Chapter Twenty-Eight – Like a Nightmare
The beasts that descended on the house were grotesque in appearance and overwhelming in number. They came across the yard like a wave, darkening the green field, and threatening to completely wash away everything - and everyone - in their path. The sound of gnashing jaws and clacking teeth accompanied the onslaught, giving an idea of just what waited for each person that would come face to face with the monsters. Even from a distance, the beasts' claws were easily seen, the sun glinting off the razor sharp edges, but it was the spikes protruding from their backs, through the scaly skin, that really drove fear into the Slayers and hunters. The beasts swished their tails behind them as they ran, cracking them like whips ready to lash at their opponents. No one had ever seen anything that looked like the creatures that were racing towards them, and it was that fear of the unknown, the uncertainty, that was able to shake the fighters' confidence. But even still, they held their ground. Even as the beasts loped toward them, seemingly in slow motion, everyone gripped their weapons a little tighter, and braced themselves.
Where the hell was Cas with that damn barrier?
Despite the appearance of the monsters moving in slow motion, they were on top of Buffy and Faith in what felt like a heartbeat. They were surrounded before they even had a chance to blink. Somewhere behind the mob around them, the Slayers could hear Eve laughing as she watched what she assumed was going to be a quick end to an annoying nuisance. In that moment, she made the predictable mistake of believing that she had already won, that the battle was already over. Soon Eve's laughter was drowned out by the sound of jaws gnashing around them - the sharp teeth growing ever near and threatening to tear the flesh and rend the bones of the two Slayers. They could feel the warmth of the beasts' breath against their skin, the smell of something rotten carried on that breath and assaulted their noses. They were surrounded by certain death and they knew it. Sure, they would take some of the beasts with them, but there were too many and they knew that they were essentially staring a death sentence in the face. Even if the Slayers didn't succumb to the monsters around them, Eve was waiting just out of range and would surely take an attack of opportunity if it meant it would remove Buffy and Faith from the battlefield. It was sure to be easy for her, nothing more than taking out the trash. So the question was: why was nothing attacking? All around them they could hear the din of battle, swords and claws clashing against one another, voices screaming orders and calling for help, the rustle of people moving frantically; it seemed as though everyone was engaged in battle except for the two of them. It was as though the beasts were waiting for the order, waiting to be told to attack. Neither Buffy nor Faith really felt like complaining, but it was hard for them to ignore the uneasy feeling that was unfurling in their gut - what was Eve waiting for? Did she know something they didn't, or was she just toying with them? Both were beginning to get anxious, ready to lose their patience. It was Faith that had finally had enough.
"What are you wait - "
Before Faith could finish calling out to Faith, a male voice flooded the field. It spoke in a language that the Slayers did not understand - a language that they did not recognize. Before they had a chance to even question it, a ball of light appeared at their feet. Within seconds, the small light became hexagonal and prismatic, almost giving the appearance of a bee's honeycomb, just before enlarging in an explosion of warmth and light completely encircling the space around them. Just as quickly the walls disappeared around the space and it looked as though nothing had happened at all. The only sign that anything had occurred was that the beasts that had surrounded the Slayers were immediately expelled from within its borders, the smell of burned flesh permeated the air as many of the beasts were felled and incinerated upon impact. The few that managed to survive the contact with the barrier were thrown at least a hundred feet away. They staggered for a moment or two before returning to their feet and charging back at the two Slayers. They met an invisible wall that immediately threw them back once more, this time frying them until the life drained from their hideous forms. The only ones left within the invisible walls were Buffy, Faith, and Eve. They were alone, eyes locked tight on one another, unwilling to even blink lest they miss a thing. It was made more than clear that this was exactly the way the makeshift arena was meant to stay. Buffy and Faith grinned dangerously.
"Nice trick," Eve crooned, thinking that the Slayers had somehow repelled her monsters, "now it's my turn."
Eve spun her hands together, conjuring an orb of smoke that swirled in her palms and dripped through her fingers like oil. With an effortless air, Eve tossed the orb towards the Slayers, raining ash across the grass as it arced through the air and came to rest at their feet. The orb shook and vibrated for a moment or two before exploding into a cloud of smoke around the two Slayers, completely obscuring their views of anything around them. It had all happened so fast, without any warning, that neither Buffy nor Faith were able to get clear of the blast radius and both were quickly lost in a sea of smoke as ash rained down over them. Below their feet, the two Slayers could feel the ground rumbling and shaking. Instinctively they both dove out of the way, choosing opposite directions and putting a large distance between them. A fissure in the ground opened up, spewing flames and the smell of sulfur - of brimstone - where they had been only moments before. As the smoke cleared around them, both coughing through the haze, they discovered that Eve was no longer where she had been - they could not find her at all. Had Cas' barrier failed already?
"If I have to deal with the distraction first while your little witch friend tries to do whatever it is that she thinks she can do to me, I may as well have some sort of fun with it, right?" Eve's voice boomed from behind them.
The Slayers spun to face Eve, not willing to keep their backs to her for any extended period of time. As they brought her into their sights once more, they saw that her eyes had glazed over - a bright white, giving off an air of all-seeing and all-knowing. This was not the milky white of those who could not see or the oil-slick black of demons with immense power; this was something they had never seen before. Her hair whipped in a previously unfelt wind that pulled at her clothing and kicked up the dirt at her feet. Energy crackled around Eve, wrapping around her limbs, her body, like tendrils. It didn't take a Slayer, with all their heightened senses, to feel the surge of power coursing through Eve, tainting the very air around them. They knew then that they had barely scratched the surface when it came to the power that Eve wielded. And that terrified them. With a quick push of her hand, Eve threw a pulse of pure energy, unseen and unheard, through the air. It hit the two Slayers with enough force to throw them off their feet, landing hard and carving a path through the grass and dirt until they came to a stop nearly twenty feet back.
"Oh, this is going to be too easy," Eve grinned.
Her power flared once more, sending shockwaves out into the atmosphere. The feeling was felt throughout the entire battlefield, unable to be contained by the invisible barrier that Cas had surrounded them with. The ground felt electrified, uncertain under the feet of those currently engaged in battle. Fissures appeared in the ground, snaking their way to the main house, flames flicking out to lick at the grass. For a moment it looked as though the house would be marred by the fissures, but just before reaching the first step of the deck, the cracks faded into nothing. Still, the house rumbled and shook as power pulsed through the air.
In the library the power flickered and they could feel a charge in the air, not unlike that which would follow an evening thunderstorm that had made the sky dance with lights and the ground rumble with thunder.
"She is contained, but she is already straining against my barrier. I do not know how long it will hold," Cas said, appearing in the library alongside Willow and her team.
"What the hell was that!?" Willow asked.
Cas shook his head, for he did not know, "I believe she is drawing more power to herself. It may not be too long before she is too strong for us to send her back to Purgatory. I suggest you work quickly."
With not another word, Cas stood to the side, eyes closed, focusing solely on keeping his barrier working. It took almost all his strength to keep Eve contained, and he dreaded the moment she realized that she was trapped. He didn't know if he was strong enough to withstand the blows she would rain down on the walls he had created.
With a deep breath that was much more like a gulp, Dawn nodded her head. It was time, and that meant that there was no more time for worry or doubt or any other feeling that she had been squishing down and ignoring. She had been waiting for years to be able to contribute, to be able to do something of value in one of these fights, and the moment was finally here. She wasn't going to let them down; it was time to be a fucking hero like the rest of them. With determination and a quiet confidence that was full of false bravado, Dawn brought her hand up in front of her, focusing on the space on the floor that had been marked out for the portal to be opened at. This time she wasn't trying to save her sister - she didn't have Buffy to focus on. What she did have, however, was a sense of where it was she wanted to open a portal to. Dawn remembered the last time she did this; she remembered the feeling of dread that had flooded the room, the scent of death and decay and wet leaves that had assaulted her nose, and the stale air that had breezed through and pricked at her skin. This time she knew exactly where she needed to go, and she knew that would make it all the easier to succeed. As the small, familiar shimmer started to appear in the air at her fingertips, a scar in the very fabric of reality, Dawn's hand started to tremble and shake. She could feel the fatigue already starting to settle in - but no! It was too soon for that! Dawn let a deep breath out, hoping against hope that she could steady her hands. Steady her focus. Despite her best efforts, the shimmer that floated in front of her started to flicker, glitching in and out of existence. Any bit of expansion that Dawn was able to effect was quickly reversed as though it had never happened in the first place. For every increase in her focus, it seemed as though Dawn was unraveling her own progress. Her heart was sinking as she realized that it was only a matter a seconds before the shimmer, the failed attempt at opening a door, a window, was going to close off entirely. She knew, without a doubt, that she would be unable to open it again. She could feel herself swaying on her feet, feel the heaviness in her limbs. It had become a struggle to keep her eyes open, to keep her breathing even. With the signs of fatigue already becoming so pronounced, she knew that this was all she was going to be able to do in this fight. In that moment, Dawn decided she was going to make it count, and with what strength that remained, she bolstered her efforts. Finally the small shimmer turned into a tear – a window within which she could just start to see the broken and gnarled trees of a world she had never visited. Purgatory was starting to come into view.
Eyes wide with panic, she looked over her shoulder, gaze darting between those in the room that were already busy setting up for the binding spell. Exhaustion had started to really take its toll, and Dawn knew that she had gone as far as she could. No matter how much she wanted to hope or believe that she was just as strong, just as capable, as any of the others, Dawn knew that this time she just wasn't going to be enough. When she tried to speak, however, to call out to the others, Dawn found her voice was nothing more than a ragged whisper. She had to fight to speak, such was the extent of her weariness. Pushing down the renewed feeling of panic, Dawn dug deep for the words that had been lost on her tongue. Just as she found her voice, just before she called out for Cas, to finally admit that she was in over her head, to finally admit that she needed help, a hand touched down on her shoulder. To her surprise she found Andrew next to her, letting some of his own power flow to her. Her hand stopped trembling and the small window came further into focus. It became clearer and stronger as it slowly expanded. Together they pulled at its edges, dragging them outwards. Dawn could feel her hand starting to tremble once more as she started to slump against Andrew – desperate for support. Andrew threw more of his own power to the effort – more than he could afford to spare. But he had to do what he had to do. They couldn't afford to not open this portal. If they failed right now, then this was all for nothing and they would likely all die here and now. It wouldn't take Eve long to overrun the house, and it would take even less time for all their strength to give out. That had already happened once, and no one was eager for a repeat of those events. For all of Willow's contingency plans, all her preparation, there was no 'plan b' here, no back-up plans. This was it. And so Andrew put all that he could muster into getting this portal opened.
Finally the small window exploded into a bright light and the image beyond it became perfectly clear. The connection was made and they were granted the ability to reach into Purgatory once more. Andrew breathed a sigh of relief, but it was too soon to celebrate. Almost immediately, Dawn's eyes rolled up and back, her head lolling to one side. Her knees gave way too quickly for Andrew to react to as she slumped to the floor with an unceremonious thump. Her pulse was low, her breathing uneven and shallow – but she was indeed still breathing. Even though Andrew wanted to stay with her, protect her, and make sure she was okay, he knew he couldn't. The show must go on, and the war would stop for no man – er – woman. With a silent hope and a prayer that Dawn would be alright, Andrew dashed over to join the binding process before their opportunity passed. It would be harder now that they lacked their fourth person, someone with a level of magical ability, but he had no time to worry about that. This had to work, no matter what. It had to.
As Andrew crossed the room, before he could quite reach the others waiting for him, the library doors swung open, wood splintering under an unseen blow. Swiftly behind it, the bloodied and mangled body of one of the Slayers, fell into the library, crashing to the floor and remaining there – no sign of movement or life remaining. From where they stood in the library, no one could see who it was that had fallen in battle, but seeing a casualty struck a great blow to their confidence in their ability to succeed. From behind the fallen Slayer appeared a beast, its scaly skin coated with blood. Its jaws gnashed as it turned its head at sick angles, taking in the view of the library with its cold and unintelligible eyes. It had no idea of what it was looking at, but it saw new potential victims and practically smiled at that. The monster tilted its head back, screeching in pre-emptive victory as it prepared to leap and charge into the room. Before it took a single step, a sword erupted through its throat, the point aiming inwards to the library. The blade pulled upwards, cleaving through its head, pouring blood and gore out onto the floor. As the creature fell, the inhabitants of the library saw Rona standing behind it, also covered in a fair amount of blood. No one was quite sure if any of it was hers. She breathed out hard before looking from Willow to Xander to Andrew and finally to Cas.
"We've got this!" She yelled, trying to be heard above the roar of the battle behind her, "just keep going!"
Rona pulled the doors back, shutting them as much as the broken latches would allow her. She turned back to face the onslaught of monsters that had made it up the stairs. She didn't know if that meant that the team below had already fallen. She didn't know how many beasts were on their way to Delta's position at the library. She didn't know if those in the library were succeeding. She didn't even know if the others out on the field, Buffy, Faith, the hunters, if anybody was still standing. All she knew was that no matter what happened, what came her way, she and her team would hold this position. Nothing, not a single beast was going to make it past this door. From the stairwell came the sound of heavy footsteps, the sound of someone – something – plodding up the stairs. Rona bolstered her stance, her blade at the ready as she waited for the next beast to show its ugly face. She ignored the soreness in her shoulder, tired from the vicious swinging of her blade. She ignored the sense of hopelessness, of a lost cause, that had been trying to root in her gut throughout this fight.
All around her were corpses of these monsters, these beasts. They were grotesque and even in the stillness of death managed to inflict a sense of fear on those lucky enough to still be standing. Even still, there was something about the creatures that, against all odds, gave off a sense of innocence. There was almost a breath of relief expelled from them as the beasts fell, a look of release in their eyes that remained after death. It was easy to miss, especially in the heat of battle, but it was there all the same. What was harder to miss, however, was the way the creatures' flesh had changed as death claimed them. Where the things had been torn open, where monstrous blood and gore should have been visible, the fighters all noticed with a pang of regret, looked oddly human instead. The scaly skin lost some of its sickly luster, instead showing human shades; the blood a bright red in place of the oily black that stained the floor around them. It was a startling juxtaposition with the monstrous faces they all had – the grotesque bodies that remained. The thought that these had once been human, could be human once more, weighed heavily on the Slayers, on those chosen to protect the human race.
But Rona, like all the others that were fighting for their lives, had to ignore the sickening knowledge that these beasts were once human. She had to bury, deep down, the question that was sure to haunt her for weeks, months, to come: were they still human? Thoughts like that could cause her to hesitate when it came to the deathblow – and that was something she couldn't afford. Not now. Maybe once the battle was won, but that time felt like too far away to hope for. The beasts' numbers were staggering and it felt as though there was no end to them. Rona herself had cut down six or seven of them by now, and she knew that the other Slayers had handled their fair share, maybe even more. The teams out in the yard must have felled dozens upon dozens by now, if she had to guess based on the sounds coming from out there. She had no concept of how many more of these creatures there were; as far as she knew, Eve had an endless supply to throw at them, to tire them out. With a determined grin, Rona looked to her left at Sarah and her right at Beth - her two Delta girls. As long as these creatures kept coming, they would cut them down.
The same sentiment was shared all through the house, by each of the girls still standing. It extended out into onto the field, each Slayer resolutely determined to stop as many of the beasts from making it to the house as they could. Despite having a common goal, despite having trained to work together as cohesive units, the utter chaos on the field had driven the Slayers apart. Teams had been separated in the pandemonium, and more and more Slayers were left to fend for themselves as they came face to face with the horrible beasts. It didn't help that as the Slayers fought, struggling to hold their position and prevent the monsters from getting any closer to the house, the ground had rumbled and shook, giant fissures erupting and snaking across the field. Not only did this further cut some of the girls off from each other, but it created a dangerous battlefield with obstacles to now dodge. At least one girl, Millie, who was one of the newest of the trainees, did not see the new obstacle until it was too late, and found herself falling towards one of the fissures before Val grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her to safety. A nodded thanks was all she had time to give before dashing off to aid Bri against the creatures that had her cornered by the deck. Holly was less lucky, however, and tumbled into one of the fissures, burning upon contact, her skin melting from her bones – a silent scream etched onto her face as her life was snuffed out.
The beasts didn't seem to notice the surges of power or the fissures on the ground; they simply continued pressing their way towards the house, attempting to cut down anyone in their path. Many met a gruesome end at the hands of the Slayers they encountered, but it was never an easy fight for either party. There was little to no evidence of any sort of pack mentality amongst the creatures as none of them seemed affected or concerned by any of their fallen comrades, not even anger at seeing their own die at their feet. Nor did they seem to be working together to overwhelm the Slayers that met them in battle – most fortuitously on the Slayers' side. The beasts had the numbers, but the Slayers had the discipline, the training. It was enough to let them think that they had a chance to win this thing.
It didn't prevent all casualties, however. Girls like Chantel and Tina, separated from the other Slayers and overwhelmed by the sheer strength and force of the foe, fell in battle. These girls had died alone in battle, the solitary death that the Slayers of past knew all too well. Mel, another girl separated from her team, had taken one of the barbed tails through the chest, puncturing her heart and ending her life in an instant. There hadn't even been enough time for her to let out a pained scream. Nicole had been less lucky, suffering a gratuitous number of wounds and, failing to hold the beast's attention after falling, had bled out on the field before anyone could have come to her aid. Her last moments had been agony and she knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she was dying. Penny, having lost sight of the other girls she had been fighting side by side with, had joined Team Alpha at the barrier. She had struck down two of the monsters already, her ax coated in oily blood. Her side ached, her own blood pouring from a wound left by the claw of the last beast she had felled. While there didn't appear to be any toxin on these claws, at least not that she could tell as of yet, the wound itself was deep enough to slow her down to a dangerously slow pace. Her vision had started to blur, a side effect of the blood loss (and nothing else, she hoped), which might have explained why she never saw it coming. From somewhere behind her she heard Vi scream her name, and when she turned to look in that direction she could see panic on Vi's face as she rushed towards her. Before she had time to react, Penny felt a sharp pain at her throat. She didn't have time to scream, if she even had the ability to do so anymore, as the claw of the monster bisected her throat, embedding deep into the bone. The ground came up to meet her almost immediately, though she hardly felt the impact at all. All she could feel was the sensation of her flesh being ripped as the creature dug its sharp teeth into her, tearing her apart. The last thing she saw, as her vision darkened to black, was the tip of a blade erupting from the beast's chest. The last thought she had was hope that the monster had died, and a small, almost indiscernible smile crept onto her lips.
Buffy flinched back as she watched Vi stab her blade through the chest of one of Eve's grotesque monsters. Vi then kicked the creature off of her blade, obviously having caught its edge on bone somewhere, and then moved to fight the next one that was closing in. There was no time to spare a second thought for the Slayer that lay on the ground, and for that she could not blame Vi in the least. But Buffy could not take her eyes off of the still form. From where she stood, it was impossible to tell which girl had fallen. She couldn't tell if it was a girl she had spent hours with, training and practicing, or a girl she hardly knew, new to this world, to this life, and just learning to find her way. She couldn't even tell if the girl was, by some miracle, still clutching to life as she bled out on the ground. This was war. This was a bloody, awful, almost hopeless war against an army of monsters built to be the perfect killing machine. Buffy knew there would be casualties, they all knew that, but it didn't make it any easier to see girls that she knew, that she had trained and cultivated and come to care for, falling on the field all around her. And there was nothing she could do about it. Even if she could break free of the fight with Eve, escape the barrier, and join the fray, she would never be able to save them all. It was moments like that one that reminded Buffy just how useless a Slayer could be. For once, however, Buffy refused to shoulder that blame. This was not her fault. She was only doing her job, what she was meant to do, just like all the girls around her. The fault, the blame, landed squarely at Eve's feet. And she was going to make that bitch pay.
Buffy turned her attention back to Eve, ignoring the slight limp that she had now suffered at the Woman's hands. Both herself and Faith had already been knocked around some in this fight and both were already starting to show the signs of wear and tear. They had almost, but not quite, given as good as they'd gotten, delivering blows in each of the few-and-far-between opportunities that Eve gave them. Eve, however, look exactly the same as she had at the beginning of the fight. Any wound that the two Slayers had so far been able to inflict on their adversary had healed almost instantaneously, appearing to use little to no strength or effort on Eve's behalf. Even those wounds inflicted by Buffy's scythe seemed to heal over without any issue whatsoever, as though she had found immunity to what had previously damaged her quite considerably. It was a worrisome development, but they did not have the luxury of time to focus or worry about that; they just had to keep pushing their assault. They were, thankfully, not aiming to kill Eve, merely keep her busy until Willow and the rest could do their thing. It didn't seem to make much of a difference that Eve knew she was simply being distracted from the magic users of their operation – she seemed to be happy enough toying with and, eventually, squashing them. To her it was fun, a decent way to pass the time before she ended this whole charade like she should have done months ago.
It was all fun, at least, until a familiar scent, a familiar chill in the air, wafted across the battlefield and wrapped around her like a blanket. Eve could smell the death and decay of that place that she, unwillingly, called home. There was a portal opening to that place, she could feel its presence infecting this world already. No one opened a portal to Purgatory so they could visit, no, that wasn't what was happening here. They wanted to send her back. They meant to send her back! A shiver ran up her spine and, for the first time that fight, the two Slayers could see a flicker of fear behind Eve's eyes. Eve finally understood what exactly was happening on this battlefield, what the end goal was, and it terrified her. It infuriated her. She would not go back there, not now, not ever. And that meant that this little cat-and-mouse game was at an end. With a push of her hands, she sent another pulse through the air and knocked the Slayers back. Chains, seemingly constructed of lightning, wrapped around their wrists and, with a quick jerking motion of her own hands, Eve raised Buffy and Faith to hover just a few feet off of the ground.
"Well, this has been fun," Eve said, "but my attentions are needed elsewhere. Apparently your little witch friend didn't learn the last time. No matter. I'll simply have to remind her of what happens to witches when they stick their noses where they don't belong."
Witches will burn.
A small orb of fire appeared in Eve's hand, which she quickly extinguished with a vicious smile before turning her back on the Slayers. She kept them suspended in the air as she walked her way back towards the house, paying no mind to the Slayers at all. Eve had made it no more than twenty feet before she felt a shock of energy crash through her, rattling her system and causing her to convulse for a moment or two. With her concentration broken Eve lost her grip on the two Slayers. Buffy and Faith found themselves careening to the ground and both quickly tucked and rolled to try and absorb some of the impact before it could add to the damage that they had already suffered. Eve too dropped to the ground as she fought to shake off the nauseating effect that hitting the unseen force had caused. The walls of the barrier, the bubble around them, became visible for a moment, only a moment, reinforcing its appearance as a hexagonal shape that outlined their arena. The ripple worked its way through the barrier and vanished again without a trace. There was again no sign of the invisible walls around them.
Slowly, Eve rose to her feet, still trembling from the sudden shock of energy that had flooded her system. She raised her hand slowly, stretching out to test the barrier that she had come up against. Electricity sparked as her hand reached within inches of the invisible wall, revealing what had previously gone unnoticed. She remembered what had happened at the start of the fight, when the orb of light had exploded from the feet of the two Slayers and thrown her children back from the fray. At the time she had assumed that the Slayers had learned some fancy magic trick from their friend, something to help them when surrounded. Now, however, Eve recognized the signature of some sort of holy power that was not only keeping her confined, but ensuring that she could not call for aid should the tides turn and the Slayers begin to overwhelm her. It was clever, that she would give them. This rag-tag band had so far proven to be rather resourceful, but Eve would have never expected some sort of holy power to be at their command. Most curious.
As Eve stood, inspecting what she could of the magical barrier surrounding her, she also took the time to watch the chaos that had been unfolding all around her little cage. While many of her children had fallen, cut down heartlessly, she saw that the other side had taken casualties too. She smiled viciously as she saw more and more of her children flood the field, overwhelming the Slayers in number by nearly five-to-one. Even if she could not reach beyond this barrier, it gave her great pleasure to know that it would only be a matter of time before the Slayers all fell; before the witch was cut down and destroyed. The best of her army had yet to take to the field, and they were sure to wreak havoc like nothing any of the pathetic humans had seen before – if they were needed at all.
But any pre-emptive sense of victory was cut immediately short as Eve's gaze turned to fall on the clash that was occurring closest to the barrier's walls. She watched as Slayers, belonging to Team Alpha, not that she knew that, expertly cut down her children, one after another, seemingly without any effort at all. She paid them no mind. What had drawn her attention was the flash of plaid that had briefly appeared between two of the creatures of her army. Two more of the creatures fell, revealing behind them the Winchester brothers, both already aiming their shotguns at the next closest of her ranks. Her fiery gaze settled on the eldest brother, on Dean Winchester, and she felt her hands clench tight at her sides. Dean Winchester, the one who had killed her all those years ago – tricking her into consuming deadly phoenix ashes. Dean Winchester, the one who had, in that very instant, banished her back to Purgatory weak and broken. Dean Winchester, the one who she had all but trapped in that place with her – to be tormented and hunted for all eternity, just as he had done to her children throughout the years. Dean Winchester, the one who had escaped Purgatory in a way that she would never be able to – escaping her grasp yet again. Dean Winchester, the one who, even now, seemed to take a sick pleasure in sending a spray of shrapnel through the heart of those children she loved so very much. Eve hated Dean Winchester.
Her rage boiled over. In that moment, her priorities shifted ever so slightly: she wanted to destroy Dean Winchester. With an other-worldly scream, Eve turned back to face the two Slayers, the first of several obstacles that were preventing her from reaching the hunter. Whatever small flicker of fear had been in her eyes moments ago was long gone, replaced by a burning rage unlike anything either of the Slayers had ever seen before. It was their turn to feel fear. When Eve lashed out again, her attack had taken on a brutal edge to it, tainted by her rage and desperation to escape that which held her apart from the rest of the battlefield. The barrage of blows she unleashed, both magically and physically, were unlike any the Slayers had previously dealt with from Eve. The blows were ferocious and they could feel themselves beginning to crumble under the strain. If Eve was able to keep this pace up, both Slayers knew that the battle would not last much longer – they would lose the fight and in a bloody way.
Hearing the scream that had pierced through the air, both Sam and Dean turned to look at its source – the barrier that Cas had surrounded Eve with. What met their gaze was what looked like a one-sided battle, a losing battle, and it looked as though it was Buffy and Faith that were losing. The attacks being rained down on them by Eve were ferocious and devastating. Fire and lightning shot from Eve's hands between blows, leaving scorched marks in the ground and burning the two Slayers. So far, Buffy and Faith both seemed to be keeping up, to be dodging the attacks and staying on their feet. It didn't look like they had much of a chance to return any of the blows, and Eve showed no sign of slowing down enough for that to change. What was changing, however, was the ability for them to keep avoiding Eve's assault. The Slayers seemed to be slowing down, taking more and more blows as they did so, and showing more and more wear as the fight went on. At this rate it looked as though the fight would be ending within minutes unless someone intervened.
"Cas!" Dean yelled, "you gotta let us in!"
No response came. No window of opportunity to enter the barrier appeared.
"Cas, do you hear me? I said let us in," Dean repeated, unable to keep the panic and anger from his voice.
"They're dying in there," Sam added, he too unable to keep his voice level.
And still, no response came. For a moment, the two brothers considered trying to push their way into the arena, but after seeing what it had done to Eve's beasts and any that got too close, they decided against it. The only way past the barrier walls would be if Cas permitted it or the barrier itself fell. They could offer no help to the two Slayers, offer no distraction and run no interference. All they could do was stand and watch as Eve battered them down. Could they really just sit back and watch as Buffy and Faith lost this fight? Lost their lives?
Then finally, a voice boomed in the air, a voice they knew well.
"You have bigger problems," Cas said, ignoring their request. "Her General has taken to the field."
They wanted to argue. They wanted to remind Cas that there were dozens of Slayers on the field, all ready and willing and, more importantly, able to fight whatever the hell Eve and her army wanted to throw their way. It wasn't the Slayers on the field that needed their help, it was the two separated from everything and everyone else that needed their help. They wanted to beg and plead to be let into the arena. But they couldn't. Why? Because they saw the horde that was entering the battlefield and they knew within a heartbeat that the Slayers were woefully unprepared to deal with what was coming their way, for they had never fought a Purgatory creature before. The hunters had though, and they had wished to never again have the opportunity, but here it was. It was staring them right in the face and tearing them away from the two Slayers in desperate need of help. Dean's lips pulled back in a scowl, a newfound resentment towards Eve blossoming in his gut. The two hunters watched and waited for the clash to begin.
At the other end of the field, just entering the yard, was a small pack of monsters that looked like they came directly from some kid's nightmare. They were all jagged teeth, long claws, and razor-sharp barbs. They were as dark as an oil slick and moved in a sort of lumbering fashion, the ground shaking with every impact of their large feet. Behind them, their tails flicked as they moved, more barbs and spikes lining the length of them. From the distance the two hunters were, they estimated about five or six of these monstrosities had come to join the fray, but it was hard to tell where one creature ended and another began. Sam had not yet had to actually fight one of these things, let alone half a dozen of them, but he already knew it wasn't going to be the same easy fight as the other minions had been. Dean, on the other hand, absolutely had fought things like this before, and he knew without doubt that fighting them was going to be one hell of a battle. He'd only ever fought them with a Slayer, his Slayer, by his side, and he had no qualms in admitting that they only reason he'd survived those encounters was because of Buffy. He could take down one, maybe even two by himself – but that was only because he had the experience. They were going to need Slayers to help, but even that may not be enough. Before the fight even started, Dean had a sick feeling in his stomach that this was going to result in some casualties and he wasn't prepared to be responsible for that.
"We need to take those down!" Sam yelled out towards a few of the Slayers nearby.
The Slayers turned to look where the hunter was pointing and felt the colour drain from their faces. They had no idea what they were looking at, but it chilled them to the bone. Despite their fear, several Slayers stepped toward the beasts that were thundering towards them, ready to fight and defend their house. With one final check of their guns and blades, Sam and Dean also moved to meet the new contenders in the field. There was no damn way in hell those beasts were going to make it anywhere near that house. Not if they could help it. The Slayers had already engaged the beasts by the time the two brothers had made it halfway across the field, but just as they moved to pick up their pace, something stopped them dead in their tracks.
A shadow swooped across the field, darkening the space all around them for a moment a little too long to be considered brief. It was accompanied by the sound of something leathery flapping somewhere in the air above them. A high pitch wail, a deep throated roar, echoed in the yard, loud enough to leave them with a ringing in their ears. Before even looking up, Dean knew exactly what he was going to find and for the first time in a long time he felt his blood run cold as his heart stopped for a breath or two.
A voice echoed in his mind, a memory from so long ago. They fly now!?
"Shit."
The Slayers would have to hold their own because even if the two hunters had wanted to join their fight, there was no way in hell that this creature above them was going to allow that. The flying monster screeched out another roar as it swooped further down, just barely missing the two hunters on the ground. The brothers felt the breeze of proximity and ducked to avoid being raked by claws as large as their forearms. Dean was quick on the trigger and, without wasting much time to aim, fired off two blasts from his shotgun. The first shot found its target with ease, slamming into the back of the monsters leg as it arced back up into the air, but there was no sign of any sort of reaction from the beast – it was as though it hadn't felt the bullet fragments piercing through its flesh. The second shot missed by a long shot, too slow and too far away from the beast as it rose further and further up, ready to make another dive for the hunters.
"Fuck."
So I learned something recently...did you all know it's SUPER hard to write/edit/post a chapter when your laptop has crapped out? Who knew!? It made it incredibly difficult to continue to post and it took a bunch of work arounds to get this damn chapter up. The good news is that it's here! And the next few will be posted soon too! We're finally going to wrap this monstrosity of a story up. Huzzah!
This chapter, and the next two as well, may flow a little differently than the previous chapters. They bounce around a lot, shifting in perspective and characters without much notice. It's an intentional thing I've done to a - include as many characters as possible in the final battle, b - illustrate that most of what is happening is kind of happening all at once, it's all overlapping as the fight rages on, and c - to really give a sense of the chaos that the characters are in. Hopefully it works and it's not TOO messy to follow. I did my best. I had to write the entire battle in one go and then split it up into three separate chapters, so it was...it was quite the undertaking. I hope you enjoy it!
