Chosen
Chapter
1 - Welcome To the Hellmouth
AN:
This is the first chapter of what will hopefully be a long-running
FanFic, and I just want to make a few things clear - most of the
chapters will be based on
As far as he knew, they'd been following him for hours; the moon had gotten higher into the sky and the sounds of traffic and the blissfully unaware citizens of Sunnydale had begun to die away. But that was to be expected, of course. It was the same way every night.
They were getting closer by the minute, he was sure of it. He could hear the scuffling of their feet against the grass, the sound of their quick steps dodging between stone slabs standing vertically in the damp ground. He paused between two of the headstones and listened, making out a hushed exchange between two of them... there had to be three at least.
His pursuers had stopped too, listening intently for any noise he might make. One of them, however, had other ideas: footsteps began sprinting in his direction once again, the other two followers rushing after the first, hissing out in frustration for their companion to stop being so reckless. He dashed forward once again, dodging expertly between the gravestones and huge stone crypts that were dotted around the graveyard. Most of them were a pale-white marble, ivy clambering over their walls and strong steel doors... those that weren't inhabited, of course.
He shot a fleeting glance over his shoulder as he tried to make out the dark figures behind him, only to crash into one of the stone walls of a nearby crypt. Groaning, he got to his feet and glared up at the vast stone building in front of him, suddenly developing a hatred for the damned things.
"Y'know, I'd've thought you'd learn to dodge those things - after a while, you start to make mental notes to avoid them." He whipped round, eyes darting around the cemetary to find the source of the voice. His eyes came to rest on the face of a young man, seeming to be no older than his early twenties. A smirk appeared on the man's face as he flicked his long black hair over his shoulder, obviously enjoying this charade.
A girl was standing next to him, a lot younger than the other guy. She appeared to be in her mid-teens and had long brown hair trailing over her shoulders. The girl didn't seem to be too happy out here, still trying to catch her breath from all the running. She glanced behind her as a rustling signalled the arrival of the final member of the group. A boy about the same age as the girl came crashing through the nearby bushes, stumbling slightly as his feet caught on tangled roots.
"Rhi, when I say 'wait' I mean wa-! Oh," The boy stopped next to his companions as he spotted the other standing against the crypt. He grinned, pulling two katanas out of a pair of holsters at his waist. "Finally. I hate following them and then realising you lost them two hours ago..."
"That only happens with you, Hawk," the older guy grinned, watching the other figure in front of them. "Raven Kontis never loses his vamps." There was a feral snarl from the creature hiding in the shaows of the crypt, and Rhianna Forger saw the glint of razor-sharp fangs. She pulled a staff made of dark wood from its own holster attached to her back, just as the vampire leapt at the group.
Raven ducked as the vampire soared towards him, sending it flying into a headstone. Hawk, swung his katanas at its head, narrowly missing as it rolled away and leapt to its feet again, snarling. Raven punched it in the face as Hawk thrust his left katana into the vampire's chest. It gave a loud roar of pain, but Hawk's attack didn't have the expected result.
"You missed its heart, y'great twit!" Raven snapped, kicking the demon in the stomach and watching as it shot backwards. "And you can't kill it with those things! Grace's told you a thousand times, you have to stab it with wood!" Hawk scowled at Raven and grabbed the vampire by the hair, smashing its face into another headstone.
"I couldn't do any harm trying, could I?!" he shouted, punching Raven this time. As Raven pulled back his hand to retaliate, both boys were pushed aside and fell to the ground. When they looked up, Rhianna was standing over the vampire, frowning. A wooden stake was protruding from its chest, and within seconds, it had vanished with a loud hiss, dust covering the grass where the demon had been lying.
"Oh... right," Hawk muttered, scrambling to his feet. Raven was already picking up the stake and following Rhianna out of the graveyard, ruffling her hair as he caught up. Hawk rolled his eyes and jogged after them, catching the end of the conversation the other two had been having.
"...and I just don't think there's any fun in doing this anymore." Rhianna complained, folding her arms and flicking her hair over her shoulders. "I wish something more interesting would happen once in a while... we can't keep killing the same demons forever."
Raven shrugged. "What, you want a huge supervamp to jump out of nowhere and attack us?"
"Well yes if it means we actually do something different!" she sighed, sitting on the fence at the edge of the cemetery. Hawk nodded in agreement, leaning against the wooden post next to her. "I think she's got a point... I'd rather have some Big Bad to fight instead of the same old vampires every damned evening,"
"And I suppose you'd be the one to kill it, right?" Raven smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets. Hawk scowled at him and pushed off from the fence, making his way out of the graveyard via the massive stone archway nearby. Rhianna and Raven follwed, shivering in the night air. For the last six years, they'd fought all kinds of demons, from vampires to poltergeists and flesh-eating worms... yeah, they didn't really want another one of those around any time soon.
But that's what you get living on the Hellmouth.
Hellmouths are places of increased supernatural energy. According to the mythology of one of Grace's many books, this is the area in which the barriers between dimensions are weak. The Hellmouth has a focal point, which serves as a portal between earth and at least one hell dimension. For these reasons, the Hellmouth attracts demons and other supernatural creatures, becoming a "hot spot" for supernatural activity... meaning that Raven, Rhianna and Hawk had had their work cut out.
Rhianna and her brother, Harry, had moved to Sunnydale six years ago with their mother. After a few weeks, they'd come to realise that things happened in Sunnydale. Things that couldn't be explained.
For example, the number of students at Sunnydale High School decreasing by at least ten every few months. Eventually, an encounter with a vampire and one of the school's students had solved the mysterious disappearances. Eventually, they had discovered that it was quite easy to kill the vampires - it was better than watching T.V. every night or turning up at school to find a police car outside and discovering that another of their teachers had been killed... usually by an extreme loss of blood via puncture wounds in the neck.
Grace, the school librarian had known about the demons that resided in the town for years and willingly provided information and help for the two children, who soon made friends with other students... who soon found out about the demons and vampires.
Telary Cri and Umiyuri Papaeyra were perfectly normal in every way, apparently... except that Telary proved himself to be quite adept at fighting vampires and Umiyuri turned out to be a 1000-year-old ex-Vengeance Demon. Rhianna took an instant liking to the two, along with Raven Kontis who arrived in Sunnydale two years after Rhianna and Harry. There was an immediate... attraction between he and Rhianna, although there had been several problems with Rhianna's mother realising that she was dating a guy nearly eight years her senior. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get back to the Hellmouth, shall we?
--
Grace Wang ran a feather duster over a row of ancient books lining the Magic Box's shelves. She tutted when one fell out of place and tumbled towards the floor, swiping it out of mid-air. She pushed her glasses back onto the ridge of her nose and placed the book back, glancing over towards a large wooden table in the center of the shop. Telary and Harry were almost hidden behind a mountain of books littering the table, open on pages with pictures of vampires, demons and Magickal signs.
Shelves were stacked with books, bottles and strange-looking ornaments, a whole corner of the shop devoted to crystal balls. Candles and shiny trinkets were littered among the shelves of small cabinets, while a large shelf held only a single cactus-shaped ornament. Below it, a sign read, 'CAUTION: When activated, this trinket has the ability to melt human eyeballs. Since we don't know just how this can be activated, we request that our customers don't touch it.'
Umiyuri was standing behind the counter, gazing in an oddly endearing way at the cash register. Grace glanced over at her, giggling. Umi's head jerked up, bewilderment etched all over her face.
"What?" she asked, frowning slightly. Grace giggled again and walked over to her, resting her hands on the desktop.
"The money isn't going anywhere, Umi. You can relax." Umi smiled and opened the cash register's draw with a loud 'ping!'. Reaching inside, she pulled out a wad of money and sighed contentedly. "But it's just so lovely! How it's so green and papery and can be exchanged for goods and services!"
Telary ran a hand through his hair, groaning and shutting the book he'd been reading. "Grace, how can you expect us to read all these? Any more seven-syllable words, my head's gonna blow up," he grumbled, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.
"Can't we have a break?"
Grace smiled and walked behind the counter, taking the money out of Umi's hands and placing it back inside the cash register. "Would you rather be doing research, or out battling blood-sucking vampires with the others?"
Umi giggled and placed her elbows on the desk, watching Harry's equally bored expression. "Nah, they'd be too sissy to do something like that."
Harry gave an outraged yelp, pushing a pile of books to the floor in order to see the two girls. "Hey, that's not fair! I'm just as good as Raven and Hawk!" Telary gave him a shove, sending him toppling onto the floor, next to his books. Harry rolled his eyes and got to his feet, brushing himself down. "Tel's good too."
There was a soft tinkling sound as the door to the shop opened and Raven, Rhianna and Hawk walked into the room. Rhianna gave Harry and Telary a tired wave and collapsed against the counter, resting her head against the wood. Raven stood beside her and Hawk sat down in a vacant seat next to Telary.
Grinning, Harry walked over to his sister and gave her a light shove. "Hey, you can't be that tired. You've only been gone for five hours." Rhianna smiled and yanked a lock of his hair, laying her staff on top of the counter. "I'm not tired, I'm bored... D'you have any idea how boring it is, tracking the same vampire for three hours, poking it with a sharp stick, then finding nothing else? Seriously, either we're getting too good, or the vamps are deciding to get fang-y somewhere else."
Umi was idly listening to Rhianna, when she heard a strange slippering sound, like a piece of fabric being pulled across the floor. She looked over Rhianna's shoulder and shrieked, backing away from the source of the noise.
Dozens of black snakes were slithering across the shop's floor, hissing at the horrified group blocking their path. Grace and Umi ducked behind the desk, while Telary, Harry and Rhianna jumped onto the table and countertop, keeping their legs out of the serpents' reach. Raven and Hawk tried kicking at the snakes, but they began to climb up the legs of chairs and cabinets, and the shop was soon swarming with them.
Raven and Hawk gave up, climbing onto the table next to Harry and Telary. "Where the hell did they come from?!" Telary asked, wacking a snake away from his foot with one of the books.
"I dunno, but it doesn't look like they'll be going for a while-" Raven began, cut off immediately when every single snake in the room disappeared. He glanced at Rhianna, wondering if she'd cast some sort of spell, but met an equally puzzled look when she glanced at her staff which still lay on the countertop.
"Are they gone?!" Umi squeaked, poking her head out from behind the counter. Grace stood up next to her and walked over to one of the cabinets, picking up a bejewled stand that had fallen over. Harry nodded, gingerly stepping down from the safe haven of tabledom. "How, though? I mean, Rhi didn't cast a spell, none of us did... How did they get in here in the first place?"
"No idea," Raven shrugged, frowning. He held out his hand and pulled Rhianna down from her perch on top of the counter. Rhianna glanced around, searching for some trinket or ornament that could've been activated and conjured up the snakes. She found nothing.
"Well, they'd better not come back!" Umi stated shakily. "I hate snakes... I mean, really,
really hate them." Hawk shuddered, folding his arms.
"I think after tonight, we all will."
--
Harry crossed his dimly-lit room and clambered onto his bed, sighing. The snakes in the Magic Box had put them all on edge, especially since they couldn't see the source of the sudden bombardement of scales and hissing tounges.
Shuddering, Harry reached for the small table beside his bed and picked up his book, propping himself against his pillows. He'd just gotten back into the story, when a bright light filled the room. Shielding his eyes, Harry dropped his book and squinted into the middle of the room, where a green orb seemed to be floating silently.
Although the orb didn't move or, in fact, do anything at all, Harry was filled with a strange sense of dread. Just looking at the orb made him want to run out of the room and slam the door, locking the bright green light away. He groaned and shielded his eyes again, hoping that when he opened them, the orb would be gone... and it worked. Pulling his hands away from his eyes, he realised that the room was nearly dark again, and the orb had vanished. Frowning, Harry sank back into the pillows, running through the last minute's events in his head.
Downstairs, a phone began to ring. Footsteps approached and Rhianna waked into the room, sighing. Picking up the phone, she crouched on a nearby chair, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. "Hello?"
"Rhi?" It was Telary's voice, and for some reason it didn't have its usual cheery ring to it. He seemed puzzled... and frightened.
"Tel? What's up? You sound kinda-"
"I've just been attacked by a clown."
"...oh."
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"No, I believe you, but... what the hell?"
Telary sighed and Rhianna swore she could hear him shaking. "I was walking home from the Magic Box and I decided to take the short-cut through that alleyway by-"
"You did what?!"
"Rhi, I'm trying to tell you what freakin' happened! Anyway, I was walking down the alley, and this clown just came out of nowhere! And it was like, I dunno, eight feet tall and it had this crazy knife and it came running at me-"
"So you're saying a mad axe-wielding clown attacked you in an alleyway?"
"Knife-wielding. And Grace called me when I got home and said she'd stepped into her apartment, only to find that the piece of floor she was standing on was about 50 feet higher than the rest of the room, suspended in mid-air... noticing a running theme here?"
Rhianna nodded, pulling a sheet of paper and a pen from the table nearby onto her lap. She began to write. "Your worst fear's clowns. Grace's is heights, Umi's is obviously snakes and mine is-" as she glanced into the hallway, she froze, the hand writing down her notes no longer moving over the paper.
In the hallway, a dark shape lay on the floor, not moving. She dropped the phone, unaware that Telary was repeating her name over and over again. She walked slowly into the hall and turned on the light.
Raven was lying motionless on the carpetted floor, his eyes blank and staring. His chest didn't move up and down as he breathed and he didn't blink. Rhianna crouched down next to him, convinced that he was playing some sort of joke. When she touched his face and felt the ice-cold skin, she realised it was real.
She gasped and shook him, shouting his name over and over again, eventually letting him go and falling back against the wall. She didn't cry; she was too stunned to even feel right now. She shakily got to her feet and began to climb the stairs, her feet moving incredibly slow. Walking towards Harry's room, she reached out her hand and pushed the door open, turning on the light - she always hated that Harry never had the light on in his room.
Harry was lying motionless too, but his eyes were closed, as though he was sleeping. He didn't breathe, he didn't twitch, didn't make any sound. Rhianna didn't have to touch him to know that he'd met the same fate as Raven.
Tears finally made their way into Rhianna's eyes and she backed out of the room, her hand covering her mouth as sobs welled up inside her chest. However, her pathway was blocked as she left the room and she turned, looking up into the same green eyes that she'd seen blank and glazed downstairs not more than a minute ago. But these eyes weren't blank, and the eyelids blinked. Rhianna stepped back, confusion swirling inside her head.
Raven frowned when he saw the tears in her eyes and reached out his hand to touch her face. "Rhi, what's up?" She gave a small cry and fell against him, finally starting to sob. Raven looked down at her, puzzled and worried; he'd never seen Rhi this upset, not since her pet rabbit had died two years ago-
"Rhi, what the hell happened?" he asked firmly, gripping her arms and pulling her away from him. She sobbed into her arms, the sleeves of her jacket soaked with tears.
"Y-You a-and Harry... you were...
w-were... " she couldn't finish her sentence, tears streaming
down her cheeks. Raven pulled her arms away from her face and lifted
her head up, forcing her to look at him. "We were what?"
"Dead," she whispered, sniffing and wiping her eyes. She began to cry again as Harry appeared behind Raven, looking just as confused and worried as he did. Sighing, Raven wrapped his arms around Rhi and glanced over his shoulder at Harry. "You wanna say the line?"
Harry folded his arms, watching as Rhianna cried into Raven's chest. "Something weird's going on here."
I know it's long, but since it's the first chapter I had to get a lot in here. So... what'd you think?