Story: Brenn
Chapter 7
The Portals of Hell
The group didn't hear him. They were too focused on the source of the dark magic, Brenn.
"Brenn!" Buffy called over the roar of the flames that had just risen higher.
Brenn didn't acknowledge that she had been spoken to. She just kept chanting, "Carn Mixon!" louder and louder. In some places the flames started to turn purple.
"Brenn!" Dawn shouted. "Stop! Please!"
Brenn stopped chanting and looked over at Dawn. She slowly blinked. The flames died down, but then in a flash of purple they sprang up again, blowing everyone off their feet and knocking them out.
A few minutes later, Brenn woke up.
"My head," she moaned.
"What do you think you are doing?" an unfamiliar voice yelled angrily.
Brenn searched for the source of the voice. Immediately she recognised his smell. He was another of the cronies from Seattle.
"What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"Well, I was going to stop you from performing the ritual, but it seems I was a little late," he huffed out.
"Yeah. And why the hell do you care?"
"My boss wants you in one piece. He knows all about you. He wants to make an alliance."
"I don't make alliances with vampires."
"Why not? Are you not part one?"
Brenn turned red.
"Do you think I want to be?! Do you know how much I hate the man over there for doing this to me?! Do you know how much I wish that knife had killed me instead?"
"Yes I do, Brenn. You revealed much to us when you absorbed the mind of our priest."
"Brenn, you didn't tell me all of this," Buffy said. She, Xander, Willow, and Tara had woken up and heard all of her conversation with the vampire.
"I didn't have to Buffy! I don't have to tell you anything I don't want to," Brenn shot at her. She was pissed now.
Tara suddenly gasped, stopping Buffy was saying anything back.
"Tara, what?" Willow asked.
"I.I.I went over to wake Dawn up, but then she just disappeared."
This caught Brenn's full attention. She shot a glance at Spike. He was still there. Shit, she said to her self, he should have been gone by now. But then it hit her. She had accidentally sent Dawn instead.
"Brenn, do you have anything to do with this?" Buffy asked, the rage leaking out in her voice.
"I'll answer that," the vamp cut in. "Your friend the Slayer here, had her boyfriend sent to a Hell dimension by my boss. When she found this out, she killed pretty much all of our gang. Then she killed the demon, then the priest. When she killed the priest, she sucked all of the info she needed out of his brain. Then she decided to get some revenge on he who killed her family, and he who sired my boss. Spike.
"So a few months later, after hiking down to Sunnydale, she found him, and another surprise! The original Slayer, who as supposed to be dead. Then she found Spike, and now we have now."
"That didn't explain a thing. Where is Dawn.?"
"I can answer that," Brenn spoke up quietly. "I accidentally sent her to a Hell dimension in-" A loud thump cut her off.
"What was that?" Xander was suddenly alert.
"Pryce!" Brenn ran over to the flesh covered heap that had just landed on the floor.
"Pryce! Omigod! Please, wake-up!" she said as she shook him. "Pryce! Pryce!"
"Brenn?"
"Pryce, thank God you are alive."
She collapsed onto him, crying.
"Brenn, I'm okay. Just help me up."
"Okay."
Brenn gently helped him stand up, and then every face in the room turned red.
"I can see what Brenn sees in you," Spike's voice announced.
"Here Pryce, take my coat," Xander offered. Pryce took it and tied it around his waist. Brenn also gave him he coat, which he wore like a regular one.
"I think we should get back to the house," Buffy announced when Pryce had covered the essentials.
"Then I'll just be going," the vamp said, trying to slip away.
"Your coming too," Buffy said, grabbing him. "and somebody untie Spike."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inviting the vampire into the house made Buffy nervous, because she couldn't trust him, but what was he going to do with two Slayers watching him.
"First of all, who the hell are you and why are you following Brenn?" Buffy asked, pacing the living room.
"My name is Raun. My boss, Sprite, asked me to find the Slayer Brenn, and bring her back to Seattle."
"Why?" Pryce asked, putting his arm around Brenn protectively.
Xander all of a sudden felt jealous. He could never compete with a guy like Pryce. He was a cool Watcher. Back at the building he couldn't help notice the chiselled abs, sinewy muscles, sculpted body, and all together great form. And to top it all of he had a sexy
voice that could be compared to Sean Connery's.
"Sprite wants to make a deal, but now that chance is ruined because you are back," Raun said in a nasty tone directed at Pryce.
"What about Dawn?" Buffy was getting really concerned about her little sister.
"Dawn?" You could almost see the question mark above Pryce's head.
"Dawn is Buffy's sister. I accidentally sent her in exchange for you," Brenn said, her voice laden with guilt.
"And you can kiss her ass good-bye," Raun said, almost sounding like he cared.
"Why?" Buffy demanded.
"Because her blood was not used in the transaction. Without it, the only way to get her back is to retrieve her personally, opening a direct gate to the dimension, and I've said too much. But that's okay, because only Sprite knows how to open the portal."
"Are you kidding yourself," Brenn was trying not to laugh. "There are three powerful witches here. I think we can figure it out."
"Oh, shit."
"Raun, you have summed it up perfectly," Spike said with a chuckle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few hours later Brenn and Tara were explaining to everyone how the portal was to be opened.
"We draw a sacred circle, then everyone who is going puts a drop of blood in the middle of the circle, speaking the password, let me pass," Brenn explained.
"Then the gatekeeper draws a circle around the other drops with his blood and says, open the gate and let the travellers pass," Tara finished.
"Who will be the gatekeeper?" Spike asked.
"First," Brenn took a deep breathe, "we have to figure out who is going. Me, Tara, and Willow are going because we need protection and good defence, and who else wants to come, and why should you?"
"I'm definitely coming," Buffy stepped up. "Two Slayers are better than one. And this piece of trash is coming because I don't trust him," she finished pointing to Raun.
"You'll need a guide," Pryce put in, "so I'm coming."
"Okay," Brenn agreed. "Anyone else?"
"Don't count me out," Spike said.
"Me neither," Xander was not about to be left out.
"Then we're screwed," Brenn said, throwing her hands out to the side. "If everyone wants to go, then who will be the gatekeeper? Well, let's see. Everyone can go if we don't want to get back. The gatekeeper needs to stay to keep the gate open. Every time it closes they have to let a drop of blood drip on it to re-open it."
"Let's draw straws."
"No. There are two many people who need to come. I do, Tara and Willow do, Buffy does, and Raun is coming with her, and we need a guide, so Pryce is in. So I guess it's between you Xander, and Spike. I'll flip a coin."
Brenn picked up a coin of the coffee table.
"Somebody call it."
"Heads," Spike called.
"Tails," Xander said at the exact same time.
"It's heads," Brenn said with a sigh. "Spike, I guess you get to come. Xander I trust you to keep the gate open at all times."
"What do I do if you don't come back?"
"Go on, live a normal life."
"That's it? I can't help you or anything."
"Xander, if you leave and the portal closes, we're stuck,. You can't open it from the other side."
"Oh."
"Don't' worry," Willow assured him. "Well get back okay."
"Famous last words," Spike muttered.
A few minutes later Brenn was on her hands and knees, drawing a circle with charcoal on the floor. No one was making a sound.
"Done," she said getting up. "Now, everyone who is going, let a drop of your blood drop into the middle. We can't mix the blood, so be careful where you drop it."
Buffy stepped up first, cutting herself with a knife. She laid her hand out flat and let a drop of blood fall into the centre of the circle.
"Let me pass," she whispered., and immediately the air began to crackle with power.
Raun was pushed foreword next and repeated what Buffy had just done. The air started to feel even more like lightning had just struck.
When everyone was done, Brenn reminded them, "Remember, this order. It's the order we have to enter and leave in." The she turned to Xander and said, "Your turn."
Xander stepped foreword. He cut his palm down the middle. He laid his palm down flat in the circle and drew another one around the seven droplets of blood.
"Open the gate and let the travellers pass," he commanded when he finished.
A boom like thunder made the room jump. Fire sprang up everywhere and disappeared almost immediately. Above the circle a purple droplet appeared, like water suspended in mid-air. It began to expand, growing larger and larger until a two-dimensional circle with a seven foot diameter was in front of them.
"Let's go," Buffy said and stepped through, disappearing in a flash of red. Raun followed, then Spike, Willow, Tara, Pryce, and finally Brenn.
Before she stepped through she turned to Xander and said, "Don't you dare let this close."
"I won't. Good luck."
"You too," and she disappeared in a flash of indigo.
Chapter 7
The Portals of Hell
The group didn't hear him. They were too focused on the source of the dark magic, Brenn.
"Brenn!" Buffy called over the roar of the flames that had just risen higher.
Brenn didn't acknowledge that she had been spoken to. She just kept chanting, "Carn Mixon!" louder and louder. In some places the flames started to turn purple.
"Brenn!" Dawn shouted. "Stop! Please!"
Brenn stopped chanting and looked over at Dawn. She slowly blinked. The flames died down, but then in a flash of purple they sprang up again, blowing everyone off their feet and knocking them out.
A few minutes later, Brenn woke up.
"My head," she moaned.
"What do you think you are doing?" an unfamiliar voice yelled angrily.
Brenn searched for the source of the voice. Immediately she recognised his smell. He was another of the cronies from Seattle.
"What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"Well, I was going to stop you from performing the ritual, but it seems I was a little late," he huffed out.
"Yeah. And why the hell do you care?"
"My boss wants you in one piece. He knows all about you. He wants to make an alliance."
"I don't make alliances with vampires."
"Why not? Are you not part one?"
Brenn turned red.
"Do you think I want to be?! Do you know how much I hate the man over there for doing this to me?! Do you know how much I wish that knife had killed me instead?"
"Yes I do, Brenn. You revealed much to us when you absorbed the mind of our priest."
"Brenn, you didn't tell me all of this," Buffy said. She, Xander, Willow, and Tara had woken up and heard all of her conversation with the vampire.
"I didn't have to Buffy! I don't have to tell you anything I don't want to," Brenn shot at her. She was pissed now.
Tara suddenly gasped, stopping Buffy was saying anything back.
"Tara, what?" Willow asked.
"I.I.I went over to wake Dawn up, but then she just disappeared."
This caught Brenn's full attention. She shot a glance at Spike. He was still there. Shit, she said to her self, he should have been gone by now. But then it hit her. She had accidentally sent Dawn instead.
"Brenn, do you have anything to do with this?" Buffy asked, the rage leaking out in her voice.
"I'll answer that," the vamp cut in. "Your friend the Slayer here, had her boyfriend sent to a Hell dimension by my boss. When she found this out, she killed pretty much all of our gang. Then she killed the demon, then the priest. When she killed the priest, she sucked all of the info she needed out of his brain. Then she decided to get some revenge on he who killed her family, and he who sired my boss. Spike.
"So a few months later, after hiking down to Sunnydale, she found him, and another surprise! The original Slayer, who as supposed to be dead. Then she found Spike, and now we have now."
"That didn't explain a thing. Where is Dawn.?"
"I can answer that," Brenn spoke up quietly. "I accidentally sent her to a Hell dimension in-" A loud thump cut her off.
"What was that?" Xander was suddenly alert.
"Pryce!" Brenn ran over to the flesh covered heap that had just landed on the floor.
"Pryce! Omigod! Please, wake-up!" she said as she shook him. "Pryce! Pryce!"
"Brenn?"
"Pryce, thank God you are alive."
She collapsed onto him, crying.
"Brenn, I'm okay. Just help me up."
"Okay."
Brenn gently helped him stand up, and then every face in the room turned red.
"I can see what Brenn sees in you," Spike's voice announced.
"Here Pryce, take my coat," Xander offered. Pryce took it and tied it around his waist. Brenn also gave him he coat, which he wore like a regular one.
"I think we should get back to the house," Buffy announced when Pryce had covered the essentials.
"Then I'll just be going," the vamp said, trying to slip away.
"Your coming too," Buffy said, grabbing him. "and somebody untie Spike."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Inviting the vampire into the house made Buffy nervous, because she couldn't trust him, but what was he going to do with two Slayers watching him.
"First of all, who the hell are you and why are you following Brenn?" Buffy asked, pacing the living room.
"My name is Raun. My boss, Sprite, asked me to find the Slayer Brenn, and bring her back to Seattle."
"Why?" Pryce asked, putting his arm around Brenn protectively.
Xander all of a sudden felt jealous. He could never compete with a guy like Pryce. He was a cool Watcher. Back at the building he couldn't help notice the chiselled abs, sinewy muscles, sculpted body, and all together great form. And to top it all of he had a sexy
voice that could be compared to Sean Connery's.
"Sprite wants to make a deal, but now that chance is ruined because you are back," Raun said in a nasty tone directed at Pryce.
"What about Dawn?" Buffy was getting really concerned about her little sister.
"Dawn?" You could almost see the question mark above Pryce's head.
"Dawn is Buffy's sister. I accidentally sent her in exchange for you," Brenn said, her voice laden with guilt.
"And you can kiss her ass good-bye," Raun said, almost sounding like he cared.
"Why?" Buffy demanded.
"Because her blood was not used in the transaction. Without it, the only way to get her back is to retrieve her personally, opening a direct gate to the dimension, and I've said too much. But that's okay, because only Sprite knows how to open the portal."
"Are you kidding yourself," Brenn was trying not to laugh. "There are three powerful witches here. I think we can figure it out."
"Oh, shit."
"Raun, you have summed it up perfectly," Spike said with a chuckle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A few hours later Brenn and Tara were explaining to everyone how the portal was to be opened.
"We draw a sacred circle, then everyone who is going puts a drop of blood in the middle of the circle, speaking the password, let me pass," Brenn explained.
"Then the gatekeeper draws a circle around the other drops with his blood and says, open the gate and let the travellers pass," Tara finished.
"Who will be the gatekeeper?" Spike asked.
"First," Brenn took a deep breathe, "we have to figure out who is going. Me, Tara, and Willow are going because we need protection and good defence, and who else wants to come, and why should you?"
"I'm definitely coming," Buffy stepped up. "Two Slayers are better than one. And this piece of trash is coming because I don't trust him," she finished pointing to Raun.
"You'll need a guide," Pryce put in, "so I'm coming."
"Okay," Brenn agreed. "Anyone else?"
"Don't count me out," Spike said.
"Me neither," Xander was not about to be left out.
"Then we're screwed," Brenn said, throwing her hands out to the side. "If everyone wants to go, then who will be the gatekeeper? Well, let's see. Everyone can go if we don't want to get back. The gatekeeper needs to stay to keep the gate open. Every time it closes they have to let a drop of blood drip on it to re-open it."
"Let's draw straws."
"No. There are two many people who need to come. I do, Tara and Willow do, Buffy does, and Raun is coming with her, and we need a guide, so Pryce is in. So I guess it's between you Xander, and Spike. I'll flip a coin."
Brenn picked up a coin of the coffee table.
"Somebody call it."
"Heads," Spike called.
"Tails," Xander said at the exact same time.
"It's heads," Brenn said with a sigh. "Spike, I guess you get to come. Xander I trust you to keep the gate open at all times."
"What do I do if you don't come back?"
"Go on, live a normal life."
"That's it? I can't help you or anything."
"Xander, if you leave and the portal closes, we're stuck,. You can't open it from the other side."
"Oh."
"Don't' worry," Willow assured him. "Well get back okay."
"Famous last words," Spike muttered.
A few minutes later Brenn was on her hands and knees, drawing a circle with charcoal on the floor. No one was making a sound.
"Done," she said getting up. "Now, everyone who is going, let a drop of your blood drop into the middle. We can't mix the blood, so be careful where you drop it."
Buffy stepped up first, cutting herself with a knife. She laid her hand out flat and let a drop of blood fall into the centre of the circle.
"Let me pass," she whispered., and immediately the air began to crackle with power.
Raun was pushed foreword next and repeated what Buffy had just done. The air started to feel even more like lightning had just struck.
When everyone was done, Brenn reminded them, "Remember, this order. It's the order we have to enter and leave in." The she turned to Xander and said, "Your turn."
Xander stepped foreword. He cut his palm down the middle. He laid his palm down flat in the circle and drew another one around the seven droplets of blood.
"Open the gate and let the travellers pass," he commanded when he finished.
A boom like thunder made the room jump. Fire sprang up everywhere and disappeared almost immediately. Above the circle a purple droplet appeared, like water suspended in mid-air. It began to expand, growing larger and larger until a two-dimensional circle with a seven foot diameter was in front of them.
"Let's go," Buffy said and stepped through, disappearing in a flash of red. Raun followed, then Spike, Willow, Tara, Pryce, and finally Brenn.
Before she stepped through she turned to Xander and said, "Don't you dare let this close."
"I won't. Good luck."
"You too," and she disappeared in a flash of indigo.