A/N I know my fight scenes are weak, but I'll try to improve.
On October 21, 1112, ten minutes after sunset, three hell-hounds had jumped out from the trees and shrubs and onto the two horses that Nevin, Buffy, Langley and Amber were riding. The left side of the both horses was quickly shredded at the neck and shoulder. The horses dropped instantly with their front legs collapsing first. Buffy, Amber, Nevin and Langley hit the ground hard.
Buffy and Amber got on their feet quickly while Nevin and Langley were more sluggish to get back up. Buffy and Amber were only on there feet for a few seconds when the three hell-hounds lunged at them. They both dove to the ground and rolled to invade the attack.
As Buffy was getting back on her feet, she spotted a long spear-shape tree branch within a few feet from her. When Amber got back on her feet, she glanced in the direction of her slayer's bag that was tied to the saddle of one of the dead horses. Nevin and Langley quickly drew their swords.
The three hell-hounds turned and as they lunged for Buffy and Amber a second time, Buffy dove in the direction of where she had seen the tree branch. Amber dove towards the slayer's bag. Nevin and Langley made their attacking moves, but were not quick enough to connect with the hell-hounds.
In a series of quick and graceful movements, Buffy got back on her feet; broke off a long piece of the tree branch with her slayer strength and without really looking, rammed the point of the tree branch through a hell-hound's head that was lunging at her. She jerked the branch out of the hell-hound just before another hell-hound lunge towards her. The second hell-hound was inches from her as she quickly drove the branch into the hell-hound's chest. Buffy was knocked to the ground when the dead hell-hound landed on top of her.
When Amber dove for the second time in the direction of the slayer's bag she rolled when she hit the ground. She quickly got back to her feet and ran quickly towards the bag. Just as she was approaching the bag, she dove for it. She grabbed it and rolled with it. As she was getting back on her feet, she glanced around to see where the three hell-hounds were. She looked over towards Buffy as Buffy was killing her second hell-hound. Amber caught a glimpse of the third hell-hound coming towards her from the corner of her eye. Nevin and Langley were near Amber and as Amber dove to evade the hell-hound's latest attack, the two poked and stabbed at the hell-hound with their swords.
The hell-hound turned its attention onto Nevin and Langley, but before the hell-hound had a chance to do any real damage, Buffy ran over and drove the branch through the hell-hound's back at the shoulders.
As the last hell-hound dropped with the branch sticking out of its back, Langley quickly glanced in all direction while questioning, "What were those… odd looking wolves?"
Buffy was gazing around herself as she said, "They were demons. Hell-hounds to be more precise. What I know about hell-hounds is that they don't attack randomly and it is always on command."
"Someone sent those things after us?" Nevin quickly said.
Buffy faced Nevin before saying, "It had appeared to have been after Amber and me. You and Langley were just here."
"Someone's trying to kill us?" Amber blurted out. "Who knows that we're here?"
"That's a question that I would very much like to have the answer to," Buffy said as she looked over at Amber. "And not really trying to change the subject, Amber, but you had made a common mistake that most slayers make."
"What mistake was that?" Amber asked.
"The only thing in the slayer's bag that would be any good against hell-hounds… if even that is the crossbow and unless the hell-hounds honor a time-out from you, you wouldn't have time to get it out and load it." Nevin and Langley gave Buffy a slightly puzzled look. "In short, you went to the slayer's bag when you shouldn't have."
"How was I supposed to have fought these things without a weapon?" Amber asked.
Buffy pulled the branch from the hell-hound's back while saying, "There are weapons all around you. If you want to survive you must learn how to spot them. I spotted this one growing off that tree over there."
"I'm beginning to understand how you live passed four years as a slayer," Nevin said.
Buffy grinned before saying, "Amber, I don't know what or who wants us dead, so from here on, we'll remain battle ready. So break out that crossbow; load it; carrying it and prepare to use it on my mark."
"So are we going hunting now or continuing to the castle," Amber questioned as she opened up the bag.
Buffy was getting out the device as she said, "We'll continue to the castle." She then hesitated before she continued to say, "That is still the direction that's showing an influence that will affect our dimension."
"Well, we're definitely walking the rest of the way," Langley said as he gazed at the horses' carcasses.
"How long will it take to walk there from here?" Buffy asked.
"Providing that we don't get attacked again by demons, we should be able to make it there before sunset," Nevin said.
"Okay; let's go." Buffy continued to say while walking past everyone. "Time's a wasting." Nevin slightly grinned and shook his head before catching up to her.
Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Park Green Hotel, Dean's entire group and the five Craigs had been gathered in the hotel's break room for almost two hours. Four of the Craigs were mumbling about what horrid things that they did to someone and wishing to be able to make things right; two of them had hinted to suicide as penance. Nichole, Cat and Vicki were making failing attempts to console them. Dean, Sam and Jacob were doing what they could as well, but they didn't have the consoling talents.
At the TEC headquarters, while following Willow's instruction, Giles was in the office while performing a two-hour-long incantation that will visualize any invisible objects or magic. However, the spell that he was casting had a very short lifespan. Once the spell was performed, Giles walked to and re-entered the conference room while concealing a tranquilizer gun with a tranquilizer dart that would bring down an elephant.
When Giles stepped in, Zoey said, "If you're going to hold me prisoner here at least you can do is give me something to eat and drink." Giles noticed Zoey wearing earrings with a gem setting that he didn't see before. Zoey saw Giles staring at her ears and gave him a curious look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Funny, I never noticed that you were wearing earrings before," Giles said.
"You can see them?" Zoey questioned with a slightly stun look.
"I can and I can't help, but to think that those earrings are you energy source."
"I can kill you with my bare hands and I will if you try to take my earrings."
"It's true that you can break me in half, but the slayer won't be gone forever," Giles pointed out. "You won't be able to break her in half."
"You seem to have a lot of faith in your slayer."
"You were the one who pointed out that it is unhealthy for vengeance demons to know us." Giles reminded her. "So, I'm going to give you one last opportunity to end this curse on your own. And if I remember right if we break the curse by breaking your energy source, you will be stripped of being a vengeance demon."
Zoey slightly huffed before saying, "Fine; you win." She then changed into her demon face. Immediately Giles saw Zoey's earrings glowed for a moment as she waved her hands. A second later, she changed back into her human face. "It's done. Now release me!"
"I would like to conform that with my group at the hotel and then I'll release you."
"Fine; do it," Zoey impatiently said.
Giles check for his cell phone before saying, "I left my cell phone at the office. I'll be back."
Zoey took a tired breath before saying, "Fine. I guess a few more minutes won't hurt me."
"I'll be back," Giles said as he walked towards the door.
"And soon, I hope," Zoey said just before Giles walked out.
In the hallway midway between the conference room and where Giles was heading was a Janitor pushing a large trashcan on wheels.
As Giles was approaching the janitor he saw a greenish glow emanating from the trashcan. After a second of hesitation, he walked towards the janitor at a fast pace; however, the spell ended before reaching the trashcan.
"Wait," Giles said to the janitor as he approached him.
"May I help you, sir?" the janitor questioned.
Giles peeked into the trashcan before questioning, "This garbage; what all is in here."
The janitor looked at him as if he had lost his mind before saying, "It's mostly the garbage from the cafeteria. Did you lose something?"
"Lose something?" Giles mocked. "Yes… well no, but I am looking for something valuable that could've been thrown away. Unfortunately I've never actually seen it so I can't really say what I'm looking for. Can you take this somewhere, where I can search through it later?"
The janitor continued to look at him as if he lost his mind while saying, "Sure. I'll take to the dock and put a sign on it, for it not to be thrown into the dumpster just yet."
"Thank you," Giles said. He and the janitor then went their respective ways.
Minutes before, at the Park Green Hotel, Dean's groups had noticed an abrupt change in each Craig's attitude.
"My god, what was I thinking?" was the chorus from the five Craigs.
"I have to call home," one of the Craigs continued to say.
"Yeah, me too," Another Craig said.
As three of the Craigs were getting out their phones, Nichole pulled out hers while whispering to her group, "I'm calling Giles to see if he ended the curse in someway."
Giles was getting to the office when he heard the phone ringing; however, the phone had stopped ringing by the time he got to it. Without really a break in his stride, Giles picked up his cell phone and scrolled through it for one of the four numbers that he had for Dean's group. Cat was the first name that Giles had come to.
Nichole was about to try calling Giles again when Cat's phone rang. When Cat glanced at who was calling, she said, "Hey, everyone, Giles is calling us." She then answered the phone. "Giles. Nichole just tried to call you."
"It must have been her call that I missed," Giles said. "Anyway, how is it going there?"
"We have the Craigs together in order to keep an eye on them and then just a minute or two ago, all of them seemed to have snapped out of their trances," Cat said. "Is it over?"
Cat heard a sigh of relief from Giles just before saying, "It is. You four can return."
Everyone in the break room saw the smile on Cat's face as she said, "We'll be there shortly." Cat then went to hang up her phone. "Mission accomplished, everyone. You five Craigs are now free to walk about the hotel with no protection."
Before anyone from Cat's group could respond, three of the five Craig announced over the phone, "I'm checking out of the hotel tonight and I'm coming home."
As the five Craigs were leaving the break room in a slight hurry Jacob said, "Okay, if I didn't witness the last two hours for myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm still having a hard time believing it, actually."
"Well, remember, meet us at the commentary before sunset," Nichole said just before her and her group left the break room.
At the TEC headquarters, Giles returned to the conference room and released Zoey from the spell.
In Twin Falls, the driver of the minivan that Willow, Dawn and two TEC agents were passengers of was being let through a quarantine blockade just one block from Valerie's house. A group of reporters snapped pictures of the van and its occupants as the van was being let through.
Dawn gazed back at the grouped at the blockade while saying "I feel like a star being chase by the paparazzi."
"I'm hoping that you are the star of this show, Dawnie," Willow commented. Dawn knew what Willow meant and gave Willow a smile.
A short time later, the driver parked the van in front of Valerie's house. Within seconds, everyone exited the van. They then went to the rear of the van to get out the eight newly purchased full-length mirrors. The leader of the quarantine group and three others joined them at the rear of the van.
Before one of the eight mirrors was taken out, the leader of the group said, "Ladies, I'm Leonard Kelsey. I'm in charge here."
Dawn was the first to offer her hand to shake hands while saying, "I'm Dawn Carter." Dawn and Leonard shook hands.
"And I'm Willow Rosenberg," she said.
Leonard extended his hand to Willow while saying, "It's nice to meet both of you lovely ladies."
"Likewise," Willow said as she and Leonard shook hands.
Dawn overlapped Willow's words with, "It's nice to meet you, Leonard."
"So, Dawn, I understand that you might have an unusual gift that might protect you from being affected by the anomaly," Leonard said.
"I don't know that for sure," Dawn said. She then glanced at the house while gesturing. "Is that the house?"
"It is," Leonard said.
"So, should I see if I am impervious to this time anomaly?" Dawn asked.
"That's actually a good suggestion," Leonard said. He pointed to Valerie's bedroom window on the second floor. "I want you to go through the house… walk normally I guess, and look out that window."
"Okay." Dawn said.
Dawn took a deep breath before walking towards the house at a brisk pace. Willow and Leonard followed Dawn to the edge of the yard and then stopped to watch. Few others grabbed the mirrors from the van and then joined Willow and Leonard at the edge of the yard.
Dawn made it to the screen door while appearing at a normal stride to the people watching. Everyone saw the resistance the screen door had as Dawn was opening it with a bit of force.
"Dawnie, is there a problem?" Willow yelled out.
Dawn faced the crowd that was watching her before saying loudly, "I'm okay, but the door feels as it's being held back by an invisible force… but a weak invisible force because I can move it. It's just difficult."
"I think I know why," Leonard yelled. "You're moving faster than the time around you. In a relative standpoint, you are moving quicker than the object around you can move and further you get inside the house that weak force… resistance actually, will become stronger. You might even feel a slight friction burn as you move about."
"How bad of a burn?" Dawn quickly asked.
"It's actually hard to say, but if it gets too bad, just come out," Leonard said.
"Okay," Dawn said. She then turned towards the front door.
Everyone watched Dawn as she turned the knob to the front door and push hard on it to get it open. Dawn stopped pushing on the door once it was wide enough to enter and as Dawn was entering, the door continued to open at a slow and steady pace to her and the spectators' perspective.
Dawn stepped up to the stairs and stopped. She gazed over the first floor for a few second before saying normally, "I can tell that this was once a nice house."
Dawn took a deep breath before ascending the stairs. Midway up the stairs she heard a continuous unidentifiable sound coming from behind her. She turned and saw the front door smashing against the wall. In slow motion to Dawn's perspective, she saw small pieces of drywall from where the doorknob had hit dropping to the floor. Without really saying it, she mouthed out the word, 'wow.'
Dawn continued up the steps and into the upstairs hallway. As she was making her way down the hall at a cautious pace, she felt the resistance of her walk and breathing.
By the time she reached Valerie's bedroom her breathing was becoming like drawing air through a straw. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the breathing technique that Willow had taught her to do during meditation in order to slow down her breathing. Valerie's bedroom door was already open, and once Dawn had felt that her breathing was more under control, she entered the room.
Dawn walked around the pentagram as she moved towards the window. As she walked she concentrated more on breathing than getting to the window quickly. After reaching the window, she looked out and waved.
When Leonard saw Dawn waving, he smiled and said, "This will work." He then motioned for Dawn to return.
Dawn again took her time walking from the window and into the hallway as she concentrated more on her breathing. By the time she was midway to the stairs, her breathing was becoming easier and she picked up her pace.
Willow was watching the front door and when she saw Dawn returning, she gave Dawn the thumbs up sign.
Dawn had a big grinned on her face as she approached. As Dawn stepped up to the Leonard, she asked, "So how long did it take me to get in and out?"
"It took you under fifteen minutes," Leonard said. "Did you experience any difficulties or concerns?"
"No difficulties, but one possible concern," Dawn said. Leonard just gave her an inquisitive look. "Once I get so close to the room with the pentagram it starts to feel as if I'm breathing through a very narrow straw. However, several years ago, Willow had shown me how to slow down my breathing so I can deal with it."
"Alright, but if you feel as if you can't deal with it, you are to get out of the house as soon as possible," Leonard said. Dawn just nodded her head. "Well, I guess you should start setting up the mirrors to prepare for that…" He cleared his throat. "That gaglore."
Dawn grinned while questioning, "You don't believe, do you?"
"I have seen some weird things in my life… this anomaly at this house for one, but I have never seen a demon," Leonard said. "But I am trying to keep an open mind."
"It only takes one for you to become a believer," Willow said.
"Oh, that I'm sure of," Leonard said with a grin. "Anyway, Dawn, you should get set up."
"Okay," Dawn said before turning towards someone holding one of the mirrors. Once she was handed the mirror, along with the hammer and nails, she headed back to the house. At a normal pace, Dawn carried the mirror into the house and up the steps. She wasn't midway to the bedroom from the steps, when the mirror cracked in her hands. She stopped in her tracks while being shocked over what happened. "O-kay. What in hell just happened?" Dawn shook it off and took a couple more steps. She stopped again when the mirror shattered in her hands. As she went to lean the mirror against the wall, the piece separated from the frame and dangled in midair. "Okay, that would be awesome to see if I didn't need that." Dawn put the frame, the hammer and the nails down. When she looked at the dangling pieces again, she saw that it had dropped a quarter of an inch. She shook her head before turning and walking back towards the steps.
When Willow saw Dawn leaving the house, she glanced at her watch. As Dawn stepped up to her, Willow asked, "You hung the first mirror already?"
Leonard was walking up to Dawn and Willow when Dawn said, "I never got the chance to hang it… it shattered while I was carrying it towards the room. Hey, since it broke on its own do you think that I'll have seven years bad luck?"
Willow was in deep thought as Leonard stepped up and said, "I should've foreseen that."
"Foreseen what?" Dawn questioned.
"The closer you are to the core of the anomaly the faster you are traveling by your surrounding's perspective," Leonard said.
"Can you put that in terms that even I could understand?" Dawn asked.
"In your mind, you were walking normally, but in reality relative of where you were, you were carrying the mirror at a considerably fast speed and the mirror broke under the stress of that speed," Leonard said.
"Well, since I'll break the mirrors if I take them in the house, how do we get them in there?" Dawn questioned.
"I'll get a group together and we'll do it," Willow said.
"You do it?" Dawn mocked. "If you do it, you'll lose time."
"Just a few hours and we actually do have a few hours to spare," Willows said. "And on the plus side, to me it will just feel like a few minutes and it will beat standing around twiddling my thumbs for the moment to get here."
"Okay, Willow, to make sure that not too much time is wasted, I'll send six people in with you," Leonard said.
"The hammer and nails are in the upstairs hallway, next to the mirror frame," Dawn said. "Should I go back in there and hammer the nail to the wall?"
"You would most likely damage the wall even if you would tap the nail," Leonard said.
"How would I do that?" Dawn said.
"While you are in the house, you are moving faster than the surroundings," Leonard reminded her. "As far as the nail and wall are concern, you will be striking the nail at more than hundred miles per hour."
Dawn shook her head while saying, "Okay, I watch too many cartoons with Hunter. I just visualized terrified cartoon faces on the nail and wall as I imagine myself hammering nails into the wall."
Willow grinned while saying, "Dawnie, while we hang the mirror, perhaps you should read over your notes again on the incantation."
Dawn grinned while mocking, "I guess it will beat twiddling my thumbs for the moment to get here."
"There's the spirit." Willow then faced the seven people holding mirrors. "Okay, everyone with a mirror in your hand, follow me."
When the seven looked at Leonard, Leonard nodded. As Willow and the seven walked towards the house, Dawn went to the van.
Ten minutes before sunset in Washington D.C., Jacob was joining Dean, Sam, Nichole and Cat at one of the largest graveyards in the area. Cat and Nichole were dressed as homeless people.
When Jacob stepped up to the group, he looked over what Cat and Nichole had on and questioned, "Is there a reason why you two are dressed like that?"
"Buffy pointed out that in major cities… which includes our nation's capital vampires will try to keep a low profile by attacking homeless people," Cat said.
"Of course if a vampire is hungry enough, keeping a low profile is not a priority," Nichole added.
"It's not even a priority if you're in a rural area," Dean also added.
"So you two are the bait," Jacob asked as he gestured towards Cat and Nichole.
"Unless you want to dress up and be bait," Cat jokingly said.
"Although I'm skeptical of the existence of vampires, I'm going to play it safe and pass on being bait," Jacob said. He then gazed around. "So is Buffy with you four?"
"She hasn't returned from her trip," Nichole said.
"We're patrolling without big sister today," Cat added. "Of course we told Giles that we were going out for a bite to eat."
"Giles don't know we're out here?" Sam quickly questioned.
"Giles would just list the dire consequences if we would have told him that we were patrolling without Buffy, "Nichole said.
"Okay, who's Giles?" Jacob asked.
"Back when Buffy was starting out as the slayer, Giles was her watcher," Nichole said. "Now he's actually one of the bigwigs at the watcher's council. He became a bigwig when he helped rebuild the council after it was destroyed by the First Evil eleven years ago."
"Giles is here though," Cat added. "He's helping us as we help Buffy and he would've never agreed to us being out here… at least this soon without Buffy."
"Especially you with a bullet wound," Nichole said.
"Okay, I'm starting to compile a list in my head of reasons why we shouldn't be out here without Buffy," Sam commented.
"Nichole and I have slayer's strength, so we'll be fine alone." Cat then mumbled barely loud enough for Jacob to hear. "Unless we stumble across a good size vamp-nest."
Jacob gave Cat a curious look before shaking it off and asking, "Cat, how is your arm by the way?"
"Oh, I actually feel great considering that my arm was pierced by a bullet," Cat commented.
"So what did the former watcher say about it?" Jacob asked.
"Giles doesn't know yet," Cat said. "I put on a shirt that covered the bandages."
"So you're hiding your injury from Giles," Jacob commented. "I'm beginning to think that being here is a bad idea with or without the existence of vampires."
"I'm fine," Cat insistently said as she flexed her muscles of her injured arm.
When Jacob saw a very slight wince of discomfort, he said, "Alright. I believe you."
"Okay, now let's start at where we dust the last few vampires and move out from there," Nichole said. Jacob just motioned for her to go.
Cat trailed behind everyone while slightly rubbing her injuring as they walked into the cemetery.