Okay, here's the first chapter of the story. Hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 1 - Through the portal
The night air in Sunnydale felt crisp on Buffy's cheeks as she quietly stalked through the woods. She could hear the not so silent steps of her friends behind her. She could only hope that the demons they were about to confront would not have too good hearing.
Buffy gazed to the sky to see half of the moon illuminating the sky, some clouds hiding it every now and then as they drifted forward on the deep blue of the night sky.
Scoobies were on their way to this certain clearing in the forest that, according to Willow, was used to sacrifice for gods and spirits a way back. They were to stop some demons named so weirdly that Buffy didn't even bother trying to remember it. The fact that the demons were going to do something that could cause much more trouble for them was enough for her.
After few more minutes, Buffy could finally see the edge of the clearing through the line of trees ahead of her. She silently signaled others to stop and then used her Slayer hearing to try to get an impression of how many demons they were going to be against. She caught sounds of soft murmurs and chanting in language she didn't recognize. But the voices were too merged together for her to able tell how many there were.
Buffy glanced back at her friends. Willow was nervously trying to stay still, her lips moving as she silently memorized spells she could use with the demons. Xander, holding an axe he had come quite well accustomed with, was looking at Buffy and waiting for them to continue. Fourth member of their little group was about to light a cigarette when he caught Buffy's angry look and sighing replaced the cigarette and the lighter into the pocket of his leather duster. Spike then lifted his eyebrow as to ask 'What are we waiting for?'
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back towards the clearing. She had felt angry and somewhat awkward around her friends ever since they found out where she really had gone to when she had died. And Spike, well, that awkwardness was definitely something else she didn't even want to try to comprehend.
The sound of chanting got stronger and she turned her attention back to the present. No time to think about her screwed up existence. If she was to believe what the book had said about the demons, there probably was about six or seven of them. They were supposed to be quite strong and quick so she had been little apprehensive to bring Willow and Xander. But she needed more that just Spike's help if the demons were to success with their attempt.
The demons were, according to what they had heard, going to open a portal to some other dimension and trying to summon some powerful force from there to make themselves much stronger and harder to win. These demons had already caused enough havoc during couple of nights they had spent in Sunnydale. They really needed to be stopped.
Buffy motioned with her hand for them to start moving closer and take their positions. She saw Spike slipping stealthily to her left side and getting closer to clearing. Willow and Xander moved closer to Buffy trying to stay as silent as possible.
Buffy could feel some strong magic slowly starting to build up and decided it was time to make the move. She calmed herself and started towards the demons. As she entered the clearing she made quick count on demons and came up with six. Their skin was blue and scaly and they reminded her a little bit of The Judge. She put sickly sweet smile on her face and briskly spoke to the demons.
"Well, don't you have a nice little meeting here. But I must say I'm really disappointed I didn't get an invitation to your little chant fest."
Demons turned their attention to Buffy and she shifted little nervously. These spawns of evil had red eyes with black orbs in the center. It was not the color that made her wigged, but the fact that their eyes were glowing deep blood red shine that actually made a shiver go down her spine. She shrugged it of and collected herself.
"Okay uglies, here's the deal. You quit this little gathering of yours now and move your scaly asses away from my town and I won't kill you right away. How does that sound?" Buffy eyed the demons as they narrowed their eyes and three of them started out of the half circle they had formed in the middle of the clearing.
The demons approached Buffy and she slowly slipped into fighting stance. But she had to quickly reform her plan of ass-kicking as the demons all drew long swords behind their backs and sprinted towards her with very fast pace.
Luckily Buffy had brought her own sword, as her stake would not really have been useful against bigger demons. She quickly drew the sword from its sheath attached to her back and swung it towards the first demon to reach her.
From then on, the situation was barely kept from running out of the Scoobies' hands. The demons were much faster than Buffy had though first. She only barely managed to avoid being sliced while trying to get her strikes delivered. Spike was also fighting with all his skills and Willow was trying to use some spells to stop or kill the demons. Xander was trying to decide which course of action would cause the minimum risk of being beheaded by one of the demons. With his axe only he was really not capable to do anything than just trying to stay intact.
The three demons that had remained on their positions had started to chant even more forcefully and Buffy could see a hint of magical current in the air in front of them. 'Damn! The portal must be starting to open.' Buffy tilted her sword into throat of one of the demons and it fell down. Spike had managed to deal one himself. Buffy saw the third demon start towards Willow and with couple long steps she jumped on the demon's back and broke it's neck with her bare hands. She quickly removed herself before the demon collapsed.
"You all right?" she asked Willow who nodded. Suddenly her eyes widened as she looked somewhere behind Buffy. Buffy turned to look and could just see how a portal about the width of 14 feet opened in the middle of the clearing. She cursed silently and started to the three demons left standing on the other side. The book had said the portal would quite surely close if the demons were killed. As she neared them she couldn't help but take a glance at the portal and memories from few months ago filled her mind. But she quickly pushed them away and threw herself on the demons unleashing all her bend up anger into the fight and kill.
Buffy managed to get the demons down before they had the change to really defend themselves. As last of the demons fell dead to the ground Buffy turned to the portal to see what would happen. But nothing happened.
"How do we close that thing?" Xander asked finally being able to relax a little from avoiding to get his head roll of his shoulders.
"I thought it would close when the demons were killed. Willow?" Buffy said and looked questioningly at her red-haired friend. Willow frowned and tried to think what was wrong.
"I don't know. I mean the book said when all the casters were dead the portal would close up, but it doesn't seem to be doing that.." She trailed of and chewed her lower lip.
"Well, maybe that's the reason. Maybe all of the casters are not dead", Spike said and at the same time Xander shouted a warning to Buffy who felt her Slayer sense tingling her neck. She ducked just in time to avoid a demon to decapitate her and rolled of to her right and took her stand again. She didn't know how they had missed the one demon but it seemed to be determined to take her down. She had to duck and roll so fast she didn't have time to lift her sword.
Just then Buffy felt her foot slipping on the slippery rock and the demon managed to cut her in the arm with it's sword. Buffy felt she started to fall down backwards and could hear Willow screaming her name. Then she suddenly felt air of strong magic surrounding her and a strike of panic hit her. She had been too close to the portal. Buffy saw her friends looking terrified and Spike taking the last demon down before her mind went blank and cloud of darkness took over her.
* * * * * * * *
So, what you think? Was it good, bad, really bad? Should I try to continue? There wasn't too much dialog in this chapter, but there will be more. I just hope that I'll be able to write even decent Buffy-speak and Scooby discussions. ( Also, if there is anyone with a good common knowledge of Hercules and Xena verses, I'd like to know if you'd be willing to give me a little help with the facts for this story if needed. Let me know if interested. And as I said before, I'm open to interesting and inspiring ideas on plot and everything else. Thanks,
Merstar
* * * * * * * *
Chapter 1 - Through the portal
The night air in Sunnydale felt crisp on Buffy's cheeks as she quietly stalked through the woods. She could hear the not so silent steps of her friends behind her. She could only hope that the demons they were about to confront would not have too good hearing.
Buffy gazed to the sky to see half of the moon illuminating the sky, some clouds hiding it every now and then as they drifted forward on the deep blue of the night sky.
Scoobies were on their way to this certain clearing in the forest that, according to Willow, was used to sacrifice for gods and spirits a way back. They were to stop some demons named so weirdly that Buffy didn't even bother trying to remember it. The fact that the demons were going to do something that could cause much more trouble for them was enough for her.
After few more minutes, Buffy could finally see the edge of the clearing through the line of trees ahead of her. She silently signaled others to stop and then used her Slayer hearing to try to get an impression of how many demons they were going to be against. She caught sounds of soft murmurs and chanting in language she didn't recognize. But the voices were too merged together for her to able tell how many there were.
Buffy glanced back at her friends. Willow was nervously trying to stay still, her lips moving as she silently memorized spells she could use with the demons. Xander, holding an axe he had come quite well accustomed with, was looking at Buffy and waiting for them to continue. Fourth member of their little group was about to light a cigarette when he caught Buffy's angry look and sighing replaced the cigarette and the lighter into the pocket of his leather duster. Spike then lifted his eyebrow as to ask 'What are we waiting for?'
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back towards the clearing. She had felt angry and somewhat awkward around her friends ever since they found out where she really had gone to when she had died. And Spike, well, that awkwardness was definitely something else she didn't even want to try to comprehend.
The sound of chanting got stronger and she turned her attention back to the present. No time to think about her screwed up existence. If she was to believe what the book had said about the demons, there probably was about six or seven of them. They were supposed to be quite strong and quick so she had been little apprehensive to bring Willow and Xander. But she needed more that just Spike's help if the demons were to success with their attempt.
The demons were, according to what they had heard, going to open a portal to some other dimension and trying to summon some powerful force from there to make themselves much stronger and harder to win. These demons had already caused enough havoc during couple of nights they had spent in Sunnydale. They really needed to be stopped.
Buffy motioned with her hand for them to start moving closer and take their positions. She saw Spike slipping stealthily to her left side and getting closer to clearing. Willow and Xander moved closer to Buffy trying to stay as silent as possible.
Buffy could feel some strong magic slowly starting to build up and decided it was time to make the move. She calmed herself and started towards the demons. As she entered the clearing she made quick count on demons and came up with six. Their skin was blue and scaly and they reminded her a little bit of The Judge. She put sickly sweet smile on her face and briskly spoke to the demons.
"Well, don't you have a nice little meeting here. But I must say I'm really disappointed I didn't get an invitation to your little chant fest."
Demons turned their attention to Buffy and she shifted little nervously. These spawns of evil had red eyes with black orbs in the center. It was not the color that made her wigged, but the fact that their eyes were glowing deep blood red shine that actually made a shiver go down her spine. She shrugged it of and collected herself.
"Okay uglies, here's the deal. You quit this little gathering of yours now and move your scaly asses away from my town and I won't kill you right away. How does that sound?" Buffy eyed the demons as they narrowed their eyes and three of them started out of the half circle they had formed in the middle of the clearing.
The demons approached Buffy and she slowly slipped into fighting stance. But she had to quickly reform her plan of ass-kicking as the demons all drew long swords behind their backs and sprinted towards her with very fast pace.
Luckily Buffy had brought her own sword, as her stake would not really have been useful against bigger demons. She quickly drew the sword from its sheath attached to her back and swung it towards the first demon to reach her.
From then on, the situation was barely kept from running out of the Scoobies' hands. The demons were much faster than Buffy had though first. She only barely managed to avoid being sliced while trying to get her strikes delivered. Spike was also fighting with all his skills and Willow was trying to use some spells to stop or kill the demons. Xander was trying to decide which course of action would cause the minimum risk of being beheaded by one of the demons. With his axe only he was really not capable to do anything than just trying to stay intact.
The three demons that had remained on their positions had started to chant even more forcefully and Buffy could see a hint of magical current in the air in front of them. 'Damn! The portal must be starting to open.' Buffy tilted her sword into throat of one of the demons and it fell down. Spike had managed to deal one himself. Buffy saw the third demon start towards Willow and with couple long steps she jumped on the demon's back and broke it's neck with her bare hands. She quickly removed herself before the demon collapsed.
"You all right?" she asked Willow who nodded. Suddenly her eyes widened as she looked somewhere behind Buffy. Buffy turned to look and could just see how a portal about the width of 14 feet opened in the middle of the clearing. She cursed silently and started to the three demons left standing on the other side. The book had said the portal would quite surely close if the demons were killed. As she neared them she couldn't help but take a glance at the portal and memories from few months ago filled her mind. But she quickly pushed them away and threw herself on the demons unleashing all her bend up anger into the fight and kill.
Buffy managed to get the demons down before they had the change to really defend themselves. As last of the demons fell dead to the ground Buffy turned to the portal to see what would happen. But nothing happened.
"How do we close that thing?" Xander asked finally being able to relax a little from avoiding to get his head roll of his shoulders.
"I thought it would close when the demons were killed. Willow?" Buffy said and looked questioningly at her red-haired friend. Willow frowned and tried to think what was wrong.
"I don't know. I mean the book said when all the casters were dead the portal would close up, but it doesn't seem to be doing that.." She trailed of and chewed her lower lip.
"Well, maybe that's the reason. Maybe all of the casters are not dead", Spike said and at the same time Xander shouted a warning to Buffy who felt her Slayer sense tingling her neck. She ducked just in time to avoid a demon to decapitate her and rolled of to her right and took her stand again. She didn't know how they had missed the one demon but it seemed to be determined to take her down. She had to duck and roll so fast she didn't have time to lift her sword.
Just then Buffy felt her foot slipping on the slippery rock and the demon managed to cut her in the arm with it's sword. Buffy felt she started to fall down backwards and could hear Willow screaming her name. Then she suddenly felt air of strong magic surrounding her and a strike of panic hit her. She had been too close to the portal. Buffy saw her friends looking terrified and Spike taking the last demon down before her mind went blank and cloud of darkness took over her.
* * * * * * * *
So, what you think? Was it good, bad, really bad? Should I try to continue? There wasn't too much dialog in this chapter, but there will be more. I just hope that I'll be able to write even decent Buffy-speak and Scooby discussions. ( Also, if there is anyone with a good common knowledge of Hercules and Xena verses, I'd like to know if you'd be willing to give me a little help with the facts for this story if needed. Let me know if interested. And as I said before, I'm open to interesting and inspiring ideas on plot and everything else. Thanks,
Merstar