(4/28/2017) Okay, look. If you're going to leave a bad review, then whatevs. It's your opinion and you're entitled. But at least have a login so I can respond. Also, getting all judgy before you've even finished everything that's written? On this and my other crossover? Rude.
Rant over. Sorry, got irritated. On with the mayhem!
Thank you jkmp28, philly cheese dude, RHatch89, and thedarkpokemaster for the reviews! And all you favoriters and followers get sprinkles!
They decided to attempt the curse the following night. For one, the local apothecary wasn't open until the morning. For another there was a far more pressing problem.
Dean had begun to flinch at everything. Reluctantly, he explained that he'd begun to see things. Awful, indescribably ghastly things. Ruby quietly explained that it was because, at least for Dean, the veil between this world and the next had thinned. It made it easier for the Hellhounds to find someone that was straddling the border than it was to find someone purely within the living.
The look of pity the demon gave Dean nearly shattered his thin veneer of bravery.
Instead of sleeping, the group did their best to cram in as much research as possible. They searched for everything they could about demons and Hell, scouring books they'd read a million times before, scrutinizing even the most minute details in an effort to ascertain something that might have been missed. Giles and Bobby drilled Ruby over and over again, repeating questions to see if they'd get new answers and asking about the most unlikely subjects. To her credit, she managed not to kill either of them though her desire to do so was clear.
At one point, Giles pondered, "Well if there are demons there must be angels."
Sam glowered at Dean when he snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, right," the eldest brother said.
Ruby merely shrugged. "Never seen one."
"Well, it was a faint possibility," sighed the Watcher tiredly before he resumed reading.
By the time the sun had risen, the teenagers (other than Buffy) had flopped over onto whatever surface had been handy, Bobby had returned to their house to get a few more books, and Sam had started using his laptop for a pillow. Ruby had taken to pacing, Buffy to whittling stakes (and now had a good dozen or so piled in front of her); Giles continued muttering to himself as he pored through another book, and Dean had gently extracted Sam's laptop from underneath his brother's arms. He had been perusing free pornography in the librarian's office since the small hours of the morning.
"Damnit, Dean!" Sam snapped as he barged into the room and slapped his computer closed.
"It's my last day on Earth!" Dean complained. "I doubt they got T&A in Hell."
Sam sighed and sat down near his brother. "What are we going to do?"
"Run," Ruby supplied from the doorway.
"Run where?" Sam asked bitingly.
"Anywhere. Far. Surround yourself with goofer dust and devil's traps. It'll give us more time."
Sam's eyebrows lifted. "Because that worked so well for Bela and all those other people."
The demon lifted her arms then dropped them, exasperated. "Hey, I'm trying."
"Okay, I got something," Dean said. He stood up and stuck his palm out towards Ruby. "Your knife."
"Excuse me?"
"That knife you got. The one that kills demons. Give it."
"No."
"Why not?" Sam asked.
"Because it's not enough."
"Then what is?"
"You."
"Excuse me?"
"Sam, you've got some God-given talent. Well, not 'God'-given but you get the gist."
"Wait a minute," Dean interjected. "Are you talking about all that psychic crap? Sam hasn't had a vision since we killed yellow-eyes."
"It's not gone," Ruby replied acidly. "It's dormant. And there's so much more he could do. He could wipe Lilith of the map right now without lifting a finger."
"That's bullshit."
"Look," the demon said as she turned to Sam. "You don't like being different. You're afraid that it makes you some kind of sideshow freak. But suck it up because we've got a lot of ground to cover, and we've got to do it fast. But we can do it and I can show you how."
Dean barked, "Hah!" then stood up to confront Ruby. "That's why you been sticking around, huh? So you can become Sam's slutty little Yoda?"
Dean's voice was rising, catching the attention of both his sister and her Watcher and jerking awake the others. "To Dagoba!" Xander cried sleepily.
"You're not teaching him anything," Dean snarled as he backed Ruby into the doorframe. "What you're going to do is give me that knife."
"Screw you," Ruby tossed back. "Your brother is carrying a bomb inside of him and we'd be stupid not to use it."
"Hold on," Cordelia said. "Buffy's brother is carrying a bomb? Is it in the car? Why aren't we just straight up nuking the vampires instead of bothering with these stupid stakes?"
"I'm fairly certain it's not a literal bomb," Giles explained.
"She has a point," said Ruby. "We aren't using him to his full potential and I know how to bring it out!"
"Now hold on—" Sam began.
"Are we talking about that psychic stuff?" Buffy wondered. "Because from what I remember being psychic boy wasn't a whole lot with the fun-ness."
"Yes," Ruby responded. "But you —" she uttered as she poked Dean in the chest, "are holding him back!"
"No," Dean refuted, "I'm preventing you from turning him into your own personal anti-Christ Superstar!"
"All I want," the demon said, teeth clenched, "is Lilith dead."
"Why?" asked Buffy.
"What?"
"Why do you want Lilith dead?"
Ruby let loose an exasperated sigh. "What I'm trying to do," she said in a patronizing tone, "is save all of your sorry asses. And if you want to save Dean before he becomes Hellhound shit then this is the way to do it!"
Dean smirked down at the demon. Then, to everyone's surprise, he reached back and punched her in the face.
Ruby staggered a few steps and wiped blood from the corner of her lip. Sam drew breath to plea for calm, but the demon was having none of it. The next instant saw Ruby launching herself into an all out, no-holds brawl with Dean.
Everyone shouted, but Ruby's inhuman strength and Dean's unbridled rage kept them from physically intervening. Even Buffy couldn't find an opening into the melee without harming her brother. Frustrated, she prepared to knock both of them out when Dean shoved the demon into the caged locker where Giles kept some of their weaponry (and Oz spent full moons snarling at whomever had watch duty).
"The hell you grinning at?" the demon angrily demanded of Dean.
Buffy's eldest brother wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with one hand. The other lifted to show Ruby's purloined dagger. "Missing something?"
"I'll kill you, you son of a bitch," she snarled as she rammed into an invisible barrier. Dean pointedly looked down at the floor and the demon spotted the devil's trap that had been painted at the storage area's doorway as a precaution.
Giles handed Dean a handkerchief to wipe at his wounds as the remainder of the group headed for the library's back door. "Wait!" Ruby cried, indignant. "You're just going to leave me here?"
Xander opened the door as the demon shouted, "Then fine! You deserve Hell! I wish I could be there, Dean. I wish I could smell the flesh sizzle off your bones! I WISH I COULD BE THERE TO HEAR YOU SCREAM!"
Her imprecations continued even after the door was shut. Dean began to show off his ill-gotten weapon by flipping it about only to have it snatched mid-air by his sister. "Hey!"
Buffy peered closely at the runes scribed on both sides of the blade. "What is this?"
"Oh!" Giles exclaimed interestedly. "May I?" His Slayer handed it over. "It's Kurdish, very old."
"From Kurdland?" asked Xander.
"They're a Middle Eastern people, quite ancient. This is specifically wrought to kill demons. Fascinating!" Giles looked up at Dean. "Where did she get this?"
"Dunno," he replied. "Don't care. All I know is that we can gank Lilith with the thing."
"Hopefully," Sam added cautiously.
"Good!" Buffy exclaimed. "Now all we need to do is find her."
"If-If we find Angel," Willow postulated, "we find Lilith. Right? Because Ruby said she wants Acathla and we think Angel took it."
"So let's do it quick before he discovers the ritual," proclaimed the Slayer. She brightened slightly. "Or maybe we'll go to Hell and I don't have to take my finals!" Her face fell. "Or maybe I'll be taking them forever."
Lilith had brought with her the parents and grandfather of her meatsuit, a phenomenon that had the vampires initially perplexed. Spike dryly observed that it was like caging a dog then wafting a steak at it. They capitulated, amused, once they realized how deeply traumatized the adults were. Cause for even further delight occurred when, after the usual rude introductory exchange, the demon rounded upon the old man in a petulant fury.
"Grandpa," Lilith said in a deceptively sweet tone. "Why did you try to ask the man at the store for help?"
The parents froze as the grandfather tried to smile gamely. "I don't know what you mean, sweetheart."
"Did you know about this?" the demon asked the mother. The woman shook her head fearfully. After receiving the same glare, the man repeated the gesture.
The child's face darkened. She spun on her heel to look at Drusilla and asked pleasantly, "Auntie, do you want to play?"
"Oh, yes!" the vampire exclaimed. She clapped her fingers in glee. "I have the prettiest dolls."
"But aren't you hungry?"
"The dollies shan't be cross if we are a little late." With the crunch of shifting bones, Drusilla's face warped. The mother gave a shriek that was quickly stifled by her husband's hand. In another moment the vampire was on the grandfather, her fangs burying hungrily into the man's neck. He didn't even had the time to scream.
Drusilla drank her fill then tossed the remains to their flunkies. She then grasped Lilith's hand and began leading the child away to her boudoir and her collection of porcelain dolls. Lilith eagerly followed, the "mother's" wrist in her supernaturally strong grip, leaving the father to stand awkwardly amidst the monsters. Angelus gave the poor man a hearty snarl in warning before turning his attention to more important matters.
"Can't help but notice, mate," Spike said lazily. "We been standing around with our pretty rock here and nothing's been done."
"There's a ritual involved," Angelus pondered as he walked around Acathla.
"And?"
"And what?"
"And what is it?"
"Not sure." The elder vampire smirked. "But I bet I know who does."
Giles promised to not let Ruby out, at least until she had gotten over her bout of temper over Dean's thievery, while Sam and the teenagers miserably headed into their third day of finals. Having nothing better to do, Dean headed for home to check on Bobby and fill him in on Acathla and Angel. Afterwards, the eldest of the siblings had himself what he assured was not going to be his last beer and turned on what was not going to be his last set of reruns and settled down to wait.
The others piled into the house at around four commiserating with one another over their respective exams. Surprisingly, Giles had Ruby in tow. He explained that since the demon had extensive magical knowledge they would be stupid not to utilize her. She glared venomously at Dean (who returned the look in kind) but otherwise made no move to either reclaim her lost property or to take retribution.
After settling, all of them gathered around the splintered table that served Ruby's houseguests for dining, planning, and (in Sam's case) grading and tried to form a plan.
"We should shore up defenses here," Sam said. "Just in case. Devil's traps, salt at the windows and doors, the works."
"And what am I supposed to do, idiot?" snapped Ruby.
"Be careful?" Dean replied caustically.
"Right," Buffy said firmly. "Xander, Cordelia: you two start with the salt lines and the magic circles. I have stakes. So," she wondered as she turned towards Ruby, "can you make with the magic and show us where they're at?"
"Yes, but I'll need ingredients."
"I'll get them!" Willow volunteered eagerly.
"I'll get them," the demon refuted. "But I'll need a map of the city."
"Gotcha covered," Bobby said.
"Make sure you let me back in," Ruby warned before walking out the front door.
Xander headed for the kitchen for a hefty bag of salt while Sam handed Cordelia two spray cans and a sheet of paper. "Make sure these are exactly right," the hunter warned.
"I can draw doodles," the girl scoffed before heading up the stairs.
"What about the curse?" asked Buffy.
Willow held up her backpack. "Got everything right here. Giles even had an Orb of Thesulah in his office for some reason."
"It made a fine paperweight," the Watcher clarified defensively.
"How long to get it all ready?" Buffy asked.
"An hour."
"Good. Get started." The Slayer turned towards her eldest brother and started when she saw his nauseated expression. "What?"
Dean swallowed hard. "Nothing."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"Can't a guy look at his own sister for the last time?"
"Oh for—" Buffy threw her hands up and let them drop. "You're not going to die tonight, okay? We're going to find Lily and alfalfa and nothing's going to happen."
"Lilith and Acathla," Sam corrected wearily. "In the meantime, I'll get some food. Anybody got a preference?"
"Burger, extra onions," Dean announced happily.
Sam opened his mouth as if to object (the stench of his brother's breath after the requested meal was corrosive) then thought better of it. He grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen, jotted down everyone's fast food requests (getting Cordelia and Xander's by shouting up the stairwell), and headed out.
Dean stared after his brother and then glanced over at his sister. He wanted to tell her, he really did, that he'd seen something beneath her face. Something… not quite right. It wasn't the same as when he'd seen Sam's face distort and jerk unnaturally earlier in the morning; it was more savage, more brutal, and it screamed. But there would be time to solve that mystery later. Tomorrow. There would always be tomorrow.
"Weapons," Buffy was saying.
"Holy water," Dean suggested.
"On it," Bobby said and headed outside to his truck.
"I'll get shotguns and salt rounds," Dean told Buffy and followed the elder hunter.
Buffy looked up at her Watcher. "Is this going to work?" she asked quietly.
"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied with a sigh.
"Well." Buffy looked proudly on the table at the veritable mountain of stakes she'd whittled throughout the night. "At least we'll be prepared."
Meals were eaten and spells were prepped just as darkness fell. With great anticipation, the entire group gathered at the table once again as Ruby smoothed down Bobby's map and lit a match. She spat a line of Latin and touched the flame to the paper's corner. The fire, which ignored the wooden tabletop, consumed the map with preternatural speed and left only a tiny burnt square before snuffing itself out. Buffy snatched it up and peered closely at it. "That can't be right."
"What?" asked Sam.
"Ruby," the Slayer chastised, "this is this house!"
The demon paled. "Oh no."
Someone rapped politely on the front door. Everyone stared fearfully in its direction. Giles apprehensively crept forward and slowly opened the door.
"Hello?" he asked the stranger.
"Hey, Miss Patterson!" Xander called cheerfully. "She lives down the street," he explained to Bobby and Sam.
"And goodbye," Dean said as he slammed the door shut. When he saw the others' startled expressions, he explained, "Demon."
"How…?" Giles started to ask.
"I could see her face. Somehow."
Bobby frowned deeply. "You got, what, five hours left?" After Dean nodded, he continued. "You're tearing that veil more and more, son. At least it's something we can use to our advantage."
Whatever Dean was about to add was interrupted by a vicious snarl and the thump of a body slamming up against the doorway. "Vampires," said the Watcher.
"And demons," Ruby breathed.
"And us," Xander quipped, his voice unnaturally high. "Oh my!"
Dean glanced over at Ruby then jerked his head back to her and stared, wide-eyed. "What?" she snapped.
"Nothing. I just… I couldn't see you before, but you're one ugly broad."
"Well, they can't get in," Willow said, forestalling Ruby's scathing rejoinder. "So that's good, right?"
"We need to get to Lilith," Sam insisted. He looked pointedly at his brother. "We don't have much time."
"Dean," Buffy began worriedly. She was cut off by the sound of shattering glass from above.
"Didn't you salt the windows?" Sam yelled at Xander.
"Yes!" the boy replied, panicked. "Even the little one in the bathroom! Cordy was supposed to double check after she finished with the traps."
"Shit," Dean suddenly uttered. Presumably spooked by something outside, the others peered out of the nearest window. When they saw nothing truly untoward, they realized that he wasn't staring at the congregation of demons and vampires.
He was looking at Cordelia.
She blinked. Her eyes filmed over in black.
"Oops," she said, smiling coyly.
Acknowledgement : Some lines of dialogue are taken directly from the episodes "No Rest for the Wicked" (SPN 3.16) and "Becoming, Part I" (BtVS 2.21).
