I suppose that I should tell you in advance that writing fight scenes is not my forte, so I apologise if it's at all awkward.

Caridad was a minor character in BtVS Season 7, as one of the Potentials who came to Sunnydale. She was confirmed to have survived, even if she never appeared in 'Chosen' or any of the comics.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'NCIS', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', or any of the characters therein.

WORD COUNT: 854


"Don't move."

Emily froze at her trainer's urgent tone. She'd been training with this Slayer long enough to know that when Caridad said stop, you had to fucking stop.

She could feel it, too. There was this uncomfortable prickling sensation creeping up the back of her neck, like someone had slipped an ice cube down her shirt. There was also the urge to immediately spring into action and attack whatever it was that was hiding wherever she couldn't see it, but that would be monumentally stupid, so she resisted that urge.

"Hold very still." Caridad moved slowly, holstering the stake in her right hand while taking careful, silent steps around Emily. Meanwhile, she drew a pale-handled, elaborately patterned iron knife with her left hand. Emily mentally ran through the list of demons that had a weakness to iron, but drew a blank. She was good at observing useful details to relay to her dad when she got kidnapped, and at thinking on her feet. Memorising demon species and their strengths and weaknesses? Not so much.

Caridad's eyes were definitely fixed on something over Emily's left shoulder, and now that Emily was paying more attention, she could definitely hear something growling behind her. Drawing on the Slayer Senses lessons she'd been getting, she was able to pinpoint the source to about three yards behind her, and… ten feet above her? It would have to be up on the second-storey fire escape of the alley she and Caridad were passing through on patrol.

Suddenly, Caridad moved so fast she would be a blur to non-Slayer eyes (and damn near close to it to a Slayer), leaping upward and out of sight. Emily whipped around to see her trainer grab onto the fire escape railing with one hand while using the other hand to shove her knife into the massive shape also hanging from the same fire escape.

The demon came crashing down with a window-rattling roar of rage and pain. That was going to wake the neighbours. However, the stab and the fall clearly were not enough to kill it, as the damn thing got up pretty much right away and charged at Emily.

Emily brought up the stake that was already in her hand, intending to use the demon's momentum to help her drive the weapon into its heart.

Except it didn't work out that way. Emily could barely process the stake in her hand shattering into tiny splinters against the demon's tough, slate-grey hide before she was lifted off her feet and slammed into the wall behind her.

She saw stars when her head smacked into the brick wall, and all the air rushed out of her lungs with a whoosh. The demon had picked her up by her upper arms and never even broke its stride until the wall stopped them both.

The demon's breath smelled horrible, ten times worse than that time she picked up groceries for a week-long midsummer camping trip, a package of frozen chicken had fallen out in her car, and she hadn't discovered it until she and her dad had gotten back from their trip. Its clawed grip was so strong, Emily swore she could feel her arm bones crunching under the force.

Caridad's knife was still sticking out of the demon's chest, but not all the way to the hilt. Emily strained to grab it and get a good grip, her right hand bleeding from the wooden shards embedded in it.

"Emily!" Caridad had dropped down from the fire escape and drawn the short sword holstered across her back, and was now trying to hack away at the demon's back, but wasn't making a dent. The blade that had previously sliced one demon right in half wasn't having any effect on this one. Still, Caridad kept trying, screaming what was probably a litany of Spanish curses.

Emily pulled on the knife as hard as she could, yanking it out of the demon's chest. She remembered something Isra had taught her: Go for the eyes (if it has any). Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, the eyes were the perfect weak spot.

Even though her arms were shaking from the pain, she managed to drive it right into the demon's bright yellow left eye.

Emily would later swear that she went temporarily deaf from the shrill screech that was the demon's death wail, so high-pitched compared to its earlier roar. Those crushing hands finally released her, and Emily dropped to the ground, too dazed and pained to stay standing. The demon crumpled to the dirt in front of her, its ichor-oozing head landing in her lap.

She couldn't breathe, she was in so much pain. Later, she would reflect that that didn't make sense, but she was in no state of mind to appreciate that.

"Get up!" Caridad's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. "Em, come on! We gotta get out of here!"

The senior Slayer hauled the junior one to hear feet, and the two of them ran (for a given value of the word 'run') down the alley as police sirens filled the air.


I was planning for this to be a three-parter, but I've extended it to at least 4 parts. Chapter 3 will be the next prompt, #13, but Chapter 4 will be Prompt #24. However, I don't plan on having any other NCIS characters show up until Chapter 4. I will try to make some mentions of the others in the next chapter, but no one else will actually be showing up yet.