"Is there meant to be some sort of ritual for sucking my soul?" asked
Xander as the vampires put these things around him, which looked like
blocks of wood. Each block of wood had a symbol on it. He couldn't quite
make out what it was meant to be. To him they were just squiggles, but he
knew that if Giles were here he could work out what the symbols meant.
Xander thought about what he just said. Maybe it would be better if he didn't know what the ritual was. He also thought that he might not want to know what the deal with the strange blocks of wood was. They couldn't help but interest him. After all the research he had done for Giles he thought that something might come to mind. Wood burns. He knew that thought could be correct. The thought reminded him of his strange dream he had the other night when a load of females had burned him alive. Cool, I had a kinda predicting dream. He only wished that he had dreamed about the winning lottery numbers.
"Have you prepared the flame?" The demon asked his minions. Shit they are going to burn me thought Xander.
"This flame is that going to be on the wood which burns and will be burning quite close to me?" He had finally done something cool and had a dream that was predicting something but he didn't think the ones that predicted the method the bad guys would use to kill you was a very good one.
"Shut up and do some panicking! I'm getting hungry and when I get hungry, I tend to get angry and when I'm angry I want to kill something. Any volunteers?" He looked around at his minions and Xander. His minions turned their faces away from his glare so that they wouldn't make eye contact. "That's what I thought, be afraid, be very afraid."
One of the vampires moved slightly he wanted to tell his demon master something, but he also didn't want to talk to him just in case he was in the crazy killing mood. He got of his knees finally and walked closer.
"Everything is ready except we're not quite sure about the flame. The powder doesn't look right and I'm wondering if we haven't put enough of an ingredient in the mixture." The vampire took a step back. Gerathon indicated with his hand that he wanted to have a look at the powder to form his own opinion. One vampire held a small bag in his hands and passed it to the vampire, which had just spoken. The vampire then raised his arm slightly to give it to Gerathon.
Gerathon opened the small pouch and removed a little of its content. Some crushed red grains were mixed in with different shades of green dust. The majority of it was a dark green. He raised it to his nose and sniffed it. After that he poured the powder back into the pouch, but didn't say a word.
The closest vampire to him waited patiently for a reply but was also nervous that he had done poorly and the consequence would be fatal. He released how time seemed to go slower, every second doubled it was enough to drive him insane.
"It will do." He gave the pouch back to the vampire "You know what to do, so stop standing there."
The vampire took most of the powder and sprinkled it on each of the strange blocks of wood. Xander wondered if they would start to glow or something cool like that. Another vampire walked to the one with the pouch with a torch. Not the battery powered kind, but the ones that looked like giant matches. This helped confirm Xander of his burnt at the stake theory.
The remainder of the powder was poured onto the torch; it was then set alight. At first the flame was its usual orangey colour then it turned a light blue next it was a bright green colour it finally settled as a purple flame. The vampire put the torch against one of the wooden blocks. Each one of them went through the strange changing colour routine in turn. Before he knew it Xander found himself surrounded by purple flames, which he found rather annoying. The temperature did not increase they just flickered then the demon started to speak.
"Your soul will be mine,
May it increase my powers,
And your body a sacrifice,
To release the demon lord."
Xander felt as if his body was being ripped apart. It seemed to be never ending. The pain just continued to increase. Though he could not see much he could hear a sound, which was a mixture of screaming and laughing. The pain was too much bear, but it didn't matter once he'd passed out.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Anna put on the over dramatics, reaching her hand out towards Xander as she came to glimpse his lifeless body. "You bastard, you've killed him. You promised me. Did I forget to tell you I really hate you as well?"
"Yes I killed him, no I didn't actually promise not to kill him and yes you did fail to say that you really hate me." Said Gerathon "I don't see the slayer with you though, so I was right to believe you would fail."
"Thanks for the boost of confidence." Said Anna as she walked over to Xander and untied him. His lifeless body fell to the ground. "The slayer is with me actually, she's waiting outside with her gang and when they see Xander dead, they're truly going to kill you. I though won't be here. Goodbye." Anna walked away with Good Riddance by Greenday in her head. She wasn't actually going to leave; she was just going to watch Gerathon getting killed from a safer place. Anna liked being kinda alive as it beat being very dead.
Buffy burst through the doors she saw six vampires, none of which were the annoying Anna and a demon. She also saw Xander who was lying on the ground.
"Don't look so glum I'm just going to kill you as well." Said the demon as the slayer filled with rage over her friends' death. Four others followed her inside. Gerathon had recognised Shannon he had seen her fight vampires back in Wales. They all followed the slayers' emotional pattern. They cared about Xander a lot and were wondering if he was dead or best case scenario unconscious.
The six vampires lunged at them. Buffy staked one before he was able to reach her. A cross in the face then a stake to the heart met the one that went after Willow and Oz. Four vampires came together and attacked Buffy at the same time. She was able to kick one in the chest, but there were too many to deal with at once. Giles ran over to assist Buffy by throwing a glass of holy water at them. All the vampires began to smoke as the holy water burned their skin. He then grabbed one of the vampires' jackets and pulled him off Buffy. He staked the vampire before it could get back on to his feet. Buffy managed to struggle free from the three vampires. She kicked one in the groin and elbowed another in the face. The other vampire came close to punching Buffy in the face but she managed to block its blow with her arm just in time and retaliated with a kick to the belly.
Willow saw a vampire approach Buffy from behind. She used magick to float a piece of wood into the vampires' heart. Buffy turned around just in time to see it turn to dust as it fell to the ground. She smiled at Willow as a thank you then went to help Giles with the vampire he was struggling with. With it distracted by Giles' neck she was able to stake it without it noticing her approach. The vampire turned to dust, which then fell onto Giles.
Buffy looked for the last vampire she saw Shannon fighting it. The vampire was against the wall and the cross that it cursed at held him there. Shannon wasn't waiting for help, as the cross was also a stake. She was torturing the vampire with the cross letting the crosses curse of pain linger before she killed it. The fact the cross doubled as a stake tormented the vampire as she taunted it with the method of death facing it but taking time to actually go through with it. Shannon then held the wooden cross like a dagger and drove its pointed end into its chest. There were no more vampires that she could see left but there was one very ugly demon.
"I'm going to check on Xander." Shannon whispered to Buffy.
Buffy threw away her stake and exchanged it for a silver short sword. They didn't know how to kill the demon but decapitation and multiple chest wounds sounded like a good start.
"You think you can kill me slayer, but I've just fed which means that I am stronger then ever." Gerathon was going to use the energy it gained from killing Xander to destroy the slayer.
"Well I'm feeling pissed off so I'm taking it out on you." Said Buffy as she started the attack.
"Xander?" Shannon had just made it to him before the main fight had started she wanted to join in but first she had to see if Xander was still alive. Of course she wanted him to be fine though his chances were slim. He looked dead. His face was turning paler and his lips were beginning to look blue.
Shannon put her face near his to see if he was still breathing. She thought she felt something but it could have been a slight breeze. She put her fingers against his wrist to find his pulse but nothing could be found. To double check she tried again but this time she put her fingers against his neck. Still nothing was found. Shannon though would not give up easily on him. She was going to have to try resuscitating him, but the problem though she had never done it before for real. While she had been at Guides they had shown her, another problem came up that had been five years ago.
Buffy was fighting for revenge, but Shannon had to make sure it wasn't vengeance for a death. She put her lips to his mouth to do CPR, two breaths then she thumped her hands against his chest. Was it five or fifteen times damn it! She decided to do ten as it was in the middle. She only hoped that it would work. Yet again she tried to breathe life into him. Twice more she tried; she considered giving up as she couldn't stay there forever as they needed her help. She paused for a second to think through what she had to do. She was so busy considering the situation that Shannon didn't even notice that Xander had opened his eyes
Naomi and Lynette stood outside watching the fight. They had given up on searching for slayer and had returned to see if Anna had had any luck. Obviously she had as Buffy was fighting Gerathon. They seemed equally matched. Now and gain one of the slayers little groupies would try and help just to be chucked to the side. The older guy who they were pretty sure was called Giles had been knocked out.
They stood there still watching wondering if they should join in to help kill the slayer. The two female vampires couldn't help watching the fight it was better than joining in and a lot safer.
"I can't see Anna, do you think she's been dusted?" Lynette looked one more time but found no trace. She thought that she could she a bit of dust on the ground, but that could have been due to the lack dusting. "Or maybe she left?"
"Could it be time we left?" Naomi replied as she took a few steps away from the warehouse. "This place is boring, sure you've got the mystical energy and the plenty of meals on legs, but they're available everywhere."
"Mystical energy?" asked Lynette confused by the fact that mystical energy couldn't be everywhere or they would be attracted to go everywhere. People though they could be found pretty much in any place on Earth. Then it hit her. "Oh, you're right let's go."
"I love it when I'm right." Naomi and Lynette began walking away from the warehouse district.
"I hate it when you gloat. Gloating really annoys me, it annoys me as much as Dawson."
"Wow that much huh? So where to, I want to go to LA for a bit and I have to continue my search for Casey." Naomi drifted off into a short fantasy involving Casey and a bowl of chocolate.
"What about Spike?" Lynette interrupted Naomi's fantasy with an interesting question.
"Spike was great, but I need Casey. Spike's kinda been there done that now and Casey well now I want him. I wanna sire him so I can fuck him forever."
"I wonder who I could sire? I mean that if you get to sire someone I should too. Like Anna was going to sire Xander, who do we get to sire?" Lynette kept asking a lot questions with answers she could only find by looking for hot guys.
"I was thinking Oz though I got caught up with Spike and in the end I totally forgot about him. The Gerathon situation didn't help either. I can't be bothered with him now that I have remembered him. He was just one of my quickly passing crushes. Now lets head to LA, then wherever!" said Naomi as she eyed some dickheads, which would be perfect for their next meal. There were five of them. She decided that it might be best that Lynette and her should practise making there own vampires. There were two for testing, two for feeding and one for decapitation. The leading dickhead who was laughing his head off would be perfect to do it literally to.
"Can we also go to India at some point. I've always wanted to go there and we just haven't yet." Lynette asked as she walked, but Naomi stopped her to explain what they were going to do next.
The boys were happy at first to see a couple of pretty girls come up to them. They put their brain cell together to think up with a really original line.
"Will you go with him?" The leader laughed pathetically and his friends copied the laughter. Their faces changed though as the girls' faces became distorted. It would be the last thing some would see.
"That's not what we had in mind." said Lynette just before Naomi started to attack.
"Shannon?" Shannon looked down to see that Xander was awake. She couldn't believe it; she was sure that he was a goner and would have had to take out her vengeance on Gerathon. She gave him a hug and was about to give him a huge kiss.
"What do you think you're doing?" he said as he pushed her away. This was not the reaction she had expected.
"Xander you're alive, I was happy. Is there something wrong with that?" She couldn't help but be slightly pissed off with him. Out of all the reactions she would have expected for saving his life and giving him a hug she had not thought of this one. Maybe he wanted more? She was going to kiss him if he hadn't rudely interrupted the happy-you-a-live moment.
"You know it's all your fault this happened!" he stood up and pointed at her. " You let your selfishness allow them to take me away. Where were you? You let them kill me. You didn't do anything."
"I didn't do anything." Shannon too stood up and slapped him right across the face.
"And now you slap me! You're just a bitch!" Xanders harsh words hurt Shannon more than her slap had hurt him. Why was he saying these things?
Willow came over to them. She had cut on her forehead form the continuing fight.
"Xander you're alive!" Willow hugged him but there was no response. "We need your help. I don't know how long Buffy can last."
They looked over to Buffy who was still holding her own but she needed to kill the demon. The demon knocked her away; she landed near where her sword had fallen too earlier. She grabbed it and ran back. Just at that moment she was able to plunge the sword into his stomach. Some sort of green goo that was probably blood spewed from the wound.
Gerathon gave out a slight bellow. The demon pulled out the sword that was now covered in the green substance. He knew his wound was not that serious. He replaced the bellow with a laugh.
"It will take more then that to destroy me!" He again pushed Buffy to the side and turned to Oz sword raised.
"Oz!" shouted Willow. She didn't want anything to happen to her boyfriend especially death. "Come on Xander."
"Back off witch!" This was not like Xander. His cruel words were hurting people and his attitude was attracting attention. He just stood while Willow and Shannon joined in the fight.
He's not dead. Thought Anna as she realised that she still had a chance with him. She started heading towards him once she realised what had happened. Anna believed that this could be even better for her. Xander had left the warehouse not even looking back at his friends who were in need of his help.
"Xander, come here." She asked. He turned around to meet her gaze, but he did move closer as well. "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm pissed off with everyone." Anna was right this was going to work out for her.
"That's because you have no soul. I'm here to offer you the chance of a lifetime. The irony being you will have to lose it first. How would you like to stay like you are, but stronger and you will become immortal."
"Become a vampire? I would get to live forever and I would become a hell of a lot stronger. I would also get to spend eternity with you Anna. " Xander was different before he would have never said yes. "No."
"What?" Anna was angry but she didn't care she had given him a choice. Unfortunately for him she would not except anything but yes for an answer. She grabbed his throat and brought him closer. This time he would be hers.
Gerathon hit the floor with a loud thud. Shannon had had an idea with using the rope that had been used to tie up Xander to trip up Gerathon. It had been a wild stab in the dark but it had worked. She had chucked one end of it across the floor to Giles who had just got up. Gerathon who was too busy stampeding around the place trying to kill one of the slayerettes hadn't seen them. Just as he reached from Shannon and Giles pulled on the ropes so that he fell. It wasn't the greatest plan in the world or the most exciting but it had done its job and that's what mattered.
Buffy with the sword held tight in her hand brought it down to the ground. Blood spewed from the demons' body. He was after all in two parts. The sword had cut it in half, right down the middle. Who would it be? Who could resist saying a cliché?
"It's about time he pulled himself together." The person who had said it and a poor one at that was Giles. Everyone groaned. "Well I thought it was funny." Being a very sad person he giggled at his own joke.
"Help me!" Shannon was sure she had heard it coming from outside. She looked around for Xander he was nowhere in sight, but that was because she was looking inside the warehouse. Once outside she couldn't see him and was beginning to panic.
"Piss off." This time she was sure it was Xanders voice. She looked in the direction was sure it had come from.
"Damn it Xander." Shannon recognised the other voice straight away. It was the voice of Anna and she was with Xander. Bitch if she…. She had found them at last. Anna was leaning over Xander who was on the ground. There was cut on her face that been the cause of the delay. Her fangs were approaching his neck. Shannon once again kicked her knocking Anna away.
"Damn it Shannon. I was this close." Anna indicated how close she was with her fingers the pushed Xander out of the way. He hit his head on the wall of the warehouse knocking him out.
"Wow, that close." She withdrew her stake ready for the fight "Want a closer look at this."
Shannon kicked Anna once again which caused Anna to stagger backwards but she didn't fall. Shannon came closer with a stake ready to stake Anna. The vampire version of what was once a friend grabbed her wrist causing her to drop the stake. Shannon was unarmed but she didn't need weapons they just helped a lot. Shannon blocked a punch that Anna threw at her then hit Anna on the bridge of her nose. Blood began to trickle. Even more pissed off Anna punched Shannon in the face then pushed her through a pile of boxes and into a wall.
Hitting the wall let Shannon feeling a little dazed. While trying to get up her hand came a cross something. It was metal and more importantly it hit hard. Anna approached her thinking that she was close to the end. What she wasn't expecting was to happen was her head being hit like a ball with metal bat. It hurt. Shannon knew that metal couldn't kill a vampire just put it through a hell of a load of pain. She whacked Anna with it one more time.
Anna was fed up with being hit with what looked like pipe. As Shannon was about to hit her head with it again Anna used her fast reflexes that she gained when she became a vampire to halt the pole. She pushed it in the other direction, which was where Shannons' stomach happened to be. Shannon fell to the floor. Anna showed off by spinning the pole around.
"Time for some revenge." She hit Shannon on the head just like Shannon had done to her. Anna hit the floor on each side of Shannon head a few times then raised it just above her head. With enough force she was going to attempt to impale Shannons head on the pole.
Something tackled her to the ground. Anna looked up to see Xander who had pinned her against the floor was also starring at her.
"You're not gonna kill Shannon!" Xander voice was so serious there was no trace of doubt in his tone. Anna didn't like hearing him say such words but if that was how he was going to be. She kicked him off her.
"Oh that's where you're wrong Xander I'm gonna kill her, then you but with one difference. I want you bad." Anna was also being serious otherwise she would have given up after so may tries. The game was no longer fun but more along the lines of annoying.
She got up and faced Shannon and Xander though now there were more people. Behind them stood Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Giles. Quickly Anna went through the odds. It was six against one and one of the six was a powerful slayer. She wanted Xander though but she was never going to get him if she was just a big old pile of dust.
"Fuck this. See ya!" Anna first started to walk then remembering the invention called the crossbow began to run.
"Are you okay?" Xander asked Shannon who had a cut on her head from where she had been hit.
"Well for someone who was just kicked, punched, chucked against a wall and hit several times with pole." She paused for a bit. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine."
"Stupid question huh? But look at the positive side you're not sporting a brand new pole through your forehead as the latest trend."
"That's thanks to someone's great tackle." She kissed Xander as a sign of Thankyou and because she wanted to so badly. The others had left to burn the two halves of Gerathon. When he had been split in two all the souls that were trapped inside him were released. For some it means returning to a normal life living with the regrets of what they had said during their time of anger. The majority though was finally been given a chance to rest in peace.
"I'm sorry for everything I said because trust me I don't hate you. In fact I like you a lot but there's something I have to tell you and this could mean you not liking me."
"Anya your girlfriend. I guessed who she was but I have to my little speech before you say anything else." Shannon took a deep breath she knew that she had to do the right thing.
"Xander there can't be an us just yet. You have a girlfriend and though you're kind of on a break you'll probably end up back together again. I have to return to that wet little island called Britain. Sunnydale may be the centre of mystical energy and has more than its fair share of vampires but that's why it has a slayer. They need someone who can handle vampires over in Britain and be unknown hero. Plus there's the little case of friends. I may have to continue tracking them down and kill them leaving open the possibility of more adventures that could be on a worldwide exploring thing.
"Talking about things I can't forget the watcher thing. Maybe when I'm all old like Giles I like to continue to help by training a slayer. An advantage being that she can't complain about me not knowing what it's like to be a teenage girl who slays vampires and not understand. I also tell her about my little adventures and you, Buffy etc."
"How about I can come and help?" Xander offered wondering if he would get the chance to help out Shannons' slayer. A problem being for that to happen Buffy would have to die.
"Yeah sure I'll just scribble down a note. RE: Xander help."
"Better not forget because I'm waiting for that phone call." Shannon told him her mobile phone number. He thought it would be cool to have contacts in England or where ever Shannon was planning to go next.
"I better get going. I don't have any clue where to go next and I need to find out. I'm thinking while I'm here I should go Los Angeles I mean there lots of people I want to go looking for including vampires and stars." She knew that if Anna, Naomi and Lynette were to go anywhere next it would be LA. They had always wanted to and there was nothing stopping them except hopefully a sharp piece of wood.
"Cool I've only been about once." Xander looked at Shannon and stepped in for one last kiss but Shannon put her finger to his lips and leant back.
"Don't make another it harder then it already is. Goodbye Xander I hope to see you again."
"Me too may you lots of exciting and sexy adventures with lots of interesting things happening. Good bye." They gave each other a friendly hug and Shannon departed. Xander watched her as she walked further and further into the distance. He already missed her and wished they had only had more time to annoy Giles with sarcastic remarks. Before turning the corner Shannon waved at him and he waved back. Xander wondered if they would ever see each other again and when they did would the situation be better or worse.
He walked in to the warehouse to be with his friends. Yet again Xander had had another bad experience when it came to love. He didn't know if he did love Shannon. There had definitely been a connection but there wasn't enough time to see what would have developed.
"You okay Xander?" asked Buffy.
"Well for someone who has been kidnapped, lost his soul, hit, kicked and more." He paused thinking about the events before " Yeah I'm feeling great!"
"Stupid question huh?" Buffy answered the same way he had when Shannon had said it.
"I've been asked worse. Demon roasting on an open fire and damn it I forgot the marshmallows." Not much remained of the demon, which had for a while contained his soul. Xander remembered what he had been feeling during that time. There was nothing but anger and hatred towards everyone else, as they meant nothing to him. For a while he had a glimpse at what it had felt to be a vampire without a soul with no conscience what so ever. Even worse vampires were what he hated most and he had liked that feeling. There was no burden of the world or worrying about his friends. He stopped thinking about it.
"So what we going to now?" he asked. It was getting late and Xander was very tired after the day's events.
Anna walked toward a park. She was hungry and she wanted someone to eat. She hoped to find someone wandering all alone with no clue about the real dangers of the small Californian town. She walked into the park. The first thing that she noticed was some vampires finishing their meals. The two vampires starred at her with blood all over their face.
"Anna?"
"Naomi? Lynette? I'm hungry have any of those bodies got anything left in them?"
"Yep I think this one does." Lynette passed her the unconscious body of a teenage boy. The body was still slightly warm but it was also looking pale. Not caring Anna fed on boys remaining blood. She didn't like getting the leftovers but she wasn't so bothered that she was going to make a fuss about it.
"So what you been doing?" Anna wondered while her friends weren't busy leaving Sunnydale.
"We had a go at siring those two but we can't really be bothered to wait too long and I think we had too much blood." Naomi explained. Waiting for a vampire to rise was an unpredictable thing some were pretty quick others took a lot longer like a few days.
"Hey how come you guys left without me?" Anna was pissed off about it, for all they knew she could have been in some narrow dark alley lying there in a pile of dust. She knew she should have mentioned it earlier but quickly was distracted by food.
"Oh we thought you were dead and we just couldn't be bothered waiting."
"Wow thanks what great buds you are not even thinking about avenging my death."
"But you're not dead. Well not dead dead." Lynette corrected herself they were already lacking a pulse rate and breathing rate."
"You didn't know that did you, so go back and avenge by death."
"There's no need though." Naomi was getting annoyed by the argument now."
"What I'm not important enough now am I? You don't care about me do you?" Anna was not finished with the dramatics yet. She spun around with her back facing her friends.
"No Anna we don't give a damn, are you happy now?" Lynette hoped that that would stop the stupid argument.
"Oh I know you do care really."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not." Lynette thought that this must have been one of the most profound arguments they had ever had. The vampires walked off into the night still arguing. In the distance a scream could be heard from one of the vampires, it sounded like Lynette had become very annoyed.
Gerathon looked at his new body. He had gained control over during the few hours of sleep it had had. The body had been tired and weak which made it even easier to take control. He was going have fun using it to extract some revenge on those who had destroyed his original body. Gerathon was also in need of gaining more strength. When he had changed bodies he had not been able to take the strength of it with him meaning that he would after to start again at the beginning. Though he was annoyed he didn't completely mind after all he knew who his victims were to be.
He couldn't return home until he was strong again. His minions were not going to recognise him by looking at him so he was going to have to show them by extremes of strength. He wondered if his minions would have heard of his defeat. If they had they would either disband or select a new leader. He preferred the option of new leader. It would give him the chance to show his power and he wouldn't have to find a load of new followers.
Once again he looked at his new body. It much weaker then what he would have wanted. There were no demons at the time to go in to and he wasn't sure if he would be able to. There were plenty of vampires but he knew he couldn't process a dead human. He didn't quite understand what had happened to him but it was better then being dead. He smiled at how this way he could cause a lot more damage. Gerathon looked in the mirror where he saw his new reflection. He was going to enjoy using Xanders body to destroy his friends.
Xander thought about what he just said. Maybe it would be better if he didn't know what the ritual was. He also thought that he might not want to know what the deal with the strange blocks of wood was. They couldn't help but interest him. After all the research he had done for Giles he thought that something might come to mind. Wood burns. He knew that thought could be correct. The thought reminded him of his strange dream he had the other night when a load of females had burned him alive. Cool, I had a kinda predicting dream. He only wished that he had dreamed about the winning lottery numbers.
"Have you prepared the flame?" The demon asked his minions. Shit they are going to burn me thought Xander.
"This flame is that going to be on the wood which burns and will be burning quite close to me?" He had finally done something cool and had a dream that was predicting something but he didn't think the ones that predicted the method the bad guys would use to kill you was a very good one.
"Shut up and do some panicking! I'm getting hungry and when I get hungry, I tend to get angry and when I'm angry I want to kill something. Any volunteers?" He looked around at his minions and Xander. His minions turned their faces away from his glare so that they wouldn't make eye contact. "That's what I thought, be afraid, be very afraid."
One of the vampires moved slightly he wanted to tell his demon master something, but he also didn't want to talk to him just in case he was in the crazy killing mood. He got of his knees finally and walked closer.
"Everything is ready except we're not quite sure about the flame. The powder doesn't look right and I'm wondering if we haven't put enough of an ingredient in the mixture." The vampire took a step back. Gerathon indicated with his hand that he wanted to have a look at the powder to form his own opinion. One vampire held a small bag in his hands and passed it to the vampire, which had just spoken. The vampire then raised his arm slightly to give it to Gerathon.
Gerathon opened the small pouch and removed a little of its content. Some crushed red grains were mixed in with different shades of green dust. The majority of it was a dark green. He raised it to his nose and sniffed it. After that he poured the powder back into the pouch, but didn't say a word.
The closest vampire to him waited patiently for a reply but was also nervous that he had done poorly and the consequence would be fatal. He released how time seemed to go slower, every second doubled it was enough to drive him insane.
"It will do." He gave the pouch back to the vampire "You know what to do, so stop standing there."
The vampire took most of the powder and sprinkled it on each of the strange blocks of wood. Xander wondered if they would start to glow or something cool like that. Another vampire walked to the one with the pouch with a torch. Not the battery powered kind, but the ones that looked like giant matches. This helped confirm Xander of his burnt at the stake theory.
The remainder of the powder was poured onto the torch; it was then set alight. At first the flame was its usual orangey colour then it turned a light blue next it was a bright green colour it finally settled as a purple flame. The vampire put the torch against one of the wooden blocks. Each one of them went through the strange changing colour routine in turn. Before he knew it Xander found himself surrounded by purple flames, which he found rather annoying. The temperature did not increase they just flickered then the demon started to speak.
"Your soul will be mine,
May it increase my powers,
And your body a sacrifice,
To release the demon lord."
Xander felt as if his body was being ripped apart. It seemed to be never ending. The pain just continued to increase. Though he could not see much he could hear a sound, which was a mixture of screaming and laughing. The pain was too much bear, but it didn't matter once he'd passed out.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Anna put on the over dramatics, reaching her hand out towards Xander as she came to glimpse his lifeless body. "You bastard, you've killed him. You promised me. Did I forget to tell you I really hate you as well?"
"Yes I killed him, no I didn't actually promise not to kill him and yes you did fail to say that you really hate me." Said Gerathon "I don't see the slayer with you though, so I was right to believe you would fail."
"Thanks for the boost of confidence." Said Anna as she walked over to Xander and untied him. His lifeless body fell to the ground. "The slayer is with me actually, she's waiting outside with her gang and when they see Xander dead, they're truly going to kill you. I though won't be here. Goodbye." Anna walked away with Good Riddance by Greenday in her head. She wasn't actually going to leave; she was just going to watch Gerathon getting killed from a safer place. Anna liked being kinda alive as it beat being very dead.
Buffy burst through the doors she saw six vampires, none of which were the annoying Anna and a demon. She also saw Xander who was lying on the ground.
"Don't look so glum I'm just going to kill you as well." Said the demon as the slayer filled with rage over her friends' death. Four others followed her inside. Gerathon had recognised Shannon he had seen her fight vampires back in Wales. They all followed the slayers' emotional pattern. They cared about Xander a lot and were wondering if he was dead or best case scenario unconscious.
The six vampires lunged at them. Buffy staked one before he was able to reach her. A cross in the face then a stake to the heart met the one that went after Willow and Oz. Four vampires came together and attacked Buffy at the same time. She was able to kick one in the chest, but there were too many to deal with at once. Giles ran over to assist Buffy by throwing a glass of holy water at them. All the vampires began to smoke as the holy water burned their skin. He then grabbed one of the vampires' jackets and pulled him off Buffy. He staked the vampire before it could get back on to his feet. Buffy managed to struggle free from the three vampires. She kicked one in the groin and elbowed another in the face. The other vampire came close to punching Buffy in the face but she managed to block its blow with her arm just in time and retaliated with a kick to the belly.
Willow saw a vampire approach Buffy from behind. She used magick to float a piece of wood into the vampires' heart. Buffy turned around just in time to see it turn to dust as it fell to the ground. She smiled at Willow as a thank you then went to help Giles with the vampire he was struggling with. With it distracted by Giles' neck she was able to stake it without it noticing her approach. The vampire turned to dust, which then fell onto Giles.
Buffy looked for the last vampire she saw Shannon fighting it. The vampire was against the wall and the cross that it cursed at held him there. Shannon wasn't waiting for help, as the cross was also a stake. She was torturing the vampire with the cross letting the crosses curse of pain linger before she killed it. The fact the cross doubled as a stake tormented the vampire as she taunted it with the method of death facing it but taking time to actually go through with it. Shannon then held the wooden cross like a dagger and drove its pointed end into its chest. There were no more vampires that she could see left but there was one very ugly demon.
"I'm going to check on Xander." Shannon whispered to Buffy.
Buffy threw away her stake and exchanged it for a silver short sword. They didn't know how to kill the demon but decapitation and multiple chest wounds sounded like a good start.
"You think you can kill me slayer, but I've just fed which means that I am stronger then ever." Gerathon was going to use the energy it gained from killing Xander to destroy the slayer.
"Well I'm feeling pissed off so I'm taking it out on you." Said Buffy as she started the attack.
"Xander?" Shannon had just made it to him before the main fight had started she wanted to join in but first she had to see if Xander was still alive. Of course she wanted him to be fine though his chances were slim. He looked dead. His face was turning paler and his lips were beginning to look blue.
Shannon put her face near his to see if he was still breathing. She thought she felt something but it could have been a slight breeze. She put her fingers against his wrist to find his pulse but nothing could be found. To double check she tried again but this time she put her fingers against his neck. Still nothing was found. Shannon though would not give up easily on him. She was going to have to try resuscitating him, but the problem though she had never done it before for real. While she had been at Guides they had shown her, another problem came up that had been five years ago.
Buffy was fighting for revenge, but Shannon had to make sure it wasn't vengeance for a death. She put her lips to his mouth to do CPR, two breaths then she thumped her hands against his chest. Was it five or fifteen times damn it! She decided to do ten as it was in the middle. She only hoped that it would work. Yet again she tried to breathe life into him. Twice more she tried; she considered giving up as she couldn't stay there forever as they needed her help. She paused for a second to think through what she had to do. She was so busy considering the situation that Shannon didn't even notice that Xander had opened his eyes
Naomi and Lynette stood outside watching the fight. They had given up on searching for slayer and had returned to see if Anna had had any luck. Obviously she had as Buffy was fighting Gerathon. They seemed equally matched. Now and gain one of the slayers little groupies would try and help just to be chucked to the side. The older guy who they were pretty sure was called Giles had been knocked out.
They stood there still watching wondering if they should join in to help kill the slayer. The two female vampires couldn't help watching the fight it was better than joining in and a lot safer.
"I can't see Anna, do you think she's been dusted?" Lynette looked one more time but found no trace. She thought that she could she a bit of dust on the ground, but that could have been due to the lack dusting. "Or maybe she left?"
"Could it be time we left?" Naomi replied as she took a few steps away from the warehouse. "This place is boring, sure you've got the mystical energy and the plenty of meals on legs, but they're available everywhere."
"Mystical energy?" asked Lynette confused by the fact that mystical energy couldn't be everywhere or they would be attracted to go everywhere. People though they could be found pretty much in any place on Earth. Then it hit her. "Oh, you're right let's go."
"I love it when I'm right." Naomi and Lynette began walking away from the warehouse district.
"I hate it when you gloat. Gloating really annoys me, it annoys me as much as Dawson."
"Wow that much huh? So where to, I want to go to LA for a bit and I have to continue my search for Casey." Naomi drifted off into a short fantasy involving Casey and a bowl of chocolate.
"What about Spike?" Lynette interrupted Naomi's fantasy with an interesting question.
"Spike was great, but I need Casey. Spike's kinda been there done that now and Casey well now I want him. I wanna sire him so I can fuck him forever."
"I wonder who I could sire? I mean that if you get to sire someone I should too. Like Anna was going to sire Xander, who do we get to sire?" Lynette kept asking a lot questions with answers she could only find by looking for hot guys.
"I was thinking Oz though I got caught up with Spike and in the end I totally forgot about him. The Gerathon situation didn't help either. I can't be bothered with him now that I have remembered him. He was just one of my quickly passing crushes. Now lets head to LA, then wherever!" said Naomi as she eyed some dickheads, which would be perfect for their next meal. There were five of them. She decided that it might be best that Lynette and her should practise making there own vampires. There were two for testing, two for feeding and one for decapitation. The leading dickhead who was laughing his head off would be perfect to do it literally to.
"Can we also go to India at some point. I've always wanted to go there and we just haven't yet." Lynette asked as she walked, but Naomi stopped her to explain what they were going to do next.
The boys were happy at first to see a couple of pretty girls come up to them. They put their brain cell together to think up with a really original line.
"Will you go with him?" The leader laughed pathetically and his friends copied the laughter. Their faces changed though as the girls' faces became distorted. It would be the last thing some would see.
"That's not what we had in mind." said Lynette just before Naomi started to attack.
"Shannon?" Shannon looked down to see that Xander was awake. She couldn't believe it; she was sure that he was a goner and would have had to take out her vengeance on Gerathon. She gave him a hug and was about to give him a huge kiss.
"What do you think you're doing?" he said as he pushed her away. This was not the reaction she had expected.
"Xander you're alive, I was happy. Is there something wrong with that?" She couldn't help but be slightly pissed off with him. Out of all the reactions she would have expected for saving his life and giving him a hug she had not thought of this one. Maybe he wanted more? She was going to kiss him if he hadn't rudely interrupted the happy-you-a-live moment.
"You know it's all your fault this happened!" he stood up and pointed at her. " You let your selfishness allow them to take me away. Where were you? You let them kill me. You didn't do anything."
"I didn't do anything." Shannon too stood up and slapped him right across the face.
"And now you slap me! You're just a bitch!" Xanders harsh words hurt Shannon more than her slap had hurt him. Why was he saying these things?
Willow came over to them. She had cut on her forehead form the continuing fight.
"Xander you're alive!" Willow hugged him but there was no response. "We need your help. I don't know how long Buffy can last."
They looked over to Buffy who was still holding her own but she needed to kill the demon. The demon knocked her away; she landed near where her sword had fallen too earlier. She grabbed it and ran back. Just at that moment she was able to plunge the sword into his stomach. Some sort of green goo that was probably blood spewed from the wound.
Gerathon gave out a slight bellow. The demon pulled out the sword that was now covered in the green substance. He knew his wound was not that serious. He replaced the bellow with a laugh.
"It will take more then that to destroy me!" He again pushed Buffy to the side and turned to Oz sword raised.
"Oz!" shouted Willow. She didn't want anything to happen to her boyfriend especially death. "Come on Xander."
"Back off witch!" This was not like Xander. His cruel words were hurting people and his attitude was attracting attention. He just stood while Willow and Shannon joined in the fight.
He's not dead. Thought Anna as she realised that she still had a chance with him. She started heading towards him once she realised what had happened. Anna believed that this could be even better for her. Xander had left the warehouse not even looking back at his friends who were in need of his help.
"Xander, come here." She asked. He turned around to meet her gaze, but he did move closer as well. "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm pissed off with everyone." Anna was right this was going to work out for her.
"That's because you have no soul. I'm here to offer you the chance of a lifetime. The irony being you will have to lose it first. How would you like to stay like you are, but stronger and you will become immortal."
"Become a vampire? I would get to live forever and I would become a hell of a lot stronger. I would also get to spend eternity with you Anna. " Xander was different before he would have never said yes. "No."
"What?" Anna was angry but she didn't care she had given him a choice. Unfortunately for him she would not except anything but yes for an answer. She grabbed his throat and brought him closer. This time he would be hers.
Gerathon hit the floor with a loud thud. Shannon had had an idea with using the rope that had been used to tie up Xander to trip up Gerathon. It had been a wild stab in the dark but it had worked. She had chucked one end of it across the floor to Giles who had just got up. Gerathon who was too busy stampeding around the place trying to kill one of the slayerettes hadn't seen them. Just as he reached from Shannon and Giles pulled on the ropes so that he fell. It wasn't the greatest plan in the world or the most exciting but it had done its job and that's what mattered.
Buffy with the sword held tight in her hand brought it down to the ground. Blood spewed from the demons' body. He was after all in two parts. The sword had cut it in half, right down the middle. Who would it be? Who could resist saying a cliché?
"It's about time he pulled himself together." The person who had said it and a poor one at that was Giles. Everyone groaned. "Well I thought it was funny." Being a very sad person he giggled at his own joke.
"Help me!" Shannon was sure she had heard it coming from outside. She looked around for Xander he was nowhere in sight, but that was because she was looking inside the warehouse. Once outside she couldn't see him and was beginning to panic.
"Piss off." This time she was sure it was Xanders voice. She looked in the direction was sure it had come from.
"Damn it Xander." Shannon recognised the other voice straight away. It was the voice of Anna and she was with Xander. Bitch if she…. She had found them at last. Anna was leaning over Xander who was on the ground. There was cut on her face that been the cause of the delay. Her fangs were approaching his neck. Shannon once again kicked her knocking Anna away.
"Damn it Shannon. I was this close." Anna indicated how close she was with her fingers the pushed Xander out of the way. He hit his head on the wall of the warehouse knocking him out.
"Wow, that close." She withdrew her stake ready for the fight "Want a closer look at this."
Shannon kicked Anna once again which caused Anna to stagger backwards but she didn't fall. Shannon came closer with a stake ready to stake Anna. The vampire version of what was once a friend grabbed her wrist causing her to drop the stake. Shannon was unarmed but she didn't need weapons they just helped a lot. Shannon blocked a punch that Anna threw at her then hit Anna on the bridge of her nose. Blood began to trickle. Even more pissed off Anna punched Shannon in the face then pushed her through a pile of boxes and into a wall.
Hitting the wall let Shannon feeling a little dazed. While trying to get up her hand came a cross something. It was metal and more importantly it hit hard. Anna approached her thinking that she was close to the end. What she wasn't expecting was to happen was her head being hit like a ball with metal bat. It hurt. Shannon knew that metal couldn't kill a vampire just put it through a hell of a load of pain. She whacked Anna with it one more time.
Anna was fed up with being hit with what looked like pipe. As Shannon was about to hit her head with it again Anna used her fast reflexes that she gained when she became a vampire to halt the pole. She pushed it in the other direction, which was where Shannons' stomach happened to be. Shannon fell to the floor. Anna showed off by spinning the pole around.
"Time for some revenge." She hit Shannon on the head just like Shannon had done to her. Anna hit the floor on each side of Shannon head a few times then raised it just above her head. With enough force she was going to attempt to impale Shannons head on the pole.
Something tackled her to the ground. Anna looked up to see Xander who had pinned her against the floor was also starring at her.
"You're not gonna kill Shannon!" Xander voice was so serious there was no trace of doubt in his tone. Anna didn't like hearing him say such words but if that was how he was going to be. She kicked him off her.
"Oh that's where you're wrong Xander I'm gonna kill her, then you but with one difference. I want you bad." Anna was also being serious otherwise she would have given up after so may tries. The game was no longer fun but more along the lines of annoying.
She got up and faced Shannon and Xander though now there were more people. Behind them stood Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Giles. Quickly Anna went through the odds. It was six against one and one of the six was a powerful slayer. She wanted Xander though but she was never going to get him if she was just a big old pile of dust.
"Fuck this. See ya!" Anna first started to walk then remembering the invention called the crossbow began to run.
"Are you okay?" Xander asked Shannon who had a cut on her head from where she had been hit.
"Well for someone who was just kicked, punched, chucked against a wall and hit several times with pole." She paused for a bit. "Yeah, I'm feeling fine."
"Stupid question huh? But look at the positive side you're not sporting a brand new pole through your forehead as the latest trend."
"That's thanks to someone's great tackle." She kissed Xander as a sign of Thankyou and because she wanted to so badly. The others had left to burn the two halves of Gerathon. When he had been split in two all the souls that were trapped inside him were released. For some it means returning to a normal life living with the regrets of what they had said during their time of anger. The majority though was finally been given a chance to rest in peace.
"I'm sorry for everything I said because trust me I don't hate you. In fact I like you a lot but there's something I have to tell you and this could mean you not liking me."
"Anya your girlfriend. I guessed who she was but I have to my little speech before you say anything else." Shannon took a deep breath she knew that she had to do the right thing.
"Xander there can't be an us just yet. You have a girlfriend and though you're kind of on a break you'll probably end up back together again. I have to return to that wet little island called Britain. Sunnydale may be the centre of mystical energy and has more than its fair share of vampires but that's why it has a slayer. They need someone who can handle vampires over in Britain and be unknown hero. Plus there's the little case of friends. I may have to continue tracking them down and kill them leaving open the possibility of more adventures that could be on a worldwide exploring thing.
"Talking about things I can't forget the watcher thing. Maybe when I'm all old like Giles I like to continue to help by training a slayer. An advantage being that she can't complain about me not knowing what it's like to be a teenage girl who slays vampires and not understand. I also tell her about my little adventures and you, Buffy etc."
"How about I can come and help?" Xander offered wondering if he would get the chance to help out Shannons' slayer. A problem being for that to happen Buffy would have to die.
"Yeah sure I'll just scribble down a note. RE: Xander help."
"Better not forget because I'm waiting for that phone call." Shannon told him her mobile phone number. He thought it would be cool to have contacts in England or where ever Shannon was planning to go next.
"I better get going. I don't have any clue where to go next and I need to find out. I'm thinking while I'm here I should go Los Angeles I mean there lots of people I want to go looking for including vampires and stars." She knew that if Anna, Naomi and Lynette were to go anywhere next it would be LA. They had always wanted to and there was nothing stopping them except hopefully a sharp piece of wood.
"Cool I've only been about once." Xander looked at Shannon and stepped in for one last kiss but Shannon put her finger to his lips and leant back.
"Don't make another it harder then it already is. Goodbye Xander I hope to see you again."
"Me too may you lots of exciting and sexy adventures with lots of interesting things happening. Good bye." They gave each other a friendly hug and Shannon departed. Xander watched her as she walked further and further into the distance. He already missed her and wished they had only had more time to annoy Giles with sarcastic remarks. Before turning the corner Shannon waved at him and he waved back. Xander wondered if they would ever see each other again and when they did would the situation be better or worse.
He walked in to the warehouse to be with his friends. Yet again Xander had had another bad experience when it came to love. He didn't know if he did love Shannon. There had definitely been a connection but there wasn't enough time to see what would have developed.
"You okay Xander?" asked Buffy.
"Well for someone who has been kidnapped, lost his soul, hit, kicked and more." He paused thinking about the events before " Yeah I'm feeling great!"
"Stupid question huh?" Buffy answered the same way he had when Shannon had said it.
"I've been asked worse. Demon roasting on an open fire and damn it I forgot the marshmallows." Not much remained of the demon, which had for a while contained his soul. Xander remembered what he had been feeling during that time. There was nothing but anger and hatred towards everyone else, as they meant nothing to him. For a while he had a glimpse at what it had felt to be a vampire without a soul with no conscience what so ever. Even worse vampires were what he hated most and he had liked that feeling. There was no burden of the world or worrying about his friends. He stopped thinking about it.
"So what we going to now?" he asked. It was getting late and Xander was very tired after the day's events.
Anna walked toward a park. She was hungry and she wanted someone to eat. She hoped to find someone wandering all alone with no clue about the real dangers of the small Californian town. She walked into the park. The first thing that she noticed was some vampires finishing their meals. The two vampires starred at her with blood all over their face.
"Anna?"
"Naomi? Lynette? I'm hungry have any of those bodies got anything left in them?"
"Yep I think this one does." Lynette passed her the unconscious body of a teenage boy. The body was still slightly warm but it was also looking pale. Not caring Anna fed on boys remaining blood. She didn't like getting the leftovers but she wasn't so bothered that she was going to make a fuss about it.
"So what you been doing?" Anna wondered while her friends weren't busy leaving Sunnydale.
"We had a go at siring those two but we can't really be bothered to wait too long and I think we had too much blood." Naomi explained. Waiting for a vampire to rise was an unpredictable thing some were pretty quick others took a lot longer like a few days.
"Hey how come you guys left without me?" Anna was pissed off about it, for all they knew she could have been in some narrow dark alley lying there in a pile of dust. She knew she should have mentioned it earlier but quickly was distracted by food.
"Oh we thought you were dead and we just couldn't be bothered waiting."
"Wow thanks what great buds you are not even thinking about avenging my death."
"But you're not dead. Well not dead dead." Lynette corrected herself they were already lacking a pulse rate and breathing rate."
"You didn't know that did you, so go back and avenge by death."
"There's no need though." Naomi was getting annoyed by the argument now."
"What I'm not important enough now am I? You don't care about me do you?" Anna was not finished with the dramatics yet. She spun around with her back facing her friends.
"No Anna we don't give a damn, are you happy now?" Lynette hoped that that would stop the stupid argument.
"Oh I know you do care really."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not." Lynette thought that this must have been one of the most profound arguments they had ever had. The vampires walked off into the night still arguing. In the distance a scream could be heard from one of the vampires, it sounded like Lynette had become very annoyed.
Gerathon looked at his new body. He had gained control over during the few hours of sleep it had had. The body had been tired and weak which made it even easier to take control. He was going have fun using it to extract some revenge on those who had destroyed his original body. Gerathon was also in need of gaining more strength. When he had changed bodies he had not been able to take the strength of it with him meaning that he would after to start again at the beginning. Though he was annoyed he didn't completely mind after all he knew who his victims were to be.
He couldn't return home until he was strong again. His minions were not going to recognise him by looking at him so he was going to have to show them by extremes of strength. He wondered if his minions would have heard of his defeat. If they had they would either disband or select a new leader. He preferred the option of new leader. It would give him the chance to show his power and he wouldn't have to find a load of new followers.
Once again he looked at his new body. It much weaker then what he would have wanted. There were no demons at the time to go in to and he wasn't sure if he would be able to. There were plenty of vampires but he knew he couldn't process a dead human. He didn't quite understand what had happened to him but it was better then being dead. He smiled at how this way he could cause a lot more damage. Gerathon looked in the mirror where he saw his new reflection. He was going to enjoy using Xanders body to destroy his friends.