Yeap, posting a few chapters again while I can.
Usual disclaimers - everything belongs to their rightful owners, which sadly isn't me. I only borrow and then return and make no money from this, to the horror of my poor husband.
I don't write dialog well, it's a little beyond me sometimes, so please forgive if it seems lacking.
It was later that Faith decided to head off. As far as they could tell, it was about dawn, so if Faith booked it, she might be back at the camp by late afternoon. That gave her the evening meal to organise help and then be back by the next afternoon.
It was quiet after she left. Buffy threw some food and water to her guests, knowing that they needed their strength if Buffy was going to be using them as blood machines, at least until Faith returned with help. She also gave them a bucket each, making sure that there was nothing on them that they could use to escape with, just to use for personal things.
Not wanting to be alone, even if her company was demons and her 'guests', Buffy brought her blankets out into the Portal room and settled down on the far wall, keeping her face towards the occupied cages. Sleep was a long time coming, the snarls and growls of Angel an almost comforting sound now, but eventually she drifted off.
The next 'day' went quietly enough. The man, who submissively gave his name as Makenel, quietly offered his arm for his 'donation' while Buffy was forced to yank the still nameless leader's arm out for his. Both men were looking grey and Buffy decided that she couldn't risk bleeding them anymore and topped up the bladders with some of her own. Angel again snatched and drained his, while this time Spike slowly dragged his to his mouth while laying down and slowly drank his and only with encouragement aka poking his foot kind, from Buffy. It fell limply when he was done and Spike merely closed his eyes and remained supine on the bottom of his cage.
Time passed slowly. Buffy studied the console and asked the leader a few questions, but after a few sarcastic responses that Buffy couldn't feel she could trust, she gave up. She resorted to sparring and exercising across the portal room floor. She could feel eyes on her and a subtle glance showed that both vampires and the men were watching the slayer do her moves. Not letting the gazes unnerve her, she spent the next few hours in meditative exercises. Another nap and Buffy was starting to fret. Surely it was late afternoon by now? A few hours more, where Buffy spent the time pacing past the continuously snarling Angel and silent Spike and she felt as though she was going to twitch out of her skin. Finally she heard noises and standing ready at the wall beside the door, just in case with her dagger at the ready, she was relieved to see Faith enter first, followed by a dozen Putorna warriors. In the midst of the group she saw that Ollordna had come too. Overwhelmed, she hugged the creature before she could even think. After a split second, she felt the Putorna hug her back briefly.
After a quick catchup, where she was gratified to see the horror on the Putorna's faces at the knowledge of caged and tortured beasts, she sagged and motioned to the caged vampires.
"These are our friends, from our... crack in the sky." Ollordna nodded.
"Faith informed us of your friends needs and several of our warriors have chosen to help if they can. It is unknown if our blood will be compatible, but knowledge won't be obtained without trying." Buffy felt like hugging the creature again, but held back, opting to go with a heartfelt hand grip and smile. She assumed the facial expression on the werewolf like creature was a return smile.
The Putorna warriors unloaded their massive packs and unearthed mounds of food and sleeping packs, those they then spread around the room by the walls.
The two men huddled in their cages, terrified by the lumbering creatures in their stronghold. Several times the warriors had slammed their massive bodies against the cages, their thirst for revenge against lost clansmen and women strong. But they refrained from actually harming the men, knowing that they were the only ones who knew the machinery's magic.
Once they were set up, several of the warriors disappeared back into the caged rooms. Ollordna explained that they would help those demons who were close to death's grasp and spare them an agonising slow death. Others they would leave until the machine was sorted. Buffy closed the door, not wanting to have to hear it. Her enmity, which had been waning, roared up again against the men who perpetrated such evil. Makenel sobbed quietly at the look on the faces of the warriors around him but the leader merely looked in disdain as though it was all beneath him. Buffy fought the impulse to drag him out and play beat the baddie on his ass.
Instead, she hurried over to Ollordna who was in the process of comparing the various different bloods from around the groups and several of the stronger caged demons.
Sprinkling various powders, it nodded its head and motioned for the Slayers to come closer.
"It appears that indeed our blood may well suffice. When I add this herb, it appears to have the same properties as Faith's blood here' it waved over the two bowls, but Buffy couldn't tell the difference and shrugged, trusting the creature to know what's what. 'Whereas many of those caged monsters will not and may even harm your clanmates."
At a nod from Ollordna, several warriors stepped forward and held out their arms. Ollordna nicked the wrists and bled each. At several points, Buffy felt as though she should have stopped them but Ollordna, seemly to read her mind, spoke up.
"Our kind have vast stores of blood, I will only take enough that they will not even miss it." Mollified, Buffy stood back. Once the large bowl was filled, several new bladders, much bigger than theirs, were handed forward and Ollordna filled two to the brim, stopping it firmly. It handed them to Buffy who, juggling them carefully least she drop and spill the precious liquid, carrying them to the vampires. By now Angel was quiet in his cage, growls only occasionally erupting from him. His eyes constantly scanned the room and Buffy knew that the demon was sizing up the creatures in the room. But the sight and smell of the blood filled bladders got his firm attentions and even before Buffy grasped one, he was snarling softly and reaching through the bars. Buffy, taking a chance, gingerly handed the vampire his bladder, snatching her hand back once he had it firmly in his grasp. Spike on the other hand, still remained lying on the floor of his cage. Buffy knelt and lay on the floor, her eyes level with his yellow ones. Still she didn't think he saw her at all. She slid the bladder towards him and nudged him with it.
Slow blink was the only response.
"Please Spike. I can't lose you now, not when I have found you again. Don't make me grieve you a third time. My heart won't survive another one." A sob forced its way through her lips and she pressed her hand to her lips to hold back the rest. When she could be sure there wouldn't be another, she continued whispering to the almost catatonic demon. "Spike please drink. Now that I have found you again, you can be damn sure I'm not letting you go now! Drink! Spike. If you die, I promise you this, I will follow you before another sun sets. Did you hear me, you bleached pain in my ass? You die, so will I! So that's your choice you goddamn stubborn demon! I won't make you stay if that's what you want. If you are finished with this world, well worlds I guess, then so am I. Anywhere you go now, know that I will follow!" Spike's eyes seem to flash gold for a second and a low growl could be heard. All in the room stilled as the noise grew. Even Angel's constant snarling and growling quieted.
"Ooh, that got a reaction did it? Don't like that huh? Well too bad buddy! You have left me too often, you arrogant pig, I won't let you do it again. You die, I die. Your choice!"
This time the growl definitely grew louder. Spike's distant gaze suddenly sharpened and Buffy KNEW he was now looking at HER. She pushed the bladder towards him and his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her arm. She could hear Faith gasp and start forward but she held up her free arm to halt her. Spikes growling grew until he was snarling, his eyes flashing from yellow to gold.
"Drink!" She snarled back and faster than the human eye could watch, Spike had grasped the bladder and slashed into it, gulping the blood down, not noticing the red liquid as it spilt down his chin and neck. Growls and muffled snarls could be heard through the loud gulping sounds. But not for a second did he let go of Buffy's wrist. Not for a second did his eyes leave hers. Quickly the bladder of life-giving blood was empty and tossed aside, but still he growled. Buffy smiled and purred her happiness at the disturbed vampire.
"Thank you Spike, you're safe now, I'M safe now, I'm not going anywhere now. You're safe, I'm safe, sshhhhhhhh shhhhhh shhhhhh." After a while, the growls slowed and finally ground to a stop and the yellow eyes slowly closed as he slipped into a sleep. Looking over at Angel, she could see he also slept. Considering that it was probably the first time she had see him even silent since they found him, she looked over at Ollordna who nodded in acknowledgment.
"The herb added also makes the taker sleep. It will do them well to rest. Being on guard stops the healing process, even in the walking dead such as they are." Buffy started at the term and glanced at Faith, who shrugged in return. Ollordna laughed quietly. "We may not have our own bloodtakers, but the myth is still one told to younglings at the fireside to scare and entertain." Buffy shared a smile with the kindly healer.
That set up their routine for the next few days. Twice a day, the warriors took turns lining up to donate blood and Buffy would then lie down and coax the reluctant vampire into drinking. Angel no longer threw himself at the bars of his cage, but the warriors maintained a distance to help keep the volatile vampire calm as possible.
After several feedings, Buffy could see that they were starting to help. Wounds were starting to heal, burns were turning from angry and weeping to pink as new skin grew over. Claws were starting to push their way though, Angel scraping his fingers on the cage bars. At one stage, Faith started at the sound of shards on the floor and turned to see Angel snarling as his new fangs grew in. It was obviously a painful process and one that Buffy and Faith were not unhappy about.
The caged demons that survived the first culling were now being given food and water by the warriors. Buffy and Faith had wandered through at one point and with the agreement of the Putorna, released the few harmless ones that Buffy and Faith knew wouldn't be a problem in this new land. It was now up to them to survive as best they could. A few others were put down immediately as the Slayers recognised the more dangerous ones. Others were left for... when Buffy and the rest needed to go home, but Buffy firmly put that from her mind. She firmly refused to think about that now.
It was now that Buffy and Faith decided to get tutored on how to work the portal machine.
Dragging out the leader, who Makenel volunteered his name as Kakel and got a screamed threat in response. A casual backhand from a close by warrior shut him up quick.
After Makenel quietly corrected Kakel's instruction for the third time, they switched the two men. Makenel was eager to teach the group how to use the machine. It was only after Ollordna had given the man a form of truth drink did anyone trust him though. Apparently, he had been forced to assist his Lord and had actually been planning the man's death, as soon as he had found the coordinates home. Not that it absolved him, but at least they knew they weren't going to be sent to an acid dimension or something.
It was while they were discussing their world that Makenel remembered it. The portal had jumped to life by itself and suddenly a massive doorway had ripped open in the portal room and legions of demons had flooded through. It had taken the entire charge of the protection system to kill nearly all the demons before they could overwhelm the 13 man team. 4 had died immediately and 5 others in the round up afterwards. When questioned about the portals that were popping open all over the land, Makenel confessed that it was a side effect of the machine. It could only open a stable portal if the unstable particles were projected elsewhere. So the stable one opened here, while the unstable ones tore open wherever they wanted. With a start, they questioned the man about his 'protection system' and realised that Kakel had been informing them on how to activate it instead of a portal. That caused Faith to storm over to the man, grab his mangled hand and punch him in the face!
In the following lesson, they also learnt that the darkened skies and messed up weather was also caused by the portal machine. All the displaced energies were corrupting the world around it. Once the machine was destroyed, the sky and land should slowly return to normal as the disruptive energies dissipated.
Buffy left Ollordna and Makenel and some of the others to study the machine and went to sit by Spike's cage. But the best news? Was that Kakel knew the coordinates to their home world! Once they knew how to run the machine, they could go home!
The only problem now was the vampires.