode.
One image was of a dimension, not unlike earth. A red sun hung over the land, that was mostly green with a few spaced out cities. But as he watched the city-scapes, a dark figure strode through the land, with a wall of fire at his back. Hunter knew instinctively that the figure was Edmond, but the pain that came with the visions was too much for his pain suppression techniques to deal with and he fell forwards onto both knees. Angel, who was only just coming round the desk was at his side in an instant. "Are you all right?" Hunter straightened up and used the corner of the desk to raise himself to his knees. "Seth is here, in the city." Angel looked almost startled at the news. "Where? Can you be more specific?" Hunter reluctantly closed his eyes, and the images returned full force. But this time he was ready. Drawing on his powers, he used them as a buffer to the pain. Even so, his heart wrenched when he saw the wall of flame reach one of the cities and burn people alive in the streets and their homes, while a voice whispered into his mind "You can do this and more...." "No.... NO!" Hunter slammed his fist down on the corner of the desk with such force that he split the wooden surface under his gauntleted hand. The jab or real pain that rushed into his mind cleared out the lingering traces of the images. "OK, there's no need to get so touchy!" Hunter looked at Angel, momentarily embarrassed by his lack of control, and felt the need to explain to his hired help, just for the sake of his pride. "Seth talked to me." "How?" "He has the same powers I do. When you can manipulate the power of life, telepathy is easy compared to it." Angel nodded like he understood, but Hunter got the impression that he only half got it. "I'm ready, lets go." Walking out the room, Angel waved goodbye to Cordelia, but as she looked up she frowned at Hunter. "I thought you were going back to Sunnydale?" Hunter froze in his tracks. That was right. He had intended to go back to Sunnydale. He realized he was being manipulated again. It was Seth's strongest power. A power known to the Knights as Alter Mind. With it he could make people say, see and do things against their will, without many even knowing it was happening. Hunter realized with a start that even Merlin could never have diverted his thoughts as Seth had just done. And that scared him. For the first time in years! "You’re right Miss Chase, I do have to return to Sunnydale. If I stay here, Seth can use my presence to track me down. I need to put some distance between us. I can't afford to face him alone. Not yet." Angel stared intently at Hunter as he nodded briefly to Cordilia and handed him a small leather pouch on his way out the door. Angel had seen Hunter fight once before against horrendous odds of twenty to one, and he had not flinched but just waded in. Yet here he was, reluctant to face off against one of his own. Opening the leather pouch, Angel gawped in wide eyed amazement. It was stuffed full of high denomination Dollar bills. There must have been $200,000 worth. "Hey Cordi... this will make you happy...." Hunter strode down to his bike and ran his hand over the handlebars. As much as he enjoyed riding the bike, there was no time to loose on a traditional journey back to Sunnydale. Gathering his powers about himself, he focused them on the very fabric of the world around him. AS the power built, the fabric began to fray, then tear into a swirling blue cone of light. Hunter sat astride his bike, turned the ignition and drove into the vortex. It was one wild ride, even though it only lasted a few seconds. Speeding down a tunnel of swirling blue lights, before spilling out at the other end. Hunter almost lost control of his bike as he landed hard on the ground. But he regained his balance and sped down the road in the abandoned part of Sunnydale. He had disobeyed Merlin, sort of, and left Angel to find Edmond. He just hoped that they would be all right till Edmond joined them.... |
| Cordelia did not even notice as Hunter made his exit. She was too busy examining the money in the leather pouch. Still palming through the cash, and not bothering to even glance up she said “Do you guys know what this means?”
Wesley and Gunn stopped on their way out the door when they saw the cash Hunter had given Angel. They came back and were now standing beside Cordelia. “Well for one,” stated Wesley, “it means we can finally start paying some of the bills around here.” “Maybe,” remarked Gunn, “our stingy boss will start compensating his devoted employees better.” Wesley eyed him irately. “Hey, yeah.” Cordelia smacked Wesley on the shoulder with the wad of bills. Wesley grabbed his shoulder feigning pain. “That’s not what I was talking about, though. Now I can buy that short leather skirt I saw down town yesterday.” Wesley and Gunn just starred at her trying to imagine her in a short leather anything. Wesley cleared his throat. “Uhem, yes, well that’s a subject for another time. Right now we need to start earning this retainer, right Angel.” During the discussion of the money, Angel was lost in his own thoughts. Perhaps Hunter was right. Perhaps this was a way for Angel to put Buffy’s death behind him. To give it a reason. At least he had a case that would take his mind of her death…for now. “Angel?” Wesley said again. “Huh?” Angel became aware that Wesley was speaking to him. He looked up to see his three friends, concern apparent in their eyes. “I’m sorry Wes. What were you saying?” “I was just saying that we had better get to work.” Wesley noticed Angel was preoccupied but thought it better not to mention. Turning to Gunn and Cordelia, “Angel gave us our assignments, let’s get to it.” “Since Hunter was not able to stick around, I’ll manage on my own for now.” That is how Angel preferred it after all. In many ways, his personality was much like Hunter’s. They all nodded in agreement and went their separate ways to begin the search for Edmond. ***************************** A dark shadow of a figure glided silently and stealthily through the streets of Los Angeles - searching. For what? He did could not say for sure. He could feel an ever growing evil presence. He had not felt this level of evil energy before. The man reached inside himself and scoured his mind for the wisdom he mastered while training in Merlin’s order of The Knights. ‘Yes, yes,’ he thought to himself. He could feel the malevolent presence. He searched deeper and further along this connection. Suddenly, he knew the source of the evil, and it was a familiar being. “Seth.” He said simply. Each member of Merlin’s order was well aware of Seth’s treachery. He was near, but not near enough for the man to resolve Seth’s whereabouts. The figure continued on his course, turning this way and that. Following where his mind directed. Eventually he found himself in one of the many less than desirable sections of the city. Making his way amongst the discarded refuse, both garbage and people, he came across a gruesome discovery and the initial source of the feelings he had been receiving all evening. Deep in an alleyway was the discarded and mangled remains of a gang. Six young men, perhaps misguided, but men nonetheless, slaughtered mercilessly. Blood congealed together on the filthy blacktop creating the appearance of a thick black soup. The bodies were strewn through the alley in no particular fashion. It had been a massacre. The men had not a single chance to react to Seth’s onslaught. Helpless to do anything more on this night, the man Hunter had been directed by Merlin to find, turned his back on the carnage and retreated into the night. |
| As Hunter sped through the desolate streets of Sunnydale. He was thinking rather hoping that Angel and his friends don't run into Seth because he is considerably dangerous. "Man! I surely hope that they are going to be okay. Merlin had assigned the mission of finding Edmond to me. But I have totally disobeyed his orders and given this assignment to Angel. If anything happens to them, I wouldn't know what to do." Hunter thought to himself.
Within a couple of minutes he parked his motorcycycle along the curb near Buffy Summers house. |
| No, hunter corrected himself. It was Buffy's house. Now it belonged to Dawn.
Conflicting emotions raced through him regarding her. It was only a few days ago that he had saved her life, and those of her friends. It was also a few days ago that she had professed to be in love with him. Hunter frowned. He considered her a child at fifteen, but he was only two years older. That did not stop him from feeling something towards her. Something that he had buried deep inside himself. For with his job, extraneous emotions like love were a distraction. Anyone he was liable to fall in love with were just as likely to get killed by those that would want to exterminate the knight, or at the very least keep them off balance. Blowing out a deep breath, he dismounted his bike. His cloak, that had been short for traveling purposes, lengthened around him till it brushed the ground, swirling of it's own accord, almost like it was alive. Hunter completed his disguise by reaching out at using his mind to pull light around him like a second cloak. Anyone outside the cloak would not see him, and inside the cloak, Hunter could find some level of detachment from his surroundings. Detachment that was badly needed when he was around Dawn. Dawn was sitting at the kitchen table, poking a plate of barely touched salad. Hunter frowned standing in the open back door. Despite the fact that is was a few weeks since Buffy’s death, she still had not regained her appetite. It had not helped that he had shot down her feelings towards himself. What would she say if he just turned up again after only five days? His heart was trying to pull him out from his self imposed isolation and it was one battle he was not sure he wanted to win. Giles strolled in from the other room, the ubiquitous pile of books under his arm. Heading towards the fridge, he glanced over at Dawn, and then down at the mostly untouched plate of food and he frowned. "You really should eat something Dawn." She glanced over and tilted her head to read the spines of the books he held. "Your researching him again aren't you?" Giles looked up from the other side of the Kitchen where he was starting to make himself a sandwich. "Yes. I still have some questions hat I want answered." Food forgotten for now, she slid off the chair and moved up next to Giles. "Can I help?" Giles sighed and nodded. "If you take 'Elisandros Prophecies', I will have 'Thougoods Compendium'. With any luck these may shed some light on Hunter." "If you have questions why don't you just ask me?" Hunter dropped his mental shroud and he shimmered back into sight. Reaching up, he pulled back his hood and threw a lop-sided grin. Giles dropped the knife he was holding in surprise and it fell point down towards his feet. Hunter made a gesture with his hand and arrested the motion of the knife mid flight, and brought it floating back up. A flick of the wrist and the knife sliced cleanly through the bread. Giles only reaction was.. "You’re back!" Dawn, watched the antics of the knife with a sparkle in her eyes, before turning her gaze back to Hunter and frowning. "You left without saying goodbye!" Hunter allowed his smile to fade away and he looked deep into her eyes. "I should have said goodbye, and I really am sorry I didn't, but there was somewhere else I had to go urgently" Dawn face showed a slight smile creep up. "Well, as long as your back...." Giles moved forwards. "Not now Dawn. I have some questions for you!" Hunter nodded. "I will tell you what I can. It is the least I can do for you helping me." Giles frowned. He had indeed helped him, but it was to protect Dawn. Something that he would have done anyway. If anything it was more likely that he owed Hunter something. Well, except for the medical care he had given to Hunter when he foiled a demon gang's attack on the home and attempted kidnapped of Dawn. Pushing his doubts aside, he sat down at the Kitchen table and motioned for Hunter to sit as well. Xander walked into the kitchen and pulled up a chair, closely followed by Anya, who leaned over him, and Willow and Terra, who leant against the kitchen work tops. Hunter stared at each of them in turn and he suddenly felt very exposed. His emotions were in increasing turmoil, and it had interfered with his concentration so much he had not noticed the presence of the others in the house. Giles leaned forwards, his gaze intent. "I know you told me some of the history of your order last time, so first off. I would like to hear about your source of power." "I am not allowed to tell you about it." "Why?" "The source of our power is a secret that we take most seriously. If someone outside our order were to learn of it's existence and experiment with it without training, the results would be.... dangerous." "Dangerous? How?" "It would be like giving a loaded gun to a child. It would only be a matter of time till the trigger is pulled." "Why do you do what you do?" Hunter smiled slightly. "Why do you do it?" Xander leaned forwards, suspicion in his eyes. "Hey, we asked first!" Hunter killed his smile. "Of course. We are the tools of the Powers That Be." "you know the powers?" Hunter tilted his head to one side, allowing a lock of his dark brown, almost black hair to fall across his forehead. "Their intent is passed on to me through my master." "Who is Merlin right?" "Yes Willow. THE Merlin." Willow and Terra glanced at each other in awe. Merlin was what they wanted to be. Anya moved round Xander and walked behind Hunter, who followed her with his mind. "There is something that I don't get. You said that you were unlikely to return! So what happened?" Dawn looked over startled, angry and betrayed at Hunter. "The future is always in motion. Events have conspired to bring me back to Sunnydale." He glanced meaningfully at Dawn. A look that was not lost on the group. Dawn however stood up fast, pushing her chair out behind her. Anger leaking into her movements and her voice. "So what the hell is after me now?" |
| *********
Angel approached the flashing lights with caution. He did not trust the police and they did not trust him. His name came up much too often in cases that had no logical conclusion. If he could avoid their attention he would do it. A crowd had gathered, as crowds generally do when violent and bloody events occur. Angel hovered around the fringes of the crowd and blended into the throng of onlookers. “What do we have here?” Angel heard two detectives speaking. “A bloody mess is what we've got here. I’ve never seen anything like it. Six guys sliced cleanly in two. There is no weapon I know of that could do this kind of damage, much less a person strong enough to do it.” The second detective’s face was ashen. He looked like he was not having a pleasant evening, and he would be replaying this evening in his mind for days and weeks to come. “What’s going on with this city?” The first detective shook his head sadly and walked deeper into the alleyway. Angel needed to see the carnage in order to know what he was dealing with . He broke through the crowd and with an air of dignity and purpose he strode into the alley - a man on a mission. “Detective.” He called to one of the men he had heard speaking. The man walked over to him. “What are all those people doing over there." He pointed to the crowd from which he just came. "Get rid of them. This isn’t a spectator sport, it’s a murder.” “Yes, sir.” He hurried to the end of the alley and began shooing the people away. The detective didn’t even question Angel. No one did. His poise and confidence made it seem unnecessary. Angel knew it wouldn’t last. He took this opportunity and scanned the site of the bloodbath. To his trained eye, it did indeed seem like the work of a monster – perhaps figuratively and literally. He knew now time was more precious even than Hunter thought. He hastily made his exit without so much of a ‘can I see your identification’ from LA’s finest. Had he possessed the Coin of Larin at that moment, Angel would have seen a faint glow. He would have known Edmond, too, had been to this dark alley of death. ********* Wesley and Gunn made their way through the city in a random pattern. They constantly checked the Coin of Larin for and changes, but it remained dull and unremarkable. Eventually the duo decided to return to the hotel to regroup. They were obviously going about this the wrong way. There had to be an easier way to find Edmond. They thought perhaps Angel or Cordelia had had better luck in getting leads to help in their search. Walking into the office, Wesley and Gunn saw that Cordelia was speaking on the telephone. They waved to Cordelia to get her attention. She waved back and Wesley and Gunn took a seat in the lobby area to wait for Cordelia to finish. “Uh huh…Yes, but…Well, I’ll let him know…Okay…” Cordelia’s pleasant tone of voice was obviously forced. “No, you’ve been very helpful…Really…If you hear of anything else…No. Thank you…Okay…Thank you…Bye bye.” She hung up the phone, sighed loudly, and ran her hands through her dark hair. “Well, that was fun.” She said sarcastically as she pushed herself up from the desk and went to join Wesley and Gunn. “What was that all about?” Gunn asked as Cordelia dropped onto the sofa beside Gunn. “That was one of our so called sources. Seriously, I don’t know how we end up dealing with some of these miscreants. That,” gesturing toward the office. “was a rotten little toad of a demon. He makes me feel slimy just listening to him. Yuck!” Cordelia shuddered. “You want to know what the weird part is? I didn’t even call him. He called us.” “About Edmond?” Inquired Wesley. “I’m not sure. It could have something to do with Seth. I was just about to go through our list of sources to see if any of them had heard of Edmond or Seth, or, you know, seen anything out of the ordinary in the demon community. Evil big dude seeking to torture souls, mounting evil energy, extra corpses, unidentified doorways to other dimension - standard op.” Cordelia leaned back on the sofa and put her feet in Gunn’s lap. Gunn was amused and did not object. “Anyway, this demon, Corrick, called and said he had some information we might want. What a worm. He actually wanted me to meet with him for a drink in exchange for the information. I said no way. Things don’t work that way around here, buck-o. I managed to make him give me the information. A little sweet talking and he was putty in my hands. Demons or human, you guys are all a like. Stroke that ego and you’ll do anything.” Cordelia picked up a magazine and began to flip through the pages. “Well…” Wesley said. “Well, what.” Cordelia asked innocently. “Cordelia, what did Corrick say?” Wesley was trying his best to control his temper, but sometimes Cordelia’s ways irritated him to no end. “Oh,” she tossed the magazine back on the table. “He said there was a major slaughter down in the old industrial district. It was the work of someone or something none of the other demons recognized. It looks like we have a new guy in town, boys.” “We do.” Angel appeared in the doorway and walked over to his friends. “I just saw his handy work. I think it’s Seth. If it is, we need to find Edmond fast.” |
| "Angel!" they all exclaimed at once. Then he walked over to Wesley, Gunn's, and Cordeila's position. "It seems that Seth has already arrived into the city. So we need to step up the search and find Edmond before Seth does." Angel replied intently. For a moment they all looked at each with blank stares on what to do next. Then Cordeila broke the silence,"Angel! While you were out Corrick who's one of our informants called. He's the one that told us about slaughter that happened in the old industrial district." "Oh, my old friend Corrick (speaking sarcastically). So he found out something. Well! guys what we need to do is find Edmond and fast." Angel said. With that they all went out to search for Edmond.
*********** Meanwhile in an old run down apartment building. Corrick was busily scanning the floor for some cock roaches because they were his favorite food. "Hum,Hummmm,Hummm! Come on my little babies. Daddy won't hurt you?!" as he laughed wickedly. Then he grabbed a cock roach off the floor and threw it in his mouth. After a couple of minutes of searching, he began to hear a very low buzz coming from outside his door. Corrick arose to his feet and slowly walked over to the door and replied,"Who is it? Go away! I do not respond well to visiters." But the low hum continued and as he unlocked the door and inched it open. He saw no one and he replied angrily,"Damn Drunkards!" as Corrick slammed the door. But when he turned around Seth was directly behind him smiling fiendishly. "Who are you?" Corrick replied startled but Seth just remained silent. Then with an instant motion of his hands, he hoisted the demon a couple inches up off the floor. All of a sudden he threw Corrick to the other side of the room and unsheathed his sword. "Why are you doing this man? What have I done to you." Corrick said frightened. "Well! Let's put it for starters. I hate rats. I know about your little conversation with Angel's assistant. You see...."Seth replied angrily as delivered an overhead swipe from his blade. Then with that as he began to exit the room, he decided to leave Angel a little message scrawled in Demon's blood regarding the dead slayer. "You'll be joining her soon. Vampire with a Soul. If you get in my way." Seth laughed fiendishly as he exited the apartment. |
| **************************************************
Hunter looked deep into the palest blue eyes he had ever seen. Dawn's eyes and almost fell into them. They contained so much pain, but they were also so intelligent, and held his gaze with the intensity of her soul. It surprised him how much he cared for this girl he barely knew. He had risked his life not more than a week a ago, as he had waded in to a huge band of demons intent on taking her away. Breaking his gaze away and looking anywhere but those eyes, he looked down at his partially concealed feet, surrounded by his living cape. "A while ago, one of our Knights went renegade. He turned from the teachings of Merlin and was seduced by the promises of power. He became one of the Blackguard." Giles reared back at the mention of the name. Xander, catching the look on his face pushed the issue. "What?" Giles flipped through one of the volumes he had stacked next to him on the table and traced his finger down the page till he found what he was after. "Like the Knights, the Blackguard are from little known mythology. They are both supposed to be able to manipulate the powers of life, but the Blackguard do it for evil, the Knights for good. The er, Blackguard are described in here as 'the devils incarnate, with powers to choke the life from your body, throw you around like a leaf on the wind, and corrupt your very soul'." Xander slumped down in his chair. "Great, first the bitch god from hell, now the devil?" Angry glances turned in his direction at the mention of the hell god Glory, the one who was ultimately responsible for the death of Buffy. Hunter smiled sadly. "Just when you think your life sucks, and you think it cant get worse.... it sucks some more!" Giles finished reading the section of the book and sighed heavily. "So how much of this is true?" Hunter leaned forwards over the table and read the article upside down for a moment. "All of it i’m afraid." Anya began to wring her hands together in nervousness. "But you can stop him right? I mean, that's why you’re here!" Hunter nodded. "That is why I am here. But there is a complication. When he escaped capture he did so into a different dimension." Xander scoffed. "Another one that crosses dimensions. Hell, who these days doesn’t!" "He returned recently, but he brought something with him. Something alive. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it is powerful, and dangerous." Dawn picked up the knife that had been lying next to her plate of untouched salad. "Can you beat them both?" The tone of her voice betrayed little in the way of worry, and again Hunter felt an incredible connection to the girl. She had lost so much, that to loose more was inconceivable to her at the moment. Or worse, that she no longer cared if she lost any more. The death of Buffy had hit her so hard, she had gone catatonic for days, not eating or drinking, or responding to outside stimulus of any kind. It was only after Hunter had rescued her from attack by a shadow demon that he had entered her mind to help her solve the issues she was facing. Even then, she had thrown him out several times till he had persuaded her to trust him enough to help properly. Hunter shook his head as he continued. "Alone, I might have been able to fight Seth, that's the name of the Blackguard, to a standstill. He was an incredibly powerful force for good before he turned, and he has had many years to perfect his use of the dark arts of our kind." Willow placed her hands on the table, palms down and stared hard at them. "So what you’re saying is that we are overmatched?" "I have been assigned the assistance of another Knight called Edmond. The problem is he was on a.... er.... sabbatical in LA, and I have yet to find him." "Then why are you here?" Hunter stared hard at Giles, and barely acknowledged Xanders remark of "That's a damn good question!" "I have recruited additional help from Angel." "Angel?" Hunter glanced over at Xander and watched conflicting emotions run across the man's face. "Yes. He is currently looking for Edmond, while I remain here to ensure you are all protected." Hunter looked deep into the eyes of everyone present in the room, detecting concealed hostility from Xander, apprehension from Anya and Terra, weariness from Giles, grim determination and something darker under the surface from Willow. Pushing out his thoughts, Hunter began to probe the edges of the darkness in Willow. But because of her magic abilities and powers, he found. Deciding to drop it for now, he turned his gaze at last back to Dawn, who met it full stare. Out of curiosity, Hunter again reached out with his senses and traced the lines of her soul. To his utter amazement, he felt her soul shift under his featherlight touch, and actually reach out and touch his in return. Hunter pulled back in an instant, and stared in veiled awe at Dawn. She had the power in her, as had he. ************************************************** Angel turned the corner hard. The engine in his car driving it forwards mercilessly. In the passenger seat, Wesley sat holding the coin aloft, watching it glow softly. "Turn left here!" Angel slowed the car down as he turned another sharp corner, tires screeching in protest. Wesley shook his head. No it was the other way. Angel threw an annoyed glance over to his left as he turned the car in the middle of the road. Spinning the back round so fast that Cordelia yipped and grabbed the back of Angels seat with both hands. "Will you drive properly!" Angel gripped the steering wheel tightly with his hands and growled under his breath. "If Wesley could read the coin correctly, we wouldn’t have to keep changing directions so much!" Wesley took his eyes off the coin for a moment and frowned at Angel. "Well I’m sorry Angel, but coin reading classes clashed with ancient Latin when I was studying to become a watcher!" Gunn leaned forwards between the two. "Hey guys, chill." Sitting back as Angel turned another corner at Wesley's direction, he glanced at Cordial and grinned. "It's like driving with a couple of Kids huh?" Cordelia made no response, she just closed her eyes swallowed hard. Gunn smiled and looked back out the window. They had been searching the usual haunts for Corrick when the coin had just started glowing. So they had abandoned their search for the toad demon and started the race to find Edmond. Taking another corner at high speeds, Gunn leaned forwards between the seats. "Hey dad? Are we there yet?" "Oh god!" Gunn turned and looked over at Cordelia and reached out to grab her just as a vision hit. Overlapping images poured into her mind, searing them into her memory. She saw a cloaked figure, taller than Hunter, and holding a bloodied dagger walk away from a mess on the wall. She recognized the surroundings almost immediately from when she had first visited them with Gunn when they were expanding their contact network. The room belonged to Corrick. Angel braked the car hard and turned round to look at Cordelia. "Well?" Cordelia opened her eyes, massaging her aching head with one hand. "It's Corrick... the toad demon. He's going to die. Angel, we have to help him!" Angel turned and looked at Wesley, still holding the softly glowing coin in one hand. It was one hell of a choice. Obey The Powers That Be, or continue the search for Edmond? Angel growled from deep in his throat and he kicked the car into gear and turned it in the road angling towards Corrick's apartment. Wesley looked shocked at Angel, but understood the reasoning. Edmond could wait, but Corrick, slimy as he was going to die. And that was a situation that was irreversible.... for the most part anyway! After ten minutes of breaking the speed limts in LA, Angel drew the car up outside a run-down apartment building. Parking near to the door, Wesley stepped out and opened it up carefully. Seconds behind him came Angel who burst out of the car and dived into the shade, only slightly smoldering. Standing up inside, he patted himself down and smirked at Wesley. "I need a better sun-block, Can I put it on my company account?" Wesley frowned at the humor and started moving down the corridor. Gunn followed close behind with a bag full of the usual weapons and began to rummage for a hand axe while Cordelia wrinkled her nose in disgust at the surroundings. "Why don't we ever have any contacts that live in Beverly Hills?" The corridor smelled damp and rotten. Peeling paint dangled from every surface, and most of the plaster from the ceiling was on the floor. The one lightbulb that was still working had no lamp shade, and flickered occasionally as a group of flies buzzed around it. Cordelia gestured at one door, and they all grouped round it. Each with a weapon. Angel stretched out his leg and kicked the door in and moved in, with Wesley and Gunn fanning out behind him, and Cordelia covering the rear. They had done this so many times now, but nothing had prepared them for the sight they now saw. Corrick had been eviscerated. His blood had been used to scrawl a message on the wall, and his entrails had been used on the floor to sign it. "The slayer died for nothing The key will be mine and I shall send you to hell to join your lost love if you interfere. Seth" Angel grasped the hilt of the sword he held in his hand and threw it with all his might into the wall. Striking it in the middle of Seth's name. Growling under his breath, he turned from the room. "You’re the one going to hell if I get my hands on you Seth!" |
| Seth stood in an unkempt room directly below the apartment where Corrick met his final demise and where Angel and his team were currently standing. The room had belonged to a recently – very recently - deceased young demon half-bread. He had been no challenge to Seth and was easily squashed like a bug. No fuss, no muss, not much mess. He was dead before he even knew what was coming.
Seth remained motionless in the center of the room, his eyes closed, breathing slowed, a hint of a smile played on his lips. He’d had such a marvelous time crushing his enemies; the gang of young mortals, Corrick, this unnamed worm; but they gave him little challenge. Sending the vision of Corrick’s departure from this world to Angel’s young female acolyte was, in his mind, genius. He knew the Powers that Be used her as a vessel and sent visions through her. She would not question where the vision came from. Perhaps now he would have an opportunity to practice his skills in a battle before the true onslaught began. It was time for the chased to become the chaser. He was nearly ready. Taking a deep breath and raising his arms, palms up, head back, eyes remaining closed, he recited the words that would summon the darkest demon this dimension had ever experienced. “O, te iussu fortitudo itaque praesentia, acerbus itaque sceleris. Evigilo increpito orbis terrarum itaque arguo tui fatum.” Flash! The light of a hundred suns filled the room. The floor began to quake, the windows began to rattle. The undefinable sound was deafening. The gateway was beginning to open. The air current spiraled around Seth causing his cloak to billow and ripple in time with the gusts. The tremors and the pandemonium were rejuvenating forces for Seth. ****************** “Is it an earthquake?” Shrieked Cordelia knowing full well they would not be so lucky. In the room above Seth; Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia had been discussing their next move when the uproar began. They were being unforgivably jostled about. “I’ve lived in LA forever. I’ve never felt an earthquake like this.” Said Gunn as he tried to steady himself The quaking and the roaring sound abruptly stopped. “It wasn’t an earthquake.” Wesley said in an unusually calm voice. “I think we’d better…” “It’s a trap!” Shouted Angel. He could feel the evil presence as could they all. “Get out! Get out. Now!” They started running for the door, but it was too late. ****************** As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The demon had been released. It was hideous. Though its features were indiscernible, just the sight of his form could cause fear and apprehension. To look into it’s eyes would be to welcome death. They each stood before the other as equals. Both were at the same time willing servants and tyrannous lords to the other. “We have much work to do.” Seth proclaimed. “But first…” He raised his hands toward the ceiling. A broad streak of light was emitted from his hands and blasted a hole in the floor or Corrick’s apartment. A hole through which Seth and the demon appeared. **************** The explosion threw the group across the room. They landed in a heap near the entrance to the apartment. Angel took the fall better than the others. He tried desperately to get the others to their feet, but it was no use. They were too dazed and confused to be of much help to the vampire. He felt it was he and he alone that would have to face this evil if he and his friends were to survive. Angel turned toward the center of the room as Seth and the demon appeared. **************** Edmond was startled out of his rest. He could feel the presence of Seth in his mind again, but this time there was something more – something evil that he could not yet comprehend. He felt a sudden urgency to follow where his mind led. Leaving the haven of his less than elegant by-the-week rented room he made his way through the city scanning it with his mind as he went. One of Edmond’s skills lay in the ability to travel without the use of outside sources. He did not even need to command a vortex as did Hunter. He shifted deftly into what would be most aptly called a mist. In this form he was able to cover long distances thoroughly, completely, and quickly. As he neared the location of Seth the contact on his mind became stronger and stronger until he was able to narrow his search to a one block area. He shifted back to his regular form and reached out with his mind. Searching, searching, searching. “He’s there!” shouted Edmond. The passers-by ignored him as another delusional victim of the streets. Edmond ran to the apartment building and up the stairs following Seth mind with his as he went. He was afraid, but fear was power to Edmond. People and demons were running down the stairs as Edmond was running up. He heard no screaming, but the mumbling and chanting of the fleeing masses was enough to drive a normal man mad. He ignored it and them. He was on a mission, and that was all that concerned him at the moment. Edmond followed his mind toward Corrick’s apartment. He heard Seth speaking and felt the evil forces at work before he even arrived at the door. The Coin of Larin, sitting in the pocket of Wesley’s jacket was glowing bright. If the group had taken notice, they would have known that assistance, from the one they had been searching for, was on it’s way. |
| Angel stood defiantly gripping the hilt of the sword as Seth and the demon hovered through the hole in the floor. "Honey! I'm home."Seth laughed fiendishly as he landed a couple of feet from Angel. "So you are Angel. You don't look so tough." he smiled wickedly. "Well! Looks can be decieving. And your friend over is certainly no good looker. I've seen better faces on dogs compared to his.(refering to the demon that stood beside Seth.) Angel replied humorishly causing the demon to growled ferosciously. The demon took a couple of steps torwards Angels direction when he was halted in his tracks by Seth.
"Hold on my friend! Let me take care of this one. You can chew on his friends." Seth said evily as he waved the demon over to Gunn,Cordeila, and Wesley's position. "Umm, Mortals!" the demon bellowed loudly. Then the demon walked over to their position and confroted them. Leaving Angel and Seth caught in a deep stare down. "Angel,Angel,Angel! I would of expected for you to have enough intelligence being a vampire with a soul and all. To know that fighting me is a losing battle. Well I guess you do not value your immortal life as greatly as I thought. I guess you want to be with your oh sweet Buffy. Then let me obliged you." Seth replied tauntily. "Yeah Seth but as long as I get a chance to take you with me. I welcome death."Angel replied angrily. Then the two warriors ran at each other in a killers rage with Angel clutching his sword tightly. |
| Seth ducked out and to the left as Angel swung his sword with the precision from centuries of practice, enhanced by preternatural speed and strength.
Finished his swing, he turned about and backpedaled furiously as Seth arced his Katanna at waist height. Both backed off, impressed slightly with each other, and all the more cautious. "Impressive Angel. Most would have died with my first attack." "I'm glad you like it. Shall we dance?" Seth smiled wickedly as Angel glanced over to where the Demon had turned to watch the sword battle, a petrified Cordelia held fast in it's arm, and Wesley being pressed to the floor with a big foot on his chest. Seth took one step to Angel's left, the first step to maneuver Angel to back against the wall, where he would be unable to swing his own sword properly. So Angel countered by taking a step in the same direction, bringing the two within striking distance. The swords blasted sparks as they contacted with each other with terrifying power. Angel spun out to the left, while Seth pressed home an attack with three quick jabs witht the point of his blade. The first jab went wide as Angel deflected it with his blade. The second went closer, tearing a gash in the lining of his coat as the blade passed through where he had been a second beforehand. Angel realized his mistake a second before it happened. But due to his momentum, he tripped over a protruding floorboard and sprawled to the ground. The sharp sting of splinters jabbing him through his shirt and sticking in his cheek. He quickly rolled over to avoid the inevitable stab downwards from Seth, and let out a yell of pain as the tip of the Katanna stabbed deep into his arm, pinning him in place. Seth raised himself from the crouch he had been in to stab Angel and he smiled maliciously. "It is a shame that Hunter is not here as well." He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suspect he is off guarding Dawn. But he has a surprise coming." He paused to laugh a little. "You see, I have an ally that I brought with me. He is the greatest warrior of an entire demon army that wished to conquer this dimension, and I intend to help them. "Why?" "Power of course. That and revenge! I just wish I can make it to Sunnydale in time to see Hunter die. You see, these warriors seem to grow stronger the closer they are to the Hellmouth. So Hunter will find he is seriously overmatched!" Angel looked up into Seth’s eyes and saw the evil lurking in them. "So are you going to bore me to death or what?" Seth smiled maliciously. "No, I will make you watch your friends die first!" "Same old Seth. No originality!" As one, every head in the room turned to stare at the cloak enshrouded figure in the doorway. Angel noticed the figure was dressed just like Hunter was, but he was slightly shorter. "Edmond?" Edmond raised his arms up and drew back his hood, revealing his face, set in a determined scowl. "Seth." Seth smiled slightly. "Well, this is a surprise. I had expected Hunter." Edmond almost covered the surprise at his companion and often competitor. Almost Seth beamed as he saw the look on Edmonds face. "You didn't know he was in town looking for you? Well, he won't be able to find you for long!" Seth raised his hands and blasted a bolt of angry red energy from his fingertips. Edmond remained calm as he brought his own arm up and let loose his own bolt, that was smaller and green. The two bolts impacted mid flight. The small green one literally bounced off the larger and blasted down into the floor, blowing a dis-proportionally large hole in the wood. The larger red one, only partially deflected from it's course shot past Edmond as he leaned over to the left, to impact on the wall behind him, blowing through the brick in a shower of masonry and letting the daylight in. Angel grabbed hold of the Katanna and pulled it out as the daylight fell on his legs and started to burn his skin through the small rips in the fabric. Springing to his feet, he threw the Katanna across the room with frightening Vampire strength and accuracy, embedding it in the back of the demon's skull. The bellow of surprise and pain shook the room, causing the meager possessions on the few shelves to fall off, and the plaster that had the writing in blood on it to fall off the wall. Seth spun round to see his sword buried in the back of his ally's skull and reached out his hand and mind to pull the blade free, causing it to arc across the room and fall neatly into his hand, leaving him barely enough time to turn to counter the strike Edmond made with his enchanted quaterstaff. The demon turned to face Angel, a malicious look of pure hatred in it's eyes. Angel squared off with it, watching carefully as Wesley and Cordelia pulled a still unconscious Gunn towards the doorway. Over to Angel's left, Edmond and Seth exchanged rapid strikes and counterstrikes, probing each others defenses as they relentlessly danced around each other in a dazzling display of skill. Angel launched himself at the demon and drew out the small dagger he always carried around in his inside pocket. The demon caught Angel across the head with an arm, causing him to stumble past his target and into the wall. But not before lashing out with the dagger in his left hand, stabbing it deep into where he hoped it's heart could be found. Angel slid down the wall and turned to face the demon as it approached him. His friends were safely away, he felt he could die safe in that knowledge at least. Across the room, Seth blasted out another ball of red energy, this one missing Edmond again as he ducked the blast, causing it to impact on the wall and blow a massive hole in it. It was at that point that Angel saw something that made him almost smile. Edmond saw it too as he backed away from Seth, who now had his back to the mostly demolished outside wall. The roar of a powerful engine made Seth turn and see a truck blast through the remains of the wall and hit him clear across the room with enough force to knock him through the wall on the other side. Cordelia leaned out the door and dropped to the ground. "Did I get him?" Edmond looked through the hole that Seth had been launched through and saw him picking himself up in the other room, and he knew instantly that to continue the fight here was to die. He was no match for Seth in a direct face-off and they both knew it. Seeing his chance, Edmond let loose a bolt of energy at the demon, knocking it clear off it's feet with a smoking crater in it's back. Edmond held out his hand and focused the powers of his mind and lifted the still dazed Angel off the floor and drifted him across the room. Taking off his cloak and throwing it over the Vampire, he slid past the truck , grabbing Cordelia’s arm and dragged her towards the car Wesley and Gunn were getting into. "HEY. Let go of me you!" Cornelia protested at the rough treatment "EDMOND!" Cordelia turned around to see Seth step through the hole in the wall, holding one of his arms close to his chest, bleeding profusely. But as she watched, the gash stopped bleeding and began to heal. "Oh great, we take on the terminator!" she proclaimed as Edmond shoved her into the passenger seat and floated Angel into the back of the car. With one last look at Seth as he staggered slightly to get past eh truck still part way in the building, Edmond got into the drivers seat and turned the engine over, did a shotgun gear change and accelerated down the street with Seth shouting after them "HUNTER WILL DIE IN SUNNYDALE AND THE KEY WILL BE USED TO OPEN A PORTAL. THEN YOU WILL ALL DIE. I WILL GET REVENGE EDMOND! NOTING CAN STOP ME!" |
| With Edmond at the wheel, the car sped away as fast as it could travel. Edmond’s heightened reflexes were put to the test, as he made his way through the city avoiding obstacles and ignoring traffic signs and lights as he went. Rarely did Edmond use this inefficient mode of transportation, but at the time this was the logical course of action considering he was burdened with his four new companions. Edmond did not stop or slow the car until he could feel Seth and the demon no more.
Finally, the evil presence diminished within his mind. He felt they were safe, but his senses were suggesting it wouldn’t be for long. Edmond pulled the car into a sparsely crowded parking lot and turned to his fellow demon hunters. “Who are you?” he said flatly. He had some serious questions about their involvement and in particular about Hunter. Angel was still dazed from Seth’s attack, but he was coming around rather quickly. However, Wesley, who was for all intents and purposes the agency head, fielded all of Edmond’s questions. He started with a brief introduction and explanation of the agency and it’s purpose. He touched only vaguely the Powers that Be and on Angel’s unique circumstances, saying only that he was a vampire with a soul that had a unique destiny to fulfill. Edmond was not satisfied. “That’s who you are. So now tell me what this has to do with that scoundrel Hunter.” “He hired us to find you.” Wesley reached into his pocket and withdrew the now glowing, golden coin. “He told us to give you this when we found you, and that you would contact him from that point.” Wesley handed to coin to Edmond. Edmond held the coin in his hand for a moment before withdrawing it from sight. “That coin could only come from Merlin. I trust your information, but how did you get entangled with that monster Seth and his demon henchman?” Wesley opened his mouth to answer, but Cordelia held up her hand to stop him. “I’ll take care of that one, Wes.” She directed her attention to Edmond. “You see, I get these visions. And let me tell you…They are killers. The pain is so terrible. Woo! And they seem to last longer and longer. Have you ever been hit by a sledge hammer in the head real hard…” “Cordelia!” They exclaimed together. “Hey, I’m just trying to explain things. Anyway, I got this vision of this little toad demon, Corrick. He’s a slimy little thing, but when the Powers that Be call…” She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. “Well, anyway, when we got to Corrick’s apartment, he was dead. Deader than Angel here.” She said gesturing toward Angel who just scowled at her. “There was this really melodramatic message scrawled on the wall. I mean, who does that any more. Ya know, looking back on it, I’m pretty sure it was a trap. The vision didn’t really have the feel of one from the Powers that Be. For one, it sure wasn’t nearly as painful.” “Now she tells us.” Remarks Gunn, almost to himself. Cordelia shoots daggers at him with her eyes, but continues. “So, the next thing we know the walls are shaking, the building is rumbling, and there’s this terrible commotion. It stops, then POW! Up pops Seth and this ugly demon dude. Just like a big old scary Jack-in-the-Box. That’s pretty close to when you showed up. I think you can figure it out from there.” She sat back in her seat satisfied that she has made a worthy contribution to the discussion. “Why is he here?” Wondered Edmond. “The Key. He wants the Key. No.,” Angel corrected himself. “He wants power. The Key is his method of gaining that power.” Angel looked directly into Edmond’s eyes. “He said the demon warrior would stronger the closer they are to the Hellmouth. Sunnydale. We have to get to Sunnydale, now. We have to warn Hunter and help save Dawn.” Edmond did not wait for anymore discussion. His instinct was something he had learned to trust. It had saved his fair skin on more than one occasion. His instinct was now telling him that time was of the essence. Tapping into his powers, he focused them on the very fabric of the space around him. As this power grew, the fabric of space, distance, and time began to fray. A swirling blue cone of light erupted a few feet in front of the vehicle. The vortex to Sunnydale was open. Without a word Edmond drove the vehicle and its passengers through the vortex. Edmond’s new mates were eerily reminded of their not so distant escapade to the Pylea dimension and back. That was not a trip they were interested in reliving. Luckily for them the trip, though rough and frenzied, was mercifully short. The car exited the vortex with a crunch, a scrape and a jolt into the familiar vicinity of Sunnydale. Edmond maintained control of the vehicle and continued down the street at a frighteningly brisk pace. Curious, Angel asked, “Do you know where you are going?” “I only know where The Hunter is. At this point, that is all I know.” Edmond sped off in the direction of the Summers house. |
| *************
Meanwhile back at the Dawn Summers house Hunter and Giles were sitting in the living room conversing with each other on the demon that Seth will bring with him to Sunnydale. In the kitchen Dawn was sitting at the table pondering to herself. "What's wrong Dawn!" Willow asked sympathetically as she caressed Dawn's head sweetly. For a moment Dawn looked up at her and just sulked her face into hands sadly. "I just miss Buffy. Even though we fight, I loved her. Because she is my big sister." Dawn replied. "Dawn! I know, and I miss her to. But she is in a better place now." Willow said. For a couple of minutes Dawn kept face buried in her hands and then she looked up and smiled at Willow. "Thankyou! Now I know why Buffy cared for you so much both as a sister and a dear friend." Dawn replied as she rose from her seat and hugged her tightly. The two girls both wept flowing tears as they began to come with terms with Buffy's death. Xander then entered the kitchen and wondered what was wrong with them. "Did I miss something. What's the matter." he asked coyly. Then Willow and Dawn looked at him strangly and they looked at each other and laughed. Outside the Summers residents Edmond and his companions drove up alongside the curb. |
| Hunter looked up from his conversation with Giles and looked towards the drawn curtains, prompting Giles to look up as well.
"What is it?" "Edmond!" Hunter exclaimed as he rose from his chair in one fluid motion, cape swirling around him as he moved to the front door. As he approached it, Wesley opened the door, as a black cloak shrouded figure burst through the door smoldering slightly, followed by Cordelia, Gunn and Edmond. Hunter's eyes met Edmonds and the tension level in the room rose. But they were both professionals. Hunter nodded once curtly to Edmond and stood back out of the way to allow everyone to enter the living room. Hunter positioned himself by the doorway as everyone took a seat. "Now we are all here, it is time to discuss what we are up against." Edmond looked startled at Hunter and sent out a tendril of thought to him, starting a conversation only they could hear. (i)Are you sure that is wise? What would Merlin say?(/i) Hunter turned and glared at Edmond, and did not bother to reply to him telepathically. "I don’t care what he thinks. We are in a fight for our lives and hiding things from our Allies will only get us killed!" Edmond narrowed his gaze to pierce Hunters with an angry intensity, which Hunter only ignored and turned to face the assembled group. "It is time you all heard the truth. As you all know, Edmond and I are called Knights. We serve Merlin, who in turn serves the Powers That Be. What you don’t know, is that the Powers have Evil opposites called 'The Dark Ones'. They have fought each other for eons, and will continue to do so for eternity. Seth is one of the Dark Ones warriors. He was corrupted by them from the Order of The Knights, and now uses Merlin’s Teachings against the Warriors of The Powers That Be. He then seduced others to his cause, and re-established the Black Guard after hundreds of years. Knights were sent out to 'deal' with the problem when it first arose, but he escaped with his followers to an alternate dimension." Giles sat forwards in his chair and placed a hand on Dawns' shoulder as she was sitting by the bottom of his chair. "What more can you tell me about the Demon that he has with him?" "The Demon is of an unknown type. Powerful and dangerous, he followed Seth back to our reality. We don't know yet how they got back, but we do know that they are after Dawn." Dawn shifted uncomfortably on the floor as eyes turned towards her. She tired to shrug it off but resorted to joking instead. "Gee.... I'm so popular!" Hunter smirked slightly at her comment and his admiration of her rose another notch. This must be so reminiscent of the dealings with Glory, yet she was till holding together well. Angel rose from his seat and glanced at Spike, who was lurking in the shadows. "We can provide some more information about the Demon." Hunter stared quizzically at Angel, but it quickly dissolved into shock as their story was recited. "So you survived in combat against Seth?" Angels looked uncomfortably at Edmond. "Well, we got pasted, but we all managed to get away. Thanks to Edmond." Hunter turned his gaze to his companion and felt some of the animosity drain away between them. In the past year, could it be possible that he had learned that sometimes action was preferable to waiting around? Edmond looked away from Hunters gaze and lowered his voice. "I couldn't win Matthew." He said remorsefully. Hunter was shocked to find him admitting that openly, and the fact that he had used his first name showed just how sincere he was being. Reaching out he put and hand on Edmonds shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "We don't know that you would have lost. You managed to get everyone away!" "That was only because Cordelia drove a truck into Seth!" Hunter turned and stared a Cordelia sitting on the sofa and smiled. "I bet that must have hurt!" Cordelia smiled, proud of her actions. "Well, you know, I just did what anyone would do!" "We also have some bad news though!" Spoke out Gunn. "The demon dude that this Seth guy brought with him?" Hunter nodded. "well, he apparently gets more powerful the closer he is to the Hellmouth. And if I remember correctly, that is... like... here in Sunnydale!" Hunter glanced at Edmond who nodded to confirm this news. But as Edmond looked into Hunters eyes, he knew what he was thinking. "You cant be serious Hunter? We cant go and take them on... we have no idea just how powerful this demon is, or how powerful Seth has become. I barely managed to stall for time!" Hunter looked around the room. It was one hell of a choice though. They could try and evade Seth and the Demon. But there is only so long someone could remain n the run. And what sort of life would Dawn have? They could fortify their position and call for reinforcements from Merlin, but all the Knights were out on assignment. And none had the ability to bend space as well as he or Edmond, so they would be days or weeks away. Time they did not have to spare. The third option was that he and Edmond went out and tried to take out Seth or the Demon, preferably both, before they could get anywhere near Dawn. The problem with that idea was that if he and Edmond failed, there would be little to stop them getting Dawn. "You’re right. We need time to figure this one out. If I take Dawn to a place I know, can you all get some supplies?" Spike stepped forwards. "I'm not letting her out of my sight. made a promise to defend her till the end of the world. You reminded me of the promise Hunter, and I intend to see it through!" Hunter nodded. "Okay Spike and Dawn you’re with me. Edmond, if you take Xander, Anya and Giles to get food supplies? Angel, you take Gunn, Wesley and Cordelia and get other things we will need like camping stuff, portable stoves, sleeping bags and the like? Willow and Terra, if you get magic supplies. We need stuff to make defensive and detection spells, and anything else you need." Giles rose from his seat. "How do you intend for us to get al this?" Hunter looked at him for a moment. "However you need to!" |
| “Where will you take her?” inquired Giles ignoring Hunters outburst. He was under a lot of strain. After all that had happened in recent weeks, they all were. Hunter’s crabbiness was understandable.
“Somewhere safe. That’s all you need to know for now.” Hunter’s tone had softened, but the urgency in his voice remained. “The fewer people that know where Dawn is, the safer she is. Go to the magic shop after you’ve gathered all of the supplies. Willow and Terra will already be at the shop. When everything is ready, and the time is right, I’ll contact you there. It’ll be soon. I can sense it, so work quickly.” Giles nodded, and turned to the others. “It’s agreed then.” Clapping his hands together he said, “Let’s get to it. Willow, as soon as you have gathered everything you need, can you and Terra prepare a detection spell? Anything that will give us some warning if this thing attacks before we’re ready.” “Of course.” Willow assured him. “You can count on us.” The group left the house, and split up into four teams. Each team going in a different directions. Each team with a different mission and purpose. All of them with the same goal - protecting Dawn. ************************ It took Willow and Terra only a few minutes to arrived at the magic shop They went straight to work gathering potions and powders, charms and books. Suddenly, from the back of the shop the two girls hear a great cacophony. They stopped what they were doing and became suddenly still and quiet. Each one looking at the other for reassurance. “What was that?” Terra whispered. Willow shrugged her shoulders and whispered. “I’ll bet it’s not the tooth fairy. Follow me.” As the girls ducked below the shop counter, Willow quickly plucked a small vial labeled viridis aquilus from a shelf. The vial contained a very fine green colored dust. Willow opened the vial and took a small pinch of the fine dust and blew it into Terra’s face. She held the vial out to Terra who did the same. They then began chanting softly: aboriri celare celarir aberici aelari. The two of them faded into the background just as the intruders entered the shop front. ************************ Across town another break-in was taking place. Only this time Angel was the one doing the breaking in. Without thought or concern, Angel kicked in the large display window of a local outdoor sporting goods store. The double pane of glass shattered. Shards of glass exploded from the window covering the store’s display of hiking gear. Angel had only minor cuts, and these were healing extraordinarily quickly. “Wow. I’m impressed.” Gunn said sarcastically. “Now, can we get a move on? I don’t think the owners will take to kindly to our redecorating.” He, Angel and Wesley entered through the broken window and began grabbing anything that would be useful to the group in the event that part or all of them found themselves spending some time away from civilization. They took two cross bows with arrows, a hatchet, space blankets, lighters, flash lights, batteries, a first aid kit, and two large duffel bags to carry everything in. Cordelia decided to play wheelman for this little escapade. She was waiting in the car with the motor running. At least that was the plan. When the trio arrived at back at the car, the motor was still running, but Cordelia was nowhere to be seen. “Cordi!” shouted Angel. “Great.” Muttered Gunn under his breath. “Now what?” Wesley was immediately concerned, but tried not to panic. “She wouldn’t have just run off.” “You’re right. She didn’t.” The three men turned to direction of the voice. From around the corner of the building came three dark vampires, each dressed in leather from head to foot. “Hi, guys.” Cordelia was always a strong woman, but her voice betrayed her fear. “Sorry about this.” “It’s okay Cordi. Just stay calm.” Angel said reassuringly, or at least he hoped he sounded reassuring. “Oh, I will, don’t you worry about that.” Cordelia replied. “So, Wes, any thoughts here?” Angel spoke quietly, but he knew they could hear every word he said. Wesley regarded the three vampires and thought for a moment. “From the way they are dressed, I’d say these vampires are members of the Brujah clan.” “Yeah, so? What does that mean?” asked Gunn. “That means, gentlemen, we’re in trouble. Members of the Brujah clan are usually bloodthirsty, reckless, and are generally only out for a good time.” “You got that right, four eyes.” Growled the largest of the three vampires. He took Cordelia by the hair and pushed her to her knees. “Only this time we’re going to get a little information out of you before we have our fun.” His attitude changed in an instant from one of condescending hatred to complete evil. “Where is she!” Angel glanced at his mates knowingly. “Who’s she? We can’t very well give you information if we don’t know what you’re talking about.” While Angel was busy volleying with this demon, Gunn was doing his best to load a crossbow with an arrow. Wesley was slowly inching his way to the car. The way things were going they would need the supply of stakes and other weapons they always carried in the trunk of the car. He wanted to be ready with them at the first opportunity. “Don’t toy with me!” Bellowed the vampire. “You wouldn’t want this pretty face damaged, now would you?” “No, of course he wouldn’t. Angel…” Cordelia pleaded as much with her eyes as with her voice. “TELL ME WHERE THE KEY IS!” At that very moment, Angel transformed into his demon self and charged at the group of vampires. Gunn raised the cross bow and managed to disintegrate one of the smaller vampires with one shot. The third vampire saw Gunn reloading his weapon and apparently decided to live – or not live, as the case may be – to fight another day. He had vanished before Gunn could ready a second shot. As Angel attacked the largest vampire he managed to force Cordelia from the vampire’s grip and pushed her, albeit violently, out of harms way. Cordelia picked herself off the ground, ran to where Wesley stood with the weapons, ripped a heavy wooden stake from Wes’ hands, ran back over to where Angel and the large vampire were fighting. Undaunted, she took the first opportunity she could – with the help of Angel distracting him – to stab the vampire through the heart from the back. Poof! The vampire was no more. Cordelia dusted off her hands. “That’s what you get for pulling my hair.” She said to the pile of dust on the ground. She looked up to her three companions. “Don’t you think we should be going?” Cordelia never ceased to amaze her friends. They stood for a few moments just looking at her and admiring her strength and courage. Finally Wesley broke the trance. “Uh…yes…I guess we should.” Wesley got behind the wheel as the rest of the group piled into the car. He pulled the car into the lane and headed for the Magic shop. He hoped the others were having an easier time of it than they had. Somehow he thought they probably weren’t. |
| Back at the magic shop, Willow and Terra were still in their invisible state listening intently as the intruders rummaged through the shop. "Have you found it?" one of the intruders commanded silently. "No sir! We are searching everywhere and the book of Alumonita is nowhere to be found." another replied. Then behind the counter Willow then realized that the book that they were looking for was filled with tons of dangerous magic spells. "What could these guys want with the book of Alumonita?" Willow thought to herself for a brief second. Terra then broke Willow's momentarily train of thought as she grabbed from the bottom portion of the shelf behind them a book which she quickly showed it to her. "Willow! Look! I think I've found what they have been looking for." Terra exclaimed quietly showing the book to Willow. "We have to hide this book because only God knows what these guys will do with it." Willow said but as she opened the pages of the spell book she accidently bumped the counter whick caused one of the vials to fall onto the floor alerting the intruders to their position. Then with that each of them began to look behind the counter trying to find out who was back there. "Stay perfectly still?" Willow said to Terra as the intruders came around the counter to their position but due to the invisible spell could not see them or so they thought. When they came around soon they discovered that their intruders were not human but vampires. "Sir! There is nothing behind here." one of the vampires replied. Then as if the vampires were about to leave, Willow and Terra gave a huge sigh of relief when all of a sudden the lead vampire found them.
"There you are!" he said. |
| Willow and Terra froze. The book was floating in mid air as far as the lead Vampire could see.
"Get this.... the book is floating above the floor...! Hey, you said you checked back here!" The Vampire leaned over the counter and reached for the book. "RUN!" screamed Willow as she swung the spine of the book heavily into the Vampires nose, spraying blood with a loud crack. Both girls ran for the door, with the remaining Vampires staring in shock at a book floating through the air alone. "After it!" The Vampire moved towards the door to intercept the floating book, but Willow and Terra had gotten too much of a head start, and they burst out into the fading sunshine, ducking across the road and disappearing down an alley, loosing their pursuit who still could not see them. ************************************************** Dawn scowled at her new surroundings. The abandoned office building Hunter had led her and Spike too was run down and dirty. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell rising off a partly mouldy old mattress and blanket lying in the middle of the floor. Hunter looked around him and was keenly aware of the state of the place, and he felt his cheeks begin to flush at daring to bring Dawn here. "I know it's not much Dawn, but when the others get here...." He trailed off. What could they possibly do to make this a place to live? Blowing it up was the best thought he could come up with. "Well it's safe for now...." he mumbled, breaking off again as a strange sensation began to crawl up his spine and grate inside his skull. Spike turned slowly to survey the surroundings. "It's not that bad. You should have seen the places I had to hide while trying to get out of Prague!" Just as his words echoed slightly to a close in the open space, a black menacing laugh followed on. Hunter spun round to face the Spike, who glanced back. "It wasn’t me!" Suddenly a black shadow detached from the wall and leapt across the room, hitting Spike from behind and flattening him to the ground. The shadow rose and formed itself into a real image. The Demon stood nearly 2 meters tall, and was covered head to foot in a fine fur that was a dark as a Vampire thoughts. A head that was more bat than human with eyes that were the very windows to hell staring out from under a heavy brow, and above a mouth that was more a yellow tooth filled maw. Just noticeable under the fur were black chitin us plates covering areas of it's body, gleaming dully in the fading light from the dirty windows. Long arms and legs were similarly plated in chitin and covered in fur, and ended in razor sharp claws the colour of steel. "Get off me you great big...!" "Nah rush to-lebral Shetoraks nesh!" Growled the demon, cutting off Spike's muffled protest. Hunter squared off and reached his arm slowly for his Long Sword hidden under his cape. He knew that if he tried to take the Demon now, then all it would take is a little more downward pressure to snap Spike's neck. He was not sure if a broken neck would kill a Vampire outright. Not if they were as powerful as Spike. After all, it was not a true decapitation. But it was also a risk he was not willing to take. Yet. "I have no idea what you just said, but you are one seriously ugly demon spawn!" Hunter reached out his left arm to his side and clasped his hand round Dawn's upper arm, and pulled her behind him. "Keep me between you and it Dawn!" Hunter ran his eyes up and down the Demon, cataloguing where the plates were, and he ran his eyes faster over the surrounding, looking for an opening to a first strike, while he sent his thoughts outward looking for Edmond and reinforcements. "I wont let you contact him Hunter!" Growled the demon and it leered at him, flashing more yellow teeth. Hunter was not surprised that the demon had powers of the forces of life. He had felt as much back in L.A. What did catch him by surprise was that a black wall rose around his thoughts, blocking his search for Edmond. Hunter realised at that point that he was being toyed with. The demon had somehow blocked his powers from leaving the building. He still had his abilities though. HE could feel his powers in his veins. It was not like when he had been captured a few weeks ago by a demon gang where their witch had cut off his powers with a spell. Setting himself into a combat stance, Hunter drew his sword and pushed his fear into a small ball deep in his mind and gut. "Well, that fine then. You wont let me have what I want.... you wont get what you want!" The demon snarled at Hunter's taunt and applied more pressure to the base of Spike's skull, and Hunter heard the bones grinding together under the pressure. "Gaah.... just kill the bugger Hunter!" yelled Spike as the demon pushed harder still. There was a slight pause while Hunter and the demon stared hard into each others eyes, judging if the moment had arrived. It had, and it happened. Having continued to distract the demons attention with talk and a continued mental probe to find a hole in the wall, he had diverted some of his own powers to dislodging a steel I beam supporting part of the floor above. With one last mighty tug, the beam crashed down through the ceiling, pivoting on the remaining joint, to arc down and catch the demon square in the back as it turned to face the noise, sending it off balance towards Hunter. As the demon had stumbled off Spike, it's razor sharp claws had sliced open s deep cut in Spike's neck, spraying blood across the ground, but allowing him the opportunity to roll out to the side and crash into the outside wall, where he clasped both hands round his neck to stop the blood from gushing out. Dawn screamed as Hunter ran and leapt at the off balance demon, lashing out with the tip of his blade, slicing against the chitinous plate and throwing off sparks as the enchanted blade failed to penetrate to the soft flesh underneath. It did however cause the surrounding fur to smoulder, filling the air with the smell of burnt hair. As the demon reeled from the impact of the blade, it spun off to the side, aiming a kick at Hunters ribs. The impact from the claws shredded his garment and hit his armour and struck sparks of their own, but leaving enough power to send Hunters leap off course, having him hit the ground hard and slide head-first towards the wall on his stomach, and sending his sword stabbing into the ground. Hunter reached out his arms forwards and used them as leverage to throw up his legs over his head. Pushing off the ground with his arms, he somersaulted in mid air to land on his feet facing the direction he had started from, and allowing him to run forwards and grab his sword from the ground, and place it diagonally across himself, hilt at his waist, tip down and to the right. As he neared the demon, he swung the blade up across his chest, as the demon back-pedalled to avoid the worst of the blow, leaving a furrow in it's chest plates and spraying off more sparks. As the blade reached to top of its arc, the demon jabbed out with a clawed hand, striking Hunter on the wrist guard of his gauntlet with enough force to dent it, and leave furrows in the metal that protected his wrist. Taking his stunned left hand off the hilt of his blade, Hunter slid in under the outreached arm and head butted the demon on the chin, causing it to snap it's jaw shut with a loud crack. Hunter ducked back out as the arm tried to smash down on his back, missing by a hair’s breadth. Hunter entered a 360 spin as he backed away, arcing his sword around at mid chest height, running a gash deep enough in the chitin to draw black blood out from the wound. Finishing his spin, Hunter backed away, carefully placing himself between Dawn, who was tearing a strip from her skirt to bandage Spike's neck, and the demon. The demon ran a hand over it's bloody belly and stared at the hand coming away covered in black ooze. "Impressive Hunter. I see now why Seth is wary of you. But know this.... you may be good, but WE ARE BETTER!" The demon raised it's right hand and let fly a bolt of black energy. Hunter raised his blade and intersected it in the flight path of the bolt. The enchanted blade deflected the bolt up towards the ceiling, blasting a hole through, with the bolt continuing unabated to blow through the roof of the building above that, and causing a torrent of debris to fall down and the fading sunshine outside to fall like a spotlight between the two opponents. Another bolt followed, this one deflected to the outside wall and leaving a hole spilling in more light, while leaving the silver blade blackened. "Impressive" grunted the demon. "You’ll fine I’m full of surprises!" snarled Hunter as he narrowed his concentration to focused on the inevitable next bolt. "Enough playing.... it's time for me to claim my due!" "You’re due? Well that makes it all different then!" Hunter spat out as he stepped forwards menacingly and waggled the blade between them. "The only thing you are owed is an arse kicking!" The demon snarled and bared it's teeth and raised it's other hand. Hunter, with instincts borne of his training knew what was going to happen. He reached out with his mind and tore the fallen I beam from out of the debris pile it had created and threw it across the room against the demon's hands just as two more black bolts of energy erupted. The girder vanished in a second as it was vaporised, sending a shockwave of superheated air and rapidly cooling metal splinters outwards. Hunter only a little more than a dozen feet away felt like a pin cushion as the shards stabbed him in his exposed flesh. A yelp of pain from behind prompted him to turn round and see Dawn crying in pain as she clutched at her bare leg with a hundred metal splinters drawing blood from deep wounds. On a flash of premonition, Hunter turned back round and leant to the side as another black bolt flashed past where his head would have been. In a split second, he realised his mistake ad turned round again and threw his sword with all his physical and mental power to intersect the bolt. The blade stabbed through the air like a laser and caught the bolt a foot from Dawn and Spike huddled by the outside wall. The bolt deflected at a right angel off the blade and blasted through an internal wall, spraying out more debris as Spike used his body as a shield for Dawn while the sword stabbed deeply into the concrete floor inches from their legs. Hunter continued the turn and reached out his left hand behind his back and let fly a bolt of his own energy. The small blue globe hit the ground at the demons feet, throwing up a cloud of debris and sending the demon stumbling backwards a few feet. The demon roared in rage and let down it's black wall as it unleashed a volley of black bolts at Hunter, who raised his hands and focused his mind on deflecting the path of the bolts to brush past him and pepper the wall behind him with holes, spraying a cloud of dust and debris everywhere. But the moment was all Hunter needed. He sent out a burst of thought to find Edmond. The burst had no focus, no complicated messages. It was just a powerful scream for help. ************************************************** Edmond stabbed a Vampire deep in the heart with a stake and spun away as it burst into dust. After collecting all the supplies they had deemed they were going to need, the group had met and began to work their way towards the abandoned office where Hunter had taken Dawn. They had hurried due to the fact that it was obvious they had been watched. The ambush of Angels group and the interrupted supply raid of the magic shop had dictated their actions. Hiding in Sunnydale was no longer an option. What was worse was that Edmond was sure that their pursuers knew that Dawn was in the abandoned office, and that the running battles they group had taken part in since they started their supply raids were merely meant to be delaying actions while the got a hold of Dawn. They had arrived at the offices and piled out of the cars just in time to be prevented from getting into the factory by some dark force, and then get set upon by a gang of demons. As it was the group where fighting for all they were worth trying to gain access to the office to rescue Dawn, but they were outnumbered three to one by other demons. Suddenly the wall that had prevented access to the factory dropped and Edmond winced as the message from Hunter burst into his mind. ************************************************** Hunter was surprised to feel Edmond's presence just outside the building, but immensely relieved. He had overtaxed his abilities and he was tiring too fast. The demon on the other hand still seemed to have plenty of energy left. Hunter ducked blow a strike that wound have used the demons claws to open his throat and he did a quick double punch to the demon's chest before backing away. With his sword stuck, he was left with no weapon with enough power to penetrate the chitinous plates covering the demon, and he was too tired to generate his own power bolts. So it was down to hand to hand fighting. A crash from the wall and Hunter saw Giles and Xander burst into the room. The both stared for a moment at the raging battle going on between Hunter and the demon as they struck at each other with martial arts manoeuvres so fast, they were like a blur. "GILES, XANDER!" screamed Dawn. The two men ran over to where Dawn lay against the wall next to Spike. Giles bent down and scooped Dawn up in to his arms, while Xander grabbed hold of Spike and helped him to stand. The four that began to work their way over the debris that was left of one wall and out into the evening air and the sounds of battle outside. ************************************************** Cordelia slid behind the wheel of Angles car and turned over the engine. The motor growled to life and she instantly kicked it into gear and slammed down the throttle, lurching the car forwards and towards the thickest concentration of Vampires, knocking four down and running one over completely. Outside, the gang fought their way to the cars with Giles all but throwing Dawn into the back of Angels, and Xander shoving Spike in afterwards. The two then charged back into the fray to join Angel Edmond Gunn and Wesley as they tried to keep the escape route from the office open for Hunter. ************************************************** Hunter lay on his back, breathing heavily. It hurt to breathe. Part of his chest was now a smoking charred pit where one of the demons attacks had gotten through. His eyes watered from the pain and the acrid vapours his burnt flesh gave off, which in turn lined his throat with a horrible sickening taste. "You were a worthy opponent Hunter!" growled the demon as it stalked towards him, claws clicking loudly on the concrete floor. Hunter made no response to the demon. Instead he sent his thoughts outwards to find Edmond. The tow had never been close, but the contacts he raised between the two, filled with all the emotions of the battle raging, filled him with warmth. "Go my friend.... Get her to safety!" ************************************************** Edmond received the message from Hunter, and the feelings that stirred up inside as he understood. He so desperately wanted to argue with the message. But it was clear. Hunter had resigned himself to his death for the sake of the others. It was now down to Edmond to make sure that that death meant something. "Pull back to the cars!" Angel lashed out at the closest Vampire but still managed to look over at Edmond. "Hunter’s still in there!" Edmond shook his head and began to back away to the cars, stabbing another two vampires on the way as they charged suicidaly towards them. Cordelia gunned the engine as soon as Angel was halfway in the door, not even looking back to see that the others managed to get into Giles’s car and follow. ************************************************** Hunter focused his thoughts on Dawn. Someone who he was beginning to know very well after their adventures together. Someone who he was falling in love with. "I'm sorry Dawn...." Pulling in the last of his powers, he filled up his body like a battery. Pulling in every joule of energy his body could handle, and then some. With a smile of resigned contentment on his face, he released his power like an explosion. The light tore from his body, stabbing deep into the structure of the building and tearing it up. Building the energy into a whirlwind, he circled it round, grinding up the Vampires running after the others outside and pummelled the demon inside the remains with all his might. The demon screamed and clasped its hands together, pulling on it's own powers to fold the very fabric of space around itself. Hunter continued drawing the energy inwards, pulling down the structure of the building, and burying himself in an attempt to crush the demon. Then, the world for him slid into a blissful darkness. ************************************************** Dawn screamed as she watched the office explode then collapse in on itself. An outpouring of pure emotion. Of grief, anger, despair, and lost love. Willow and Terra froze. The book was floating in mid air as far as the lead Vampire could see. "Get this.... the book is floating above the floor...! Hey, you said you checked back here!" The Vampire leaned over the counter and reached for the book. "RUN!" screamed Willow as she swung the spine of the book heavily into the Vampires nose, spraying blood with a loud crack. Both girls ran for the door, with the remaining Vampires staring in shock at a book floating through the air alone. "After it!" The Vampire moved towards the door to intercept the floating book, but Willow and Terra had gotten too much of a head start, and they burst out into the fading sunshine, ducking across the road and disappearing down an alley, loosing their pursuit who still could not see them. ************************************************** Dawn scowled at her new surroundings. The abandoned office building Hunter had led her and Spike too was run down and dirty. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell rising off a partly mouldy old mattress and blanket lying in the middle of the floor. Hunter looked around him and was keenly aware of the state of the place, and he felt his cheeks begin to flush at daring to bring Dawn here. "I know it's not much Dawn, but when the others get here...." He trailed off. What could they possibly do to make this a place to live? Blowing it up was the best thought he could come up with. "Well it's safe for now...." he mumbled, breaking off again as a strange sensation began to crawl up his spine and grate inside his skull. Spike turned slowly to survey the surroundings. "It's not that bad. You should have seen the places I had to hide while trying to get out of Prague!" Just as his words echoed slightly to a close in the open space, a black menacing laugh followed on. Hunter spun round to face the Spike, who glanced back. "It wasn’t me!" Suddenly a black shadow detached from the wall and leapt across the room, hitting Spike from behind and flattening him to the ground. The shadow rose and formed itself into a real image. The Demon stood nearly 2 meters tall, and was covered head to foot in a fine fur that was a dark as a Vampire thoughts. A head that was more bat than human with eyes that were the very windows to hell staring out from under a heavy brow, and above a mouth that was more a yellow tooth filled maw. Just noticeable under the fur were black chitin us plates covering areas of it's body, gleaming dully in the fading light from the dirty windows. Long arms and legs were similarly plated in chitin and covered in fur, and ended in razor sharp claws the colour of steel. "Get off me you great big...!" "Nah rush to-lebral Shetoraks nesh!" Growled the demon, cutting off Spike's muffled protest. Hunter squared off and reached his arm slowly for his Long Sword hidden under his cape. He knew that if he tried to take the Demon now, then all it would take is a little more downward pressure to snap Spike's neck. He was not sure if a broken neck would kill a Vampire outright. Not if they were as powerful as Spike. After all, it was not a true decapitation. But it was also a risk he was not willing to take. Yet. "I have no idea what you just said, but you are one seriously ugly demon spawn!" Hunter reached out his left arm to his side and clasped his hand round Dawn's upper arm, and pulled her behind him. "Keep me between you and it Dawn!" Hunter ran his eyes up and down the Demon, cataloguing where the plates were, and he ran his eyes faster over the surrounding, looking for an opening to a first strike, while he sent his thoughts outward looking for Edmond and reinforcements. "I wont let you contact him Hunter!" Growled the demon and it leered at him, flashing more yellow teeth. Hunter was not surprised that the demon had powers of the forces of life. He had felt as much back in L.A. What did catch him by surprise was that a black wall rose around his thoughts, blocking his search for Edmond. Hunter realised at that point that he was being toyed with. The demon had somehow blocked his powers from leaving the building. He still had his abilities though. HE could feel his powers in his veins. It was not like when he had been captured a few weeks ago by a demon gang where their witch had cut off his powers with a spell. Setting himself into a combat stance, Hunter drew his sword and pushed his fear into a small ball deep in his mind and gut. "Well, that fine then. You wont let me have what I want.... you wont get what you want!" The demon snarled at Hunter's taunt and applied more pressure to the base of Spike's skull, and Hunter heard the bones grinding together under the pressure. "Gaah.... just kill the bugger Hunter!" yelled Spike as the demon pushed harder still. There was a slight pause while Hunter and the demon stared hard into each others eyes, judging if the moment had arrived. It had, and it happened. Having continued to distract the demons attention with talk and a continued mental probe to find a hole in the wall, he had diverted some of his own powers to dislodging a steel I beam supporting part of the floor above. With one last mighty tug, the beam crashed down through the ceiling, pivoting on the remaining joint, to arc down and catch the demon square in the back as it turned to face the noise, sending it off balance towards Hunter. As the demon had stumbled off Spike, it's razor sharp claws had sliced open s deep cut in Spike's neck, spraying blood across the ground, but allowing him the opportunity to roll out to the side and crash into the outside wall, where he clasped both hands round his neck to stop the blood from gushing out. Dawn screamed as Hunter ran and leapt at the off balance demon, lashing out with the tip of his blade, slicing against the chitinous plate and throwing off sparks as the enchanted blade failed to penetrate to the soft flesh underneath. It did however cause the surrounding fur to smoulder, filling the air with the smell of burnt hair. As the demon reeled from the impact of the blade, it spun off to the side, aiming a kick at Hunters ribs. The impact from the claws shredded his garment and hit his armour and struck sparks of their own, but leaving enough power to send Hunters leap off course, having him hit the ground hard and slide head-first towards the wall on his stomach, and sending his sword stabbing into the ground. Hunter reached out his arms forwards and used them as leverage to throw up his legs over his head. Pushing off the ground with his arms, he somersaulted in mid air to land on his feet facing the direction he had started from, and allowing him to run forwards and grab his sword from the ground, and place it diagonally across himself, hilt at his waist, tip down and to the right. As he neared the demon, he swung the blade up across his chest, as the demon back-pedalled to avoid the worst of the blow, leaving a furrow in it's chest plates and spraying off more sparks. As the blade reached to top of its arc, the demon jabbed out with a clawed hand, striking Hunter on the wrist guard of his gauntlet with enough force to dent it, and leave furrows in the metal that protected his wrist. Taking his stunned left hand off the hilt of his blade, Hunter slid in under the outreached arm and head butted the demon on the chin, causing it to snap it's jaw shut with a loud crack. Hunter ducked back out as the arm tried to smash down on his back, missing by a hair’s breadth. Hunter entered a 360 spin as he backed away, arcing his sword around at mid chest height, running a gash deep enough in the chitin to draw black blood out from the wound. Finishing his spin, Hunter backed away, carefully placing himself between Dawn, who was tearing a strip from her skirt to bandage Spike's neck, and the demon. The demon ran a hand over it's bloody belly and stared at the hand coming away covered in black ooze. "Impressive Hunter. I see now why Seth is wary of you. But know this.... you may be good, but WE ARE BETTER!" The demon raised it's right hand and let fly a bolt of black energy. Hunter raised his blade and intersected it in the flight path of the bolt. The enchanted blade deflected the bolt up towards the ceiling, blasting a hole through, with the bolt continuing unabated to blow through the roof of the building above that, and causing a torrent of debris to fall down and the fading sunshine outside to fall like a spotlight between the two opponents. Another bolt followed, this one deflected to the outside wall and leaving a hole spilling in more light, while leaving the silver blade blackened. "Impressive" grunted the demon. "You’ll fine I’m full of surprises!" snarled Hunter as he narrowed his concentration to focused on the inevitable next bolt. "Enough playing.... it's time for me to claim my due!" "You’re due? Well that makes it all different then!" Hunter spat out as he stepped forwards menacingly and waggled the blade between them. "The only thing you are owed is an arse kicking!" The demon snarled and bared it's teeth and raised it's other hand. Hunter, with instincts borne of his training knew what was going to happen. He reached out with his mind and tore the fallen I beam from out of the debris pile it had created and threw it across the room against the demon's hands just as two more black bolts of energy erupted. The girder vanished in a second as it was vaporised, sending a shockwave of superheated air and rapidly cooling metal splinters outwards. Hunter only a little more than a dozen feet away felt like a pin cushion as the shards stabbed him in his exposed flesh. A yelp of pain from behind prompted him to turn round and see Dawn crying in pain as she clutched at her bare leg with a hundred metal splinters drawing blood from deep wounds. On a flash of premonition, Hunter turned back round and leant to the side as another black bolt flashed past where his head would have been. In a split second, he realised his mistake ad turned round again and threw his sword with all his physical and mental power to intersect the bolt. The blade stabbed through the air like a laser and caught the bolt a foot from Dawn and Spike huddled by the outside wall. The bolt deflected at a right angel off the blade and blasted through an internal wall, spraying out more debris as Spike used his body as a shield for Dawn while the sword stabbed deeply into the concrete floor inches from their legs. Hunter continued the turn and reached out his left hand behind his back and let fly a bolt of his own energy. The small blue globe hit the ground at the demons feet, throwing up a cloud of debris and sending the demon stumbling backwards a few feet. The demon roared in rage and let down it's black wall as it unleashed a volley of black bolts at Hunter, who raised his hands and focused his mind on deflecting the path of the bolts to brush past him and pepper the wall behind him with holes, spraying a cloud of dust and debris everywhere. But the moment was all Hunter needed. He sent out a burst of thought to find Edmond. The burst had no focus, no complicated messages. It was just a powerful scream for help. ************************************************** Edmond stabbed a Vampire deep in the heart with a stake and spun away as it burst into dust. After collecting all the supplies they had deemed they were going to need, the group had met and began to work their way towards the abandoned office where Hunter had taken Dawn. They had hurried due to the fact that it was obvious they had been watched. The ambush of Angels group and the interrupted supply raid of the magic shop had dictated their actions. Hiding in Sunnydale was no longer an option. What was worse was that Edmond was sure that their pursuers knew that Dawn was in the abandoned office, and that the running battles they group had taken part in since they started their supply raids were merely meant to be delaying actions while the got a hold of Dawn. %0 |
| Dear Reader: There were some slight technical difficulties with posting the last addition. We apologize for the repetitiveness of the previous post. When this campfire is extinguished, it will be edited and you will have an opportunity to read the complete and corrected version. Please accept our apologies and stay with us…
************************************************** “No! Hunter! No!” Turning to Angel she cried out “Stop! Stop! We have to go back! He needs help. We can’t leave him. He’ll die.” Dawn lunged over the front seat and grabbed the wheel of the car trying with all her strength to turn the car around. The car careened out of control, narrowly missing a concrete barrier dividing the roadway. Cordelia barely regained control of the vehicle as Angel roughly pulled Dawn to a seating position in the back seat of the car between himself and Spike. “Keep her off me unless you’d rather die in a car wreck – as opposed to being ripped apart by demon beasts, of course.” Cordelia snapped. She was sympathetic to Dawn, but at the moment her main concern was getting them out of the area alive. In her review mirror she could see the rest of this motley crew, Xander, Tara, Willow, Anya, Edmond, and Giles following close behind them in Giles’ car. “Please.” She sobbed. “We can’t just leave Hunter. He needs me. I need him.” At this Dawn completely broke down. Her body was wracked with sobs. Neither Angel nor Spike was particularly skilled in handling tears and hysteria. Still, they tried their best to comfort her. “It’s okay.” The bleeding from Spike’s injury had stopped, and the wound would no doubt heal with impressive rapidity thanks solely to his vampire traits. The scrap of Dawn’s skirt that she had used as a bandage in an attempt to cease the flow of blood from Spike’s neck was a wet and sticky mess, as was the front of Spike’s shirt. Reaching over to cradle Dawn’s body in his arms, Spike rocked her gently and whispered to her over and over. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” Dawn’s sobs did not stop, but she seemed to be lulled into a place of solitary relief. From the crowded front seat of Angel’s car, Wesley and Gunn watch this display of humanity from a creature who possessed no humanity. They had never seen a vampire, with the exception of Angel, show such empathy for another human being. It was clear that, though still a demon, Spike was no longer an ordinary vampire. Wesley wondered to himself if The Powers that Be had a hand in Spike’s latest evolution. As Spike seemed to have Dawn under calming control, Angel concentrated his efforts on they groups next course of action. “Cordelia, as soon as you get a chance, pull over. We’ve got to talk to Edmond to figure out our next move.” “I’d say our next move would be to get the hell outta Dodge.” Gunn replied. “I’m not sure I’d have used that particular colorful expression, but I think Gunn has a point. Sunnydale does not seem to be a safe place for Dawn.” Wesley affirmed. Just then Giles’ car sped up, passed Angel’s car, and cut Cordelia off. “What the…! I was going to pull over. They didn’t have to cut me off.” Complained Cordelia as she slammed on the breaks, stopping mere inches from the other vehicle. She threw open the car door and stomped quickly over to Giles who had been driving the car. “What’s the deal running me off the road like that?” Giles look apologetically in the direction of Edmond. “There is no time for pettiness. That maneuver was done on my assistance.” Edmond stated as he exited the rear passenger area of the car. “I was about to pull over anyway.” Muttered Cordelia sulkily. “The time has come to for some defensive and decisive action.” Edmond motioned the others closer. Only Spike remained in the car with Dawn. He continued smoothing her hair and speaking to her in hushed and calming tones. “How is the key?” Edmond inquired. “The key is human and she has a name. It’s Dawn.” Giles stated heatedly. “You would do well to remember that.” Angel stepped in putting a hand on Giles shoulder. “Dawn,” he emphasized her name for the benefit of Giles. “is understandably shaken, but I’m hopeful that she’ll be okay.” Turning to Giles he said, “Why don’t you go look in on her. Spike’s sitting with her, but you might want to look in on her yourself.” “Yes, perhaps that would be best.” Giles walked over to Angel’s car, opened the car door, and got inside beside Dawn. He would go along with anything the group decided as long as it would keep Dawn safe. It was not necessary for him to hear the specifics of the plan. He looked over at Spike cradling Dawn. It was not something he was particularly comfortable in seeing. Dawn was his strongest connection to Buffy. More than that, she had become a daughter to him. He loved her, and he was bound and determined to protect her just as Buffy had done. Dawn in the arms of a vampire, even if it was Spike, was very unsettling. Struggling, he managed to push these thoughts aside. Spike was trying to help. If nothing else, Spike felt a sense of responsibility to protect Dawn. If not for humanity, for Buffy. Plus, as long as he had that chip in his head he was relatively harmless to humans. Spike lifted Dawn’s face toward him and smiled. “Why don’t you talk to this old codger for awhile. I need to stretch my legs a bit.” Dawn nodded and untangled herself from Spike’s embrace only to lean on Giles. With a nod to Giles, Spike exited the vehicle and walked over to the rest of the group. Without looking up at Giles, Dawn said. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” “We don’t know that, Dawn.” But in his heart, Giles thought that they did. How could anyone, even one of Merlin’s Knights, possibly survive the destruction they had witnessed. “Why do people keep dying around me?” She meant why did people she loved keep dying, but she wasn’t prepared to completely reveal her heart at that moment. At that moment it was all she felt she had left. There was no answer to this question. They both knew it. “You’ll get through it. I’ll make sure you do.” At that moment Giles would have bet the world on that fact. They remained silent for the next few minutes staring blankly at the group of ten discussing her safety and, as a direct result, the safety and lives of them all. “There really isn’t any choice is there?” Xander was saying as Spike walked up. “I mean what are we going to do wait around here until big, bad and ugly gets stronger and stronger?” Pointing at Edmond, “you’re the one that said it gets stronger the closer it is to the Hellmouth. How much closer can it get. This is Sunnydale. Hellmouth Central.” “Oh, that was good,” piped in Anya. “Well said.” “Thank you, sweetie.” Xander beamed. “You know, Xander’s right. If we can’t get the demon out of town, then we need to get Dawn out of town.” Tara, always the voice of wisdom, chimed in. “What about LA?” asked Willow. “Is there anywhere we can go to regroup? Maybe Tara and I can work on some spells that could help.” “Yes, and Cordelia and I can do more research on this demon.” Wesley said. “You don’t understand.” Interrupted Edmond. “There is not time to regroup. There is not time for research. The time is now.” Edmond was beginning to understand why in the past Hunter had chosen to rush ahead against Edmond’s better judgement . Edmond generally preferred to wait, prepare and strike with full knowledgeable of the subject, its weaknesses and its purpose. Time was not always on the side of the good and noble. Time, or lack thereof, was often the enemy’s coconspirator. “Lorne.” Angel said flatly. “Who?” Asked Xander. Gunn answered for Angel. “Lorne is this little green lounge singer from the Pylea dimension – not somewhere you want to visit by the way. He runs a very special karaoke bar. If you need some quick insight, or some information, he’s the one to go to. The only problem is, you have to sing for him.” Quickly glancing at Angel and back, “It hasn’t been pretty in the past.” “Hey!” complained Angel. “I’m not that bad. Am I?” Ignoring him, Gunn continued. “I think that’s our best bet. We can get out of this town and hopefully find someway to deal with the mess.” “I agree.” Said Edmond. “It sounds like the most sensible route.” Without haste Edmond created the vortex that would take them all back to LA – minus one, The Hunter. |
| As they all went through the vortex, back at the now demolished building. There was a stirring from beneath the debrie and suddenly the Demon appeared with a fierce scowl on his face. "Roarrrrrrrrrrr! Where are they? Let me at them." he bellowed. Then Seth appeared directly beside him. "My friend! Calm down, we'll get them and make them pay for their insolence. Because Hunter is dead. So even with Edmond they will be no match for us. But first things first I have to recharge my energy because during the battle I've depleted some of my energy reserves. After that we will go after the key and then we will finish them off." Seth replied fiendishly as he and the Demon began to laugh wickedly.
Then in a burst of light they disappeared leaving the site of the demolished building. After they had left, covered under a mound of rumble. Hunter's hand was sticking up out of the fallen mass. Back in LA............ |
| The vortex spilled them outside the Hyperion Hotel. Edmond, not knowing the location of Lorne's bar within the framework of the life force he used to create the vortex’s had deposited them at a familiar location.
It was a risk to be sure. Seth and his demon ally could have easily followed them by their own vortex and continued the assault to capture Dawn. But Edmonds senses told him that they were safe. For Now. And the Hotel provided them with several opportunities. They had agreed that action was necessary to ensure their continued survival. The first step would be to contact Lorne and have a reading done. This in turn would lead them to some form of more direct action. Whether to counter attack or to withdraw and hide. Regardless, Spike needed to feed to build up his strength after being so badly wounded in the fight, and god knows the rest of them could most of them could do with some form of medical attention. He himself had sustained little more than superficial bruising in the fights, while Wesley, Gunn and Angel all had cuts and scrapes, but none too serious. Cordi had received a nasty cut under her right eye, but the blood had already dried over the wound. Dawn however was in fairly bad shape. Emotionally distraught, and covered in deep scratches from metal fragments, some of which were still embedded in her legs under the skin. It had been a hard battle and although their objective had been accomplished, Dawn was safe for a while longer, what had been the price? Hunter had gone out in a blaze of glory like the Knights of old he had read about in the ancient volumes at Merlin's castle home. Edmond had certainly not expected that outcome. Hunter had always been strong. Hunters presence in the forces of life had always been strong. He had grown powerful and resourceful under Merlin’s tutelage, and he was expected that, when he had served in the constant battle between dark and light for a while, he would become a Knight Master. But he had sacrificed his own life for the good of the cause. In that moment, the bright light that had been Hunters life presence in their powers had flared so bright, it was like looking at the sun. But then the sun had died. Edmond had not dared to reach out with his thoughts to try to find if Hunter still lived. It would have made them easy to track. Besides, Edmond was sure. Hunter had died. Shaking his head, he followed the others as they tramped up the stairs and into the lobby of the hotel. ************************************************** The initial blast had not killed Hunter. He was amazed at that fact. But he could do little about it. Most of him crushed under a tonne of building debris, with only his left hand poking up through the rubble, and too weak to move or properly focus his thoughts. As his life drained away though, a soft buzzing filled his ears. His muscles relaxed as never before, even though they were in pain. His left leg was totally crushed under several blocks of concrete, and the right was bent horribly to the side. He could not see his injuries for his eyes were filled with dust and splinters of debris. But he knew they were there. Years of his link to the powers of life had left him with a heightened sense about the state of his body A sharp ache throbbed through his temples and Hunter turned his head slowly to one side, setting off more sharp pains stabbing down his back. A random thought echoed across his mind. A voice, old but soft, talking to him a long time ago. "A knights never die." it said. "Nature cherishes them. Nature." Hunter smiled weakly as the memory filled out to completion. Merlin had told him that just after his parents had been felled in battle. He had been standing by their memorial in a secluded grove deep in an English woodland. The entire area was filled with a latent power lent to it by the presence of so many other memorials. There were over a hundred of them. Some alone under trees, others in neat little rows. All of them representing those Knights who had fallen in battle. Hunter did not so much feel like he was dying, so much as expanding. He could hear noises all around, minute digging sounds of small animals burrowing through the debris beneath his head, a piece of fabric grazing against a piece of concrete in the night's breeze. Everywhere there was life, everywhere. And he could feel it, almost see it, the lights of life glowing around him. A bird landed on a piece of timber and Hunter opened his eyes for the first time. He looked at the bird. It was a dove. A pure white dove, as white as the fresh fallen snow. The bird lowered it's head to look down at Hunters eyes, just visible through the tangle of steel bars poking out of concrete blocks, and it glowed with life. "Hello my little friend." whispered Hunter. To his surprise, the bird did not fly away at the noise. Instead it opened it's mouth and a white mist came out and flowed down to stroke Hunters scratched eyes and caressed his face like a feather. Suddenly he understood. He was seeing his powers through his eyes. That had never happened before. He had only ever felt it's presence and generated images in his mind to help him understand what he was feeling. This time, life itself was the image. "A gift" whispered the dove "This is a gift for you!" The gentle tendril washed over him and reinforced his own waning life force. Above him, a partly crushed plant that had been abandoned in the office seemed to twist against the breeze. Small twigs grew down to touch Hunters leg and he could feel the life leaking back into them. "Here it is" whispered the bush "Life." The concrete surrounding him also possed it's own power, all but glowing with life, even though it was not alive. On a distant street, a dog perked up it's head from it's bone and stared off into the night, across the distances. "Friend" it said, offering it's own support. Hunter heard Merlin’s words again. "Nature cherishes them," and he did not know if he was subconsciously controlling life, or if life itself sought to heal him. But he saw life all around him, and he grasped those thread more easily than he had ever before. He had always believed, despite assurances by Merlin, that to shape life around him was to distort or drain it from elsewhere. But it was everywhere. More abundant than rain, or air, and offering it ‘self. He had dreamed of becoming a Knight Master, like those of old. But he realised that, as powerful as he had been, there were levels of power and control that were currently far beyond his reach. The sweet power stole though him, and he did not know if he commanded it, or if it commanded him. He only knew that as the power worked deep into his body, bones straightened and knit. Debris worked it's way out of his wounds and they closed behind. He lay there for a long time, unable to do little more than breath and wait for life to heal him. The vortex spilled them outside the Hyperion Hotel. Edmond, not knowing the location of Lorne's bar within the framework of the life force he used to create the vortex’s had deposited them at a familiar location. It was a risk to be sure. Seth and his demon ally could have easily followed them by their own vortex and continued the assault to capture Dawn. But Edmonds senses told him that they were safe. For Now. And the Hotel provided them with several opportunities. They had agreed that action was necessary to ensure their continued survival. The first step would be to contact Lorne and have a reading done. This in turn would lead them to some form of more direct action. Whether to counter attack or to withdraw and hide. Regardless, Spike needed to feed to build up his strength after being so badly wounded in the fight, and god knows the rest of them could most of them could do with some form of medical attention. He himself had sustained little more than superficial bruising in the fights, while Wesley, Gunn and Angel all had cuts and scrapes, but none too serious. Cordi had received a nasty cut under her right eye, but the blood had already dried over the wound. Dawn however was in fairly bad shape. Emotionally distraught, and covered in deep scratches from metal fragments, some of which were still embedded in her legs under the skin. It had been a hard battle and although their objective had been accomplished, Dawn was safe for a while longer, what had been the price? Hunter had gone out in a blaze of glory like the Knights of old he had read about in the ancient volumes at Merlin's castle home. Edmond had certainly not expected that outcome. Hunter had always been strong. Hunters presence in the forces of life had always been strong. He had grown powerful and resourceful under Merlin’s tutelage, and he was expected that, when he had served in the constant battle between dark and light for a while, he would become a Knight Master. But he had sacrificed his own life for the good of the cause. In that moment, the bright light that had been Hunters life presence in their powers had flared so bright, it was like looking at the sun. But then the sun had died. Edmond had not dared to reach out with his thoughts to try to find if Hunter still lived. It would have made them easy to track. Besides, Edmond was sure. Hunter had died. Shaking his head, he followed the others as they tramped up the stairs and into the lobby of the hotel. ************************************************** The initial blast had not killed Hunter. He was amazed at that fact. But he could do little about it. Most of him crushed under a tonne of building debris, with only his left hand poking up through the rubble, and too weak to move or properly focus his thoughts. As his life drained away though, a soft buzzing filled his ears. His muscles relaxed as never before, even though they were in pain. His left leg was totally crushed under several blocks of concrete, and the right was bent horribly to the side. He could not see his injuries for his eyes were filled with dust and splinters of debris. But he knew they were there. Years of his link to the powers of life had left him with a heightened sense about the state of his body A sharp ache throbbed through his temples and Hunter turned his head slowly to one side, setting off more sharp pains stabbing down his back. A random thought echoed across his mind. A voice, old but soft, talking to him a long time ago. "A knights never die." it said. "Nature cherishes them. Nature." Hunter smiled weakly as the memory filled out to completion. Merlin had told him that just after his parents had been felled in battle. He had been standing by their memorial in a secluded grove deep in an English woodland. The entire area was filled with a latent power lent to it by the presence of so many other memorials. There were over a hundred of them. Some alone under trees, others in neat little rows. All of them representing those Knights who had fallen in battle. Hunter did not so much feel like he was dying, so much as expanding. He could hear noises all around, minute digging sounds of small animals burrowing through the debris beneath his head, a piece of fabric grazing against a piece of concrete in the night's breeze. Everywhere there was life, everywhere. And he could feel it, almost see it, the lights of life glowing around him. A bird landed on a piece of timber and Hunter opened his eyes for the first time. He looked at the bird. It was a dove. A pure white dove, as white as the fresh fallen snow. The bird lowered it's head to look down at Hunters eyes, just visible through the tangle of steel bars poking out of concrete blocks, and it glowed with life. "Hello my little friend." whispered Hunter. To his surprise, the bird did not fly away at the noise. Instead it opened it's mouth and a white mist came out and flowed down to stroke Hunters scratched eyes and caressed his face like a feather. Suddenly he understood. He was seeing his powers through his eyes. That had never happened before. He had only ever felt it's presence and generated images in his mind to help him understand what he was feeling. This time, life itself was the image. "A gift" whispered the dove "This is a gift for you!" The gentle tendril washed over him and reinforced his own waning life force. Above him, a partly crushed plant that had been abandoned in the office seemed to twist against the breeze. Small twigs grew down to touch Hunters leg and he could feel the life leaking back into them. "Here it is" whispered the bush "Life." The concrete surrounding him also possed it's own power, all but glowing with life, even though it was not alive. On a distant street, a dog perked up it's head from it's bone and stared off into the night, across the distances. "Friend" it said, offering it's own support. Hunter heard Merlin’s words again. "Nature cherishes them," and he did not know if he was subconsciously controlling life, or if life itself sought to heal him. But he saw life all around him, and he grasped those thread more easily than he had ever before. He had always believed, despite assurances by Merlin, that to shape life around him was to distort or drain it from elsewhere. But it was everywhere. More abundant than rain, or air, and offering it ‘self. He had dreamed of becoming a Knight Master, like those of old. But he realised that, as powerful as he had been, there were levels of power and control that were currently far beyond his reach. The sweet power stole though him, and he did not know if he commanded it, or if it commanded him. He only knew that as the power worked deep into his body, bones straightened and knit. Debris worked it's way out of his wounds and they closed behind. He lay there for a long time, unable to do little more than breath and wait for life to heal him. |
| Spike gently placed Dawn on a bed in one of the hotel’s rooms on a lower floor. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted. The cuts on her legs were no longer bleeding, but many of the metal fragments still remained lodged in her skin. The unspoken concern among the members of the group was that these fragments would cause infection or other mortal based complications.
Spike was as weary as the rest of the group. He could not bring himself to return to the others in the lobby. He collapsed into a chair near the bed Dawn was resting in. Spike was healing, but his need to feed was almost overwhelming. Without his particular form of nourishment his healing process would all but stop. His life force would weaken and he would lack the strength to defend himself in even a subdued confrontation. It was fortuitous for him that Angel had a store of animal blood provided from a local, demon friendly butcher. It wasn’t long before Spike was joined by Edmond. Edmond brought Spike a large container of pig blood. He handed this to him wordlessly. As Spike eagerly consumed the thick claret, Edmond turned his attention to Dawn. Kneeling at the bedside, he examined her legs. He was unfortunately very familiar with a variety of wounds. He was fairly confident that the cuts and punctures, though painful, would heal with little problem as long as the wounds were carefully cleansed and protected from infection. The shrapnel from the iron girder that had been pulverized during the demon’s attack, would have to be removed – immediately. Wasting no time, as there was none to waste, Edmond glided his hands over the damaged areas of Dawn’s legs. Dawn cried out in pain. “Bloody hell!” cried Spike, as he leapt from his chair. He attempted to push Edmond away, but the force growing around Edmond’s body repelled him to the ground. Edmond continued the process of eliminating the metal fragments. “It is for the best.” Is the only explanation he would give. The pain Dawn was experiencing was far less than the pain she felt when the splinters forced their way through her skin. She could sense Edmond’s purpose and managed to remain still as the metal, lodged in her flesh began to dissolve without a trace. Seeing Spikes agitation, she tried her best to reassure him of her safety. Gritting her teeth, she managed to say, “I’m okay. He’s taking away the splinters.” Edmond continued treating Dawn’s legs until all of the splinters had been dissolved. This feat had been done with no loss of blood and, considering the alternative, very little pain. “We cannot stay here much longer, but, as the opportunity has presented itself, you should use this time to rest. The others are taking this chance to care for their own wounds and prepare for our next task. It must be undertaken soon. The inevitable won’t be prolonged” Edmond started out the door, but stopped. He turned to Spike. “Come with me.” “I think I should stay with Dawn.” Spike’s sense of responsibility for Dawn would not waver. “Come with me.” Repeated Edmond. Spike glanced at Dawn. She nodded and Spike fell in behind Edmond as he led the way back to the lobby and the rest of the diverse band of would-be warriors. Most of the group were sprawled out on the various chairs and sofas that decorated the lobby. Willow and Tara were off by themselves presumably working on a protection spell for Dawn. Cordelia was in the office arguing with Angel and Wesley about which weapons they needed to have with them on their next escapade. Gunn and Xander were trying to explain what a Karaoke bar was to Anya. Giles was staring at the floor as if entranced by the patterns in the tile. As soon as Spike and Edmond entered the room, Giles looked up with a hopeful expression. “How’s Dawn?” The trio in the office came out to hear what Edmond had to say. To the rest of the group, who knew of Dawn’s importance, not only to them personally, but to many worlds in general, the question was far from a simple one. Giles, however, cared little about this world or any other. His concern at that moment was for the girl that had become his life, the girl that had become his daughter. “I have removed the metal fragments from her legs. Physically, she will survive.” Giles did not care for Edmond’s brusque attitude, but ignored his irritation it in favor of relief. Dawn would be fine…for now. Giles thought momentarily of her mental health. He prayed that she would not withdraw from him or her friends again. “The loss of Hunter is devastating. His mission has now become my mission.” Edmond took a seat on the floor crossing his legs in a yoga-like fashion. “Tell more of this…Lorne. What can he do for us?” Edmond had dealt with other demons and humans that had the ability to read fates and destinies. Most did not require a catalyst, such as a song, to read individuals, though it was not entirely unheard of. Without conscientiously being aware of it, Edmond was amused at the thought of humans and demons singing for their reading. It was not necessary for another explanation of Lorne’s talents. His intention was only to propagate a conversation among his merry band of fighters while he recouped some of his own lost energy While Wesley explained how they had used Lorne’s talents in the past to the rest of the group, Edmond turned his attention to his own body. With concentration and meditation he had learned long ago while training with Merlin, he, in effect, was able to recharge his system in much the same way a battery is able to be recharged. Everything in nature and everything made from nature gives off energy. He was able to use this energy to recharge and strengthen his enchanted aura. He was not afraid of dying. He had come close on more than a few occasions. Dying, to him, only meant a new life, on a new world, full of new possibilities. Still, he was determined not to start that new life too soon. As Angel once again began defending his singing ability against the complaints of his companions, Edmond, power fully restored, rose from his sitting position and addressed the group. “Stop! You will not be required to sing. This matter is of little concern to you directly. The mission was the responsibility of Merlin’s Order of the Knights. It was Hunter’s decision to involve all of you, but it remained his mission. Hunter may be gone, but I am a member of the Order of the Knights, and I will request the reading.” As there was no complaints, Edmond ordered Giles to fetch Dawn. Using his mental abilities to sense Lorne, the only Pylean demon in the vicinity, Edmond was able to create a new vortex that would deposit them within a few meters of the bar. They had wasted too much time to deal with the other, archaic modes of transportation. The vortex was a much simpler and quicker way of travel. Dawn was fully awake, though still in very low spirits, as Giles carried her into the room. “Step through the vortex.” Commanded Edmond. One by one the group entered and exited the vortex. They arrived in an alley near Caritas, Lorne’s Karaoke bar. From the sounds that could be heard from outside, the evening was in full swing. It had not taken Lorne long to have repairs made after removing Angel’s car from the stage where it landed on the return trip from Pylea. Everything seemed to be up and running as usual. In this case, “usual” meant a variety of demons, humans, and other entities, milling about. The patron’s were required to check all vendettas at the door. This was Lorne’s strict policy. The twelve of them made there way into the lounge, some of them taking available seats at a table near the bar, the others standing about, all with watchful eyes. Lorne noticed the group as they walked in. Considering the size of the troupe, it would have been hard not to notice them. A cloud came over his face as he made his way toward them. Slapping Angel on the back and feigning a congenial attitude, Lorne said, “Angel, I Didn’t hope to see you soon.” In a quieter voice he whispered harshly, “What are you doing here?” “We need your help. We need a reading.” Angel spoke for the rest of the group. “Please tell my you’re not going to sing again.” Whined Lorne. “No, I’m not going to sing.” Angel said sarcastically. “He is.” He gestured to Edmond. Lorne eyes met Edmond’s “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” He stepped closer to Edmond looking him over up and down, front to back. “I’ve heard about your kind. You’re a Knight. A handsome one at that.” Lorne was making him increasingly uncomfortable. “Then again, I’ve heard you’re all an attractive lot.” He stepped back to the bar and leaned with his elbow on the counter. “What’s your name?” “Edmond.” He replied “Well, Edmond, do you know the drill?” asked Lorne. “I’m required to sign for my reading.” Edmond, a man of few words, replied. ‘That’s right. So, what’s it going to be? Country, Rap, Rock, R&B, oldies.” Lorne grinned. “I’m guessing oldies for you would be several centuries old.” Edmond hadn’t thought much about the song he would sing. “I…I…I’m not sure what to sing.” “Well, think something up soon, you’re on next.” He looked at Dawn with concern in his eyes. “Make it count.” Was all he said as he walked away toward the stage. Edmond thought for a few moments before he decided upon a song. He didn’t know how appropriate it would be, but he’d give it a try. Lorne took the stage as a male Gret’j’kor demon and an attractive human female finished singing a duet of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. “Wasn’t that wonderful, everybody. Come on, give them a hand - figuratively speaking of course.” The crowd clapped and grunted as the two left the stage. “The next entertainer is Edmond, and he’s sure to be well…entertaining.” He laughed at his own little joke. “Come on up and tell us what you’re going to sing.” Lorne motioned to Edmond to take the stage. Edmond walked to the stage and whispered the name of the song to Lorne as they passed. Lorne nodded, and Edmond removed the microphone from its stand. Soon, the haunting melody of George Gershwin filled the room. When Edmond began to sing Ira Gershwin’s lyrics of “Someone To Watch Over Me” the customers became utterly silent. The only sound in the room was soft and slow jazz and Edmond’s tenor voice singing… “There's a saying old says that love is blind Still we're often told "seek and ye shall find" So I'm going to seek a certain girl I've had in mind Looking everywhere, haven't found her yet She's the big affair I cannot forget Only girl I ever think of with regret I'd like to add her initial to my monogram Tell me where's the shepherd for this lost lamb There's a somebody I'm longing to see I hope that she turns out to be Someone who'll watch over me I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood I know I could always be good To one who'll watch over me Although she may not the girl some men think of As handsome to my heart She carries the key Won't you tell her please to put on some speed Follow my lead, oh how I need Someone to watch over me Someone to watch over me” The song ended, but the awed silence remained. Edmond replaced the microphone and turned to leave the stage. That is the moment the applause began. It continued for several minutes as Edmond made his way back to the bar where Lorne waited. |
| As Edmond made his way to the bar where Lorne was the loud applause still filled the room from demon and human alike as a sign of appreciation of his song. "Congratulations! Edmond. You have a magnificant singing voice. You ever think about going into show business after you retire from the Knights." Lorne said affectionately. Then Edmond looked at him with a partial grin on his face. "What did you read? And by the way you never no!" he replied jokingly. For a coming a minutes Lorne laughed wildly at Edmond's attempt at a joke. "Ok Edmond! Let's get down to the business at hand. |
| [Authours Note:- The following finalie has been divinded into sections for posting. It has been co-written by all three authours of this story, and only posted by me, Force Master to simplfy matters.... thank you for reading The Knight.....]
"I can't tell you anything!" Lorne said flatly around his smile. The gang all paused and stared at Lorne in shock, except Edmond who glanced over his shoulder with a puzzled expression on his face. Angel shook his head in astonishment "What? Why?" Lorne's smile faded. "Look, I'm just a messenger of you know who. IF they don't want me to tell you anything, it's because they have their reasons." Wesley placed his drink down on the table hard enough to spill some of it's contents over the side. "After all we've been through together you wont even give us a hint?" Lorne looked down at the spilt drink and he glanced over at Dawn out of the corner of his eye. "No" he mumbled, pausing mid sentence he flicked another glance at Dawn then one towards the back of the bar. Dawn shifted uncomfortably in her seat, aware of a sensation crawling up her spine and into the base of her skull. Like a colony of ants marching up her back under her skin. "I would help you if I could.” He paused as if considering something. Seconds later, seemingly deciding on the issue, he continued in a more subdued tone “Why don't you stay and watch the acts for a while?" "Giles?" Dawn leaned over to mutter in his ear, noticing Lorne watching her again. Giles turned his head to look at his charge and leaned towards her. "Something's not right here" she whispered looking sidelong at Lorne who now all but refused to look at her. Across the table, Angel saw Lorne’s behaviour and glanced curiously at him. Pondering what could have put his friend so on edge in his bar. Had he seen something after all? Giles looked at Lorne, then at Angel. If they were not safe here in a demon safe haven where would they be safe? The bar had been deemed neutral ground for all of demon kind. A sensation of dread filtered through him. Only to be washed away, by what felt like a cleansing tide in his head. “No, we need to rest for a while. We could also do with some planning time.” Frowning, Dawn glanced over towards the door leading to the ladies room. The sensation of ants crawling up to her spine had changed Subtly, at first, it was now an insistent urging in her mind. But to do what? Again her glance drifted towards the ladies room. Shaking her head to remove the sensation, she finished off her mineral water and raised her legs to curl them up on the seat. Giles, Edmond and Angel were discussing Lorne as he ambled about the bar checking on his patrons. She glanced around the room cataloguing demons that she recognised. She could identify three out of twenty types. Within a few seconds, she had forgotten all about the strange sensation as she rose from her chair. “I have to go to the ladies room” Spike rose and moved round the table and began to follow her. Dawn all but sensed him following and spun round. “Where are you going?” Spike froze with a look on his face that suggested he had been caught looking at the Christmas presents early. “You shouldn’t go alone” he stated Dawn raised an eyebrow in return. Had it not occurred to him that she was going to the ladies room? “What…. You think the toilet seat might attack me?” she asked mock innocently. Spike frowned and shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly. “Oh for heavens sake” broke in Cordelia as she moved past Spike and stopped next to Dawn. “A girl has got to have some privacy.” Placing an arm round Dawns shoulders she turned her towards the door. Placing a finger on Spikes chest she pushed against him. “Down boy!” she mocked and turned on her heel to enter the ladies room. Giles watched the altercation happen before downing the last of his scotch and began pushing the ice cubes round the glass with the small stirring stick that had come with it. His thought dwelled on his future and Dawns. What kind of life could he offer her? Constantly on the defensive from every demon force that wanted to use her for their own ends. He did not like the answers that he came up with. Dawn left the toilet cubicle and moved over to the sink. Looking up into the mirror, her expression drooped as she saw the state she was in. Her hair, normally so straight and full of shine was tangled and dull. Minor cuts and abrasions marked her cheek and her clothes were dirty and her skirt was partly torn where she had used some outfits fabric to stem the flow of Spikes slashed neck. She looked a mess. Cordelia moved up besides her and looked at Dawn’s reflection in the mirror as well. Smiling slightly at the corner of her mouth as Dawn tried to use her fingers to flatten out her hair. Rummaging in her bag, she drew out a small black hair brush and handed it over. Dawn looked down at the brush then smiled up at the older woman. “Thanks….” Her voice trailed off as she tentatively took the brush and started work on her hair. Cordelia frowned down at her again before an idea hit her. “Stay here” she enthused as she backed away and leaned out the door. Willow saw Cordelia lean out the door and wave at her from across the room. Curious and worried that something might be wrong, she rose and moved over to her. Giles noticed Willow rise as he polished off another Scotch and glanced over at Cordelia. His heartbeat quickened for a second as he thought there might be trouble, but he eased back when Edmond placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “She is safe my friend” he murmured. Those words settled in his brain like a warm blanket, so full of reassurance that Giles felt safer than he had for a long time, and he was unconcerned and did not even raise an eyebrow, when Willow took Terra’s hand and they left the building together. Outside, Willow took a small book from a pocket in her coat and flicked through the pages, finally settling on one. Terra leaned over to read the page. “A summoning spell?” Willow nodded in affirmation. “We have a little job to do!” “What are we summoning? You remember what happened the last time?” she hinted cautiously. Willow frowned. They had tried summoning the broomstick that Dawn had given Terra for her birthday. “The spell worked…. Sort of!” she protested. Terra smiled nervously. Indeed it had. The spell had worked so well, that the broom sitting across the other side of the room had gotten to them so fast, they could not stop it from punching through the wall into the next room. It had taken them ten minutes to magically fix the hole. “We have to try!” said Willow, resolved to giving it her best shot. The two took each others hands and focused their thoughts. Before either knew it, they were chanting in perfect harmony. Time seemed to slow down for them as the revelled in the feel f each other’s magical aura. Across town, the trunk of Angel’s car flew open and a black case rose from within. Setting a haphazard course, the case took off at a startling speed. Zooming in and out of the traffic, several people saw nothing but a black blur fly past them. One grisly looking police officer leaning up against his patrol bike fell over it backwards as the suitcase bowled into him. It took no time at all for the object of the spell to drop from the sky at Willow and Terra’s feet. Looking only slightly worse for wear. The two smiled broadly at each other. Proud that they had mastered the use of another spell. Willow bent down and retrieved the case and turned back towards the bar, her love in tow. Giles raised an eyebrow as Willow walked through the bar with a suitcase under her arm, but when Terra sat down next to him smiling, he relaxed. Cordelia took the case from Willow and laid it down on top of the counter and began to rummage through the contents. Willow moved round and kneeled down at Dawns feet with the bathroom’s first aid kit in her hands. She paused in shock. “Where have the cuts gone? I know there were cuts!” Dawn looked down at her legs and frowned as well. She had deliberately not looked at her legs since Edmond had left her in the hotel room after removing the splinters. But now she did, all that remained of the cuts was the occasional red line of tender new skin. “Edmond must have healed them” she offered. Willow nodded absently as she rose and returned the med kit to it’s place on the wall. “Ah ha!” Cordelia broke in. Turning round to hold up one of Dawns favourite dresses. It was matte black with gloss black threads woven into the expensive fabric. Body hugging at the top, with no sleeves and a neck line just the other side of conservative, it flared out into a box pleat at the bottom, with the hem stopping part way up her thighs. It was the dress she had gotten for her last birthday. Or, she reminded herself a touch angrily, would have gotten if at that point, she hadn’t been just pure energy. The memory pained her. She remembered removing the red ribbon from around the unmarked black box, and the surprise she had felt when she removed the garment. She had seen it two weeks earlier in the window of one of the most fashionable shops in Sunnydale. The strands had made the dress sparkle under the lights of the mall. Her mother had said it was ‘too grown up for her’. She remembered the look on Buffy’s face as she had remarked about Dawn as she had tried it on. “My little sis is growing up!” It had been a happy day. Before the dark times. Before she had existed. It was the last present she had received from her mother, and as such was one of the few precious things she could not bear to have left behind when they fled Sunnydale. She shook her head. The dress also had a more recent abstract association in her memory. One that, surprisingly, pained her as much as remembering what she had lost in recent times. It looked so much like Matthew Hunter’s uniform under his cloak. But somewhere in the back of her mind, something told her that it was perfect. Smiling weakly at Cordelia, she held out her hands to take the dress. Angel fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. Something was not right. Normally you could not shut Lorne up. But today he was quiet. Too quiet! Over the years, he had developed quite a good sense of danger. It was trying to tell him something. He watched carefully as Giles leant over and asked if Terra would go and check on the other girls. His eyes following her as she wound her way across the bar, pausing only briefly to watch a Vampire on the stage singing ‘Only You’. Dawn finished settling the dress into place. With her hair now in some sort of order, and a touch of makeup, she felt more like herself. “There, that’s much better” Cordelia mused as she circled Dawn standing in front of the floor length mirror. At that time, Terra popped her head into the room and smiled as she saw what had happened in her absence. Willow moved over and took her hand, squeezing it tenderly “We’ll go back to the others…. See you in a minute?” Dawn nodded at them both and watched them walk back to the table hand in hand till the door closed them off from view. Turning to look at Cordelia, Dawn saw that she was now touching up her own makeup in front of the mirror. Moving slowly up besides her, she looked at Cordelia’s reflection in the mirror. “Why are you here?” she asked, instantly looking away from the reflection so as not to catch her eyes in the mirror. “What do you mean?” she replied puzzled Dawn shifted a little uncomfortably. “What are you doing here…. With me?” Cordelia smiled slightly. “It’s my job. It’s what I do…. It’s what we all do.” Dawn frowned at her reply. It was sort of what she wanted to hear. That there were people willing to risk themselves for her. But what sort of reason was ‘it’s my job’? Cordelia saw the effect her answer had on the young woman standing next to her and attempted to liven the situation. “Besides…. I always liked you more than Buffy…. You have better taste in clothes!” Dawn cracked a smile at that. She had always thought the same thing. She caught herself however and the smile quickly faded. It had only been three weeks since Buffy’s death. The pain was still there and seemed to not want to go away any time soon. Suddenly Cordelia jerked forwards grasping at her head. Dawn yelped as she grabbed a hold of her to help her to sit down on the floor. Before Dawn could even ask what was wrong, Cordelia had frozen in horror. Grabbing a hold of the counter top she pulled herself up off the ground with Dawn’s help. “We have to get out of here now!” Terror laid thick on her voice causing it to shake slightly. A voice laden with scorn and power floated across the room. But it was not the voice of a demon. The language was too precise. "Really Miss Chase.... I had hoped you would stay for a while!" Before either of the two girls could react, a shadow detached itself from the corner of the room and shifted into Seth. Standing there in his black cloak, with an air of darkness surrounding him. Dawn screamed while Cordelia drew a small dagger from her purse and charged. “Oh please” mocked Seth as he raised on had slightly, stretching out with his mind to grab a hold of Cordelia’s presence. She stopped mid step and halfway to Seth, dagger held up besides her head, with a blank look on her face. Seth contorted his features as though he was doing something beneath himself and drew his hand across his throat slowly. Dawn stood in shock horror as Cordelia manoeuvred the knife exactly as Seth had done his hand. She knew what was going to happen. Jumping forwards, she grabbed a hold of her wrist and attempted to pull it away from her neck, but the knife still made progress forwards. Dawn closed her eyes as the knife began to cut open the skin. Redoubling her efforts, she put all her weight on the back of the knife and pulled at it. All but willing the knife to move away. Seth frowned as he felt a second power source pulling on the knife. Stretching out, he confirmed the power was coming from Dawn, and he smiled. The power was untrained, but potent. They heard the scream coming from the ladies room, and all stared in shock for a second at the door. Before anyone could react further, a horde of demons poured in through the doors and the fire escapes and across the stage and launched themselves at the group sitting round the table. Angel, Spike, Gunn and Edmond sprang into action, lashing out at anything that got close. They were outnumbered ten to one. It was a futile battle, and they knew it. "Oh good" echoed an evil voice "You are making this interesting!" Willow and Terra clasped each others hands and began to chant in Latin. A wind picked up in the bar, knocking over drink glasses and picking up the debris from the floor to swirl it around the room. Suddenly a woman, horribly scarred down one side of her face stepped onto the stage and splayed her fingers out towards the two girls. She began muttering her own Latin chant. Willow and Terra dropped to the ground clutching at their throats as an invisible grip clamped down on their wind-pipes and began to choke the life from them. Willow could only stare in horror at the Witch who had tried to capture Dawn only last week. She should have been dead. The scar down the side of her face was the result of Hunter’s blade slicing open her skull. An injury no Human could have ever survived. Angel picked up a particularly bulky Vampire and threw him clear across the room to land back first on a wooden chair. By sheer luck, one of the leg’s of the chair impaled him through the heart, dusting him in an instant. Edmond dropped down low and swept his leg around in an arc, taking four Vampires from off their feet to sprawled on the ground. He deftly whipped out a metal cylinder a foot long from under his cloak. Giving his wrist a slight flick, the metal rod extended to two meters in length. He struck out at the next nearest Vampire, landing the rounded end of his quarterstaff against it's eye socket. Watery puss and blood back as the eye exploded under the impact. Dawn screamed again as Cordelia flopped down onto the floor. Blood was running out of her neck and she feared she was going to die. Tears streamed down Dawn’s face, blurring her vision. But something became very clear to her. Anger. It blew away other thoughts like a raging wind and focused her mind. She could feel that her friends, outside, were locked in a battle for their lives, and hers. But doubt niggled into her head. She was only 15, what could she realistically do against the real monsters around her? Buffy had always been there to help protect her from the worst dangers, and the rest of the gang had helped significantly as well. But this time, everyone she had depended on in the past was busy, and Buffy was dead. She saw the Vampire come through the door and make its way towards her. It’s face a reflection of the evil intent inside its un-beating heart and soulless body. Then it happened. A whispered voice in her head telling her that she had the power to help herself. So she did. She let loose her anger and it flowed like a raging torrent out of her body. The lights in the bar sparked and exploded as the wave of black energy, all her grief and anger over recent events, poured out in a tangible wave of darkness. The dark energy crest slammed into the Vampire as his eyes flew wide in shock and horror. His body all but tore apart as the wave punched through him, spraying off frayed flesh and spraying blood and gore across the room. Horrified at her actions and physically exhausted, Dawn dropped, open mouthed, to her knees. Hot tears were streaming down her cheeks as the wave knocked through the wall. Tearing the wooden door to the room off it’s hinges and throwing it clear across the bar. The wave continued on, only partly dissipated, knocking everyone in the room off their feet - Vampire and Human alike. While Seth stood calm against the torrent, and smiled as he revelled in the dark. She looked down at her clothing and screamed as she tried to brush the flesh of the vampire from her clothing, leaving slick stains on the fabric of her favourite dress. She raised her hands before her eyes and saw them covered in the creatures blood and speckles of flesh. She could not help screaming again as she tried to wipe the blood off onto the carpet. As she did, She caught sight of the Vampire she had attacked. Still alive, but with massive trauma, he alternated looks of horror between her and the remains of it's own body. Seth stepped forwards, sparing a glance out to the bar, he stopped to loom over Dawn. She looked up at him, standing there in his black cape, but unlike Hunter or Edmond who brought dignity and honour to the darkness that surrounded them. Seth revelled in the black. Embraced and cherished it like it was a child or lover. "Impressive little one.... You have much anger and hatred in you. It has made you powerful." With a flick of his wrist, the mutilated Vampires head twisted sharply to one side and tore from the body, dusting the remains in a second. Seth smiled cruelly down at Dawn as she stared all but cringing up at him. "Now it is time to leave. We have an appointment with a friend of mine back in Sunnydale!" Dawn shook her head slowly as more tears streamed down her cheeks. She all but whimpered out "No." Seth sneered down at her. "You don't have a choice!" he barked. Reaching down, he struck Dawn across the side of her head with enough force to cause stars to burst into her vision. Sprawling across the floor, Seth aimed a kick at her forehead, turning the world black. Reaching down, he picked up the girl in his arms, cradling her. Glancing behind himself, he looked down at Cordelia, bleeding her life away slowly on the carpet and smiled. ‘Let her die’ he thought. Then standing tall again, he moved out through the torn doorway and into the bar. All around him, his minions were getting to their feet and restraining the group of people who had conspired to keep Dawn safe. They all looked like they expected the worse as he strode in clear view carrying the unconscious Dawn. One arm dangling free like her hair. Seth looked at each in turn. They knew they were defeated. But they still held hope. He smiled as he thought of all the ways he could remove that cursed thought from their bodies. "Don't worry though” he whispered to Dawn. “You're friends can join us." Laughing without a trace of humour or fun to his soul, he waved his hands over his head. The room shimmered as a portal opened, distorting time and space, flinging them all back to his ally in Sunnydale. |
| Time became lost as Hunter lay in the rubble. He was basking in the power of life, and it felt like swimming in light. The power stole over and through his body like never before. He was so…. Alive.
The world around him was clearer than crystal. His mind was spread over hundreds of miles. He could feel the ripples that people and animals created in the ocean of energy that permeated the world. He could reach out and touch their lives, feel their thoughts, sympathise with their pain’s. He was life and life was him. As his mind spread out further, he sensed a dark hole in the life. A blot on the horizon. Inwardly frowning, Hunter drifted his thoughts over to the darkness and probed the edges. He knew that it was Seth. There was no feeling quite like the dark knight. The patch of darkness surrounded a relatively small area. But it was impermeable to his mind. A wall so dark, nothing could penetrate it. But penetrate something did. From inside the wall of black, a tidal wave of pure power fuelled by raw emotions flooded out. Anger, grief, hatred, despair and fear. All rolled into one amazingly powerful swell of energy. Hunter rode his consciousness over the turbulence, probing it with his mind. Despair leaked out of his own soul as he recognised that the source was Dawn. She was in trouble and he was not there to help. Hunter’s powers flooded back in on him in an instant. He roared at the power that filled his body and the frustration that he would never reach her in time. It was already too late. Focusing a blast of telekinesis upwards, the rubble blasted off of him. He floated up into the air like some ancient god, risen from the rubble. Cloak flying around him. All around the battle site, emergency crews froze and stared in shock and horror at the visage before them. Hunter did not care if they saw him. He had only one concern. Focusing his mind, he generated a portal and disappeared in a flash of light. The portal deposited him inside a brightly decorated bar. All around him were the remains of a battle. Chairs and tables smashed to splinters. Piles of dust that had been vampires. Spilt blood, both the red of human and the myriad colours from other types of demons. It had happened recently. Hunter stretched out with his thoughts and found only one presence nearby. Cordelia. Running into the ladies room, he skidded to a stop on his knees besides the young woman. She was deathly pale, one hand holding her throat limply as he life bled between her fingers. Hunter gently took her hand away and placed his own there instead. He let the powers of life flow from his body and into hers. The blood flow slowed and the skin began to close. He threw his strength into keeping her failing body alive. It was futile. Her eyes flickered open and she made to gasp. But no sound came from her throat. Hunter smiled down at her “It’s okay…. You’re safe now.” He whispered. A weak look of relief crossed her face. She frowned and concentrated on speaking. “They got Dawn…?” Hunter nodded slowly. “I’m dying aren’t I?” He looked away. Unable to look at her eyes for a moment. Then he realised by doing that he was depriving her of a link she sorely needed. Looking back, he stared deep into her eyes. “I’m sorry…. You’re too far gone….” His voice broke in the emotion of the moment. This was not supposed to happen. Innocents were supposed to be protected by him. Instead he had gotten one killed. As the last of her life drained away, he held her head cradled in his lap and wept silent tears. She looked up at him “Get them…. For me?” Hunter nodded “I swear. I will save them!” Cordelia smiled as her eyes closed on the world for the last time. |
| When Dawn woke, she knew beyond a doubt that she was in trouble. She was laying atop a black silk covered stone altar in a vast room. The ceiling was over 100 feet up, supported by stone columns, bigger round than a man is tall. The walls of the room were also far away, made up of massive stone blocks taller than a man. They were stacked interlocking atop each other in a dazzling display of craftsmanship, with barely noticeable joins between them.
Hanging from the walls just above head height, were tapestries. Dozens of them all brightly coloured and depicting scenes from mythology. As she glanced at each one in turn, she recalled some of the stories from her history class. He teacher was something of a folklore buff and had enjoyed recounting the stories of Perseus, Hercules and the Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods of old. Yet despite the fact that the fabrics were clean, bright and in good condition, they fairly seeped darkness. All the pictures were against what she remembered. Perseus, being slain by a gorgon outside Medusas lair, and the death of Hercules at the hands of Nemean in his first labour. Dawn tried to sit up, but she found herself unable to move anything below her waist. Fighting down a panic of being paralysed, she turned her head to look about her. Off to one side, her friends and companions lay confined within a crude steel cage against the corner of the room. Only Angel, Spike and Edmond had woken so far. Spike paced back and fourth across where the cage would open, while Angel sat looking about the room. Studying it for possible escape routes. Edmond meanwhile sat calmly against the wall, eyes closed, in meditation. “Angel?” she whispered trying to draw his attention. His eyes focused on the young woman laying atop the altar and he smiled in relief. As far as he could tell, he had woken up just as they had been deposited roughly in the cell. How long they had all been out before that was anyone’s guess. He had seen where Dawn had been lain first, and after listening and studying her carefully, he had determined that she was alive and breathing. “Are you okay?” Dawn shook her head, the barely contained panic of being unable to move filtering through to her voice. “I can’t move my legs!” Spike froze and grabbed the bars of the cage and tore at them with all his might. The bars did not move. “Bloody hell!” Frustrated he kicked the metal and continued pacing. Glaring around the room. Angel frowned. He had no idea what had happened exactly. They had been ambushed by a massive gang of Vampires. Then, just as they had begun to fight back, they had all been knocked flat like grass in a storm. He had felt a dark power crawling over his skin like crackling electricity. Setting his nerves on fire and making him black out. Suddenly, one of the stones to the left of the cell split apart, letting in a burst of light. Angel and Spike cringed back away from the light, but as it fell on them, it did not burn. Seth appeared in the doorway and laughed at the two Vampires. “Are you having a nice time?” he asked mock innocently. The light faded from behind him, revealing a corridor of stone outside. Angel glared at the dark knight and made no response. Spike stepped up to the bars and snarled. “If you’re going to try to make jokes…. I’ve got a doosey!” Seth cocked his head to one side. “Really? That was the one thing I missed most about Earth…. The sense of humour of it's inhabitants.” He leaned forwards with a look of glee in his eyes. “Tell me then!” Spike smiled. “It involved me getting out of this cell and gutting you where you stand!” Seth leaned back and frowned. “That’s not so funny….” he paused and seemed to consider something. “But lets try shall we?” With a flick of his hand, the cage opened. Spike paused for a second, then made a dash for the opening with Angel in hot pursuit. Seth laughed as he flicked his wrist again. Angel seemed to run into a solid wall of air that threw him back across the cell to land in a heap atop Willow who yelped in pain as she was woken. Dawn screamed as Spike charged Seth. But the dark knight had other plans. He slid to the left and in an instant had drawn his Katanna sword. The enchanted blade sliced through Spike’s midsection like it was little more than paper. The vampire collapsed to the ground, a hand clasped to his torn belly, desperately keeping his insides from slopping out onto the floor. He howled in pain as the Katanna blade sliced down again, opening a deep furrow in his back. “You bloody bastard” he ground out between clenched teeth. Seth laughed. “I was wrong, it was funny!” he laughed again. “Vampires…. I just love torturing them!” He walked calmly around Spike, kneeling on the floor in a pool of his own blood. “What shall I cut next?” He frowned. “Better yet, I know what to do!” he exclaimed gleefully. Turning round, he pulled out a small black orb from under his cloak and held it up before himself. “Angel…. Given a soul by a gypsy spell.” His face turned a nasty look upon the vampire. “What would you say if I turned you back to your old self?” Angel glanced nervously at the fellows that were sharing his prison. If Seth could indeed do as he said, he was liable to loose control and slaughter his friends. “Thanks…. But no thanks?” he replied glibly. Seth smiled malevolently, obviously enjoying the moment of worry crossing the vampires features. “Concerned for your friends?” he asked mockingly as he returned the orb to under his cloak. “You should be…. They obviously all have a death wish.” He paused and smiled. “You know what? That lovely young lady tried to stab me back in LA!” “Angel?” Angel turned to look deep into Willow’s eyes as she clung to a still unconscious Terra. She was scared. It was then that he noticed that Edmond was alert and watching the exchange with interest. Wesley moved slowly as he too began to wake up. They were all coming round. If he could stall for more time, then together they would all be more ready to act. If they got a chance. Seth looked over his captives as the last of them began to regain consciousness. Glancing only briefly over to where he had laid out Dawn, immobile but with her attention fixed on the events happening around her. “What did you do to Cordi?” demanded Angel fiercely. Seth moved up close to the cage and peered deep into his eyes. Finally backing away, laughing again. “She wanted to slit my throat? Not very polite!” he circled Spike on the ground, prodding the tip of his sword against the Vampire as he remained motionless on the ground, breathing heavily. “So I made her cut her own throat!” “Noooo!” yelled Angel, grabbing the bars and pulling at them with all his preternatural strength. The iron groaned as it began to warp. Angel shifted to his demon form and pulled harder still, while Seth stood and watched with interest. Finally giving up, Angel backed away from the bars. He wanted to cry for the loss of his friend. Grief tore at his soul. Dawn meanwhile was crying silently to herself. Stricken that she had lost another person. Everyone she knew was slowly being killed off. Her mother, her sister, Hunter, now Cordelia. Who next? Spike was pretty close. She started to pray that they took her life now rather than let her live to see her friends die. Seth glanced over at Dawn. He could read her mind and he liked what he felt pouring out of the girl. Her emotions were of the dark side. He liked his lips with a new plan forming in his mind. “I’ll tell you what Dawn. I’ll point out two of your friends. You then pick one to fight me in combat. If they win, I will let you all go!” Dawn looked over at him. Anger flared like a star in her heart. She knew he was lying. But what could she do? Refuse? Tell him she didn’t want to play any more? “I will not ask my friends to die for me!” she yelled at Seth. Seth smiled as he walked over to her. Lowering his voice, he leaned over her prostate form and whispered. “You WILL chose one…. Or they will all die!” He gestured to Gunn and Xander. “You two will do nicely! Move forwards!” The two men glanced briefly at each other before making their way to the bars nearest Seth and Dawn. Xander placed his hands on the bar. “Choose me Dawn…. I want to get my hands round his throat!” Anya moved forwards and grasped a hold of her fiancée. “No!” she wailed. “I don’t want you to die!” Gunn looked over at Xander as he turned round to remove the vice like grip Anya had clamed on his arms. “Take me!” he said calmly. His only outward display of tension was the involuntary clenching and un-clenching of his fists. Seth all but rubbed his hands together. Dawn looked at the two men. One she knew. One she cared for, and had even had a crush on. The other she had only heard about, and had just met a few days ago. “I choose….” Her voice trailed off. If she did not choose, they would all die. Even so, she could not choose between them. “Me!” Seth turned round with a startled look on his face. “No….” he spat. “Choose one of these two!” Dawn looked up at Seth, hatred obvious on her face. “Get bent!” she barked. Seth looked startled again. His face quickly shifted to a frown. “Fine…. If you cant choose, I will!” Turning on his heel, he slid a hand under his cloak. As he completed his turn, his hand came back into view, a small silver dagger flying from it’s grasp. The blade struck Gunn in the throat, spewing blood around the wound. He sank forward onto his knees even as Angel and Wesley moved forwards to grab their friend. Willow screamed and Giles grabbed a hold of her and turned her away as blood ran across the flow in a never ending flow. Gunn leaned forward with one hand clasping the bars of the cage while the other went to the knife still in his throat. His eyes began to roll up into his skull as he sank inexorably towards the stone floor. His life following his blood to the ground. Xander looked down at the man he did not know and he felt something snap inside. His hatred flared and he gripped the bars and spitted Seth with the worst look he could muster. “You are so dead when I get out of here!” Seth looked at him and laughed again. The blood on the floor flowing around his boots but never touching him. Like the life that was till in the fluid did not want anything to do with him. “You don’t know the power of the dark side!” he growled out! Xander froze for an instant. A memory coming to mind. “Oh wait…. I’ve seen this film!” he said sarcastically “You do know Darth Vader looses in the end?” he asked sarcastically. Seth frowned, not comprehending the jibe. Deciding to ignore it he turned to the entrance in the stone and bowed his head. “My friend?” The demon walked hunched into the room, keeping to the shadows, and glanced at Gunn as his friends held him during his last moments of life. “You are killing the prisoners?” it mewled. Seth hesitated a moment. “Just teaching them a lesson they will not forget” he replied neutrally. With a flick of his wrist, Spike floated up from the ground, groaning in pain, and drifted back to the cage. As if by magic, the bars parted allowing him to float inside. A wall of air kept Angel and Xander from diving out of the hole to let loose his rage. Spike then fell to the floor and yelled out loud, curling into a ball around his split stomach. “Do what we need to” stated the demon Seth glanced over at the demon who still remained in the shadows. Nodding once, he retrieved the black orb and held it out towards Angel. Without even speaking a word, the orb began to glow from inside. Angel felt himself shift between his human and demon forms several times before he blanked out. He woke a mere second later on the other side of the bars and he laughed. His ‘friends were still trapped but he was free. Truly free. “Hey guys! It’s me Angelus!” He turned around and looked at the shadow outline of the demon and the shrouded figure of Seth. “I would thank you…. but…. I wont!” Seth smiled at Angelus and inclined his head. “Welcome back to the fold. We have much to discuss.” Angelus looked over at Dawn lying on the black silk covered stone plinth and snarled at her. Seth saw the glance and his smile increased more. Glancing over at his demon ally, the demon nodded once. She focused his attention back on Angelus. “You are hungry? Perhaps you would like a little snack first?” Angelus looked between Seth and the demon. Licking his lips, he turned to look at Dawn again. All wide eyed and scared. He could almost taste it on the air. “You serious?” he asked over his shoulder. Seth nodded. “Just a taster now…. She must be alive. She is important to our plans!” Angelus moved forwards and barred his teeth. Looking down at Dawn, he lowered his head. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time!” he whispered. He leaned down further and ran his tongue across her neck, making her shiver and close her eyes. Then his fangs sank easily into the soft flesh at her throat. Dawn’s eyes flew open with the shock of the skin breaking. She felt light headed as the blood was sucked out of her throat. She was vaguely aware of someone yelling at Angel, but the sound faded to be replaced by her pulse thudding in her head, along with the sound of gulping. Then the world drifted away on a tide of velvet darkness. |
| Hunter lay Cordelia’s head down on the ground gently. Her hair fell around her like a halo, soaked in her own blood. Paled lips half open to reveal the perfect teeth her father had paid so much money for.
One final tear fell from his eye as he went down on one knee. He stretched out his mind, seeking the familiar presence that was Edmond. He narrowed his search to Sunnydale, but could find no response. Only the lingering effect of a trans dimensional portal. Anger flared again and he changed tactics. There was only one person who could help him now. “Master…. Speak to me!” he cried out as he flung his mind out for that touch he knew as Merlin. The air in front of him shimmered. “How dare you contact me!” bellowed the response from the wizened old face of Merlin. Hunter looked up to his master’s eyes. Defiance blazed in his soul like Greek fire and he would not be intimidated. Not anymore. “I need to know where they went!” he said calmly but with force underlining his tone. Merlin scowled “You demand? YOU…. DEMAND?” he flustered. “You have no right to demand anything of me!” “You set me UP!” Hunter yelled back to his mentor. “Right from the beginning. I can see it now! You and the powers orchestrated this from the start!” “Why would we do that?” Surprisingly, Merlin had lost all presence of anger from his voice. Instead the question came with what seemed like relief. Hunter scowled at his master. “The powers want Dawn dead!” “Why?” Hunter glared at his master. “They allowed Seth to find her. While she remains in human form, she can learn to use her powers. If she dies, she will return to her natural state. She can be the used…. not the user of her powers.” Merlin’s mouth twitched. “Indeed you are the greatest of my Knights to see so well” Hunter looked upon Merlin’s face with disgust. “You allowed them to manipulate you into putting her life in mortal danger? Do not tell me you are proud of me!” Merlin nodded slowly “Oh but I am proud. I did not want to put her life in danger. The Powers thought you would never see it. They were wrong. Do you know how often that happens?” Merlin chuckled lightly. “I’m so glad I was alive to see it!” Hunter fumed. His master had been a part of the plot. He had said he had seen it all. But much still remained a mystery. “Tell me where they took her!” Merlin’s chuckle faded. “You are serious aren’t you” he asked incredulously. “You do know the price of crossing them?” Hunter made a short sharp nod. “I do…. I also know that if I do not try, then I might as well have died tonight!” Merlin was startled at the conviction in his student’s voice. “Seth is too powerful…. Even for you Matthew…. Do not throw your life away. When Dawn dies, Seth will be unable to use her powers. She will disappear like oxygen into the air.” Hunter nodded again. More of the puzzle was coming together. “She will appear before the Powers?” he asked slowly. Merlin nodded. “She is enchanted. When her body dies, her matrix will disperse. Only the Powers can reassemble it then.” Hunter shook his head. “I can not…. will not let her die!” “Why? Her death will safeguard the planet from the army Seth intends to bring to our world. What does it mean to loose one life to save millions?” Hunter looked down at the ground. Not darning to see the reaction, but knowing that he would sense it anyway. He was too powerful not to sense it. “I love her.” The shock roiled off Merlin like mist off dry ice, adding to the strange atmosphere in the room. As if it wasn’t strange enough. Cordelia had died because he had gotten her involved. Now the carpet was sodden with her blood. Merlin shook his head slightly. “How?” he asked finally “Does anyone know where love comes from?” replied Hunter cryptically “You are serious?” he asked, amazed still. Hunter merely nodded. Still not meeting the gaze of his master. Since the death of Arthur and the event’s that followed, it was forbidden for Knights to become involved in the world. Too many times a knight had interfered where he or she should not have. Too many times trouble had ensued. They kept to themselves, only interacting with the world on the express permission of the Powers. Quietly recruiting from the world to continue their line. Merlin nodded. “I had foreseen this, but did not believe it…. The powers would never had me send you if they knew….” He sighed heavily. “He took her to Yer-kirl.” Hunter looked up to the face of his master. He had never expected to actually get an answer from his master. But he had been surprised. But he was also horrified. Yer-kirl was a notorious dimension for the worst kind of demons. No Knight had ever dared go there since the ancient days long lost to time. It was a place of nightmares for those who were never afraid. “How do I get there?” Merlin looked deep into his students soul and read the presence. It was stronger than ever before. Strong enough that it could almost rival his own. But he feared it would still not be enough. “You must not go there…. You will die!” Hunter set his jaw square and nodded sharply. “If I must die, then it will be for the one I love.” He paused and looked hard at Merlin. “It will also be for a cause I believe in!” Merlin smiled in spite of himself. It had been centuries since he had last loved anyone like that. But he still remembered the feelings as if they were yesterday. “I can’t send you there directly. If I become involved that directly, the Powers will notice. Go to Sunnydale. The answers you seek are there!” His voice faded as the image swirled away, to be replaced by a small swirling vortex. Merlin’s gift to him. Transport to as close as he could get. Hunter looked down at Cordelia’s body. She looked so peaceful. Even despite the nasty gash across her neck. Silently he repeated his pledge to rescue the others. Adding in his mind, ‘even if it kills me’. Rising from the ground, he reached out and grasped a hold of the fabric of space. Already distorted by Merlin, bending it around his will further, so much so that it ripped open. The blue haze of a portal spilled around him, jostling him on the short journey to Sunnydale. The vortex spilled him out onto familiar ground. He had never been here personally, but he had studied the building in his lessons. Sunnydale High School. The building was still in the half demolished condition it had been in for nearly two years. Apparently there was a movement in the council to restore the building. But it had run up against the wishes of another group who wanted to turn the site into a memorial garden in memory of all the students who had lost their lives in the ‘gas explosion’. So it had remained as it was. A monolith of rubble. Walking forwards, Hunter entered the rubble. He could feel the hell mouth. It was like a dark spot on the white sheet of life. A presence not evil, but the gateway that promised death just the same. But there was evil about. He could sense it. “Another Knight to the slaughter?” A voice was that of the demon’s, but of a higher pitch echoed against the dismembered walls. A guttural halting bass with overtones of a hiss. The demons was not used to speaking English. Hunter continued to stalk forwards, ending up facing the demon. It was standing on the raised area behind the markings on the floor of the library that marked the hell mouth. He said nothing as he lowered his hood and stared deep into his opponents eyes. This demon was smaller than the one he had faced earlier in Sunnydale. Smaller. Less powerful. A servant? The demon stared back in shock. It’s jaw dropped for a moment, showing the row of razor sharp teeth, and the blackened maw behind them. Even from across the ten feet, he could smell the acrid stench of it’s breath. “You? YOU!” Hunter still did not make a move. It was like a Mexican standoff. Who would flinch first? “How did you survive?” the demon growled. “My master killed you!” Hunter’s reply was to draw his long sword from under his cloak. He held the blade in a classic stance. Two hands on the hilt at his waist. The blade pointing p towards the demon. The silver blade glinted dully in the moonlight. The demon snarled at Hunter. “So…. You have come for them?” Hunter nodded once. Short and sharp. The demon laughed. “They are not here! My master has taken them my home realm!” “I will stop you and your master.” He replied. No brag. No sarcasm as he normally displayed. Just a statement of fact. It caught the demon off guard for a moment. “If you want them…. You will have to fight on my home turf, where we are more powerful than even here at the Hellmouth!” it spat at him. The demon cocked it’s head slightly as if considering something. “Do you know what happened to the last Knight that entered the realm?” it asked quietly. “The past does not concern me. The future does. And it should concern you as well!” The demon frowned back down at him. It was obvious that he was trying to taunt him into action here and now. “Tell me human. Why should the future concern me?” The demon said the word human like it was dirty. Like it was beneath him to really talk to one. Hunter finally let a small smile play over his lips as the blade twitch. The moonlight reflected off the blade across the demons chest where it’s heart was. “Because tonight…. Your future ends…!” The demon paused. Not sure of what to make of the answer. Finally, it’s look of disgust of human kind returned to its features. “Then follow me and meet your destiny!” At that the hell mouth swirled open like a whirlpool or blood red. The demon jumped forwards and slid down into its murky depths in a second. With barely a moments hesitation, Hunter stepped off the edge of the solid floor and followed. The world swirled away as the vortex sucked him deeper into it’s core. The swirling walls of blood red colour warped and twisted around him, folding in on themselves. Finally they resolved into different shapes. The vortex spilled him out in mid air, causing him to drop a dozen feet to the ground. It was no problem for him to land feet first, ending up in a crouch to lessen the impact. Rising slowly like a shadow from the ground, Hunter looked around himself. A nightmare view of a tortured rocky landscape assaulted his vision. A river of lava rolled down a mountain past him a few hundred feet away, pumping out noxious gases and heat that leeched the moisture from his mouth in seconds. The sky was a burnt red, occasionally flashing lightening bolts that blasted down from above to spew shards of rock and sterile dirt from the landscape. In the distance he could hear the sounds of battle. Of metal on metal. Of the cries of pain and death. The air carried the smell of death itself. The tang of blood and the stench of perforated guts. Nothing else ever smelt like it. Nothing. He turned to see the demon climb onto the back of some winged beast. It looked like a dragon, but was not covered in scales. It had smooth skin covered by a harness that held metal and wood plates in position. As Hunter started forwards, the beast spread leathery wings wide and flapped hard. A current of wind hit Hunter hard and he leaned forwards into the maelstrom to prevent himself from being blown over. Squinting his eyes against the dust thrown up, he saw the beast and it’s demon rider take off and angle away over the tortured landscape. Towards the sounds of battle. As the wind died, Hunter pulled his cloak about him and stalked off in the same direction. It was time to meet his destiny. |
| Consciousness eased back to Dawn like a sunrise. Pleasant sensations filtered though her body. The touch of silk under her hands, a cool breeze across her cheek. She could have been in a bed, waking up with the morning.
Her memories spoiled it. Washing away the comfort she had begun to feel like a powerful storm scouring rock to dust and sand. Her eyes flew open and she instinctively reached a hand to her neck. But the hand never got there. It stayed by her side immobile as the rest of her body. She could feel the mark on her neck where Angel had bitten her. Not. Not Angel but Angelus. The bite had healed. She could feel crusted and scabbed blood on her skin. The bite made her feel unclean and dirty. She could still remember the sensation of the clam before the bite, and the welling hunger that had passed from Angelus to her. And the fear. The fear was till there. Along with the image of Gunn sinking to the floor. Bleeding to death. “Dawn?” Xander’s voice echoed out his concern, drifting on the breeze in the stone room. She turned her head slowly to the side, bringing the cell into view. Her friends were still entrapped there. She could see that in one corner, on one of the cots, a lump lay covered by a blanket. No, not covered, but shrouded. A tear welled up and slid across her face, running over her nose and under her other eye to drop soundlessly to the black silk covering the altar. Giles rose and blocked the view. Concern evident in his eyes, “Are you alright?” and in his voice. Are you alright? A normal question asked in the stupidest of times. It was so often called out when it was obvious to everyone that things were not alright! She nodded slowly. The question was more to make him feel better about himself. Giles all but wilted with relief as he leaned forwards on the bars. His gaze stayed glued on Dawn as she looked at the others. Willow and Tara were sitting on the other cot, not looking at Gunn’s body, finding solace in each other’s arms. Sharing a tender embrace. A dread welled up inside Dawn. What if she never got to share another moment like that with anyone? The closest she had come was some half dream like reality with Hunter. Would the real thing be different? She almost desperately wanted to find out. That surprised her a little. Sure she had had crushes on boys before. But she had never openly wondered to herself what it would be like to be in one’s arms. Well, at least not outside her dreams of a handsome faceless price whisking her away from a fairy tale castle. Anya was sitting with her back against the stone, caring for a wounded Spike. She whispered soothingly in his ear. “Don’t die Spike…. Well you’re already dead…. So don’t die again!” She had never known how to deal with the death of others when they touched her life. Ironic really as she had been on the other end of handing out death bringing curses so often. Dawn felt sorry for her. “Where did they go?” she whispered. “They left the room…. Beyond that we don’t know!” replied Wesley. He was looking anywhere but at Gunn. He had lost the most from this disaster so far. Cordelia and Gunn were dead. Angel had been turned to Angelus and Lorne had betrayed them. Another tear rolled across her cheek. She was feeling sorry for her friends. She told them as much. “None of this should have ever happened to you” she cried out Giles gave her a curious look showing he did not understand. Dawn continues talking around her tears, even as she felt that leaden weight settle in her throat. “If I had never been created, Buffy would still be alive and you sure as hell would have never ended up here!” Giles hung his mouth open speechless at her words. But that soon faded to be replaced with Anger. “How Dare you take the blame for this!” he bit out. Dawn swallowed hard and frowned. How could it not be her fault? It was all centred around her. “But since I’ve been around, all we’ve done is stumble from one disaster to another.” She cried out around her tears.” Xander broke in “We’ve always done that! Always with the stumbling from crisis to crisis.” He said jovially. “Isn’t that right Will?” “Huh? Erm… yeah sure. Always stumbling!” Tara squeezed her had slightly. A comforting pressure. “We are here because we care for you…. Not because you’re cursed or anything!” “Well, bad things do seem to happen more often lately” broke in Anya “But I’m sure it has nothing to do with you!” she quickly added after seeing the look on everyone’s faces. “Really?” a dark voice echoed from the shadows. “How touching!” One of the shadows detached itself from the wall, forming into a blood red cape and a disfigured and scarred face. The face of Morgan. “All the gang trying to persuade the Key that nothing is her fault!” She leaned over Dawn and lowered her face to within inches of the terrified girl. Pointing a finger at the scar running down the left side of her face, she bellowed “This IS YOUR FAULT!” Stepping back, she gestured with her arm to the captives in the cell. “They are here because of YOU! No one else!” Dawn closed her eyes and wept more. Morgan was telling the truth. Her friends were just trying to comfort her. They were wrong. But she loved them for trying. “Let them go…. Please!” “Let them go…. Please.” Mimicked Morgan. “Why would we do that?” she enquired, her voice full of anger. “I’ll do whatever you want me to….” Dawn replied in a hushed tone. Morgan turned her good eye down on her face and stared. Licking her lips once, she whispered back. “willingly?” Dawn nodded, ignoring the protests of her friends. “As long as they are free.” Morgan nodded. “I will talk to my master. We shall see if he agrees to your request.” She said. “I don’t see why not…. They are not essential to our plans, and they can do nothing to oppose us if they were set free.” She turned in a billow of cape and stalked from the room. Pausing once in the doorway to look over her shoulder and smile. It was not a usual smile. There was no humour to it. It was the look of a predator about to move in for the certain kill of it’s prey. |
|
There was nothing like a battlefield. The sights. The sounds. The death. The one that filled the ground before Hunter was no different. Beings fought against one another with swords, maces, bow and arrow, and hands. The scene was of total devastation. Hunter stood on a rise at what he summarily called the south end of a shallow valley. On one side, to the east, was an army of Humans and mixed types of demons. Many encased in armour. Many with the haunted look of people going to their death. On the other side was an army three times as large. Composed mostly of Nidavellir. The gnarled grey skinned demons were shorter than the average human, but their massive strength and stamina made them superior warriors. They stood there with the red sky glinting off their iron breastplates and magically sharpened double bladed battle axes. Behind their front lines were hundreds of demons of the same type he had faced off against in Sunnydale. All smaller, but all looking deadly. As he studied the forces arranged across the battlefield, one block of the Nidavellir cried out in a language not heard on earth for centuries and charged forwards. In response, one detachment from the mixed army on the other side moved down the short hill. The two forces clashed in the bottom of the valley amid the carnage already present. Sword clashed against axe and sparks flew as the two groups fought for their lives on this battlefield. Hunter felt wave after wave of anguish pour out from the wounded and dying. He could do little here to help. But to do nothing was against his code. It was then he saw the portal guardian’s beast of burden flapping its wings. The beast, still mounted by the demon guardian, was over by a blood red tent behind the Nidavellir army. He knew nothing of the situation that involved these two opposing forces, but he knew the history of the Nidavellir and their attachment to the forces of darkness. Settling his mind, he threw open his cloak and drew his enchanted longsword. Running a hand down the blade slowly, caressing the metal, he remembered the time when he created the sword. Upon completion of their training, a prospective Knight was taken to a grove outside the castle academy. There they would meditate with the currents of life and await a response. If their call was answered, they would be presented with the materials they needed to forge a weapon. Merlin would then take the student to the restricted dungeon and instruct them in the forging of a weapon from the metal. When the weapon was complete, they became a Knight. Each Knight made their own weapon, using meditative techniques to guide their hands. No two weapons were ever alike. He had forged a longsword. Edmond had forged a quarterstaff. Other knights had forged Maces, Axes, Bows, Daggers. He knew that if the call had not been answered, he would have not become a Knight. He would have become a Journeyman instead. The journeymen were a group who had the training of the knights, but often lacked the power to rival their prestigious counterparts, so they performed the lesser duties in the service of good. In times of great strife, they were the foot-soldiers. In times of peace, they were the contact point between the knights and the real world. But he was a knight, and this weapon was his. More than that, it was a part of his soul. At that, he lowered his hood and stalked down towards the raging battle. He could have chosen a more direct route to the tent where he wished to go. But that would have been the easy path. It took little more than thirty seconds for him to reach the outskirts of the clash. The humans around him were beginning to fall back under the onslaught of the devilish Nidavellir. Swinging his sword down low, he cut the legs out from under one of the grey demons, quickly bringing the blade back up to block a downward chop designed to open him from neck to hip. With a flick of the wrist, he threw the demon back onto the blade of one of his comrades where the enchanted axe sliced through armour and flesh like they were made of butter. An axe flashed out from the side, and turned to parry it. His sword nicked the metal of the axe as he blocked it high. Pivoting the blade downwards, the tip sliced through the creatures skull and spilled out grey matter onto the rocky ground to mix with the red human blood there already. He stepped forwards into a knot of the demons and pushed out with his mind. All four of them flew backwards like they had been hit by a car. Tumbling head over heels and into the legs of their comrades. One lost a grip on it’s blade, sending it spinning through the air. It sliced open the breast of another Nidavellir moments before he could slice open an unarmed human sprawled on the ground. Hunter slashed left and right, kicking out with legs and the power of his mind to work his way through the ranks of the shorter demons. A trail of their green blood began to flow around him like a stream. He could sense some of the humans and their demon allies regrouping at his back and pouring into the opened gap. They were still out numbered, but they had divided the Nidavellir in two and driven them further apart. Off to the side, one of the grey demons slid his axe into the skull of a human woman barely out of her teens. In a flash of anger, Hunter reached out and clasped a mental hand round it’s throat and squeezed. He squeezed so hard that he did not simply choke the diminutive demon, but crushed it’s gullet completely, spurting blood across the ground. Quickly regaining his composure, he dropped low and swept a leg through another of the Nidavellir. It dropped it to the ground, impaling itself through the heart on a dagger in the hand of a dead man. Hunter leapt above a low slash and swung his sword down to cleave the head of his latest attacker in two, spilling more grey matter across the ground. Landing in a crouch, he sensed the tide was turning. The battle may still not be won, but the human and demon forces he had sided with were gaining ground. Grimacing he waded back into the thick of the battle, working his way one death at a time towards the rest of the army. The general of the Nidavellir army sat on a wooden throne with soft padding and watched the turmoil his forces were bringing upon the enemy. He saw a cloaked figure walk down from the side of the shallow valley, but he was confident that no one individual could make up the difference that his army possessed over their despicable opponents. The battle would be won by sundown, and the land would be drenched with the blood of worthless humans and their traitorous demon allies. Overhead, he saw a scout beast circle and get closer to the ground. No doubt bringing news that the reinforcements the humans were supposed to be getting from the kingdom of Phrics’li was not coming after all. The demon general plucked a morsel of meat, human thigh, from the table set up besides him and began chewing on it absently. “My lord?” My lord!” The general cocked his head to one shoulder and glanced at his underling as he approached with the scout in rapid pursuit. The general frowned as he recognised the demon. He was one of the master’s personal bodyguards! The general sat up straighter in his chair as the two got closer. He flung the partly gnawed leg of meat at the battle dogs he kept as pets and nodded at the demon. “Report!” The demon bowed slightly as it responded. “My lord, a Knight from the realm of Earth has entered the kingdom in search of the master and his captives. He is to be killed immediately…. No matter the cost!” The general turned and looked down at his battlefield. As he had allowed his attention to drift away, the skirmish he had set into action had turned into a rout for his Nidavellir shock troops. At the centre of the slaughter, with the human forces rallying around him, stood a figure shrouded in a black cape. Even from this distance, he could see the sword the caped figure wielded slice backwards and forwards through the air with precise movements. Each flick of the blade cut down one of his soldiers, while many more seemed to fly away from the warrior like they had been caught in the wind. The general spluttered as he waved with one had to a subordinate. “Archers…. ARCHERS!” he bellowed. “But my lord…. What of our own troops?” the underling replied cautiously. The general looked at the master’s personal bodyguard out of the corner of one eye and then glared at his subordinate with rising fury at having been questioned in an order. “Yes my lord” the underling got the message. He backed away slowly with his head bowed towards the ground." Within moments, the ranks of his archers had loosed a volley of arrows at the raging battle, and the general allowed himself a smug laugh. The archers made up a significant portion of his army. He could send a thousand arrows into an enemy if he so desired. Hunter saw the arrows and had only seconds to react to them. Around him the humans were screaming in terror as the sky all but darkened with the sheer number of projectiles incoming. Reaching out with his mind, he grasped a hold of one arrow, then another. His consciousness linking between them like forked lightening. It took three seconds for him to grasp most of the arrows. It was like trying to catch ants after disturbing the colony. You could get a lot, but some would always escape. The arrows he had caught, floated in mid air while the rest, greatly reduced in number fell to the ground, stabbing through anything that got in their way. Humans, their mixed demon allies and Nidavellir fell to the ground clutching at wounds or dead. But still most of the beings remained unharmed. Hunter allowed a slight smile. He had caught more than he had hoped for. Taking the arrows a few at a time, he moved them at the speed of sound to stab through dozens of Nidavellir. Slicing open wounds that would never heal in time to save their lives. It took ten seconds from the time he had caught the arrows, to have removed every enemy within the skirmish, and he still had hundreds of arrows left. Turning to face the massed lines of the rest of the opposing army, he flung the arrows back the way they had come. The general’s smile dropped away as he realised that the arrows had stopped in mid flight. His sense of cheer disappeared totally when the arrows turned in the air and flew back. “That’s impossible!” he bellowed. “Not even our most powerful mage could do that!” he shook his head “Send the arrows again!” It was a trick…. It had to be a trick. Hunter looked up at the sky and again saw hundreds of arrows take flight. This time he was ready for them. With his minds eye, he saw a wind blast the arrows back into the ranks of the army. He smiled as a wind rose around him. His cape billowed out as the wind picked up speed. In a second, the wall of arrows slowed down and suddenly reversed direction again. The general looked on in horror as his archers fell to their deaths. Rank after rank of his army fell to his own arrows! How could it be he wondered? He looked down again at the cloaked figure in the centre of a maelstrom of roaring winds and his hopes sank. He had wanted to kill a knight. Ever since he had heard about the mystical warriors from another dimension, he had wanted to face one in battle. Now he knew why his master had wanted this one killed. It had taken barely a few minutes for the tide of the battle to waver. He had been on the verge of breaking the opposing army. Now…. Now it would be a battle to defeat them soundly. “Full attack! I want everything we have down on that field now! And a reward of 100,000 Cistercians to the warrior that brings me the head of that cloaked warrior!” |
| “Out! Out!” Seth roared at the Nidavellir soldier who had come to report on the status of the battle. The soldier had relayed that the cloaked figure had not been defeated, and was in fact, turning the battle in favor of the opposing forces. The Nidavellir soldier bowed obediently to Seth and began quickly backing out of the room. “Wait!” Seth ordered. The soldier did as he was bid. “I have a message for your general.” The Nidavellir waited patiently as Seth attempted to regain his composure. “Tell your general that I will have someone’s head. I prefer the knight’s. If I don’t get it, I’ll have his. Now leave!”
“Yes, my master.” The soldier left the room as quickly has he could. Relaying the message to the general could mean harsh retaliation, but he knew that not doing so would mean certain death. Back inside the war room, Seth began ranting. “Hunter, alive, and in this dimension.” He grumbled. “I can even sense his life current. He is stronger than ever.” Seth uttered a vicious bellow that echoed in the vast expanse of the room. The war room in which Seth and the demon devised their diabolical plans was very elaborate. It was similar in design to the room in which the captives were being held. It too had high ceilings, though not nearly as high as the captives’ room. The walls were made of stone blocks expertly carved and assembled. Tapestries also decorated the walls of this room. These tapestries however, were of detailed battle scenes. Death and destruction, blood and carnage, doom and dread adorned the walls. They were reminders of The Dark Ones’ sole objectives. It was Seth’s intent and desire to fulfill those objectives. He began with the restoration of the Black Guard as warriors for the Dark Ones. He intended to continue effecting those objectives with the Dawn as his key. Agitated and angry, Seth paced the floor in front of the roaring inferno of the massive stone fireplace. Large, ornamental candelabras and sconces provided the only other light in the room. Seth stopped his pacing and turned to his demon conspirator who had once again been lurking in the shadows. “How is it possible? He was dead!” Seth drew his sword and lunged at the demon. The demon did not move to defend himself. He knew, all too well, Seth’s wrath and anger and the ways in which they presented themselves. The demon also knew Seth needed him alive if he were to complete their plans for the Key. The sword narrowly missed the demon’s grotesque visage, imbedding itself, instead, in the stone wall behind the demon. Seth remained standing directly in front of the demon, face to face, mere inches separating the two. The vile scent of the demon’s breath wafted out of him like decaying human flesh. “You killed him, did you not?” A great growl erupted from deep in the demon’s throat. He raised his hands and shoved Seth hard. Seth went reeling back toward the fireplace. He managed to catch the edge of the ancient table in the center of the room and steadied himself. Both the man and the creature knew if one wanted to mortally injure the other, the fighting would not be so tame. They were bound together. They would stay bound together until the matter of the Key was resolved. The demon formed his words carefully, for the language of these humans was still difficult for him to master. “You were the one that said he was dead. You were not able to detect his life current. Perhaps it is you who owes me an explanation.” There was silence in the room for an indeterminate length of time. Finally, Seth spoke in a quiet and sullen manner. "Knights never die. Nature cherishes them." “What rubbish are you rambling on about?” asked the demon. Seth looked up. He momentarily appeared as if he was elsewhere in his memories, but he quickly came back to himself. “Nothing. Nothing. I was just remembering something an old teacher of mine used to say. It is no matter. Hunter is alive. He must be dealt with. That is our primary concern at the moment.” Success was with in his grasp. Hunter was the loose cannon in his scheme. The demon nodded his agreement. “Surely the general and his massive army can handle one knight.” Anger and frustration began to boil over in Seth’s blood. “Do not,” he fumed between gritted teeth, “underestimate a Knight, especially The Hunter.” “Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Angelus had been sitting feet up, hands behind his head, at the table enjoying the banter, but he had finally had enough. “Hunter does not concern me. I’m tired of hearing about that prig.” He had a smug expression on his face. “Let’s talk about something more…interesting. Let’s talk about…oh, I don’t know…me, for example.” Angelus replaced his feet on the floor and leaned forward with his hands clasped together in front of him. “I thank you for releasing my soul. I’m finally free, again. It feels great. That goody-goody attitude was really starting to annoy me. Don’t you just hate all that morality.” He shivered with disdain. “What I really want to know, though, is what do you want from me? What am I going to have to do to repay your…hospitality?” He drew his tongue over his teeth, “She was quite satisfying, by the way.” He starred into Seth’s face and grinned. “You didn’t change me back because of my good looks and charm, did you?” His grin turned mischievous. “Or did you?” Seth leapt over the table, grabbed Angelus by his neck and lifted him from his chair. “Do not mock me. Do you understand?” Angelus, as strong as he was, was no match for Seth. He nodded his assent, which considering the hold Seth had on his neck was no mean feat. “Good. I think perhaps we understand each other. Your role in my plans will become clear soon enough. Until then, you will do as I say, when I say it.” Seth released his viselike grip on Angelus. Angelus was not used to being in a subordinate role. His ego, one of the few human traits a vampire was left with, was badly bruised. Still, Angelus was nothing, if not cunning. He would bide his time. His only concern was himself. This was a strange dimension. He knew his best way of obtaining a return trip home was to ‘play nice’. “You’re the boss, boss.” He said and slumped dejected but not defeated back into his chair. “Good. You’ll do well to remember that.” With that settled, Seth returned all his concentration to the battle that was ensuing beyond the walls of this fortress. “Those worthless Nidavellir.” He struck the table with a force so powerful that an imprint of his fist marred the tabletop. “That army has the help of your breed’s warriors. They should have made quick work of those bloody intransigent humans and their allies, Hunter or no Hunter.” He glanced at the demon, his eyes full of fury. “Those humans will bow down before me and accept the Dark Ones revelations as undeniable truths. When that happens, the Powers that Be will have no control over this dimension. With the help of the Key, it will not be the last to fall from the protection of the Powers. We will have begun the war.” Seth began to cachinnate maniacally. Mercifully, his demonstration of madness was interrupted by Morgan. The witch had unceremoniously stormed into the room. On seeing the witches uninvited appearance, Seth immediately turned on her. “What is it! Why are you disturbing me!” “The Key.” Said Morgan simply. She respected Seth, but would not be threatened by his machinations or his outbursts. She refused to bow down to him as some lowly servant. “Yes, yes. Go on. What about her? I trust our guest of honor and her friends are still constrained.” Seth struggled to gain control over his emotions. It would not do to have his followers questioning his sanity. “Yes. There is no way for them to escape.” She affirmed. “Well, then. What is it?” Seth’s patience was wearing thin. Morgan surveyed the room. She spied Angelus. He had only recently been plucked once again from the light and plunged back into the darkness. She, frankly, spared him no trust. Sensing her reluctance to dispense with her information in the vampire’s presence, Seth addressed Angelus. “Angelus, you look a bit hungry, still. You will find several human prisoners in one of the cells in the dungeon below. They are yours to do with as you wish.” The gleam returned to Angelus’ eyes as he thought of the fresh warm blood pulsing through the prisoners’ bodies. He got up and started for the door. “Oh, Angelus?” Seth spoke as if to a small, precocious child. Angelus stopped. “You will stay away from the Key and her friends.” “Like I said before,” Angelus remarked with thinly shielded contempt. “you are the boss.” At this he turned and marched from the room. Addressing the witch again, Seth asked “What is it, Morgan?” “I’ve spoken to the Key.” She cackled. “You what!” Roared Seth. “No one was t….” “She has agreed to do whatever we want.” Morgan interrupted. Seth halted his speech in order to listen to Morgan more closely. “Go on.” He prompted. “It is that simple. She has agreed to willingly yield to your wishes.” Morgan began to gloat. She had been able to do, through words, what Seth and the demon had only attempted with brute force and intimidation. From the shadows came the gravely voice of the demon, reminding Seth and the witch of his presence. “It cannot be that simple. Tell us, witch. What does she want in return?” Morgan faltered slightly. She left the Key and the rest of the captives with the impression that Seth would likely agree to the Key’s one demand. In truth, Morgan was not privy to Seth’s thoughts. She did not know whether he would agree to the Key’s demands or not. “Well, she did have one, small request.” Morgan’s demeanor changed from gloating to cowering. “She has agreed to do as you wish in return for her friends’ freedom.” The uproar that Morgan had expected did not come. “All she is asking is for her friends’ release. Bah! Pathetic humans with their useless sentiment.” He spat, ignoring the fact that he, himself, was human. Seth began pacing in front of the stone fireplace again. Morgan and the demon stood unmoving while he considered the request. Finally he spoke again “Perhaps we will be able to accommodate her.” The glint in his eyes and the sneer on his lips made it apparent to the two associates that Seth was contriving a more devious alternative to the Key’s wishes. |
| Hunter slashed his sword parallel to his body, splitting a Nidavellir warrior in two. The halves fell in opposite directions with a spray of green blood. The surprised look on the diminutive warrior’s face would never fade.
The battle had been raging for only a quarter of an hour. It had started as an orderly attack and counter attack by elements of each army. Now it was a blood bath. Human and demon blood was spilled on the rocky ground. The different colours not mixing together made the ground a surreal swirling pattern of reds and greens. Bodies hacked apart lay knee deep. Death was not forgiving today. Hunter stepped over the shattered skull of a human, blood and grey matter leaking over the edge of jagged edges of the bones. He spared a moment of regret for the man as he ducked below an axe and stabbed the point of his sword into the gut of another Nidavellir and pulled upwards. The razor sharp blade split the iron chest-plate the warrior was wearing with no trouble. The plate separated into their two halves and the beings guts spilled out onto the ground. He was taking out so many members of the opposing army, yet he had made very little headway. For every one he killed, another came up to take its place. A flick of his wrist as he focused his power sent five Nidavellir tumbling head over heels like a truck had hit them. Their bones broke as they rolled awkwardly across the jagged ground. Two got impaled on their own weapons never to rise again. The other three rose and moved in again. One of Nidavellir that Hunter had hacked the arm off of, jumped up on his back and began to beat him over the head with the bloody stump. Hunter took one hand off his sword and grabbed the creature by its neck and threw him over his shoulder and into the axe of another. Hunter shook his head. What he wouldn’t have given for a platoon of marines with automatic weapons right now. The enemy ranks were packed so close together that they would be cut down so easily. A knot of Nidavellir charged him simultaneously from one side. His sword was busy over the other side, deflecting a series of blows that should have cleaved him open from hip to hip. If he moved the blade to get the five new attackers, he would be open to the three on his other side. Without conscious thought, he grabbed a mental grip on some loose rocks and lifted them from the ground. The rocks accelerated, arcing into the Nidavellir with the speed of bullets. Rock Bullets! He began to fall back towards the side of the shallow depression still held by a group of Humans and demon’s fighting tooth and nail for their lives. He needed a moment of concentration to make this work. That would only come when he was not diverting it to keeping himself alive. Across to his left, he saw a woman fall over a man’s corpse. A Nidavellir looking over her, axe poised for the killing blow. Leaping over some more of the diminutive warriors, he somersaulted and landed next to the fallen woman and swung his sword up and around. The enchanted blade sliced through the handle of the axe like it was made of water, and continued unabated to take the top of the demon’s skull with it. Blood and thicker things exploded out of the injury as Hunter turned away. Reaching down with one arm, he grabbed the woman and dragged her to her feet. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth and had nasty cuts on the other exposed areas of her skin, but she stumbled ahead towards the valiantly fighting humans. Hunter turned round and walked backwards, his sword flashing every which way in a blinding display of swordsmanship, deflecting an attack and dropping warriors with each precise movement. As he backed up to a knot of humans, they parted behind him and fell upon the group of Nidavellir that had pressed their attack. Hacking and slashing with rage more than finesse. Hunter dropped to one knee behind the screen of humans and breathed deeply. In theory, a knight could draw upon the powers of life indefinitely without getting tired. In practice, it took a lot of effort for sustained use and it left him tired and weak. The more he called upon the powers, the more of the powers he would need to support his own body. It was a catch twenty-two situation. Closing his eyes, he found his inner calm. The sensations around him sharpened again to crystal clarity. He could pick out each life force and sense their intentions seconds before they meant to do them. He was outside himself, yet acutely aware of himself as well. He could hear the blood pumping through his veins; feel the fire of nerves to muscles and the churning of his stomach reminding him he had not eaten in days. He forced all the unpleasant sensations away. Every death of a living being sent out ripples in his perception. Today, the currents were like a tossing ocean with all the death and pain and it assaulted him like he was a ship out on it. He focused on the ground, running in blood and covered in bodies and body parts. He searched outwards, running invisible fingers through the ground and churning it up like a worm. Hundreds of shards of rock responded to his call and floated up in the air like a cloud of insects. The hundreds became thousands, and they kept growing in number. ********** The general sat atop his throne and watched the melee unfold. What had promised to be another short lived human rebellion had turned into a difficult battle that would be remembered for ages. His warriors had stormed forwards, archers and other support personnel included. All but a select few that stayed behind as his personal guard. The human forces were being decimated, and their demon allies had mostly fled. It would only be a short time now till victory would be his. He looked over the scene and noticed a small knot of humans fighting near the middle of the field. They had held their ground and a pile of his soldier’s bodies lay around them. But what drew his attention more was a dark cloud buzzing around in the sky. “What is that?” he asked one of his advisors who stood behind him. The advisor stepped forwards and bowed his head before looking at the cloud himself. “It could be a group of Fir’ lets flies?” he said as his robe swirled around in the wind. The general smiled. The Fir’ lets fly was a small deadly predator. Their sting was lethal to most beings and their small mandibles could tear flesh like it was paper. If it were indeed a swarm of them, they would tear into the ranks of the dying and dead and no doubt take many of the living with them. “Pull back the main force. We don’t want the flies to get them now do we?” He smiled to himself as his advisor bowed smartly and moved off in a swirl of burgundy robes. He watched him out of the corner of his eyes as he gave instructions to a Nidavellir child holding a bone horn. The child nodded and raised the instrument to his lips and the horn sounded a long low bass blast. All across the field, other Nidavellir broke from battle and began backing away from the human forces. ********** Even with his eyes closed, Hunter could see the hundreds of Nidavellir breaking away. He hoped for a moment that they had just given up. But he could sense that the withdrawal was something else. A trick? It probably was. With a moment of regret hitting him like a dagger to his heart, he accelerated the stones like a thousand bullets. The closest of the Nidavellir were pummelled with the rocks. They smashed apart on iron chest plates and knocked off helmets. The front ranks fell simply by being stoned to death. But the stones continued to accelerate, and within seconds were travelling near the speed of sound, sending a rolling thunder across the shallow valley. The stones hit and punched through skin and bone. Eruptions of blood fountained out from neat, round entry holes. While exit wounds exploded from the other side sending sprays of blood, flesh and bone across the landscape. Barely slowing down, the stones moved to the next victim. The outpouring of emotion, pain and death hit Hunter’s senses like a tidal wave. He dropped to his knees and his vision blurred, as he was nearly overwhelmed. There were two ways to stop the pain. On was to stop the stones, but that would allow the Nidavellir to complete whatever plan they had in mind. The other was to block off the roiling waves of pain, but that would also mean he would loose much of the control he had on the stones. So instead he gritted his teeth and held on to his sanity while he mounted the death toll. ********** The general’s face dropped as he saw the cloud boil forwards and eat into the ranks of his regrouping forces. He saw them drop by the dozen, then the hundred. “What’s happening?” he demanded “Advisors? Mages?” He glanced around himself to see that his entourage was backing away from the slaughter. Turning back to survey the battle, he witnessed the neat ranks of retreating Nidavellir break into a mass of running demons. But running did not save them. They continued to drop, flooding the ground with bodies and blood. He roared at the top of his voice and grabbed at the hilt of the broadsword attached to the back of his wooden throne. Drawing the blade, he waded into the retreating forces. The General backhanded one of the Nidavellir captains, sending the smaller demon sprawling to the floor. The subordinate continued to crawl away as fast as he was able, leaving his weapon behind. Nidavellir never left their weapons behind. The General stood open mouthed for the briefest of moments before rage consumed him. “Stand and fight you cowards” he bellowed to the air. Those nearest to him slowed in their retreat for a moment and looked at their general as he waded forwards and down to the valley floor, sword in hand and a look of pure hated and rage contorting his features. But their slowing was only temporary as the stones raced up to them. The general saw a nearby Nidavellir that was taller than his fellows sprawl forwards to the ground. His head was exploding outward, sending blood and grey matter across those around him, as a fruit sized rock blew through. The demon fell, only to be trampled on the ground. The rock continued onwards to punch through the chest of another, bursting out it’s ribcage to spill its shredded lungs and it’s heart to the ground in a rapidly expanding pool of blood. The general didn’t even flinch as he stared at another Nidavellir, watching a smaller stone rocket through the back of its helmet with a metallic ping. The left eye exploded outwards like a volcano of gore as the stone continued unabated. All around him, his fighters fell with gaping wounds. Bone glistened wetly in the light, while the scent of flesh and blood filled his nostrils. Some of them were dead when they hit the ground. Most were still alive. For a while. Bellowing in rage, he stormed forwards in uncontrolled fury. He didn’t slow as he knocked down one of his own troop’s, his hoofed foot crushing its leg under him in a crack of bone and a shower of blood from torn arteries and capillaries. The human army was advancing to complete the devastating attack, determined to destroy his grand army once and for all. As he reached the front of the massed troops, he swung the massive sword clutched in his hands, bisecting a startled man in two, and spilling intestines and other organs over the ground. He stomped on the still beating heart as he reveres his blade and took the arm off another person, sending him screaming and spinning away, clutching their wound as their blood flowed out where there should have been a limb. The General hacked his way to the thickest concentration of humans, not using any of his skill. He was just butchering them with brute force. ********* Hunter was now down to his hands and knees. He could feel the ground, slick with blood of humans and demons, under his hands. It was a strong steadying contact that he held onto with all his strength while he was assailed by the power of so many deaths. His source of power was life, but when someone died, it displaced the last of the life energy held in the body. That energy was what hit him now. He took it all and poured it back out, raising more stones to decimate the Nidavellir army and the larger demons that were spread amongst them. They were all smaller versions of the demon that had nearly defeated him in Sunnydale, and they were all powerful. Now he would see them dead. But the deaths of so many demons echoed in his head like thunder. He could see the faces of those he was killing flash before his eyes. Closing them did not help. His tunic was soaked with his sweat and his limbs felt like jelly. He barely even noticed the deaths of a few humans nearby, and the powerful presence pressing towards him. He breathed a slow breath and opened his eyes. What he saw was a grey mountain of fur covering shiny black chitinous armour plates, and massive clawed hands grasping the largest sword he had ever seen. Gripping the hilt of his own sword tighter in his hands, he felt his anger rise. Why did he not retreat like the rest of the forces? Why did he have to keep on killing? He looked down at his blade. The silver was all but covered in drying green blood, but it still caught the light from the sun overhead, and the golden hilt was warm to his hand. Rising slowly from the ground, a little unsteady, he drew in more of the energy boiling around him. It felt at once like a cooling mountain stream running over his skin after days in the desert, and a fire at the core of his bones after an age in the arctic. The energy pulsed into his muscles, and he felt them grow stronger. His vision cleared and he stalked forwards to meet the demon general. The general did not see his approach, and was about to cleave a woman in two with the broadsword, now covered hilt to point in human blood, when Hunter thrust his blade to intersect the blow. Sparks flew as the two razor edged blades met with bone shattering impact. The demon looked up to see the cloak shrouded figure before him and he backed away, eyeing him up and down. The demon screwed up its face and bellowed in animalistic rage and brought his sword down in an arc that would have cut Hunter right down the middle. He stepped to the side and turned slightly, raising the hilt of his sword up to near his head and angling the blade to point down and away from himself. The broadsword hit it and slid along its length, taking it out of the way as Hunter spun round and kicked out with his left leg to catch the demon square on its lower torso. The natural armour plate under the fur easily took out the force of the impact and sent a jolt up his leg. Using the demon, he pushed off and turned to face off against him again. They exchanged blows with swords, sparks flying with each hit as the duelled. A cut that started down and to the right was caught by Hunter and swept up and over his head with a screech as the metal of the two swords rubbed against each other. Hunter kicked out at the hands holding the sword, knocking them away a little further. Jumping and spinning 360 degrees, his sword traced a line across the armour place of the demon’s chest, sending a spray of black blood outwards and soliciting a yell of pain and surprise. The general swung the sword back to lop off Hunter’s head, but he ducked beneath the blow. Lunging up and forwards, the point of the longsword jabbed into the cut in the chitin, finding soft flesh and organs inside. The sword continued it’s relentless upward journey, under bones and stabbing into the large heart at the centre of the demon’s chest. The general’s eyes flew open in pain and surprise as he looked down at the blade impaling his body, while black blood gushed out to cover the sword and Hunter’s hands in a torrent. The general tired to lift his massive sword and take this cloaked figure with him, but his arms did not want to work properly. He could taste his blood in his mouth as it leaked out and down his chin. He was disgusted with the fact that a human had killed him. A human! They were a source of food for his people. He was now dying because one. He shook his head as his eyes rolled up into his skull. He toppled to the ground, his last breath leaving his body in a painful shudder. |
| Seth used his mind to fling open the heavy studded oak doors to the ceremonial hall like they were made of card. Stalking into the glare of the dark from the daylight corridor, Morgan and his demon ally followed in his wake. He had given up trying to learn his name. It was beyond the ability of the human tongue to pronounce. Hell some of it was beyond the human hearing range.
Off to the side, the captives in the cage stirred and watched the passage of the three as they moved towards the black silk covered dais and Dawn. He could taste their anger and fear on his tongue. It rode one the currents of life. It was a sweet wine to him and he wrapped it around him like a blanket. He drew up besides the altar and stared down at The Key. His eyes roamed over her body for a moment, as she looked up at him. She saw that the look in his eyes was not human. It was something else. He finished with his eyes looking down at hers. “I’m told you have something to tell me?” he asked, injecting his voice with a cold energy that he knew would have made Dawn cringe away from him…. if she could have moved her body that is. She nodded very slowly, her eyes never leaving Seth’s. He looked down into those beautiful blue orbs and he could read her soul. She contained so much potential power, and the only thing holding her back was her ignorance of her abilities and her humanity. He screwed up his face at her humanity. It was her only flaw. Without her humanity there were as many possibilities as there were demon dimensions. “Well” he asked with the same cold tone. Her voice was a little shaky. “Let them go and….” She trailed off as she closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “I’ll do anything you want” she finished quietly. “Don’t do it Dawn” shouted Willow, her voice echoing in the room and filled with concern and an edge of fear. Seth snarled as he turned to face her at amazing speed, reaching out one hand. His fingers were hooked over like claws as he slashed them through the air. Willow fell back screaming and raising her hands to her face. Tara was by her side in an instant, holding her protectively and trying to see what had happened as Willow hid her face behind her hands. Tara reared back when she saw five deep scratches had been traced across her face, starting at her forehead and running down to the bottom of her jaw. They looked like a large animal had done it, and only luck had kept the claws from gouging out her eyes. Blood seeped out between her fingers and ran down her arms, and Dawn screamed Tara stood and faced Seth and lowered her head till she was looking at him through her eyelashes, anger was dancing behind them, and she began chanting. Seth felt her power rise thought the room like cloudy water. It assailed his senses and he felt like he was falling. He was no magician and his schooling in magic was limited to the sort of stuff he would have encountered on Earth. But here, in a land that was filled with the magic, he was overmatched. Temporarily. Reaching out a hand, Morgan stepped forwards and took a hold of it. Her own power flowed like a bolt of fire up his arm and the power washing into him from Tara lessened. He reached out with his other hand and raked that through the air as he had done before. Tara screamed as her chest was torn over her right breast. Blood ran out from the gashes in her t-shirt and she staggered backwards and slid to the ground as he powers drained away like water down the drain. “Stop it, stop it, don’t hurt them!” Dawn screamed at Seth as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Seth turned back to her so fast he looked like a blur for a moment. Dawn closed her eyes and whispered repeatedly, “I’ll do anything you want, I’ll do anything you want….” Seth leaned down to put his face barely above hers. He removed his hand from Morgan’s grasp and placed it on Dawn’s face, applying pressure just below her cheekbones. Dawn gasped at the touch. It was not warm like a human’s, but cold. Evil. Her eyes fluttered open and Seth could see that they were filled with pain and sorrow and more unshed tears. Seth nodded slowly as his lips twisted into a demented smile. “Yes…. You will,” he said to her in a voice so low it was almost an animal growl. He looked up at his demon ally and nodded almost imperceptibly. “Take them away!” The demon just looked at him for a moment, but finally moved over to the cell and opened the door. Spike launched up from the floor at amazing speed, but the demon was faster and punched the Vampire in the stomach so hard that he folded around the blow. His already cut up stomach started to bleed again as the demon roughly picked him up from the ground and threw him easily over a shoulder. “Follow me!” he said in a bass growl. Seth smiled as he watched the fear mount in his captives, as they were lead towards the door with Morgan in tow. They all looked at Dawn as they passed by, but none said anything. They all possessed a haunted look in their eyes that seemed to suggest that they thought they would never see Dawn alive again. Seth turned his back on them and ran a gloved finger down Dawn’s pale cheek. She closed her eyes and he could feel her want to turn away from the touch. But she didn’t. He turned on his heel, cloak billowing out around him and stalked from the room. Off to the right, in a side corridor, the others were being taken to the deepest dungeon the fortress had. He smiled and used his powers to slam the doors closed behind him self. Then turning to the left he walked down the corridor, laughing out loud as his footsteps echoed off the flagstones. Suddenly, he froze. A wall of death slammed into him like a crashing wave, making him stagger to the support of the wall. He felt the deaths of hundreds of sentient beings all crying out in pain and then falling silent. Behind it all he could feel a blazing presence, like a star going nova. “Hunter!” he bellowed and pushed off from the stone wall. He ran down the corridor to the war room. Dawn was left lying alone in the chamber and crying silent tears. |
| The demon general was dead at Hunter’s feet, surrounded by a rapidly expanding pool of black blood. He stared down at the darkness that eased its way across the land and it seemed very symbolic. Then the energy that he had summoned and controlled left him in a rush.
He dropped to his knees and sagged forwards to rest on his outstretched arms. He was beyond tired. Every muscle in his body ached. He wanted to sink to the ground and sleep. But he knew that he had no time to waste. He needed to rescue Dawn, to hold her in his arms. To kiss her forehead. To soak himself in the light of her soul. “Ar ouy rigth?” asked a light voice from behind him. He turned his head slowly, as though he was moving through molasses. The questioner was nothing more than a young boy, standing before him in a dirty, torn brown tunic and leather sandals. His hair was probably blonde, but it was so filled with dirt and grease, it was almost brown. Dirt smudged his exposed skin, but his eyes shone through, clear and bright. Alive. “Ar ouy rigth?” he repeated. Hunter opened his mouth to say he didn’t understand, but he could not utter a word. He closed his eyes and felt himself sink to the ground. He felt the jagged edges of the earth dig into his cheek, while the blood formed a layer of cooling, sticky warmth on his skin. He was aware of several pairs of hands picking him up roughly from the dirt. He tried to open his eyes, but the effort was beyond him. He was too tired to focus his mind enough to reach out to his power. He doubted that he would even be able to defend himself if he was attacked. “Pt eh vr hre” came a deep resonant male voice, knifing through the dark. Hunter felt himself being lowered to a soft surface and the hands leaving him. Then the world faded out completely as he gave up fighting and sank into a healing trance. ********** His eyes fluttered open slowly and it took him a moment to realise where he was. He was looking up at a red tinged sky that was dotted with small sparse white clouds. The sun that shone down on him seemed too white, too hot and too large. He could feel fur under his fingers like strands of silk. Ever so soft and comforting. But he could also hear the sounds of crying. The sounds of pain floated across to him in the breeze, reinforcing the smell of death. Yes violent death has a unique smell that you can never forget. The metallic coppery aroma of blood that you can taste in the air combined with the odour of rendered intestines. Turning his head to the left, the view matched the smell. Arrayed around him was a sea of wounded humans. Hundreds of them. It was like some nightmare. It was the aftermath of a battle. People writhed and struggled in pain as their wounds were ministered to. The screams of the surgeons came from a group of white tents at the edge of his vision. They worked with primitive tools and knowledge to try to save peoples lives, but more often ended them. At the other side of his line of sight was a black tent, surrounded by guards and others with a flag of golden fabric emblazoned with a coat of arms. Hunter closed his eyes against the visage, but it remained burned into his memory. Since becoming a knight, he had seen many things. But the sight now before him was his new worst nightmare. Severed limbs bleeding into dirty cloth bandages. The dead mixed with the living. He shook his head and tears slid down his cheeks. The knowledge that he had caused the same effect to the army of Nidavellir sank in on him. He had killed today. Not the un-dead vampires, or some savage flesh-eating demon. But living beings that had families, friends, hopes and dreams. He’d had a choice. He could have just gone around the edge of the battle. But what would have been the outcome then? Almost certainly the Humans would have been slaughtered. What decision was right? He had no idea, but what he had done was now in the past, and he had a future to think of. He sat up from the fur that he had been lying on, and rose to his feet. He was still unsteady, but he remained upright. His body had become refreshed, and he could feel the life around him flowing inwards. But it was tainted by the death and pain. He had been out for less than half an hour. By all rights, after the energy he had expelled today, he should have been out for hours. It was just another puzzle he would have to solve. But later. “Ur pu da rnaud?” Hunter turned and ended up looking down at the young boy he had seen earlier. He was still as dirty as before, but now his feet were soaked and stained in blood. At a guess he had been walking the battlefield looking for the wounded. “Do you speak English?” Hunter asked slowly. The boy froze for a moment and then ran away towards the black tent with the flag. Standing up, he could see the tent in more detail. It had over a dozen guards in shining armour posted around it, and the people who moved around inside were dressed in finery. His eyes followed the young boy up to a man dressed in a grey tunic and matching cloak. The man bent down to listen to the boy, then he looked up and scanned the area till his eyes locked on Hunter. Hunter met his gaze and started picking his way in between the wounded. He kept his senses tuned out to stop the flood of pain that he was reading in the air. He winced slightly as he passed a young man who had lost both legs. The man looked down at the boy and said something to him. The boy nodded eagerly and ran across the camp, weaving in and out of tents and the wounded till he disappeared from sight. A woman grabbed the hem of Hunter’s cloak as it brushed across her arm and he looked down at her. She was crying over a younger woman. Her daughter? There was certainly a family resemblance. Hunter bent down and looked at the daughter. She had been split open across the middle and her intestines were threatening to spill out to the ground. He breathing was laboured as she was almost choking on her own blood and her eyes were haunted. But Hunter’s eyes stopped when they saw her hair. It was the same length and colour as Dawn’s, and for a second, he had to look at her face just to make sure it was not she. He winced with the guilt and closed his eyes. He had barely begun to know Dawn, but he already could not bear the thought of loosing her. He knelt down next to the young girl and he placed his hand on her head. His power flowed down his arm, feeling like he had run cool water along it. The girl gasped in surprise. He raised his other hand and placed it over her torn belly and he pressed down on it ever so gently. Her eyes closed as he took away the pain she would have felt, and he poured more power into her, filling her with life. The blood stopped flowing like someone had turned off a tap. Then the flesh began to fuse together. But it was like a flower blooming. You knew it was happening, but you could not watch it. One moment it was closed, the next open. It looked like magic. The girl gasped again as her skin closed and the power trailed off. Hunter almost keeled over. He was still tired, but he drew more power from around himself and he felt better. Rising to his feet, he looked down at the woman and the girl and smiled before he turned and continued walking towards the black tent and the man who stood watching him, now in awe. As he passed more wounded, he trailed is fingers over the most grievously wounded, letting his power flow. It was not enough to heal them completely, but it was enough to make sure they lived. What surprised him was that as he gave out energy to heal them, he seemed to gain it in return. Almost as though life itself was rewarding him with power for his good deeds. Off to the side, the young boy was returning, followed by an old man in a dark blue robe that had silver stars sewn into it. Hunter did not slow his pace, but the thoughts that raced through his mind were of the images from Hollywood of magicians, of the robe, wrinkled face and white shock of hair and long beard. He almost laughed at the thought, but he felt the power radiating from the man. Not the same type of power as his. This man radiated magic like he breathed it out. Hunter stopped a dozen feet away from the man in grey and watched the old man and the boy approach. They stopped in a little knot facing him and the old man eyed him up and down. “The boy said you spoke the language of the old ones!” the old man said. His voice sounded tired, and his eyes had a look that said that he had seen it all, and none of it impressed him. “If you mean English, then yes,” he replied neutrally. He sensed some of the guards from the tent circling around behind him, but he did not turn to look at them. He knew where they were and what they would do to him if they could. He was not worried. The most dangerous person he faced was the wizard. “Who are you and where did you come from?” the wizard asked with a touch of caution and threat in his voice. He kept his own voice as neutral as possible as he responded, never taking his eyes away from the wizard. “My name is Matthew Hunter. I am from a world called Earth.” The expressions of the two men turned to shock and the guards chose that time to strike. Two rushed him from behind to grab his arms. Hunter let them just touch him before he jumped into the air and performed a back flip. On his way down, he kicked out with both feet and pushed the guards forwards and onto the ground before landing in a crouch with his cape spilled around him on the ground. He rose to his feet slowly as the man in grey pulled out a sword and pointed it at him before moving forwards. Hunter studied the man for a second. He was almost six foot tall, with black hair just beginning to grey at the temples. A rugged complexion showed that he had lived a hard life, but he still carried himself with a regal bearing. The regal bearing was reinforced by the way he held the sword. He held it like you would in a duel, not a fight for your life. There was a distinct difference. Duelling was often used more as a form of practice and to show off abilities in a dance. It was rare that a duel ended in the first few moments as it took the ‘fun’ out of the fight. Whereas, if you got into a real fight, it was safer to just kill your opponent quickly. It allowed you to move on to the next, which was the way battles were won. It was the way he had fought today. No overly fancy sword-work, just butchery. He let the point of the sword reach his chin before he reacted. Leaning backwards, he reached out with one had to grab the blade on the flat sides, twisting it so fast that it flew from the owners grasp. Hunter threw it up in the air and stood upright again, catching the sword by the hilt as it fell to the ground, before pointing it at his attacker’s throat. The man stopped dead. His expression was shocked and a little grey, like his tunic, as Hunter’s eyes bored into him. The boy screamed and grabbed the man’s legs. Hunter’s eyes flicked down at him for a moment, before he lowered the point of the sword. The man stepped back to stand besides the wizard. He placed one hand protectively on the boy’s head as he continued to clutch him around the thigh, staring like a scared rabbit at Hunter. “I will not harm any of you unless you force me to,” Hunter warned as he rested the sword on the ground like a cane. The wizard bowed his head slightly, never taking his eyes away. It was how one opponent bowed to another on the judo mat, like you knew that you could be attacked at any moment. “Why are you here?” he asked, his voice neutral. “To rescue some….” He paused. How much could he tell these people? He had helped them in battle, but he knew nothing about them except what he could glean through reading their auras. “….friends” he concluded. The wizard leaned his head to one side and smiled slightly. “I think that is not the whole truth, but it does not matter.” His smile grew and he held out his hands “I knew you would come léoparde lionné.” Hunter frowned. He was familiar with the term from French heraldry, of a brave and generous warrior or protector, who had done some brave deed. He could see how what he had done to aid them in battle could class him as such, but it was still a puzzling moment. “You knew I would come?” he asked cautiously. The wizard lowered his arms, still smiling. “Indeed. I have been seeing you in my vision quests for months now. Your coming will be the sign of a great tragedy, but also a renewal.” “Tragedy?” Hunter’s heart sank slightly. If this man was as powerful as he could sense, then he may have been able to see into the future. “What tragedy?” The wizard’s smile faltered. “I am not sure. But I do know that I am destined to help you in your quest. You have come to save the Dawn?” Hunter narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What do you know about ‘the Dawn?’” “That in order to save the Dawn, you will have to defeat the Demon Lords and their forces.” He replied, the smile returning to his face. “Who are these Demon Lords?” Hunter asked. The grey man stepped forwards. “You should know,” he said, his voice full of scorn. “You slew their general on the field of battle!” The wizard looked nervously to the man “Hush Sir Reginald. We owe this man out greatest thanks!” Sir Reginald spitted the wizard with a glare. “We owe him nothing!” he spat. “You know the other side of the visions of what he will bring with him!” The wizard dropped his smile and his power flared around him. “Do not make me remind you whom you are talking to!” he said between gritted teeth. Hunter looked between the two, puzzled. He was supposed to save ‘the Dawn’. He was certain what that meant, and to do so would undoubtedly involve him defeating the demon and Seth. But a dark side to these visions? “What do I bring with me?” he demanded. The wizard’s power dropped away like a dying wind and he looked deeply at Hunter. His voice dropped to just above a whisper, but it still carried over to him like it had been shouted out. “Death.” |
| The demon lord stormed into the war room on a tide of rage. He had been seeing to the ‘comfort’ of the prisoners in the deepest levels when he had been visited by one of his advisors. What he had heard did not make him happy.
Seth was standing facing the fireplace, his back to the doors and the table that dominated the room. “Tell me it is not so!” he demanded in a bass growl filled with his anger. Seth turned so fast that it almost seemed as if he was just suddenly facing the other way, and the look in his eyes brought the demon lord up short. The look was one of shear hatred. His eyes seemed aflame with a black fire that looked like it could spill out onto the floor at any second. “It is!” replied Seth slowly, as if he was trying to expel out his rage in his words. “How?” Even though he already knew the answer, he had to hear it again. “HUNTER!” Seth bellowed at the top of lungs while his power spilled out into the room like a blast of arctic wind. The demon lord shivered slightly, but controlled his reactions as he moved round the table and closer to the fire. Seth watched him with those evil eyes as he came. The demon lord noticed Seth’s hands were clenched into fists so tight, his knuckles were turning white. “He is coming here.” It was not a question, but Seth nodded slowly. The demon lord growled and barred his teeth. “I will taste his blood in my mouth as we kill him!” Seth smiled slightly. It was not a pleasant smile, more like the smile an inmate gave in an asylum. “Yes…” he hissed. “Hunter will be defeated…. One way or another!” The demon lord looked at the maps spread over the table. It showed his entire domain. Stretching from the mountains hundreds of miles to the north to the blood sea not far away to the south. It was an impressive size, covering nearly a third of his world. But it was not enough. He wanted so much more. He could have that courtesy of the Dark Ones. They had promised Seth the Human’s world, but he was to have this and many more. He let his eyes loose their focus for a moment as he considered his plans. Much of what they needed to have done was nearly complete. The sacrifice the Dark Ones needed was down in the dungeons and the main army was safe behind the walls of the very fortress he stood in. According to all the reports he had received, all the agents were in place on Earth. But most importantly, they had possession of The Key. All they really needed to do was use it. “We must accelerate our plans,” he said to the air. He felt Seth look at him. “Can it be done?” he asked. The demon lord nodded, a feral smile showing off his mouth of sharp teeth to full view. “Yes” he hissed, “it can.” Seth smiled again. This time it was a more normal smile and he clapped his hands together. “At last, I will have my revenge on Earth. I will fetch the Vampire!” With that, he swirled his cape around as he walked quickly from the room. |
| Angelus withdrew his fangs from the neck of a whimpering human. He licked his lips, tasting the sweetness of the blood as it ran down his throat in a warm wave. He looked down at the man he had been drinking from and let him drop to the floor like a discarded piece of rubbish. “We should do dinner again sometime,” he joked as he looked around.
He was in the dungeons of a large fortress. The grey stone of the walls rose ominously around him, dark and dank. Occasional pairs of manacles dangled from the walls, many of which were occupied with prisoners. Speaking of prisoners, five lay at his feet, almost completely drained of blood. It had been so long since he had fed from a live human, that he had been unable to stop himself from gorging. He rubbed his arm across his bloody chin, then began carefully licking it off his skin, savouring every drop . “I see you made yourself at home,” came Seth’s voice from behind him. Angelus turned and flashed the taller man a smile. “It’s been a while since I had a blood bath,” he joked. “I got a little carried away,” he said with a shrug. Seth looked down at the humans at the vampire’s feet and felt no remorse. They were weak. Anyone’s victim that was stronger than they were. He felt no allegiance to them as a fellow human. If he had a choice, he would not have been one of them. Humans were weak compared to the vast majority of other demons. Their only saving grace was that they were often smarter and better at adapting. Technology had been their way of evening the odds. At the dawn of the human race, they had defended themselves with primitive stakes and spears. The average human did not fair well that close to a demon. So they had adapted and developed bows and arrows, then crossbows, swords, armour, cavalry, and now modern technology had given them guns, tanks, planes and nuclear weapons. Most demon races intent on invading earth would have to contend with that massive edge. Humans could strike anywhere in the world with their technology, and the demons had no way to defend against it. On the other hand, the humans had lost touch with magic and other preternatural powers, and had no way to defend against the magical weapons of the demons. Any war between demons and humans on Earth would be a bloodbath like none seen before. And it was this that the Dark Ones wanted. Death on such a massive scale, that they could ride the wave of destruction up from hell and into the domain of the Powers That Be. Seth smiled at Angelus. “Just make sure you don’t leave a mess,” he said like a father speaking to a child. Angelus lost some of his smile for a second. HE knew where he stood with Seth. He was the underdog. For now! He replaced his smile and met the knight’s gaze. Seth studied the thoughts going on behind his eyes and knew exactly what he had been thinking. He was a predator, looking for a weakness to exploit. He was dangerous now, but after…. After, he would be lethal. “We have need of your services Angelus.” “You need little ol' me?” he asked sarcastically. Seth smiled icily. “We have something to give you in exchange for what we will ask.” “An exchange?” he asked suddenly more serious. “What is it you want?” Seth motioned for Angelus to step out of the dungeons and follow him to the higher levels of the fortress. He looked round at the carnage he had caused then followed the swirling cape up the stone stairs. “A long time ago, Vampires had much more in the way of power than they do now,” Seth began. “They were divided into two classes. There were the ordinary vampires, and there were the master vampires.” “Master vampires?” enquired Angelus cautiously, thinking back to ‘The Master’ whom he had helped Buffy defeat a few years ago. Seth glanced sideways to the vampire, and, peering into his head and saw what he was thinking. “The Master, as you all called him was the last true master vampire left on earth. But his powers were only a fraction of what the Vantarg, your true demon form, could call.” Angelus shivered slightly as he recalled recent events and his trip to Pylea and his shift into his pure demon form. It was monstrous. Angel had hated it. Angelus revelled in the feeling. “You have inside you, the capacity to become a master vampire with all the powers that it entails.” Seth said in a low voice. Angelus froze as they reached the top of the stairs and he looked over a balcony to the ground. The fortress was huge, and the ground was a good 100 feet below him. But what drew his attention was not the rust red dirt, but the mass of Nidavellir camped on it. As his gaze surveyed the towering walls and the building and grounds visible, he was amazed at the number of them. He had seen the papers on the table in the war room that described the makeup of the Grand Army that was out fighting the Human rebellion, but it was a fraction of the size of the force within the walls. He turned his back on the visage and stared at Seth, who smiled from under his hood. “What sort of powers?” he asked. Seth’s smile widened, as he knew that he had Angelus right where he wanted him. “You would be able to roll humans with your eyes.” “Roll?” asked Angelus quizzically. “It is a form of hypnotism. If a human looked into your eyes, you would be able to trap their gaze and invade their mind. You could bend them to your will. You could feed on them and make them think it was a good idea.” Angelus licked his lips. “Really?” Seth nodded. “What else?” he asked eagerly. “You would be stronger and faster than you are now. You would be able to bench press a car without breaking a sweat, and you would have an animal to call.” “An animal to call?” Seth nodded and began to walk down the corridor. He did not pause as Angelus moved to catch up. “The master vampires can all call a particular type of animal to do their bidding. Wolves, Snakes, bats, and so on. It even works on lycanthropes.” “Werewolves?” Seth shook his head. “Why does everyone on earth assume that the only type of lycanthrope is a werewolf? They can come in many animal forms.” Seth said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “Like snakes and bats and so on?” asked Angel “Exactly.” Said Seth with a rapid expelling of air, like he was blowing out his frustration. “So where do I come in?” asked Angelus. “Below this fortress, there is a massive library filled with copies of ancient texts from many dimensions. One of the books contains instructions on how to restore powers to a vampire.” “I know how to do that…. You have to drink the blood of your sire.” Replied Angel, his voice implying he was not impressed. “No!” bit out Seth. “That is only a primitive way of restoring a vampires health. This will be so much more. It involves infusing you with energy, and stealing the essence of a pure Vantarg to bolster your own.” “You going to catch one of those?” Angelus asked incredulously “’cause let me tell you, they are nasty pieces of work!” Seth halted outside the door to the war room and opened it to allow Angelus to enter first. They both paused in the doorway, looking over to a metal cage that was new to the room. Inside was a Vantarg with its deep green skin and horny protrusions from its skull. It was jumping about the cage like a trapped animal, bashing into the bars and causing them to groan under the strain. Angelus licked his suddenly dry lips and moved slowly towards the cage. He paused a dozen feet from it and glanced back at Seth who had moved over to stand next to the Demon Lord. “Will these bars hold it?” he asked cautiously. The Demon Lord nodded. “They are reinforced with magic. They will not give.” Angelus nodded. He seemed so sure, so he moved closer to the cage. The Vantarg stopped moving and stared at him like a tiger. There was something behind it’s eyes that told Angelus that it had seen something familiar. A kindred spirit. “So, what do you want from me?” Angelus asked as he backed away from the cage with those eyes still following him. “I mean you aren’t going to give me all this supposed power without asking for something in return!” he paused to face them and asked hopefully, “Are you?” Seth shook his head slightly while the Demon Lord just stood staring, like a mountain of fur, claws, teeth and chitin, with disinterest in the expressions on the vampire’s face. “So what do you want?” he asked as he glanced over his shoulder to the still watching Vantarg. Seth walked slowly over to him, his boots making soft clicking sounds on the stone floor. He stopped besides Angelus and leaned his head to look over his shoulder “We want you to lead a vampire uprising on Earth,” he whispered. |
| Hunter crouched low behind a cluster of basalt rock outcroppings on a small rise above a sprawling stone fortress. It was the most impressive building he had seen for a long time.
The fortress sat on a level plain of rust red dirt. Its walls were easily fifty feet tall and made of a stone so dark grey, that in the dimming light, it looked almost black. The base of the wall was flared outwards in a buttress to reinforce them from battering rams. The tops of the walls were mounted with parapets constantly walked by sentries. Massive towers were spaced evenly around the walls and were heavily guarded. Atop the towers sat massive ballista’s loaded with bolts longer than a human, all attached to pivot points to provide artillery power to the surrounding land. Behind the curtain wall, a massive grey stone keep sat studded with tiered balconies, watchtowers, and more ballistae. The side nearest to them was also criss-crossed with scaffolding, and huge crane like appendages. As he watched, one of the cranes lifted a massive stone block into place on the wall. It was a fortress in every sense of the word, and would require an army to take it. But what concerned him more was the fact that he could sense nothing coming from the fortress. No power that would indicate occupancy by anything living. It was if the stones were repelling his powers. Hunter turned away from the view and slid his back down the rocks to face his company. The wizard, called Atrimus, he had met earlier had accompanied him, and now crouched down like the rest of them, his hands folded over his knees as his blue robe spilled about him. Sir Reginald had also come along with a half dozen of his best guards. His son, the dirty young boy, huddled next to his father carrying his sword. “You see what we face,” said Sir Reginald. Hunter nodded slowly and ran his hand across his jaw. He was surprised to find that stubble had begun to pepper his face. He was only 17 and still not used to shaving, as he did not have to do it often. He rubbed his jaw firmer, but he could not make that sound that his father had always made when he had rubbed stubble, like dry leaves. “A frontal assault is out of the question,” he agreed glancing at Sir Reginald. “But if you can get your army here and lay siege.” He trailed off. With the fortress under siege, the wall guards would be distracted on one side, possibly allowing him to slip in from the back. “If we get our forces anywhere near here, they will use their magic against us.” Broke in Atrimus. “I am powerful, but no match for them.” He shivered as he said that, prompting Hunter to ask how he knew he was no match. He looked into the old man’s eyes and changed his mind. They looked haunted. “Fair enough,” he replied instead. “I have to go in there. It would be easier with help, but it would be strictly volunteer.” Sir Reginald grunted dismissively Hunter turned his eyes to look at the older man and the look of arrogance on the other man’s face drained under his gaze. Atrimus tuned his attention to Reginald and the two exchanged a look that said they were worried about where this was leading, but they nodded shortly to each other before turning their gaze back to Hunter. “We will do what you need us to do?” said Atrimus resignedly. “I will not ask anyone to risk their lives to help me,” reiterated Hunter. Reginald shook his head vigorously. “I have my doubts about you Knight,” he paused to stare at Hunter, “but my people have been on the defensive for too long. We need to strike back while we still can.” Hunter nodded. On the journey to the fortress, he had learnt some of the history of the realm, and what he learned made him shudder at the thought of what had happened. The country he was in had been an enclave of humans on this world. It used to be a green and pleasant land. Then the Demon Lords invaded and started a war that had lasted for hundreds of years. The land was neglected as the citizens of the kingdom were conscripted to defend their homes, but the demon lords wore them down. They had lost their homes and had been made into slaves and a food source. They had been on the defensive for so long that if they did not attack their enemies now, while they still could, then they were lost. They might be lost anyway. But they needed to force the Demon Lords to the defensive and buy themselves some time to escape the majority of the non-combatants in the country to the more friendly neighbouring countries. Hunter raised himself from his crouch and looked back down at the fortress. Reginald and Atrimus came up beside him. “The weakest spot in the defences is there,” he pointed at a tower that was still under construction on the outside wall. “It is the one that has no ballista on top, and the rubble on the ground around it can also provide some cover.” Reginald nodded his assent. “We could get a small force up to it under cover of darkness. If we could get inside, we could cause enough confusion to get to the gatehouse.” Hunter nodded. “I can be the distraction you need to get the gates open.” Reginald looked over at him, a look of disbelief in his eyes. “On your own?” he asked incredulously. His son poked his head into the crook of his father’s arms and looked between the two. “But father…. Remember what he did in the battle!” he said with a tone of awe and respect. Hunter turned his face to him and lowered the hood of his cloak. A smile spread across his face as he looked down at the boy. He returned his attention to Reginald. “Believe me, if Seth and the Demon lords are in there, they will send everything they have after me.” Atrimus shook his head, closing his eyes. “What you did to the army ensures that my young friend,” he said softly. The three men all sank back behind the rock outcropping. They had to be ready and sunset was coming. Hunter paused and looked back over his shoulder. Yes, sunset was coming, and with any luck, he would get to see his Dawn soon. Unlike Seth and his ally! No, he swore to himself. Seth and his ally would never see another dawn again. |
| Seth removed the ceremonial dagger from its wooden case that was being held by a scrawny human woman dressed in rags. He ignored her as his fingers brushed the deep purple velvet lining, sending a silken tingle across his skin. Holding the ancient blade in his hand, his other traced the symbols carved on the box.
The symbols on the lid were a key to the dagger’s powers, while a history of the blade was curved around the circumference of the box. His finger started at one edge and traced clockwise, following the engravings of the lineage of the enchanted metal he now held. Each carving represented at least one death, and he could feel the death magic still lingering on them. It was like running his fingers over ice. The carvings were cold. Deathly cold. “Nice dagger,” remarked Angelus in a half sneer. Seth held the black hilt tighter in his hand and silently cursed the vain vampire. The Dark Ones, those who ruled a hell far worse than anything even he could imagine, had told him that a successful invasion would only happen if the Earth were divided. An undead civil war would be just what they needed. With the human armies of the Earth fighting an all out war every night, the death toll would mount. Then…. well, then his conquest of Earth could really begin. Seth turned slowly to face Angelus and he allowed a small smile to creep across his lips. “This dagger is the key to elevating you beyond your current abilities,” he said quietly, betraying no emotion in his voice, even as he wished he could ram a stake through the vampire’s heart. “So…. ah …. what does this all involve?” asked Angelus as he sat heavily on a wooden chair and placed his feet up on the table that dominated the centre of the room. Seth tested the balance of the dagger as he walked round the table towards Angelus, moving further away from the servant that had brought the dagger to him. “Its quite simple really,” he started. “We stab, or should I say you stab the Vantarg through the heart.” Angelus sat forwards waiting for more. When Seth just stood staring into the fire in silence he frowned. “Is that it?” he asked. Seth looked over his shoulder, leaving his face half hidden in shadow, half in the flickering light from the roaring golden fire. “What did you expect?” he asked sarcastically. Angelus spread his hands trying to look innocent. “I don’t know,” he said. “Perhaps some chanting.” Seth smiled malevolently. A cruel twist of his lips that did little to draw Angelus’ face away from his piercing eyes as they glittered with malevolent intent. “The dagger traps the life essence of a creature and channels it to whomever is holding the hilt.” He paused and flipped the dagger over so he held the delicate looking silver blade. “Observe,” he said. For one moment, Angelus thought he might actually stab himself with the blade. But in one smooth motion, Seth turned and the dagger flew from his grasp and plunged hilt deep into the chest of the servant woman who was still standing holding the engraved box. Blood spurted out from the wound and the woman’s eyes seemed impossibly wide as she dropped the box to the ground with a wooden thunk. She sank to her knees, her dirty sack-like dress pooling around her. Her breath came raggedly as she looked down at the knife sticking in her before raising her head back up to look imploringly at Seth. Seth returned the gaze, but the woman found no solace in it as blood began to run from the corner of her mouth. She began to waver as blood soaked down the front of her clothes in a rapidly expanding stain, flowing away across the floor. The Vantarg began to rattle the bars of his enchanted cage at the smell of fresh blood; growling and keeping his beady eyes on the red fluid as it slid into the gaps between the stones. The black hilt of the dagger began to glow as if from within as Angelus felt his own hunger grow again. The servant girl lost the fight for her life and collapsed to her side, her eye’s rolling up into her head and her last breath punctuating the silence of her passing. Seth walked over to her and knelt in the blood. He grasped her shoulder and rolled her over so Angelus could have an unobstructed view. The handle of the dagger was glowing with contained energy. Like a small lightening storm was inside it. Seth glanced at Angelus to ensure he had not turned away and he ended up smiling as he saw the hungry look on Angelus’ face. Turn away? He could not help but look. Seth lowered his hand to the handle of the dagger and drew in a sharp breath as the lightening played over it and up his arm. It crackled and dissipated as it reached his hood and seemed to pool around his closed eyes, lighting up the room brighter than the roaring fireplace. Seth let out a ragged breath, opening his eyes as the energy finally subsided. “It’s as easy as that,” he said, his voice thick and slightly distant. Angelus smiled, barring his fangs. “Looks like a rush,” he said. Seth smiled back. “There is no feeling like stealing another’s life energy.” Angelus rose from his chair, rubbed his palms up and down his pants leg and moved round the table to stop a dozen feet from Seth, unsure if he should get any closer. “So, when are we doing this for real?” he asked eagerly. Seth drew the dagger from the woman’s still chest and frowned at the blood on the blade. He wiped it on the ragged dress till the blade shone again, then threw the blade into the air. Grasping it with his power, he floated it across to Angelus who reached out a hand and took a hold. “It’s cold,” he remarked. He smiled even broader as he felt and recognised the taint of evil. Clutching the blade in his hand, he moved round the table towards the cage. The Vantarg, only just settling down after the death of the slave, eyed Angelus and growled low in its throat, sounding like an alligator. Angelus shifted to his vampire face and returned the growl as he closed to stand next to the bars. Lightening fast, the demon leapt at Angelus, slamming into the bars of the cage and making them groan under the strain. It’s arms reached out and tore open the skin along Angelus’ arms. He laughed off the pain as blood ran freely down the slashes to fall on the ground. Angelus’ laugh stopped suddenly as he plunged the dagger into the chest of the Vantarg. It roared as the blade sank hilt deep and redoubled its efforts against Angelus’ arms, causing the blood to flow like water to the floor. The dagger sank deeper and pierced the heart, letting the blade absorb the life energy pulsing within it. Lightening flew up Angelus’ arm, crackling over his skin like a liquid fire. It set off every nerve in his body like a thousand needles. The power blasted into his mind like a tsunami, causing a searing light to burn the inside of his skull. It filled him up and it still kept coming till he could feel it leaking out his eyes, mouth, nose and ears. He bellowed in pain as his heart, still since he became a vampire, began to beat against his chest. He felt transcendent as the light died, leaving him sagging against the bars of the cage. He could feel the otherworldly energy still flowing through his body as his heartbeat slowed and stopped. He opened his eyes and rose to his feet in a smooth motion. “How do you feel?” asked the Demon Lord from across the room. Angelus turned and his vampire face smiled at them. “Powerful,” he whispered. |
| Hunter was but a shadow gliding across the ground almost lost in the dwindling light of the setting sun. By a trick of the land, the ground was cast in shadows, while the top of the fortress walls were still bathed in light. He had seen that the sun set more slowly in this realm than on earth.
Behind him a half a dozen warriors were following at a discreet distance. Each wore a black breastplate and carried a black sword. Their faces were also smeared with the black dirt. Their eyes like white marbles floating in human shaped silhouettes. He slid up to the base of the wall to the fortress and halted. His shadowy outline fluttered only slightly in the breeze as he crouched down. He was waiting for his companions to catch up. Hunter lowered his hood and looked up the imposing grey stonewall before him. The wall was easily fifty feet high, and topped with a parapet that was being constantly patrolled by Nidavellir guards. Even as he waited for his companions, he could see a glint of the dimming sunlight reflect from a pike as it bounced along. But the life force of the Nidavellir holding it was still muted. Hunter had theorised with the wizard Atrimus, that the very stones of the fortress had been imbued with enchantments that affected his powers. It was an intriguing theory, and could even provide him with troubles once he was inside the fortress. If he could not rely on his powers, then he would be at a distinct disadvantage. But he had to go on. The pike stopped its movement and suddenly a Nidavellir’s head leaned over the wall and looked around. Hunter had no fear of being seen yet. He was still outside of the building and his powers were unaffected around himself. All the Nidavellir would see would be a shadow. The Nidavellir, satisfied that he had indeed seen nothing out of the ordinary, disappeared back behind the wall and the armoured footsteps could be heard moving away. The other six warriors that were accompanying him finished their approach to the wall and crouched around him, depositing black leather sacks to the ground. He could feel their emotions on edge. They knew that they were very likely to die this evening. But they still came with him. It startled Hunter how normal people could find such courage in the face of adversity. The six removed grappling hooks from their sacks and one handed a spare to Hunter. He had not learnt their names during the abbreviated briefing they had done. Which struck him as a shame. These people were going to fight and, likely die, for his cause, and he for theirs. Yet they knew nothing about each other. Well, he hoped that he wouldn’t have to die for them. But if it came to it, what was his life when compared to the freedom of their people? Sighing inwardly, he took the end of the grappling hook, nodding to the man who had handed it too him. His eyes turned upwards again, tracking the guards’ progress across their patrol routes. He shook his head in disbelief. The weapons and armour of the Nidavellir glinted in the light cast by the setting sun. Because of the slower movement of the sun across the sky, they still would show up for another half an hour or so. They made such good targets up on the wall, and again he wished for a little modern weaponry. A nice high-powered silenced rifle would have made easy work of them. Instead he was resorting to close up combat. Eyes still tracking the guards, timing their patrols, his left hand slipped beneath his cloak to check the extra equipment he had obtained from his new allies. On each thigh he had strapped six slender throwing knives. At his waist, along with his own sword riding as always at his left hip, he had his dagger at the small of his back, and a whip coiled at his right waist. Each forearm also now sported a knife in a wrist sheath, along with another two knifes in each boot top. He also had a quiver of arrows across his back under his cloak, and a longbow hanging from his left shoulder. Reaching the same left hand down to the ground, he rubbed a finger in the clay like, rust coloured dirt. Then he ran the finger across his cheekbones, leaving a line of near red under each eye. Then it was time. He rose from his crouch and began to twirl the grappling hook round in ever increasing circles, making it go faster and faster. Then at just the right moment, which he estimated in his head, he let the grappling hook fly. It arced up and sailed over the wall. Hunter pulled on it hard till it refused to move any further. Then he started up the wall, his warrior-honed muscles pulling him up hand over hand, while his legs stabilised him by walking deftly up the wall. He was up to the top in seconds, leaping over the top and landing in a crouch as his cape swirled around him. The two Nidavellir were only just turning round to face the commotion that he had made with the grappling hook. His hands slid under his cape and fastened around a throwing knife each. Without even turning his head, both hands flicked out, sending the handle-less blades slicing through the air. A second later, he heard a clatter from either side, and turning his head, he could see the Nidavellir on his left falling to the ground with a knife in his throat. The one on the right had a knife sticking out the eye socket, with blood and thicker fluids funning down the startled grey face as it fell forwards to the stone walkway. Hunter was already on the move in a smooth half crouch like run by the time both came to hit the ground. He moved to the left and stopped long enough to draw the throwing knife out the victim’s throat, wiping it on the garments it wore and sliding it back into the holster on his thigh. He heard the sound of metal scraping stone as the rest of his force arrived at the top of the wall. They spilled out from where their own grappling hooks had landed, moving together, away from Hunter towards a tower that rose proudly from the wall. Hunter picked up the Nidavellir’s dropped pike and moved towards the tower nearest him. He had to trust his fellows that they could handle anything from their direction. Gripping the pike two handed, he held it fully aloft and hooked it over the edge of the battlement above him, using it to pull himself up the wall. As he slid over the slick stone at the top, the pike slipped from its perch and tumbled towards the ground. Hunter reacted like lightening and dropped backwards from the battlement. As he fell, his hands reached out and grasped the stone, stopping his fall while his feet came together, catching the falling pike and stopping it dead. He twisted the pike around in the grip between his feet and bent his knees. The blade appeared at his left shoulder, and he carefully took his right hand from its death-grip on the wall and grasped the wooden shaft of the weapon. His left arm straining as he pulled himself up the wall far enough to deposit the weapon on the other side of the battlements, freeing up his right hand to pull himself all the way over as well. Setting both feet firmly on the ground, he took the longbow from his shoulder and drew an arrow from the quiver at his back. Scanning the area around him with his eyes, he spotted his next target. It was another Nidavellir standing at a door on the inner wall, by a wooden catwalk thirty feet above the ground. The catwalk connected the tower his allies were capturing with the inner wall, where they would be able to gain access to the central keep. The arrow whooshed through the air catching his target under the chin and stabbing through his neck and out the other side. The arrow dug into the wooden rail that ran across the bridge, preventing the now dead Nidavellir from falling to the ground. Hunter drew another arrow and finished scanning the area. There were no more guards that he could see. That of course did not mean that there weren’t any hidden. The only way to be sure was to try to scan the area with his powers. But if he did that, Seth would certainly know he was nearby, and if Seth knew that this early, they would never get access to the keep or the main gate. Moving quickly, he jumped off the tower, landed on the wall-walk and ran across to the wooden door that led into the other tower his comrades had gone too. As he approached, the heady door opened. Hunter barely slowed down as he rushed inside, the door closing behind him. Another Nidavellir lay dead behind the door, lying in a pool of it’s own blood. Its throat slit all the way across its grey neck. Two of the men left behind on this level followed Hunter as he took a wooden staircase down to the next level. The others were gathered around another heavy wooden door, having scouted a little ahead. The door creaked slightly as they opened it, showing the wooden catwalk to the inner wall. Hunter ran across the bridge to the other side, slowing briefly as the door opposite him suddenly began to open. Hunter reacted swiftly, letting the arrow he still had readied in his bow fly. It stabbed deeply into the Nidavellir standing framed in the doorway. A splattering of blood erupted out to greet Hunter as he rushed through the open door, only to run into an occupied guardroom. Five more of the grey warriors were sat around a wooden table staring in shock as a cloaked figure burst into their barracks. Hunter, already reaching for another arrow drew two instead, placing them both against the drawstring of the bow, simultaneously letting them both fly. The two closest Nidavellir fell with arrows in their chests. But the other three were now on their feet, weapons drawn and too close for more arrows. Hunter threw the bow at the nearest one, causing it to involuntarily flinch. It never saw Hunter’s sword clear its scabbard, and so never had a chance to parry it with his own blade. The longsword stabbed through the breastplate like it was made of paper, piercing out the other side of his body in a spray of green blood. Hunter’s right leg came up and around in a kick that took the next nearest attacker under the jaw, lifting him off his feet to slam into the unforgiving stonewall behind. Keeping his left hand on his own blade, his right reached out and plucked the short sword from the warrior he had impaled, driving it through the air to intercept the blade of the last Nidavellir. The two blades met in the clang of metal on metal even as Hunter backed away, drawing his longsword out of the impaled Nidavellir. Hunter continued to back away, moving round the table in the middle of the room. The Nidavellir he kicked stirring against the wall prompted Hunter to throw the short sword in his right hand. The blade glinted as it passed through the light from a torch on the wall before it stabbed into the chest of its intended target, piercing out the other side and sticking into the stonewall. The Nidavellir looked down at the blade piercing its chest and holding it to the wall before its head lolled to the side as the life left it as fast as the blood that ran down the wall. Hunter smiled icily at the last Nidavellir as it finally put its back to the doorway he had come through, just as his companions spilled through it. Six swords stabbed it from different angels, driving it forwards to lean over the table with wide startled eyes. Hunter turned and moved over to the stairs at the back of the room and moved down them, immersing himself in the shadows that were generated by a lack of torchlight. The people accompanying him fanned out besides and behind him, passing through what appeared to be a disused armoury. They moved to the next set of stairs, following them down to arrive at the bottom of the inner wall. Moving to the only door out of the room. Fanning out around it, one of them opened it a crack and gasped. Hunter moved up and glanced out the crack and swore under his breath. In the 200 yards between the inner wall and the side wall of the keep were pitched tents. Hundreds of them, lined up in every direction and sweeping round the imposing central stone keep. But what disturbed Hunter and the man who had looked through the door first was not the tents, but what was moving around between them. Nidavellir. Thousands of the grey warriors, all moving about with purpose. Some were practicing with weapons; others were doing basic hand to hand fighting moves. Some, those nearest the keep, were dressed in floor length black robes and were throwing magical sparks at wooden cut out targets. As Hunter watched, one of the sparks connected, causing chunks of wood to splinter off the target and sending out little puffs of smoke. Even with his own powers drawn about him like a cloak to prevent Seth from detecting him, he could sense the magic in the air. They closed the door slowly and moved back up one floor to the weapons storeroom beneath the barracks. Taking a better look around this time, Hunter noticed that many of the racks were empty. The weapons were probably being used in the training going on right outside the door. “We have to turn back,” whispered one of the men. Hunter shook his head adamantly. “We have to go on,” he insisted. The others looked at him in disbelief. “Through that lot?” asked one, the disbelief causing his voice to rise in tone a little. Hunter spitted him with an intense stare and nodded an affirmative. “That army is here for a reason,” he said. “We need to find out its purpose, and if possible destroy it!” The only woman in the group shook her head. “You’re crazy. Even if we got every member of our army here, we would be outnumbered twenty to one!” “That doesn’t even include the mages they have,” replied another. "All we have is one elderly wizard!” “Atrimus is a powerful wizard though,” broke in another. Hunter interrupted the conversation. “You have a choice,” he replied grimly. “To either attack that army here, where it is contained and can’t outflank you.” He paused and looked at the faces of each in turn as he continued, “Or, you can wait till that army finishes it’s training and comes out to find you.” They knew the truth of his words. Sooner or later the Demon Lords would want to seek revenge for the defeat of their other army. “So what do we do then?” asked the woman. Hunter looked at her. “We stick to the original plan for the most part. We all go and secure the gatehouse and signal the army. We hold it long enough to get reinforcements, then I go and deal with the Demon Lord and Seth.” Within seconds, they had agreed on the plan. Hunter took his longsword and pointed it slightly up in the air. “Cross your blades,” he instructed them. Each eyed him slightly as they took their own swords. But they all crossed their blades in the air. Hunter smiled as he spoke. “From this point on, we are dead. We go into battle to reclaim our lives, not for ourselves, but for our friends and loved ones. One for all, and all for one!” The others looked at him for a moment, but, in turn, each understood his meaning. Then the woman of the group repeated the saying, “One for all, and all for one.” Suddenly, they were all saying it, their voices carrying slightly in the echo of the room. But their spirits were heightened. Hunter lowered his sword and smiled wider. “Right,” he said unable to keep the amusement from his voice at saying the famous line of the Musketeers, “Lets move out.” |
| THIS CAMPFIRE HAS BEEN CLOSED TO SEE THE ENTIRE KNIGHT CHRONICLES STORY (vols 1 2 & 3) go to this item...
The End! |
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