Chapter 10
Buffy's old instincts kicked in the second she heard the glass shatter behind her. It was a relief in a way, to know that they were still there. And she wasn't the only one who still had them. Xander was moving too, but Anya was just sitting there, stunned. It was understandable; she was never a front line Scooby unless it was end-of-the-world stuff, so she missed out on all the good oh-my-God-we're-going-to-die stuff. Just as well, Buffy always liked the heroic rescue.
Buffy wrapped her arms around Anya's waist and got ready to pull her to the edge of the bed. She'd feel like an idiot if it was just some kids pulling a prank – and if it was then the troublemakers were dead men walking, especially if Anya got to them first – but, given that this was Sunnydale, she doubted it was that simple. Especially when she heard something heavy hit the carpet.
Her eyes locked with Xander's for a heartbeat and he nodded, confirming her fears, as a goofy grin spread over his face. She grinned back as she pulled Anya off the bed while he pushed himself up to the headboard. The last thing she saw him do was reach into the crack between the nightstand and the bed for the sword that was waiting there.
Then Buffy felt Anya's hand close almost painfully around hers and she almost yanked Buffy off her feet in her rush to get to the walk-in closet. Buffy almost turned back when she heard the bed springs groan as something heavy landed on it, but Anya didn't slow down a step in her mad dash until they were safely inside the dark closet with the door closed tight behind them. Though not tight enough to block out the first few clangs of metal on metal.
The complete blackness brought back images of a thousand old horror movies as Buffy reached around for the light switch, where the helpless blonds trapped themselves in a dark room while a monster was just outside the door. Of course, she thought when she finally found the switch, none of those girls had ever been Slayers – or Slayerettes.
She flipped the switch and felt just a bit lighter as she gazed at all the little Slayer treats that filled the closet. Well, not completely filled, two-thirds of it was devoted to clothes – including at least one or two of Xander's shirts – and boxes that they hadn't bothered to open after the move, but the other third was a demon's nightmare. There were axes, swords, stakes, vials of holy water, a couple of crossbows and even a mace all hanging from the wall in loving care.
"It couldn't have waited another couple hours?" Anya groused as she slipped a strap from her negligee back over her shoulder and reached around to zip herself back up.
"Demons are rude bunch. Besides, according to Dawn, it'd have to wait for days before we were done," Buffy said with a happy little grin. It almost felt like the old days again. So much so that she started reaching for one of the swords.
"Buffy."
Buffy pouted and pulled the crossbows off the wall instead. "I know, I know. Buffy can't have any good, clean slayage-related fun."
Anya took one of the crossbows and loaded it. "Just for now. In a few more months we can go back to almost being eaten on a nightly basis again."
"If you say so," Buffy said with a hint of regret. She'd spent six years trying to get out of the good fight and a good time after that wishing she were still in it. But she knew those days were done - for all three of them. It'd be only truer after Jessie was born. She just couldn't go out and risk her life every night, not if… even Xander had stopped volunteering for patrols. Something Buffy had been hoping he'd do for years, not that she'd admit it. At least no more than she'd admit that while she missed the thrill of the hunt, she could finally live without it.
At least she could if they made it through the night, something the lightning fast snaps and clangs in the bedroom made look doubtful. She looked at Anya and saw her worry mirrored back. Xander had been spending extra time with Giles and Faith, just in case something like this happened, but she didn't know how long he could hold out.
"Shall we help our White Knight?" Buffy asked as she loaded her crossbow.
Anya's head jerked in a nod. "Let's."
They went back to the door, where Anya knelt down and Buffy stood right behind her. "Ready?" Buffy asked.
Anya lifted her crossbow. "Yeah. I just hope I'm aiming low enough."
"Down girl," Buffy chided as she pushed the door halfway open, just enough so they could fire and still have some cover.
Now they could see Xander do his best Highlander impression with the demon at the foot of the bed. "Go Xander!" Buffy said with an impressed whisper when he took a chunk out of the demon's shoulder. His training had gone better than she'd realized. Too bad the demon's only reaction was a single dry hiss before it launched another attack. Buffy's finger twitched on the trigger of her crossbow, but they were moving too much for her to have a clear shot. She forced herself to study the demon instead.
The hell spawn was just about as tall as she was and half as wide as Xander. Its skin was covered with drab dark brown and green scales with two bright red spots directly under its eyes as the only real color on it. Except for its size and its sword, it looked like nothing more than a big lizard, or one of those dinosaurs from Jurassic Park.
Xander summed the thing up perfectly during one of the pauses in the fight. "You're uglier than the average bear."
It was the demon's sword, or what little she managed to see, that really caught Buffy's attention. It was made of a goldish-silver metal that she'd never seen before, or seen described in Giles' books, but whatever it was it was good. It was taking chunks out of Xander's sword with the same enthusiasm of a dog working over a bone.
The demon ended the break with a low hiss as it launched another flurry of attacks. Xander dodged all but the last, a slice across his stomach. It was only a scratch, the demon was too far away to do any serious damage, but Buffy still had to hold herself back from firing the moment she saw a drop of Xander's blood. It was a good thing too, because in the next second the demon sidestepped Xander's blade, which meant that Xander would've taken her bolt in the chest. She heard Anya gasp and knew that they'd gotten lucky twice.
Buffy pulled her finger away from the trigger, then stretched her hand just to burn off energy as she watched the fight. That was when she realized two things. The first was that Xander was much better swordsman than she would've thought. All those lessons with Faith and Giles really paid off.
The second thing was that Xander still shouldn't have stood a chance. The demon might have looked like a two-legged alligator, but it knew how to fight. From what she could see, the only reason Xander was still standing was because the thing was off its game. It kept telegraphing its attacks and putting too much power in its blows, which worked out well when it connected but threw it badly off balance when it missed. Its mistakes should have left it wide open to a counter-attack, but it always managed to recover. Then it would fight well for a few blows before losing control again.
"What's it so mad about?" Anya asked bitterly as she glared at the demon. "It's not like we broke in on him and his mates when they were about to have a pleasant evening."
"Maybe he's just grouchy. Or jealous," Buffy offered and just knew Anya was right. Not that it helped, as she knew they'd never met a demon like that, so she still didn't know why it was so angry.
Anya seemed to think about what Buffy said before she finally shook her head. "That's still no excuse."
It was then that the fight fell apart. At first it looked like Xander had managed to out-feint the demon and was about to slice the thing wide open, but the demon swung its sword back around with bone-jarring force. The blades met and Xander's Swiss-cheesed sword shattered.
Everyone in the room froze to stare at the three inches of broken steel Xander still had in his hand. Then the demon let out a triumphant cough, lifted its sword over its head with both hands, and brought it swinging down at Xander's head.
Buffy and Anya both fired at the same instant while Xander dove to the right. The sword just missed Xander's left arm as it buried itself into the bookcase of souvenirs, but the bolts found their mark. The bolt from Buffy's crossbow hit the demon's already wounded shoulder while Anya's buried itself high in the side of the thing's thigh.
Buffy winced in sympathy and looked down at the top of Anya's head in disbelief. "You weren't kidding, were you?"
Anya was already reloading her crossbow. "No one interrupts my orgasms."
The demon let out a bellow of pain. A completely understandable bellow as far as Buffy was concerned. Then she realized it wasn't because of the injuries, but because the thing was ripping the bolts out. It had already pulled the bolt out of his shoulder and was wrapping its three-clawed hand around the bolt in its thigh. A wet ripping sound filled the room, and Buffy almost lost her dinner for the first time in months.
"That was just disturbing," Xander said and looked as green as Buffy felt as he climbed back to his feet.
Despite its injuries the demon wasn't done. It barely glanced at its sword, which was still sticking out of the bookcase. Instead it twirled the bolts around until it was holding them like daggers. It didn't bother with Xander, the demon was focused on Buffy and Anya now.
Buffy felt her heart stop as the demon crouch down and she suddenly knew how it had gotten up the fifteen feet to their window. She dropped her crossbow and grabbed the back of Anya's negligee with one hand and the doorknob with the other. She thought she saw Xander reaching for the demon's sword, but she knew he wouldn't be fast enough.
She yanked back, pulling Anya back into the closet and slamming the door shut at the same time. There was a second slam a second later as the demon hit the door hard enough to splinter the thin wood. Then there was a soft scratching sound as the demon wrapped its hand around the doorknob.
The knob jerked in Buffy's hand and it was all she could do to hold the door closed. Anya scurried around Buffy's legs and reached for one of, any of, the weapons that were still on the wall. The demon gave the door a vicious yank and Buffy's sweat-slicked hands finally slipped off the brass knob. She stumbled back into Anya and sent them both sprawling into a pile of clothes.
The door opened a half-inch, then slammed shut again as two feet of goldish-silver blade burst through the thin wood, the tip of which finally stopping right were Buffy was standing just a moment ago.
Anya pushed herself up as much as she could with Buffy sitting on her legs. Her eyes were like dishes as she asked, "Are you okay?"
Buffy blinked, then blinked again as she stared at the black blood that was dripping down the edge of the sword. "I think so," she managed to say after she did a quick mental inventory and didn't find any new aches. It helped that she knew how to fall, that and the fact that they were slobs and there was plenty of soft stuff to land on in here.
Anya let out a sigh of relief and wiggled her pinned legs. "Good, then could you please stand up?"
Buffy let out a nervous giggle. "Sure, just let me…" she began when the door started opening again. Her hand shot over and scooped up Anya's crossbow and almost pulled the trigger when the door opened and all she could see was a dark figure backlight by the bedroom lights.
"Xander?" Anya asked in glee. "Is it dead?"
Xander nodded. "Yup. That's one dino that won't be chasing women in bikinis anymore."
Buffy dropped the crossbow to the floor and let out a sigh of relief, which died when she saw the bloody cuts on his arm and stomach. "Are you…?"
"I'm fine," Xander said with a tired smile. "Trust me, they look – and hurt – worse then they are. What about you two?"
"We'll be fine once we get up," Buffy said and held up her hands. "And if you make even one wisecrack…"
"I think I can contain myself," he promised as he wrapped his hands around hers and pulled Buffy up to her feet, though not without a pained groan. He saw her glare and went pale. "Injury!"
"Uh huh," Buffy muttered.
Anya stood up and eyed Xander. "You were very heroic. I don't suppose…" She paused and traced her fingers down her hip.
Xander started to grin and took a step over before he winced and grabbed his stomach. "Sorry, hon. Not tonight."
"Maybe we should get you to the hospital," Buffy said.
"As tempting as it would be, considering we just need one more stamp for the free sub, I don't think I'm that bad. Just a bit bloody and sweaty."
"I can tell," Buffy said as she made a show of holding her nose. He made a face at her that disappeared promptly with a kiss. "You let Anya clean you up while I call Giles."
Anya made a face. "Do you have to? Wasn't the night ruined enough without adding research?"
"Gotta keep the G-man in the loop. You know how mopey he gets when his books get dusty," Xander told her. "Besides, now I get to brag. Xander the Barbarian." He strutted for two steps before he let out a hiss of pain and sank down to the bed with his hand around his right foot.
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked.
Xander winced as he pulled back his hand and saw blood. "I think I stepped on something."
"Can't imagine what," Anya muttered as she glared down at the hundreds of glittering shards of glass in the carpet. She grabbed a tissue and knelt down after making sure she wouldn't get cut on anything herself. "Hold still and let me take a look."
Xander sighed as she cradled his foot. "Yes, dear."
Anya dabbed away some of the blood with the tissue and nodded. "It's just a chunk of glass. Just hold still until I get the first aid kit," she said as she got up, stepped into a pair of slippers, and headed for the master bathroom.
Xander pressed the tissue against the injury. "Might as well make the call, Buff. We're not going anywhere."
"Unless Anya needs someone to hold you down while she works," Buffy said, her eyes glittering.
Xander stuck his tongue out at her. "Just make the call."
Buffy raspberried him right back as she grabbed the cordless phone and hit Speed dial. The phone rang exactly two times before it was answered.
"Hello?" Giles answered, sounding distracted. Probably going through his Time-Life monster series again.
"Hey, Giles. Bad time?"
"Not at all, Buffy. Though it is a bit late. Is there something wrong?"
Buffy looked around her bedroom, with its shattered window, sliced and diced bookcase and demon still pined to the wall, while Anya came back in with the first aid kit and, despite his protests, started wrapping bandages around Xander's stomach and shoulder. "Nah. Normal night for us. At least it was last spring."
"Demon?" Giles asked with the first hint of worry.
"Yeah," Buffy answered. "Lizardy, my size, knew how to use a sword. Dead though, thanks to Xander."
The expected sigh of relief didn't come. "I see. I don't suppose you noticed anything else? Did it say anything?"
Buffy scowled as she thought back. "It sounded like a chicken with a hairball to me? Did it say anything to you?" she asked Xander.
"Yeah, when I introduced it to the door it said…" Xander began just before he let out a pained hiss and tried to jerk his foot away out of Anya's hands.
"Hold still!" Anya scolded as she wrestled his foot back and went back to her not-so-gentle tweezers usage.
"Guys," Buffy tried to break in, but neither paid her any attention.
"I'd like to see how still you'd stay if you were the one with a foot of glass sticking out of your foot!" Xander yelped again as Anya pinched down on something and yanked the tweezers back.
"It's hardly a foot. See?" Anya said as held the bloody quarter inch sliver of glass up in triumph.
Xander blanched and turned away. "I don't need to see it! Either mount it on the wall or throw it away!"
"Fine," Anya said as she wrapped the glass up in a tissue and dropped it in the trash. Then she got the rubbing alcohol. "Though, I must say, you've ruined several of my illusions."
Xander barely winced from the antiseptic, which was nothing compared to the glass. "You're one to talk."
Anya cocked an eyebrow in surprise while she wrapped a bandage around his foot. "What?"
"You've ruined my images too, you know. I mean, how many big bad's are afraid of bunnies," then his eyes glittered evilly, "or are so ticklish?" With that his hands went down to her ribs.
However, before he could get much more than a chuckle out of Anya, Buffy interrupted with a frustrated, "GUYS!"
"What?" Anya snapped back in frustration as she slapped Xander's hands away.
"Giles wants to know what it said," Buffy explained.
It was enough to soften the look in Anya's eyes, but not much. "It spat a lot. Demons without lips are just that much more inconsiderate."
"Thanks," Buffy said dryly. "Xander?"
Xander scowled as he tried to remember, then he snapped his fingers. "Vision at I. No, Vishanti."
Buffy passed it on to Giles, who warped straight from worried to wigged. "Faith and I will be at your house in five minutes, stay there."
"What, why?" Buffy asked and glanced at the shishkabbobed demon again. "I think this one's dead."
"That one might be," Giles agreed, "but the Vishanti don't hunt alone."
She wanted to ask a half-dozen questions, but "Ah," was the only thing she could say.
"What's wrong?" Anya asked as soon as Buffy hung up the phone.
"Get weapons," Buffy ordered as she slipped back into Slayer mode. "We have to get downstairs. Basement would be best."
Anya nodded and ran back to the closet while Xander stood back up, his hand on the bandage around his stomach. "Why?" he asked as he got up and hunted for a shirt.
"Giles said that our friend here might have brought company," Buffy explained pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the dresser and stepped into them, then sat down to put on her sneakers.
"Of course it did. You know how dangerous Sunnydale is at night. Not even the demons go out alone," Xander replied. Then he looked around. "Maybe they'll pay damages?"
It was a good thought, but… "Doubt it, but we can always take it out of their hides."
Anya came back out carrying a new sword and the two crossbows. She paused long enough to eye the dead demon. "They would make beautiful purses. Or shoes," she added as turned back and she handed out the weapons. Buffy took back her crossbow, but Xander shook his head at the new sword.
"No thanks," he said as he walked over and wrapped his hands around the hilt of the demon's sword. He managed to yank the sword free, but winced as the demon's body slid free and dropped limply to the ground. "I'm good."
Anya shrugged and threw the extra sword down on the bed.
Buffy hoped they wouldn't need it, but knew that they couldn't use it either. She wasn't quick enough anymore, and Anya... Well, Buffy remembered the month she'd spent trying to convince the ex-demon that she wasn't supposed to hold the bat by the middle. A month she'd never get back.
"Let's go," Buffy said and lead them into the hall.
They didn't get any further than through the doorway before Anya gasped. Buffy followed her eyes down to the living room and saw five pairs of glowing yellow dots staring back up at them. She whispered a prayer, not that she thought it would help, as she slapped at the light switch.
"This isn't good," Xander muttered as glared down at the five demons who'd invaded their home. The only thing that made them even marginally better was the fact that these were polite enough to use the door instead of bursting through a window.
Xander step back and bring his sword up while Anya took aim with her crossbow. Buffy did the same as she studied the demons beneath them. Four of them were so identical to the one Xander had killed that they might as well have been clones, but the fifth was different. It looked older and much more dangerous, and it wasn't just because of the scars that crisscrossed the thing's body like a bizarre map. It was the way it carried itself, a way that almost screamed warrior.
And the twin weapons it was carrying were even more impressive. They looked like double-headed axes that were made of the same goldish-silver metal as Xander's sword with an almost nonexistent handle that forced him to keep his hands right between the tips of the bottom pair of blades. Buffy assumed the tips were smooth, but she still wouldn't want to get jabbed with them. The demon didn't seem worried, though. At least she didn't think it looked worried.
"The one with the scars is the leader," Buffy told her two lovers, her voice low. "He's the one to watch out for."
The demons took a step forward with the precision of an army on maneuvers, but Scar turned and snapped something at them that made them stop in their tracks. The four turned to Scar and hissed in what had to be disapproval, but that ended when Scar flattened one with side of the axe in his right hand. Then Scar turned back to the threesome, crouched down, and leapt up.
Anya managed to fire, but her bolt buried itself harmlessly into the floor as Scar landed with a thump between her and Xander.
"Anya!" Xander shouted as the demon swung its right arm down and sliced through Anya's crossbow. Anya barely managed to get her hands out of the way in time or they would have joined the ruined crossbow on the ground.
Xander tried to drive his stolen sword into Scar's back, but Scar swung around like a ghost and blocked his blow with the axe on his left hand.
"Zorag," Scar hissed as it turned to Xander.
"Yeah. Right back at you," Xander snapped back as he went into a defensive stance.
The growl that came from Scar seemed to shake the house as he launched his attack. Xander blocked the first blow from the left, but when he tried to counter-attack Scar caught Xander's blade in between his axes and yanked the sword out of Xander's hands.
"Oh, crap," Xander muttered as his sword went flying over the banister.
The second Scar disarmed Xander it threw itself to the side, kicked off the wall and landed in front of Buffy. Buffy brought her crossbow up and aimed for the demon's throat while he aimed for her stomach. It tried to slice threw Buffy's crossbow like it did Anya's, but Buffy managed to dodge to the side without losing her aim on the thing's throat. Then they both froze and just stared at each other, taking measure.
"Buffy!" Xander and Anya shouted together and rushed forward to try and save her, but she stopped them with a glance. The demons downstairs made some kind of noise too, but none of them moved to help.
Buffy stared into Scar's unblinking eyes and realized for the first time that he was blind in one. There was a long jagged scar that ran right across his milky white right eye. The odd thing was, she had a feeling that that was the eye he was watching her with. She saw his hands tighten around the handles of his weapons, then relax. At least until Anya got one step too close, then he swung around and leveled the axe in his left hand at her.
Buffy tensed, ready to fire if the Godzilla reject so much as twitched in Anya's direction. Instead he took a step back and lowered his weapons. He glanced between Buffy and Anya in confusion. A confusion it must've wanted to share, because it dropped down to one knee and lowered his head.
"Dosha," Scar finally whispered and Buffy had the feeling that he'd be smiling if he had lips.
Then scar turned to his four comrades, who were still watching and waiting. "Dosha!" he repeated in a shout.
"Dosha!" the other demons repeated in shock and looked up the stairs in awe.
"Then what happened?" Giles asked as he sipped at his tea. Buffy and Anya were sitting across from him in their dining room while Xander was upstairs covering the broken window with plywood and Faith patrolled the neighborhood, just in case.
"Then they left. But not before leaving us some parting gifts," Buffy said as she drank her own green tea and nodded at Scar's axes, which were sitting on the table between them.
"It was very odd," Anya muttered as she pulled her robe tighter around her. She never got a chance to change. Giles and Faith showed up just moments after the demons had left and it was a toss up over who blushed more, Anya or Giles. Buffy knew her girl talked big, but wigged at even the thought of anyone but her or Xander seeing her in something that skimpy. A fear Buffy completely understood.
Giles let out a reserved smile. "I can imagine." He reached over and took one of the axes and looked at his reflection in the metal. "I wonder what it's made of?"
"I was wondering too," Xander said as he came down the stairs and dropped his hammer on the table. "Its good stuff, whatever it is. Still got my souvenir," he said and tapped the sword he'd taken, which was in a scabbard around his waist.
Giles gripped the axe and gave it a few practice swings. "It's remarkably well made. You say the demon gave one to each of you?"
Buffy nodded. "To me and Anya, yeah."
"Maybe he was apologizing," Anya said.
Giles scowled. "For what?"
"For interrupting my many possible orgasms, of course."
"I… doubt it," Giles said as gently as he could.
"So, what were they?" Xander asked as he sat down next to Buffy.
Giles scowled at one of the books he'd brought with him. "Vishanti demons. Pack hunters."
"So they just go around shouting their names?" Buffy asked. "'Cause that seems stupid, even for demons."
Giles shook his head. "In a way. As far as I can tell, Vishanti means hunter."
"Cool, so I'm in the gang?" Xander asked.
"In a very, very slight manner of speaking," Giles said as he put the axe back down. "There are three words in their religion. Vishanti, Zorag; which means prey, and Dosha; which means death."
Anya scowled. "But that's what the demon called us. Why would he call us death? We didn't even scratch him."
Giles toyed with his teacup before he answered. "More accurately, it means the one who will bring them death. They worship the being that they believe will kill them all."
"Well, that's creepy in a whole new way," Xander said.
"Indeed."
But now Buffy was the one scowling. "If they want out, why put up a fight?"
Surprisingly it was Anya who answered. "Because they only want to be killed by the best. Everyone else is prey and beneath them."
Giles nodded. "Exactly. Thought how…?"
Anya hugged herself in memory. "They killed a vengeance demon in the 17th century. Amira."
"How?" Xander asked. "I mean, couldn't she have just puffed away?"
Anya shook her head. "If she knew they were coming. And as far as we could tell, they destroyed her power center first. They must've been hunting vengeance demons for years, just waiting to find one of us."
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"To see if they could. Because they didn't know who this 'Dosha' was," Giles explained, "they only knew he, she or it existed."
"Well, now they know. Why not just kill us while we're weak?" Buffy pressed. She just couldn't shake the feeling he was holding something back, and the way he kept stalling didn't help matters any.
Giles poured himself a fresh cup of tea before he answered. "They must want a fair fight. When you're in better condition."
"At least they're that considerate," Buffy grinned as she reached for the other axe and picked it up. It was a little big, but otherwise seemed like the perfect weapon. "Nice to know I'll have some slayage coming after all."
"It might not be you. They gave one to me, as well," Anya pointed out as she eyed the other axe in distaste.
"That's what gets me," Xander said, but he didn't look happy about any of it. "If the scary one knew who it was, why give it to both of them?"
Giles shrugged as he sipped at his tea. "Visions of the future are rarely clear. Maybe it could only narrow it down to the two of you. Don't forget it might have been mistaken and neither of you are the Dosha."
Buffy knew he didn't think either was likely just by the tone in his voice, but she wasn't concerned. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. I mean, we know we're going to kill them sooner or later. So, what does it matter?"
Giles nodded, but still didn't look satisfied. "Of course. Only time will tell."
"The thing I'm worried about," Xander began as he leaned over in his chair to get a better look out the window, "is what are we going to tell Dawn and her date? 'Cause I think I just saw them pull into the driveway."