Slayer and Shadow

Tiamat was angry.

Her 'den' was burning, while many of her servants were dead, slaughtered by her own claws. She crouched over her hoard, the dragon growling to herself angrily as she fought to regain control over her temper. She shuddered, then closed her eyes a moment.

She HATED this fleshly body. It was so limiting! For the first time she had actually emitted waste from the humans she had ate. Worse, she had had a upset stomach, presumably from eating Glory. It was all terribly unpleasant.

And there was a... nagging feeling in the back of her head that she had forgotten something important. Or that she needed to do something. Well, other than killing the Slayer. Killing the Slayer would be a pleasure...

Tiamat visibly shook herself. DAMN that mystic compulsion! She had to keep her guard up constantly, or it would start hammering at her mind, driving her on to kill the human. Tiamat hated the idea of giving up her freedom to choose. She would crunch and eat the humans SHE decided to eat, not some damn spell.

And again the disturbing, dragon-like thoughts slipped in to vex her. More and more she was being shaped by the body her consciousness now inhabited. Gender was becoming part of her in ways she was not used to. Hunger, crankiness, desire, repulsion, hatred... all had become things she was aware of, now that she was trapped in this disgusting meat bag.

"Mistress?" the cat demoness ventured into the chamber warily, garbed mostly in strips of black cloth and a rough skirt.

Tiamat met her gaze, scowling as she asked, "Yes, Blake?"

"We have news. Apparently the vampires were spotted at Sunnydale High. Should we send a force to investigate?" Blake asked, the mostly black clad woman ready to leap away if her mistress was still angry.

Tiamat growled low in her throat, the compulsion to serve those disgusting minor demons roaring in her mind. She shook it off, even as she ordered, "Take a large band of warriors. They have proven hard to slay."

"And the school?" Blake asked.

"Burn it," Tiamat said flatly. She paused as she remembered something, "If you discover any seals beneath the school, do NOT disturb them."

Blake looked a bit confused, but nodded willingly, "Yes mistress."

Tiamat sat back on her hoard with a sigh. The First Evil slept beneath the caverns under the school, and she had no wish to wake it. Things were complicated enough in this town already. Like needing to beat the Slayer...

'No!' Tiamat thought angrily, driving the compulsion back.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The truth was, there were no 'real' Demons on Earth. The monsters that called themselves Demons were merely hybrids, born of humans and other... things. Real Demons were creatures that existed other-dimensionally, that by their very nature couldn't intrude on our universe. Lovecraft had gotten a sense of them in his works, uncomprehensible creatures who's very presence broke the sanity of men.

So Blake, like most of the 'demons' on Earth, was at least partly human. She hated that part of herself, yet she also knew it influenced her in many ways. A curse and a blessing, possibly. A real demon couldn't work with others, for instance. Cooperation was impossible for them. They either existed in solitude... or fought wars with each other. There were no in betweens.

Just off the gutted building Tiamat used as a 'lair' her army of subjects gathered. Tho army was probably a stretch. There were hundreds of monsters gathered there under Tiamat's banner, though admittedly most were of the 'dumb muscle' type. Good at smashing and breaking stuff, yes. Planning? Not so much.

So when Blake went looking for a squad, she picked those she knew were smarter than average. She needed a fire demon, so she got the Salamander, Yang. Along with her she found two of the better fighters, and some grunts.

"We're going to wreck the school? Neat!" Ruby beamed, the half-ork following Yang like some sort of lost puppy, her bulky robes hiding the slight twists in her muscular body.

"Calm down," Weiss noted, the ice demon looking annoyed, "we have to search it for the vampires first. THEN we burn it."

"Yeah," Yang grinned, the busty blond's hair flickering with bursts of fire, her fairly scanty outfit clinging to womanly curves.

"Follow me," Blake ordered, leading the small band out into the twilight.

Yang drawled, "I'll follow YOU anywhere..."

Blake blushed furiously.

Sunnydale High was deserted as the monsters surrounded it. "Remember," Blake reminded them, "the vampires are dangerous. Kill them on sight!"

"We can't play with them?" Weiss looked disappointed as they walked in as a group, the other monsters fanning out.

Blake shook her head, "We need to be careful with them. We thought we had them pinned earlier, instead they killed most of the group and easily escaped."

"Is that why we haven't seen Bug-boy lately?" Ruby asked curiously.

Yang nodded, "Tiamat ate him."

"Ewww," Ruby made a face.

The school was deserted, though that wasn't much of a surprise. As their monsterous bretheren had rampaged across the city, much of the services that served the humans shut down. Schools had closed, police answered calls until they were exhausted and so on.

The sound of things breaking as their goons search echoed down the halls. At the same time Blake lead them into the heart of the building, her keen senses picking up traces of the vampires and of magical power. Possibly not surprisingly, they ended up in the library.

"Hey, can I take a few books back with us?" Ruby asked, browsing the shelves.

"Sure, whatever," Yang waved that aside as they prowled the room. "You feel that?" she asked Blake curiously.

"Magic," Blake nodded, "but faint. Books, MAYBE something else."

"And vampire stink," Weiss frowned, "but old. I think they left."

"Aww. I wanted to dismember them," Ruby pouted.

"Let's torch the place," Yang offered just a bit too eagerly, "that way they can't hide out here from us again."

"But... the books," Blake actually looked distressed.

"You know what the boss would want," Weiss pointed out flatly.

Blake sighed but nodded grimly. "You're right, but just give me a few minutes," she said.

To everyone's amusement she and Ruby both grabbed bags and stuffed books into them, then returned to the group. "Ready?" Yang asked wryly.

"Yeah," Blake sighed, "give us a minute or so to get clear, then torch the place."

"What about the monsters we lead here?" Weiss asked.

Blake shrugged eloquently, "What about them? They'll get out or they won't."

"Cold, Blake, very cold," Weiss noted, grinning as they hurried out, leaving Yang behind.

Yang waited about a minute or so, then grinned herself. "Time to burn," she purred, hammering her fists together and sending fire spiralling up around her.

"That was NOT a minute!" Ruby yelped as they heard a explosion go off behind them, then the three women bolted down the hall.

"Premature eruption. Happens fairly often I hear," Blake quipped.

"Do NOT let Yang hear you say that," Weiss snickered.

The band of four ended up out in the parking lot, watching the buildings burn as slightly singed monsters gathered around them.

There was a roar as Tiamat passed above them, the dragon flying above the city.

"Why is she...?" the still smoking Yang wondered.

Blake watched the dragon circling as she muttered, "I doubt it's good."

To be continued.

Note: YES, RWBY crossover. I've been stuck on this chapter and wanted to write something different. So, RWBY monsters. Heh.