Hello all! Reposting this story with some corrections! Hoping to continuing it! Review Please!
Prologue
The snake-like tendrils whipped through the air as Buffy and Gunn made their way for the beast; axes held high.
Gunn made a quick dash to the right as one soared straight to his chest. He turned back quickly and decapitated the slithery head. Another made a quick snap at his skull; Gunn snatched it by the throat and ripped it from the seams of the beast ahead of him.
Buffy slung her axe in the air, cutting and slicing through the tendrils. One unfortunately gained the advantage once it snuck behind her and wrapped its body around her axe wielding wrist. Another caught her by the ankle, tightly squeezing its body around her limb. Before the slayer knew it, she was being pulled into the air, helplessly flailing her body to break free.
"Gunn!" she cried.
He looked to see the predicament the slayer was in; just after slicing through another tendril, he rushed to her aid. He was quickly cut off however, when another slithery pursuer grazed pass his boots, tripping him. The axe fell out of Gunn's hand and he fell to the ground.
"Gunn!" he heard Buffy call again. She was being raised higher and higher into the air. "Help!"
Gunn scrambled to his feet, but his snaky enemies were faster. One wrapped its body around Gunn's waist, now bringing him into the air; another glided slowly towards him. It hissed as it moved closer and closer to his face.
"Time to join your friendsss" it said in a scratchy voice. It opened its mouth, revealing sharp fangs protruding from both sides, green fluid dripping from them.
The snake clamped down on Gun's neck with its fangs, the man heard himself scream from the searing pain.
He could feel the poison immediately coursing through his body, his limbs began to go numb, his shouting ceased, the snake bit down harder and harder into his neck.
Gunn found himself slipping out of consciousness. Buffy's cries for help were fading.
The world went black.
…
Chapter 1
One Week Before
Los Angeles, 7:45 p.m.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, rescuing a teenager girl from a ritual sacrifice and eliminating an entire cult of demons. Cordelia's vision didn't imply the number of beasts involved, but the three of them got a pretty good guess once they tracked the girl's location. An eerie cave a little ways out of the city.
Between Wesley and Gunn fending off the entrance to the cave against five lizard-like creatures and Cordelia protecting the girl from two other lizards, the odds were pretty bad.
"Wes, look out!" Gunn called, noticing two demons coming at him from behind. Wesley ducked, Gunn snatched out a dagger from his belt and flicked it through the air. The blade immediately pierced through one's chest. Wesley twirled to his feet, slicing through the other.
"Uh, now you…behind you," Wesley pointed, turning to Gunn.
Slimy, green arms wrapped around Gunn's shoulders, attempting to squeeze him tight. Gunn forced his weight back, pushing the demon into the cave wall; he pulled away from the creature's grasp, turned and jabbed his sword through its gut. The lizard cried out in pain.
"Hello! Guys! Two against one isn't always fair." Cordelia shouted, awkwardly holding her sword as she ducked and dodged the two lizard's lunges for her. The teenage girl was determined to keep out of the way and behind Cordelia.
As one raised its arm for another lunge, Cordelia found the perfect opportunity to dice her sword across its chest…but she stumbled over a root instead. The sword fell out of her hand, and she and the girl were left defenseless.
The girl screamed as one of the demon's started to bring his goopy claws down on Cordelia. It stopped mid-way, however, frozen almost. That's when Cordelia looked to see the blade piercing through his torso from the other side. Wes had saved the day. He grabbed the lizard by its shoulder and shoved it aside, away from his blade and Cordelia.
Gunn had taken care of the other one that started in for the girls by simply decapitating it. Its slimy lizard head rolled next to Cordelia.
"Ew," she frowned, pushing it away. Wesley took her hand, helping her up; Gunn rushed over to the teenage girl to make sure she was okay.
"Nice job with that one," the former watcher said sarcastically, gesturing to the demon he rescued Cordeila from.
"Hey, you try going all demon-hunter without a vampire or a slayer to back you up." Cordelia said, coming to her feet. "What happened to the other two?"
"They fled," Gunn said as he and the girl joined Cordelia and Wesley. "Guess that means we have more rituals to look forward to if they can round up more of... whatever the hell these guys are."
"Crap," Cordelia sighed, picking up her sword. "That should be fun."
"Are you alright?" Wesley looked at the teenage girl.
"Fine, fine, yeah," she nodded, shivering. "Just a little wigged is all." She hugged herself.
"What happened?" Gunn asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know. I mean… at first I thought it was a joke, my friends are kinda into this stuff. But then, when they killed that little girl…"
"Wait, what?" Cordelia interrupted. "They took someone else too?"
The girl nodded.
"Where?" Wesley asked.
"Um…" the girl hesitated. "Through there," she pointed to another entrance through the candle-lit cave.
It suddenly registered to Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia that the cave didn't seem too ritual sacrificy. No wacky symbols in the middle of the floor, no scared urns; just five, dead slimy, lizard demons in a regular cave.
"Would you mind leading the way?" Wesley said.
The girl nodded again. She slowly made her made to the dark entrance, the other three followed. She led them down an unlit path. A moment or so later they saw flickering lights ahead through another entrance way.
The four of them entered a large circular room, brightly lit by the candles on the root wall. A stone well sat in the middle of the room, an altar lay on the other side of it.
"Down there," she pointed to the well.
"Oh god," Cordelia whispered, the thought of a little girl being defenselessly thrown down a well shook her. The girl stayed behind as Wesley, Gunn and Cordelia approached the well.
Wesley was the first to look down it, he saw nothing but darkness. The former watcher reached in his pants' pocket and pulled out a flashlight. He clicked it on and shined it down the black pit. Just as he feared, a little girl's body floated lifelessly at the bottom of it.
"This is crazy," Gunn murmured.
The water the girl lay in began to bubble; it rose higher and higher, then calmed and fizzed.
"What-what the hell was that?" a puzzled Cordelia asked.
"Um," Wesley made a face. Right before their eyes the girl's body was sucked into the water.
"Was that bad?" Gunn asked cautiously.
A grumbling sound came from the well. The ground suddenly shook.
"Yes! It seemed to have caused this!" Wesley shouted, trying to keep his balance.
"What do we do!" the teenage girl cried.
"Run!" Wesley moved swiftly.
…
Sunnydale, 8:15 p.m.
"Dinner is served," Buffy gladly said, placing the plate of food on the dinner table in front of her mother.
"Buffy, you really didn't have-" Joyce Summers started.
"Oh, no need to say it," the slayer interrupted. "I had to." She smiled. "I'm not the greatest cook but…Dawn helped, and you shouldn't have to lift a finger."
"Excuse me?" Dawn called from the kitchen. "Helped?" she stormed into the dining room. "I pretty much prepared the whole meal."
"Whatever." Buffy rolled her eyes at her sister. "Just enjoy the meal mom." She smiled once more, giving a little curtsy in the process.
"Oh please," Dawn mumbled in disgust as she walked back into the kitchen.
"I'll see you later," Buffy put a hand on her mom's shoulder before starting out the dining room.
"Oh honey, you're not joining us?" Joyce looked up to her eldest daughter .
"Giles thinks it's crucial that I patrol tonight, he's got this bad vibe that somethin' is a brewin'…but I think it's just a mid-life paranoia thing." Buffy grabbed her jean jacket from the coat rack. "If something doesn't decide to pummel me in the next hour or so, I'll head straight back home." She assured.
"Okay," Joyce sighed. "Well…be careful." The woman said countless of times before when her daughter headed out on her nightly patrol.
"Aren't I always?" the blond gave her regular response, peeking into the dining room. "See you later."
…
"I knew Giles was just paranoid," Buffy said.
She spent the last hour and a half navigating through Waverly Park, and then on the east end cemeteries. Nothing. No creepy crawlies, no vamps, just a few horny teenagers who were more than ready to go all the way.
It urked Buffy when she realized how sexually active teenagers were today; she sometimes wondered if she were too aggressive with Pike or Angel in her high school days…as far as making out went. She was just glad Dawn didn't have a boyfriend, it'd be too stressful for the slayer. Worrying if he were some kind of supernatural creature, or worse…a quarterback. In her experience of dating, Buffy hadn't really known the creature referred to as a Nice, Sweet, Normal, Boy; her guys always had something going on.
Pike was an aspiring demon hunter, Angel was a vampire, and Riley….
It had almost been two weeks since he left town. Buffy was still in the process of getting over him, (pummeling the troll, Olaf, helped greatly) some nights she cried about it, wishing she'd reached him in time to tell him how she really felt; but other nights she was just relieved there was one less thing in her life she had to worry about. She missed cuddling and…the other thing, but a boyfriend was the last thing she needed at the moment. Between this new Glory chick, Dawn being the Key, and her mom's illness, focusing on one other person was just too much to handle. She'd miss him, but other things needed to be tended to.
"Guess I'll head back," the slayer found herself saying, walking through the town square passing an alley. That's when her eyes fell upon a hooded figure moving into another alley, it ran as if trying to avoid someone seeing it. "Hey!" Buffy called.
She ran in the same direction, removing her stake from her pocket. "Hey!" she called again, turning into the same alley. It became a bit obvious he was in hot pursuit, away from her. Buffy picked up speed, second by second getting closer to her opponent.
The figure turned a corner into another alleyway; Buffy turned as well, but she'd found the figure had stopped in its tracks. She collided harshly with it, nearly falling.
"Slayer," it spoke, clearly a man. "You must see this."
"Who are-"
"Don't ask questions, just look." He ordered.
"This isn't some kind of ploy, you're not trying to kill me?"
"I wish to do no harm to the slayer. You are the only one who can stop this."
Buffy slowly walked towards the figure; she joined his side.
"Stop wh-" Buffy's eyes fell upon what the demon faced.
Three bodies lay sprawled out on the alleyway floor. Their hearts had been completely ripped out. It seemed as though whatever did it pierced completely through the entire torso.
"Oh my god." Buffy turned her face up. "What did this?" she looked to the figure.
He wasn't there.
…