Title: Embracing Darkness ( Parts 3-4)
Author: Faith Harris
Summary: Xander, Faith, and Spike have returned after three years. Notice I love these returning back after (fill in length of time) stories? Well, they're back, and they've brought a power to Sunnydale that no one could imagine any of them wielding- to fight an evil equally powerful. And guess what- Buffy is pissed at all of them. But that doesn't matter when the remaining members of the Scooby gang discover that sometimes you need to fight pure evil with pure darkness (notice I didn't say you have to fight it with pure evil) and this darkness comes with a price…
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel: The Series, or anything associated with the show. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own that. I do own all the Hunters- 'cept the Lady (You'll see) and the Characters that are not on either of the aforementioned (oooo…big words) shows, such as Christopher, Leijah, etc.
Distribution: If you ask, you can have. If you put my name on it.
Time: around 2003. I go along with the show until about "Where the Wild Things Are" then I go from there. Well, actually, Xander leaves shortly after that episode, and ADAM was destroyed.
PART THREE: THE FIRST PATROL
Buffy, Willow, Anya, Tara, and Giles stood around the mausoleum, looking impatient. The Hunters were late. Buffy decided to walk around and actually patrol while they waited. Giles disagreed.
"Buffy," He explained, "These Hunters are highly trained. And some, as we have seen, are mentally…unstable. They could be here already. I don't think it's safe for you to be alone. For any of us to be alone, for that matter." Buffy rolled her eyes. She so did not need this right now. Giles was starting to pile rules on her again, like when she had first came to Sunnydale. She supposed it was because he was worried, but Buffy was a big girl. She could take care of her self.
"I'll go with her." Anya said unexpectedly, "I need to walk around. Sugar buzz." Buffy sighed. Out of everyone, Anya was the one she least wanted to be stuck in a dangerous situation with. Giles nodded, as if being with Anya would somehow make Buffy safe. If anything, it was the other way around. But she just walked alongside Anya, ignoring her occasional complaints about the heat. Which is what she did most of the time when she had nothing better to talk about.
A vampire jumped out from behind a tree. Buffy automatically kicked it down and when it got up, she punched it. Anya looked frantically for a stake, and once she found it, she stood by until she found an opening. There was none. This vampire was fast, big, and actually smart.
Buffy did a spin-kick, and the vampire dodged it, smacking her in the face. Buffy fell back.
Onto black boots.
***
Willow had placed herself cross-legged on the ground. She looked up into the sky. It wasn't very dark, even though the sun had set hours ago, and the stars surrounded a not yet full moon. It was a very warm night.
"I used to look at the sky a lot." Xander whispered in her ear, coming up from behind her. Willow jumped.
"Xander!" she cried, "Are you planning to do that every time you come near me?" Xander grinned. He wore a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt with a pair of sneakers.
"Possibly, I haven't decided." He turned to Giles and Tara.
"What's the up?" he said, "Where's the Buffster?" Tara smiled and waved hi.
"Buffy and Anya," Giles explained, "Decided to patrol while we waited." Xander nodded. Faith and Leijah walked over. Leijah wore tight grayish-blue jeans and a black sweatshirt. Faith had on a pair of shorts, a dark red tank top, and a denim jacket was tied around her waist.
"Xander?" Leijah said. Xander turned.
"What?" he asked.
"Chris and Spike decided to go on their own." She reminded him.
"Joy to the world," Xander said sarcastically, "Anyone wanna take bets on who comes back in one piece? I've got dibs on anyone but Spike." Giles, Willow, Tara and Leijah glared at him. Faith rolled her eyes.
"Xand, if you don't get your butt up and find them, I will personally bash your head into the ground. And that's if you're lucky." She said, as sweet as possible. Xander smiled back at her.
"Will, Tara, you guys want to come with?" Xander asked. Willow and Tara glanced at each other, and then nodded. Xander wrapped his arms around Faith for a moment and kissed her on the lips. Faith eventually broke off the kiss, reluctantly.
"Find Buffy and the psychos." She ordered. Xander laughed.
"Fine." He pouted, "Come on then, let's go."
***
"Well, well," Chris said, looking down at Buffy, "Spike, look what we've got here. A Slayer and a Vampire who's kicking her ass." Buffy felt a sinking feeling grow in her stomach. Great, could her luck get any worse?
"And what should we do with this treat, Killer?" Spike said, holding Anya by the neck. Anya responded by both kicking and biting him. Spike jumped back. The vampire that had been attacking Buffy was confused. Who were these people? He decided that it was best for him to leave.
"Now, come on, where ya going?" Chris said, blocking the vampire's path, "We were having fun." Buffy stood up, and got her stake ready. She was decided: if anyone of the people in front of her who weren't Anya came near her, she was going to stake them.
Chris grabbed the vampire by the collar and lifted him up so that even his toes weren't touching the ground. The vampire dangled as Chris held him there. Chris glanced at Spike before throwing the vamp over to him. Spike caught it, and took out a small knife, which he used to stab the vamps stomach.
"Hurts, don't it?" He laughed, and threw the vampire back to Chris, who was ready with his gun in one hand. He shot the vampire in his kneecaps, which caused it to roar in pain. Chris laughed even louder, and Buffy and Anya were forced to watch him and Spike toss the vampire back and forth, shooting and stabbing him, torturing him, really, and not staking him.
That was, of course, until Buffy found and opening and staked it while it was in Chris's hand.
"What the hell is your problem, Slayer?" Chris growled at her. He still was holding his gun tightly in his hand. His eyes were black orbs, and he was breathing hard from the excitement. It had been so long since he had been able to hear anything scream like that. He felt it in his blood, in his mind: the vampire's pain, it's fear that Chris wasn't going to kill him, that he was just going to keep shooting at him.
It was a great feeling, and Buffy Summers had ruined it.
"My problem!" she steamed, "My problem! Oh, I might just have a problem with you letting a vampire dangle around when you could have just staked him." Spike lit a cigarette.
"We were gonna kill him…eventually." He countered. Chris nodded in agreement.
"Sure didn't look like you wanted him dead. Looked like you wanted to hear him scream." Anya pointed out.
"True, but sooner or later we'd get bored." Spike said. Chris snorted.
"Speak for yourself." He said, "I don't get bored doing that. Unless they stop screaming. Then it gets old real fast." Buffy felt a sickening pit grow in her stomach. She started to imagine working with him, and she really didn't like the image.
She made a mental note never to take him to question Willy. Ever.
"I don't like you Slayer." Chris stated. Spike laughed.
"Really? I thought you were in love with her." Spike said sarcastically.
"Well, the feeling's mutual." Buffy snapped. Chris was beginning to calm down. He took long, deep breaths to calm himself. If he had to work with this chick, he wanted to be able to not rip her throat out whenever he felt the urge to.
Spike, Buffy, and Chris- with their superhuman hearing abilities- froze as they heard footsteps. Chris closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. When he opened his eyes, they were back to normal. Buffy held her stake tighter. Anya was confused, because she couldn't hear anything.
"Voices are familiar." Spike said, "Sounds like…Xander. And Red." Chris nodded.
"But there's three people walking." Chris said.
"Probably Tara." Buffy said, "We would have heard Giles." Sure enough, Xander, Willow, and Tara came walking over. Xander was talking energetically.
"So, Chris was completely wasted, and of course, Spike thought that since he was drunk, he wouldn't have any reaction if Spike tried to bother him. So Spike was trying to act all tough, and suddenly Chris grabbed him by the neck, and started to break it…Spike has never tried anything that stupid ever again." Xander was saying, and Willow giggled imagining Spike hanging helpless in Chris's hand. It was a funny image.
"So, what brings you three here?" Spike asked, ignoring the humiliating story that was just told about him. Xander said hi to Anya and Buffy before responding.
"Well, Leijah and Faith were worried that you guys were going to kill each other. But see, I knew you guys weren't going to kill anyone. Okay, actually, I thought Spike would be a pile of dust by now." Spike glared at him.
"I'll let you know, I could kick any of these wanker's bloody behinds." As everyone stared at him, he corrected himself, "Everyone but the demon, the Slayer, the witches, and Xander." Tara turned to Chris.
"You're a demon?" she asked.
"Well, sort of." He said, "I'm a cross-breed. I'm a cross between a vamp, a Kalisak- it's a psychic demon-, and a human. See, vampires can't have children, but a Kalisak demon can use a vampire to impregnate someone else. Therefore, a Kalisak demon's child is always part demon, part vampire, and part something else." Tara nodded. That explained how he had all the power he had.
"Can you walk in Sunlight?" Willow asked, "And what about crosses and stuff?"
"The only vampire traits I have are the strength, speed, reflexes, and the thing about the crosses." He explained. Buffy, wanting to test his theory, threw her cross at him. As a reflex, he grabbed it, but it burned his hand. He dropped it, cursing. His hand was smoking, and when he opened his hand, the burn mark of the cross was obvious.
"Cool." Anya said. Chris glared at her, and looked like he was about to hurt her, but Xander put a hand on his shoulder.
"Killing my friends is definitely not a good thing to try to do. I'll kill you first." Xander reminded him. Chris glared at him, then at Anya, and finally at Buffy. The familiar urge to kill came to him again. He took a deep breath, a concentrated on staying calm.
Xander shuffled nervously. It was pretty clear that his friends were not going to get along.
And this was a bad thing.
"Why, oh why do the Powers that Be hate me so very much?" Xander groaned, looking towards the sky, "Did I do something?" Chris and Spike considered this for a moment. Before they could open their mouths, Xander said, "If you answer that question, I swear, I will do something I might regret…wait, I won't regret it." Chris started to mumble to himself. Spike just looked bitter. Xander smiled at Buffy.
"Please don't cause extreme pain to my friends, Buff." Xander asked sweetly. Buffy smiled back.
"If they actually patrol, sure." She replied.
"That was them patrolling." Xander insisted.
"Yeah," Spike said, "We just enjoy patrol." Chris put his hand over Spike's mouth to shut him up. Spike vamped out and bit him. Chris didn't flinch, so Spike continued to suck his blood. Anya and Buffy looked pale.
"You're just going to let him feed off you, aren't you?" Anya said. Chris nodded. After a moment, Spike moved away, wiping the blood from his mouth. Chris held his palm over the ground, letting the blood drip onto the ground with a bored, uninterested look on his face. Xander looked at them, sighing loudly.
"Do they always do that?" Buffy said.
"Yup. Chris doesn't care, because it means he gets free target practice with the gun- using Spike." Xander explained, "But guys, look, we should get back to the others. Andarnis said he would meet us out here, and I don't want Giles to freak and stake him." Chris grinned.
"Be funny as hell though, when he doesn't dust." Spike said. Chris nodded in agreement. Xander put his arms around the girls as they started to walk back to the mausoleum.
***
Giles looked up as Xander and the others walked over. Faith ran up to Xander and gave him a kiss.
"Um, I dragged them back here just in time." Xander said afterwards, "Somebody was going to be dead soon. And I very much doubt it was going to be Buffy or Chris." Leijah looked at Spike and glared, arms crossed. Spike moved over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist so that her face was about an inch from his face.
" 'Ello luv." Spike murmured. Leijah kissed him. Buffy and Anya started to make little gagging noise to get them to stop. Giles tried to remain mature and civilized through all of this, and Xander and his friends were making it hard.
Chris sat down on the top of a tombstone, reloading his gun. He watched the Slayer with mixed feelings. He hated her, he knew that. She was a Slayer, he was part demon, part vampire, and part murderer- it was pretty much expected of him. But he liked watching her. He enjoyed watching people, learning what they do, how they act, everything. And Buffy Summers was no exception. It was obvious that even though Giles tried to be in charge- being the oldest and most responsible- Buffy was used to having her way, and having everyone listen to her. She expected people to listen and follow her lead. Buffy was used to protecting everyone, whether they needed protecting or not.
Well, she was about to be very surprised. Because she wasn't the strongest anymore, and Chris knew that none of the Hunters would listen to her. They would do whatever they felt like they needed to do to get the job done. And Chris was almost hoping that she tried to go against the Lady. Not that the Lady would do anything, but the rest of the Hunters would not be very happy about it though.
Yes, Buffy Summers was going to be in for a big change.
"About searching for the power demon…" Giles began, "We can do research for it during the day, and continue to patrol-" Chris looked up, interested. It wasn't that he wanted to research, but he wanted to get this over with.
"Actually, G-man," Xander interrupted, "We had it planned out like this. It's you, Willow, Leijah, Anya, and possibly Rachel- you don't know her yet- on research. Faith has a few contacts in town that used to work for the mayor oh-so long ago that she was going to check out with Andarnis. Chris, Buffy, and I can check out Willy's and patrol, and Spike and Tara would work on preparing the rituals for the closing. Willow could work on that too, after we kill the power demon, if she wants." Giles blinked. It appeared that Xander and his friends had planned this out completely.
"Who's going to kill the Power Demon?" Tara asked.
"Well, me of course." Buffy said, "I am the Slayer. And Chris isn't going to Willy's. We need to keep him alive for information." Chris growled under his breath.
"Buffy, it's not like the Power demon's a normal 'Slay and party' demon," Leijah explained, "It's going to be pretty powerful."
"It's gonna be like the Master, the Mayor, and ADAM put together." Xander agreed.
"If he was that bad, we would have seen him already." Buffy snorted. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Bloody hell, Slayer. You remember, the more powerful the demon, the more lower demons they have working for him. You probably go up against his bloody lackey's everyday." Willow's eyes went wide at the thought of one demon controlling armies and armies of demons.
"So who is going to kill it?" Anya asked.
"All of us are going to have to work together." Faith said, "All of us."
"And what about Willy?" Buffy said, "Chris can not come."
"I can keep myself from killing him." Chris argued. He childishly stuck his tongue out at Buffy, who responded in kind. Leijah sighed. They were starting to get very immature. She looked towards Xander. It was time for him to start acting in charge.
"Chris, shut up." Xander commanded, his voice full of authority. Chris glared at him, but kept silent. Xander looked at Buffy, slightly annoyed.
"Buffy, Chris is going with you and me to Willy's, got it?" Xander snapped, "And we don't have time for everyone to start arguing. So please, spare me the headache." Buffy looked down, red rushing to her cheeks. She wasn't sure whether it was because of embarrassment or anger.
"Xander! Chris!" a voice came from a little ways away, "Lei! Spike! Where are you guys?" Spike started to wave his arm.
"Over here you bloody idiot! Over here!" he yelled. A young man with blonde- naturally blonde- hair and dark blue eyes walked over. He wore a pair of khakis and a black tee shirt with a red fleece pullover on top. He had a lop-sided grin, one like the normal Xander grin. He looked friendly enough. That, of course, ended when Buffy noticed that he seemed to be best friends with Spike and Chris. Buffy figured that anyone who was buddy-buddy with Chris wasn't anyone she wanted to be around. Except for Xander. And Leijah seemed nice.
"Guys," Chris said to the Scooby Gang, "This is Andarnis. Andarnis, these are the guys. Except for the fact that most of them are girls." Andarnis rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath about what an idiot Chris was. He shook hands with the whole Scooby Gang, learning their names as he did so.
"What is," Giles asked, "Your talent?"
"He's a vamp." Spike grumbled, "One that was lucky enough to find a potion of some sort that keeps him from being staked" Giles nodded, looking interested.
"How old are you?" Anya asked.
"315." Andarnis answered. Willow's eyes went wide.
"You're older than Angel." When Andarnis looked confused, Faith said, "Angelus." Andarnis nodded in understanding. He sat down next to Willow and Xander.
"So, what 'sup? I thought we were supposed to be patrolling." He said.
"Well, we were," Chris complained, while glaring at Buffy, "But someone just had to come and ruin the fun." Buffy looked offended.
"You were just torturing the dumb vamp." Buffy snapped. Andarnis grinned, then looked at Faith.
"So they've been going at it like this the entire time, uh?" he said. Faith nodded.
"Pretty much." She said. Andarnis laughed.
"Can we start patrolling now?" Leijah said, "Because sitting here isn't going to get us anywhere." Buffy nodded in agreement. Leijah was sensible. Which was more than could be said about the others.
Everyone else seemed to agree with Leijah also. Spike put his hands together.
"Alrighty then. Let's go patrolling."
PART FOUR: WILLY'S, THE NEW MAYOR, AND RESEARCH…
Willy the bartender was washing the counter. He didn't have a lot of time to do that, now that business was booming. Ever since the Slayer stopped coming for information, all the demons and vampires were coming in. And they actually had money now. Life was good.
Except for the fact that Willy had never really wanted to serve to demons. A group of demons had just walked into his bar one day, and he couldn't exactly tell them to leave without getting killed. He actually missed the Slayer coming around. He used to get some decent customers back then.
The door opened. Willy turned, and smiled nervously. In walked the Slayer, with two guys, one that looked fairly familiar. The one that Willy was sure he had never seen came and sat on the counter, right where Willy had just finished scrubbing. The Slayer leaned on the counter, and the other guy sat on one of the stools.
"Slayer," Willy stuttered, "Nice to see you. Long time no see. And you brought…um, you brought…"
"Chris." The one on the counter said.
"Xander." Said the other one. Willy's face broke into a smile as he remembered Xander.
"You're the Slayer's old friend, right?" Willy said, "You've changed. Quieter. You know, I heard a rumor that you spilt town."
"I did. Met some new friends. Called the Hunters…" Xander said casually. Some of the demons began to pay attention as they heard both the Slayer and the Hunters mentioned. Some walked out- the smart ones-, some tried to slink into corners-the stupid ones, and still others started to stand up, ready to confront them. Those were the really stupid ones. Chris eyed them, a smile on his face.
"The Hunters, really?" Willy said, "I was right then. They're still in business. I'm guessing Chris is…" Chris nodded, and Willy continued, "So, what can I get you?"
"Information." Buffy said, "About the local power demon. Know where we can find him…or her?" Willy turned green.
"The Power Demon, uh?" he smattered, "Well, I might know a little something," He stood straighter, trying to act brave, "But why should I spill anything?" Buffy, Chris, and Xander looked like they were thinking very hard about it.
"Because I'm the Slayer and I'll hurt you?" Buffy suggested. Xander put his hand- palm facing upward- casually. A big, black and red ball of mist formed right above his hand.
"Because this will slowly seep into your skin and then painfully burn you from the inside out?" Xander added. Chris pulled out his gun, holding it to Willy's head, Chris's eyes turned completely black. He growled.
"Need I say all the things I can do to torture you before I kill you?" he snarled, "I mean, without using all my Kalisak powers…I've had practice torturing people."
"Why don't you just control his mind and make him talk?" Buffy suggested.
"I would, but all the demons in here are making a group mind block. I can't even read yours Slayer." He said, but then added, "Not that I can't do this." And he looked directly at Willy, and Willy felt a huge blast of energy hit him and make him fly into the wall. He wasn't knocked out, but he was in a great deal of pain. Chris smiled, putting his gun away. Xander closed his hand into a fist, making the mist ball disappear. He put his hand down, and then looked at Chris.
"Can we try to keep Willy alive?" he snapped, "It would help." Chris mimicked him as Buffy went to help Willy up. Of course, this involved grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Willy started to remember the bad part of the Slayer coming.
"Look, I don't know much-" Willy said, holding his hands up.
"What else is new?" Xander commented.
"The local power demon is mainly a shapeshifter," Willy said, "With pretty strong mental abilities. He's underground, but not the sewers. Some demons from the sewers are starting to relocate, talking about going to serve their Lordship. I think he feeds off of Vamps, because actual vamp bodies have been dragged in, that haven't dusted. That's all I know." Chris stared at him.
"Really?" he asked. Willy nodded. Chris jumped off the counter as Xander stood up.
"Thanks Willy." Buffy said, "You've been a real help." Willy shrugged.
"Well, anytime you know? Anytime."
"Um, guys?" Xander turned to Chris and Buffy with a smile on his face, "Looks like we've got company. Of the fighting kind." Buffy turned. About twelve of the demons that had been sitting were now coming near them, some with weapons, some without. They all looked pretty tough, even for the Slayer. She looked at Xander and Chris. Xander was sizing up the competition, as Buffy had. Chris had on his wild, psychotic smile on, and his gun in one hand, and took a stake out of his jacket with the other.
"Well, are we gonna fight?" Chris said. Buffy nodded.
"I'm up for it." She said. One large demon, with a katana, growled. Chris growled back, in perfect imitation.
"You will not live to see his Lordship!" the demon roared. He ran at Buffy, with the sword in the air. Buffy ducked as he slashed at her, and then tripped him, and then backhand punched him. Three other demons- two with knives and the other weaponless- surrounded her. She was fighting well, but getting tired fast.
Three went after Xander, and he quickly started to use magic on them. He repeatedly hit one with fireballs, but it wasn't a vamp- it wasn't dying yet.
Chris decided not to take the defensive. He jumped into the middle of the other five demons and started to shoot at one and use his psychic abilities on another. The one that he was using his powers on was starting to crumple into a fetal position, blasts of pain invading every inch of him. It exploded. Other demons were starting to attack him, and Chris was getting really tired.
"This isn't working!" Chris yelled out to them, "We need to finish them off now!" Buffy kicked the demon with the katana.
"Oh, so you don't want to have fun now?" Buffy snapped sarcastically. Chris growled as he ran out of bullets. He had managed to kill two, but those had been the weaker ones. Xander had killed one, and Buffy had killed two. This was not going well at all. They hadn't been prepared for such a big attack.
Chris ducked as one hit him. As he got up, he pulled out the small knife that was hidden in his boot. He stabbed one, and then forced his way into it's mind. That was exhausting, considering the mind block was still up.
He saw flashing images, invading his brain. He saw a cave, then another, then another. One was filled with a huge glowing light, and the other two were completely dark. The demon had went into the one with the light, and strength had been poured into him. Chris heard voices.
"Do you swear to use your strength to aide his Lordship?"
"I do."
"Do you swear to rid the world of those that are coming to destroy him? Will you gladly give your life?"
"I shall."
Chris pulled himself out of the demon's mind, but not before getting punched in the face. Chris fell back, losing his grip on his knife. The demon pulled it out, and after wincing for a moment, came at him.
"That's my knife." Chris stated blankly. He hadn't been angry before, but now anger was filling every part of him. He could barely control his own actions, because with the anger, his power started to flow within him. It pulsed and grew as Chris focused his black orbs on the demon with his knife. The demon was about to stab him.
The knife sliced Chris's left arm as the demon was thrown back with ten times the force of what Willy had been thrown back with. Not only did it break the back door, but it was also enough force to kill the demon. Chris turned to the next one that was going to attack him. But then he turned towards Buffy, and saw that the demon with the katana was the only one she had to deal with now. It was still beating her though.
Buffy wasn't sure what happened to the demon, but she realized it started to slow it's attacks, and even when she wasn't hitting it, she was hearing it roar in pain. She used the slow attacks to her advantage and started to fight with renewed energy.
That was, of course, until the demon exploded all over her.
She looked at Chris, who was staring in the spot where the demon had been and realized he had done that. She glanced at Xander, who now was fighting only one demon. And it looked like he was winning, so Buffy went to help Chris with his last two.
Buffy concentrated on one that had picked up a pool stick and was using it has a weapon. The first thing she did was break the stick with a kick, and then punched it dead in the face. She ducked and dodged almost all the hits that were thrown at her, and her hits were simply stronger. Chris wasn't depending on his powers or his weapons anymore. He was using the fact that although him and the demon were about equal in strength, he was still faster. He dodged and punched quickly. To Buffy, he looked like he had been fighting demons like this one his entire life. Buffy saw an opportunity in her own fight and snapped the demon's neck. It crumpled. Chris used a slightly messier way of killing his demon. He punched a hole through its stomach.
They turned, about to help Xander, but he was just killing off his demon. He walked to them, breathing hard, as was Buffy and Chris. He looked at Chris' arm, which was hurt pretty badly.
"What happened?" he asked. Chris' eyes turned back to normal.
"That idiot took my knife." Chris said dryly. Buffy crossed her arms.
"So if you were able to blow up the demons, why didn't you do it in the first place?" she said.
"I wasn't angry enough. Most of my powers depend on me being really pissed. I hadn't been until he stole my knife…where is it, anyway?" Chris started to look around. Buffy noticed he was holding his arm. He walked over to where the back door used to be. He picked up his knife and slipped it back in his boot.
"Okay, we can leave now." Chris said.
"So all those demons worked for the Power Demon?" Buffy asked Xander.
"I guess. They all were pretty strong." Xander said, "I've fought those types of demons before. They're not naturally that strong."
"We can go now. Maybe we can go seek medical attention perhaps?" Chris said impatiently.
"Sorry about your bar, Willy." Xander said, "We owe you." Willy shrugged.
"Hey, I came out of this with my life. We're good." He said.
"We can leave now!" Chris screamed. They turned to Chris. Xander had a smile on his face.
"Oh, right, you got hurt, didn't you?" he joked. Chris rolled his eyes and mimicked him. Buffy sighed.
"You are so immature, you know that Chris?" she said. Chris nodded, and Xander turned to Buffy, an eyebrow.
"Like you're any better?" he said. Buffy looked at him appalled, as he continued to speak, "I mean, since we got here, you've been acting just as bad as Chris. And you can't deny it."
"Yes I can." She stuck her tongue out at him. Chris leaned in closer to her, to whisper, "You just proved his point." Buffy went stiff, and tried to act mature. She just ended up looking really pathetic. They started to walk out of the bar. Chris was reloading his gun, and then he started to examine his wound. He glanced at Buffy and then motioned towards her eye.
"Black eye." He stated. Buffy touched near her eye. It hurt a little, not enough to make a big deal about. And anyway, her Slayer healing abilities would fix it soon. She wasn't worried about it. She didn't have any serious injuries. She looked at Xander, seeing if he was hurt. He looked fine, but then she noticed he was limping slightly. She figured he had gotten hurt, but- being Xander-, didn't want anyone to worry about it. Chris hadn't noticed. Or if he had, he didn't care.
"I wonder if Faith and Andarnis found anything?" Xander thought out loud.
***
"Hello? Anyone here?" Andarnis called out as he and Faith walked into the old Mayor's building. It didn't look as if had been used for anything in a long time. But Faith knew that some of the Mayor's old… associates still came here.
"Smells like someone's been partying," Andarnis said, "I smell the blood." Faith looked around the room. She couldn't see anyone there.
"I say we check out the Boss's office." She suggested. Andarnis looked at her oddly.
"You still call him that?" he noticed. Faith shrugged.
"Habit." She walked up the stairs to the room where the Mayor's office used to be. She felt strange. In one way, it was like coming home. But in another, she felt like she had no place being there. She looked around the room. The office was a mess, dust and cobwebs covering everything. Faith couldn't help but laugh.
"What's up?" Andarnis asked.
"Just that the Boss would have a heart attack if he ever saw this much dirt here." Andarnis rolled his eyes. Sometimes , he really didn't get Faith. This was one of those times.
But Andarnis wasn't one of those types of people- or one of those vampires- that took the time to figure people out. It took too long. Figuring out people was Chris and Leijah's job.
"Yo, check this out." Andarnis said, opening a door. As he walked into the room, his mouth almost started to water. The walls were practically dripping in blood- fresh blood. He bit his lip, trying to not go vamp face.
He failed. Miserably.
"Can I eat after this?" he mumbled. Faith glared at him. Faith looked through the room. Now, she had seen a lot of blood, had been the cause of a lot of it, but this made her sick to her stomach. The walls looked as if it had been painted in blood. The victims laid dead on the floor, some just drained, others brutally ripped apart. Andarnis looked around, vamp faced and wide eyed, as if he was in a vampire's heaven. Which, Faith realized, he probably was.
"Chris and Spike are gonna freak when they realized what they missed." Andarnis said, still in awe of the room's 'artwork'. It had been a long time since he had even heard of any vamps doing damage like this- last time, he remembered, it had been Angelus. Faith slapped him over the head.
"Focus, Andy." She said. Andarnis nodded, trying to get serious. They both looked around the room, trying to look for a clue to who had done this. Faith was in shock. Who would have done this? She got her answer as she looked at one of the walls.
In large, bloody letters, was written, "FOR HIS LORDSHIP!!!!" Faith looked at it for a moment, and then left the room to hurl. Andarnis stared at the wall until she came back. Then he turned to her, unvamped.
"Even that's too twisted for me." Andarnis said, "Chris would call it tacky… I just think that you have to be really bored to write in blood." Faith looked at Andarnis, pale.
"Can we go now?" Faith muttered weakly. Andarnis nodded.
"Sure, we're done here." Andarnis. He walked out the room, Faith behind him.
"Great." Faith said, "Watch us be the only ones that found something like this." Andarnis put on a twisted grin.
"We'd be the lucky ones." Andarnis reasoned.
"I hate vampire reason." Faith said. Andarnis just smiled. And they left- through the sewers of course.
***
"I miss Chris." Rachel groaned, for the millionth time that day. Leijah and Willow looked at each other, rolling their eyes. They were researching- at least, Giles, Willow, and Leijah were. Rachel had a book open, but she was constantly talking about Chris. About how much she missed Chris. About whether or not he was thinking about her. It was slightly sickening.
Okay, so not just slightly. It was extremely sickening.
Spike and Tara were sitting on the steps, looking through some books that Spike had brought over. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing- getting the ceremony together. They needed to get supplies, and figure out how to keep people from interrupting the spell. Which wasn't easy, since the spell tended to draw people's attention. They were trying to ignore Rachel, but it was getting harder.
She was even starting to annoy Willow.
"Look, Rach," Leijah said, "As much as we care about you and Chris's relationship, this isn't a good time to talk about it. We have more important things to do." Rachel looked confused for a moment. She honestly didn't know what could be more important than something involving her. Then she just looked annoyed.
"They've been living with that Hellmouth forever now. I think they can wait a few minutes longer as I talk."
"She's a little…" Willow whispered to Leijah.
"Full of herself? I know she has an 'I rule the world' complex, but don't worry about it. You get used to it…eventually. Anyway, she's a pyrokinetic, and we can't get visibly annoyed or she starts lighting things on fire." Leijah smiled, "But luckily, she doesn't realize when Chris insults her, so he basically says everything that we all want to say." Willow nodded, a confused smile on her face.
"What?" Rachel said, "Chris?" Leijah smiled, sickeningly sweet.
"Nothing dear. Just keep researching." Rachel shrugged, and continued to look at the book she had open- while talking about Chris.
There was a knock on the door. Rachel jumped up hopefully, dropping her book to the floor, and ran to the door. She opened it, and then groaned.
"Oh, it's just you two." She said, and then she turned to the others, "It's not Chris." Leijah and Spike looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Andarnis and Faith walked into the room, and Faith was looking noticeable paler than usual. She looked sick, almost.
"What the bloody hell's the matter with you, Faith?" Spike asked, "You look like…well, you look bad."
"Massacre. At the Mayor's place. Brutal, even by my standards, although Chris might have appreciated it. A piece of work" Andarnis said. Spike looked impressed.
"It was done by one of the followers of the Power Demon." Faith explained, as she sat down. Willow went and got her a can of soda. Faith took the can gratefully. Andarnis watched her, making sure she was fine. At first, Willow and Tara thought it was slightly strange how he paid so much attention to her. But then it became obvious that he was protecting her like a brother.
"It was practically painted in blood." Andarnis said, "I would have been in heaven, but then I remembered that blood covered walls are a bad thing." Spike laughed, but was quickly silenced by the glares he received by the rest of the group.
"So, was it like really, really bad, like attacked and stuff? Or did it seem like a ritual, and you got the aftermath?" Willow asked.
"It would appear," Giles interrupted, "that it was a message. Possibly for you and the other Hunters." Andarnis, Faith, Leijah, and Spike all looked at each other. Rachel was pleasantly oblivious to all things that didn't revolve around her and Chris.
"I hope Chris is alright." She said absent mindedly. Spike looked like he was about to say something not exactly nice to her, but a look from Leijah silenced him before the words left his mouth. They all looked at each other. There was real trouble- and for once, it wasn't the Hunters' faults.
Another knock jolted out them all out of their deep thoughts. Rachel was too busy thinking about Chris to realize it this time, so Andarnis went to the door. He opened it, and there stood Chris, Buffy, and Xander. He looked at them for a second blankly, almost as if he was annoyed that they were there. Then he looked at Buffy's healing black eye, Chris's arm, and Xander's obvious limp. A huge smile planted itself on his face.
"I got to see a room painted in blood." He said happily to Chris.
"Not fair!" Chris pouted. Buffy and Xander looked at each other and sighed. They walked in as Buffy realized she was rapidly getting used to Chris's sadistic nature. She still hated it, but she wasn't getting sick in her stomach anymore. She wasn't sure whether this was a good thing, or a bad thing.
"Chris-y poo!" Rachel squealed, getting up and going to give Chris the tightest hug known to all mankind. She was balantly oblivious to Chris's arm wound, and Chris was getting pretty annoyed, although Rachel couldn't tell. Buffy had a smirk on her face, and Chris responded by lip-synching, "You say anything you die.". Buffy wasn't quite sure whether he was serious or not.
"Get the hell off me." He said. Rachel peeled herself off of him. He glanced at her, then at his arm. Rachel followed his gaze and then her face instantly fell.
"Oh, Chris, you're hurt!" she cried, trying to examine his arm. He pulled it away.
"I think that the witches are better at healing than you, Rach." Chris growled. Leijah walked over to him and started to examine his arm. Willow went to look at Xander's leg. Buffy sat down awkwardly. She asked Spike, under her breath, about Chris and Rachel.
"He's an insomniac, and she's the only girl that doesn't have a shagging partner." He explained. Buffy nodded, not sure which one of them she felt sorry for: Rachel or Chris. She decided that not even Rachel deserved to be stuck with a bastard like Chris.
"We got attacked by a bunch of Tallanger's Cult demons." Chris told everyone, "And it looks like they were given extra power by that stupid Power Demon."
"And why didn't you mention this when we were back here?" Xander asked. Chris shrugged.
"What would have been the point?" Chris said.
"Tallanger's Cult?" Giles echoed, "That's very odd. They're not very discreet. They must have just come into town, then. We certainly would have come against them before."
"Wait." Willow said, "The Power Demon can give other demons more power?" Xander nodded.
"It's a telepath. As long as it's able to get into a demon's mind, it can do whatever the hell it wants." Xander explained. Spike and Andarnis looked at each other.
"Can Andarnis and I go back to the Mayor's place to…do further investigations?" Spike asked.
"Hey," Chris protested, "If you're going, I'm going."
"Can none of us go back, and we just think about what the Power Demon could achieve by doing that to the room?" Leijah snapped. Spike, Andarnis, and Chris had the sense to at least pretend to be slightly ashamed of themselves. Leijah smiled at them.
"So, new plan?" Tara asked, "Like knowing where the Power Demon is and destroying it?" Andarnis glance at her.
"You know, if we had our contacts from New York, this would go a lot easier." He noticed.
"But we don't now, do we?" Xander snapped, "But I have an idea."
"Ooo, do tell." Buffy said.
"Well, Willy said that the Power Demon fed off of vamps, right? So, what if we gave him a free meal?" All eyes turned to Andarnis and Spike. They looked at everyone as if they were crazy.
"No bloody way." Spike said. Andarnis just crossed his arms and glared at them. He wasn't about to end his undead life for this.
"Andy, Spike." Faith purred, "Please? We'd all be really grateful." A small, jealous noise escaped Xander's throat, but Faith glanced at him and he was quiet. Spike and Andarnis growled at her angrily.
"Spike," Buffy said, "Just do it. If you die, there won't be that much of a loss." Spike was about to jump up and try to attack her, but Faith and Leijah held him down. Buffy smiled at him. Chris had his eyebrow raised. Then he just looked sick.
"Dear Lord," he said, "I agree with the Slayer." Buffy glared at him. Everyone laughed uneasily. They all realized what they were up against at this point. At least, they all thought they did.
Thought they did.