Disclaimer etc.: Refer back to Chapter 1
Addendum: BtVS and all related characters do not belong to me. The concept of the story does. Don't steal. If you do, rabid karmic weasels will sneak into your bed and eat your toes.
Author's Note: eheh...so I haven't updated in...two years? More? Better late then never, right? Anyway, this chapter is a crossover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer but no knowledge of that universe is needed in order to read.
Chapter 2: Summoned
"Come my dark beast! Awaken! Bow to your master!" A rather tinny, self-impressed voice met Vicki as she waded up out of darkness. Hadn't she just been in hell?
"Shit! Xander, grab him!"
"What? Why me?"
"Just do it!"
"I can't! He's got some kind of force field!"
Force field? Oh that can't be good.
"Demon, your master commands you to awaken! Why won't you wake up?"
Sounds like someone picked the wrong…wait a minute…
"Are you talking to me?" the Canadian PI reluctantly pushed herself up onto all fours, squinting blurrily through her glasses at the bizarre tableau spread out before her. The room was lit only by candles, causing her already bad vision to become even less effective but she could see three large blurry spots that normally signified people. Or light posts but she doubted there'd be any of those inside. Or was she inside?
A swift sweep with her other senses confirmed that she was indeed inside a building. A wooden floor was rough and hard against her hands and the air reeked of incense and blood in a way that never lasted long outside. There was no air current which meant no wind and there were no animal sounds. She could hear three…no, four people breathing harshly, almost as if they'd been fighting.
If anything, the situation reminded her of Asteroth's first appearance.
The irony was sickening.
"My beast! Take your sacrifice; bind yourself to this plain! Then you can attack them and together we shall-!"
"-Rule the world." Her interruption was deadpan and deeply sarcastic. "Aren't any of you idiots original?"
One of the other two blurs, the larger one, snickered but fell silent when she rose to her feet, masking her unsteadiness by pretending her slow speed was supposed to be menacing.
"I have summoned you, now you must do as I say!"
"Uh…huh…"she pushed her glasses up her nose and gave the blur on the right her best glower. "I heard you the first time. What do you want?"
"I wish to rule the world! All will bow down before the power of the mighty Insatroof!"
She blinked twice and smirked "Insatroof?"
"Yes! Now take the sacrifice and bind yourself to this plane!"
Her smile dropped at that. She could still remember lying on the floor with an insane college student hovering over her wrists, writing on her with blood in an attempt to call about hell on earth. Someone had been breathing harshly then as well; Correen, tied to a chair mere feet away from the edge of the pentagram awaiting her own fate at Norman's hands.
Vicki's expression darkened as she rubbed her brands in response to the memory. She wouldn't let that happen to anyone else.
"Well? Take her!"
"What?"
"The sacrifice! Kill her!" He seemed to be…gesturing?
"No!" Finally, the silent duo speaks up. "Dawn!"
"QUIET!" she actually felt the spell leave the summoner and strike the two watchers, rendering them silent and helpless. "Now take your sacrifice, beast!"
Recalling her own experience, she glanced down reluctantly, expecting to see blood spattered on the floor and a person trussed up like a sacrificial lamb.
She wasn't disappointed.
The 'sacrifice' was a young woman, more a girl really, with long brown hair and terrified blue eyes. She was bound and gagged but the fire behind her fear made it clear she wasn't going to willingly submit to her fate. A silence or immobilization spell was most likely on her as well; that was all Vicki could think of that might have kept her so quiet up until this point.
Unless she's afraid of me. Miss big bad demon that I am. The PI almost snickered aloud at the thought but the gravity of the situation wouldn't let her. Slowly, trying to buy as much time as possible, Vicki knelt and lifted the girl into a sitting position leaning against her leg. Her options weren't looking good.
Wait a minute.
"You said I needed the sacrifice to solidify my presence on this plane?"
"Yes! So kill her!"
"So it follows that if I let her go, I'll return to the plane I came from?"
"I…guess so. But you're here to take over this one! KILL HER!"
Worth a shot.
"Eh…No thanks." Vicki released the girl easily, somewhat surprised to realize she'd almost worked her own way out of the knots. "I was perfectly happy back home, thanks."
Once free, the two stared at each other; captive sacrifice to summoned not-quite-demon.
Then Dawn darted out of the pentagram towards her friends and Vicki felt the dimension slip away.
The last thing she heard was the enraged scream of 'the mighty Insatroof'.
Thank you to all my reviewers! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
