Grimms and Gods
by Daniele-Marx
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Disclaimer: Same as before...Chapter 3!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Darkness fell. The alleys were silent and barren, showing no signs of life. A gentle, eerie breeze flowed through the alleyways and side streets, and though those streets were empty, there seemed to be a small trace of essence as the lane merely glowed from the streetlights. There was an air of foreboding and nothing to challenge it. In the distance of a brightly lit block there came a light tapping noise, the sound of wood connecting with pavement. Moments passed and the beating continued. A tree rustled as a bird flew out of its branches and high above the street. There were a few more moments when all one could hear was the pounding of the wood to the pavement, and chills could run down a person's spine just by the mere thought of the creature behind the rhythm. Just then, the sound became three different taps, then ten, and soon fourteen; more creatures fled from their homes, escaping the foreboding feeling in their hearts. Small squirrels with their children ran through the streets, seeking sanctuary as more birds followed suit with the earlier bird. Soon the creatures were alone in the lamplight, there but not seen. It was as if a secret meeting had been called.
The breeze became slightly louder as they gathered and as the tapping came closer together, the breeze transformed into a low howl, one of provocation. The tapping stopped. The wind swirled around the unseen creatures, howling warnings and provoking their vengeance. Several of them let out an ear-shattering screech that pierced the night. These creatures were drawn to this chant, and the sound began to ride the air away from them, beckoning them to follow; they didn't turn down the invitation as they glided soundlessly through the night towards the source of their fury.
The AI team stood steadfast as Willow finished her spell and joined them and Deni. Willow and Deni stood in front, knowing deflector spells and how to defend themselves against the Grimms, and Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Cordelia followed suit with mirrors of all sizes. Gunn looked over to see Cordelia glancing at herself every once in awhile in a handheld mirror to see if there was something behind her or not. If there wasn't, she cleaned off the surface and tried again just to make sure, or so she claimed. Willow reminded them a few times that they would go for the most convenient passage; they left open the front door and Willow spoke the spell clearly so the creatures wouldn't go any other way. "They're coming." Everyone looked at Deni as she spoke this and a screech sliced through the Hyperion. There was more silence as they heard another screech and the howling chant enter the hotel. The Grimms would be there in moments.
"Remember, no fighting. Just use the mirrors and let us do the rest." Angel said, holding a wisp of Dogwood. Willow was going to make a fire from one of the scythes the Grimms used, and then Angel would throw in the live Dogwood branch to summon Arrak, and Deni would throw in the concoction they created as a second sacrifice to Arrak to make the Stellio. They in turn would destroy any traces of the Grimmace's existence. Of course, there would remain the knowledge of the creatures and those who were murdered by them. Then the possibility of them coming back wasn't exactly low, but at least they were gone and there was a way to defeat them.
Through the front doors they heard the wind stop and one more head splitting screech before all went silent. Cordelia looked at Gunn as he supported a large mirror in front of him and looked at the reflection it cast. Fred seemed to be staring at the mirror, then at the empty space at the door, then back at the mirror. "There's one going around you, Willow, one heading towards both of you, Angel and Deni. Now would be the time to cast the spell." Willow nodded and outstretched her arms, beginning to chant.
"Spirits of old, Ancient Arrak hear us! Unite your great forces to aide us!" Willow reached out for the essence of fire she needed to conjure the god, and the Grimm in front of Deni screeched as Willow stole its fire-enclosed scythe; she closed her eyes and held the staff with no awareness of pain. All at once, she dropped the staff and it became visible to everyone's eyes. The Grimm's scream died down and Cordelia and Fred saw it disappear without a trace by reflection. Angel and Deni readied themselves for their part in the spell and watched the fire, though hot and burning, fail to touch and burn them. The fire swarmed in a circle and Willow signaled Angel to throw the bloomed branch into the middle.
Wesley looked back into the mirror finally and noticed that there was a Grimm approaching Cordelia from the side that Fred had cautioned Willow about. He grabbed the nearest weapon he could see, which was a battle axe, and looked at the mirror again to get his bearings right. When he knew where he was going, he lunged at the creature and swung the axe; it clashed with metal and Wesley put all of his strength into pushing him away, causing Cordelia to scream. Wesley, who had to almost cover his ears because of Cordelia's shriek, lost where the creature was and heard the sound of whooshing wind behind him, making him pivot and throw his axe up in defense; the axe was now against the wood, braced firmly so the blade was hovering wearily over his head. Cordelia reached for a weapon as well, her hand coming to rest upon a wooden stake on a pedestal, pushing the stake off of the table; she picked up the pedestal and hit the Grimm on the back as hard as she could. Wesley seemed to have less resistance against the axe he held and retreated behind a concentrating Deni. Willow continued.
"Ancient Arrak, we implore thee, unite your great forces and aide us!" Willow began to sway, a sure sign of the spell's success as she droned herself into a trance. A vague figure began to form inside the circle on the floor and Deni knelt down, pouring the concoction around the god's vision with much care in a counter clockwise direction. Being as old as she was, there were naturally things she knew that no one would remember about spells and how they worked: This was one of them, and what was worse, she knew who discovered them. She didn't know whether that made her wise or just plain old. Her necklace touched the surface of the concoction without her realizing it and she got to her feet. The vision of Arrak shifted and suddenly something began to take form from the fire.
Fred heard something behind her and grabbed the mirror from Gunn, hiding behind it and hearing a scythe come into contact with the object she hid behind. Gunn pulled her back as he saw the scythe cut through the mirror, shattering the glass and causing it to scatter over the floor as if it were splattered water. Everyone could see the Grimm's reflections from the mirror pieces on the floor. Gunn pulled Fred behind him and grabbed something heavy to ward them off with, a three foot long metal candlestick in this case. Swinging rapidly at the creature only visible when he glanced downwards, Gunn managed to catch the scythe from above, and Angel recalled the spell Deni had used when she saved him. The phrase "Forces unite!" was all she could interpret from the spell, and he tried to concentrate on his spell casting. He called out the phrase efficiently and took aim on one of the invisible creatures; his hand began to burn like fire and he looked at the blue energy surrounding his hand. Forcing the magic to hit the Grimm, he felt the magic climb up his arm and sear through his veins. Angel let go of the magic when he heard a screech of pain come from the creature he was aiming for; the burn wasn't close to fading and he clenched his fist in obvious pain.
"Forces unite!" It was Deni. She had seen Angel and decided to perform the short spell herself. Angel looked over and saw her blank face; apparently she had more experience in magic than he himself had. There was no sign of pain in her features, and with the pain he just felt he knew it would be impossible to harness the feeling it brought. When he saw one of the creatures corner Gunn and Fred, he pushed the pain away and tackled the Grimm in front of them.
The Grimms had stopped their entrance into the Hyperion. Arrak continued to rise from the conjured ring and with him came several other unrecognizable forms. Deni and Willow recognized the figures as the Stellios, in which at that point they took real form. Willow recalled the spell and knew she had to keep her concentration otherwise the spell would immediately reverse. The creatures halted abruptly and screeched all at once, sounding not too unlike the sound of several nails being raked violently slow over a chalkboard. The sound seemed to fuel the forms coming from the ring at Willow's feet. Within seconds the creatures took the form of large red lizards, salamanders, and appeared to moan inhumanly with eyes glowing red as a flame. Suddenly, they attacked the Grimms and the AI crew backed off, leaving Deni next to Willow. "Angel, protect Willow! The spell could still go wrong at this point!" Angel nodded and joined the two, evading several Stellios in the process, which whisked away from him to seize the Grimms near them.
The sound of the Grimm's screech tore at the team's ears as a Stellio ripped into its prey with teeth sharp as razors, making it practically impossible to concentrate on a single thought. The Stellios tore after the creatures and Cordelia screamed as she heard another screech very near her. For a second it was as if she could see a scythe coming down to slice her into two searing halves, and if Wesley hadn't grabbed her from behind and tackled her to the ground, she knew she would have. Angel watched the mirror pieces on the ground and watched the Grimms begin to scatter from the entryway, fanning around the room. He turned and saw Fred with Gunn, who had still been swinging away at a Grimm, but was slowly losing ground. Pushing all pain from his thoughts he held up his hand again, concentrating not on the spell but on banishing the pain when it would come. "Forces unite!" His hand began to burn again as the blue light encased it; it wasn't fire. He wouldn't burn to death. Of course, he knew this when Deni was able to perform the spell without hesitation or fear of burning herself.
Angel fired the glow outwards towards the Grimm as he did before, double checking the mirrors in order to make his aim true. His hand burned further, but this time he knew it was coming, thus he didn't feel the impact of the pain so abruptly as before. The Grimm was warded away and a Stellio attacked it, and the creature screeched again, its voice dying away. As though it had never existed, thus went all of the other Grimms, and Deni began to feel relief of the tension as she waited for the moment to end at long last. Everything she had worked for was finally coming to a close, but the battle between the Grimms and the Stellios still waged on. Someone once said that the destination isn't nearly as exciting as the journey it takes to get there. If there was a person who liked sarcasm, Deni thought, it was that guy.
Suddenly, Deni felt an odd feeling of foreboding, and she looked at the god Arrak, who seemed to turn his attention to her. His form began to glow brighter and she suddenly felt trapped as she found herself unable to move her attention from him or even move away from him. Angel drew his attention from the Stellios tearing the Grimms apart with such a force that it was hard not to picture what anguish the reaper-like creatures were feeling,; he looked at Deni as she and Arrak seemed to have a certain attraction pulling them together. This worried him as he noted a slight fiery glow in her eyes as she was approached by Arrak. The female vampire seemed unable to move and he heard the Stellios begin to moan loudly as they finished off the last of the Grimms and turned their attention to Deni and Arrak.
The fire god reached out and touched Deni's skin, but she didn't burn as she was grabbed around the neck tightly and stayed still as though trying to disappoint him by not moving to stop him. He wasn't able to choke her because vampires didn't have breath, but naturally had the instinct to choke when held as such. "Denierre, you have betrayed my trust for the last time. This witch has summoned me under the mark which had been given to you by the fire witch five hundred years ago." Arrak's other hand grabbed the necklace and held it tightly; it seemed after awhile that he was unable to pull it from her neck. "She hadn't the sanction to create this entity nor do you have the right to use it as you have." He threw Deni into the wall behind her and she shook her head and blinked furiously to gather her wits, her necklace still around her neck. "The bargain the fire witch made was to be fulfilled by her alone and I was betrayed."
"She died almost a week later than that. The bargain was abandoned. I would not call it betrayal. Her intentions were pure as we said."
"You were never to summon me as such." As one of the performers of the spell, Deni was considered a summoner. Deni stood up and dusted herself off as if to present a good impression on the god; he had no interest in appearance, though. "I am aware of the bargain and it has not been abandoned. I have seen the fire witch. She lives."
"And I'm telling you that she, the one who summoned you the first time, is not the same girl."
"You lie. Her soul is the same."
"I do not lie. She is not the same person who made the bargain." Cordelia leaned over to Wesley at that moment.
"How can she not be the same if she's got the soul?"
"I think they're referring to reincarnation. This Fire Tamer must be extremely powerful if she is able to make contact with the fire gods. I don't believe we're meant to know any of this though."
"Huh? Why not?" she said rather loudly.
"Silence!" said Arrak. He reached out for Deni through his anger but was stopped by her necklace. Deni didn't have too much experience with fire battles, but knew that they needed more open space in order to fulfill the requirements. This was nowhere near enough room, Deni reasoned, deflecting the fire from her. "The necklace! Return it now as you have abused the power given to you!"
"It was given as a gift for personal protection. It cannot be returned. You and I both know this. I say to you, stop this so that we may settle this wisely."
"I have waited five hundred years! It will be settled now!"
by Daniele-Marx
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Disclaimer: Same as before...Chapter 3!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Darkness fell. The alleys were silent and barren, showing no signs of life. A gentle, eerie breeze flowed through the alleyways and side streets, and though those streets were empty, there seemed to be a small trace of essence as the lane merely glowed from the streetlights. There was an air of foreboding and nothing to challenge it. In the distance of a brightly lit block there came a light tapping noise, the sound of wood connecting with pavement. Moments passed and the beating continued. A tree rustled as a bird flew out of its branches and high above the street. There were a few more moments when all one could hear was the pounding of the wood to the pavement, and chills could run down a person's spine just by the mere thought of the creature behind the rhythm. Just then, the sound became three different taps, then ten, and soon fourteen; more creatures fled from their homes, escaping the foreboding feeling in their hearts. Small squirrels with their children ran through the streets, seeking sanctuary as more birds followed suit with the earlier bird. Soon the creatures were alone in the lamplight, there but not seen. It was as if a secret meeting had been called.
The breeze became slightly louder as they gathered and as the tapping came closer together, the breeze transformed into a low howl, one of provocation. The tapping stopped. The wind swirled around the unseen creatures, howling warnings and provoking their vengeance. Several of them let out an ear-shattering screech that pierced the night. These creatures were drawn to this chant, and the sound began to ride the air away from them, beckoning them to follow; they didn't turn down the invitation as they glided soundlessly through the night towards the source of their fury.
The AI team stood steadfast as Willow finished her spell and joined them and Deni. Willow and Deni stood in front, knowing deflector spells and how to defend themselves against the Grimms, and Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Cordelia followed suit with mirrors of all sizes. Gunn looked over to see Cordelia glancing at herself every once in awhile in a handheld mirror to see if there was something behind her or not. If there wasn't, she cleaned off the surface and tried again just to make sure, or so she claimed. Willow reminded them a few times that they would go for the most convenient passage; they left open the front door and Willow spoke the spell clearly so the creatures wouldn't go any other way. "They're coming." Everyone looked at Deni as she spoke this and a screech sliced through the Hyperion. There was more silence as they heard another screech and the howling chant enter the hotel. The Grimms would be there in moments.
"Remember, no fighting. Just use the mirrors and let us do the rest." Angel said, holding a wisp of Dogwood. Willow was going to make a fire from one of the scythes the Grimms used, and then Angel would throw in the live Dogwood branch to summon Arrak, and Deni would throw in the concoction they created as a second sacrifice to Arrak to make the Stellio. They in turn would destroy any traces of the Grimmace's existence. Of course, there would remain the knowledge of the creatures and those who were murdered by them. Then the possibility of them coming back wasn't exactly low, but at least they were gone and there was a way to defeat them.
Through the front doors they heard the wind stop and one more head splitting screech before all went silent. Cordelia looked at Gunn as he supported a large mirror in front of him and looked at the reflection it cast. Fred seemed to be staring at the mirror, then at the empty space at the door, then back at the mirror. "There's one going around you, Willow, one heading towards both of you, Angel and Deni. Now would be the time to cast the spell." Willow nodded and outstretched her arms, beginning to chant.
"Spirits of old, Ancient Arrak hear us! Unite your great forces to aide us!" Willow reached out for the essence of fire she needed to conjure the god, and the Grimm in front of Deni screeched as Willow stole its fire-enclosed scythe; she closed her eyes and held the staff with no awareness of pain. All at once, she dropped the staff and it became visible to everyone's eyes. The Grimm's scream died down and Cordelia and Fred saw it disappear without a trace by reflection. Angel and Deni readied themselves for their part in the spell and watched the fire, though hot and burning, fail to touch and burn them. The fire swarmed in a circle and Willow signaled Angel to throw the bloomed branch into the middle.
Wesley looked back into the mirror finally and noticed that there was a Grimm approaching Cordelia from the side that Fred had cautioned Willow about. He grabbed the nearest weapon he could see, which was a battle axe, and looked at the mirror again to get his bearings right. When he knew where he was going, he lunged at the creature and swung the axe; it clashed with metal and Wesley put all of his strength into pushing him away, causing Cordelia to scream. Wesley, who had to almost cover his ears because of Cordelia's shriek, lost where the creature was and heard the sound of whooshing wind behind him, making him pivot and throw his axe up in defense; the axe was now against the wood, braced firmly so the blade was hovering wearily over his head. Cordelia reached for a weapon as well, her hand coming to rest upon a wooden stake on a pedestal, pushing the stake off of the table; she picked up the pedestal and hit the Grimm on the back as hard as she could. Wesley seemed to have less resistance against the axe he held and retreated behind a concentrating Deni. Willow continued.
"Ancient Arrak, we implore thee, unite your great forces and aide us!" Willow began to sway, a sure sign of the spell's success as she droned herself into a trance. A vague figure began to form inside the circle on the floor and Deni knelt down, pouring the concoction around the god's vision with much care in a counter clockwise direction. Being as old as she was, there were naturally things she knew that no one would remember about spells and how they worked: This was one of them, and what was worse, she knew who discovered them. She didn't know whether that made her wise or just plain old. Her necklace touched the surface of the concoction without her realizing it and she got to her feet. The vision of Arrak shifted and suddenly something began to take form from the fire.
Fred heard something behind her and grabbed the mirror from Gunn, hiding behind it and hearing a scythe come into contact with the object she hid behind. Gunn pulled her back as he saw the scythe cut through the mirror, shattering the glass and causing it to scatter over the floor as if it were splattered water. Everyone could see the Grimm's reflections from the mirror pieces on the floor. Gunn pulled Fred behind him and grabbed something heavy to ward them off with, a three foot long metal candlestick in this case. Swinging rapidly at the creature only visible when he glanced downwards, Gunn managed to catch the scythe from above, and Angel recalled the spell Deni had used when she saved him. The phrase "Forces unite!" was all she could interpret from the spell, and he tried to concentrate on his spell casting. He called out the phrase efficiently and took aim on one of the invisible creatures; his hand began to burn like fire and he looked at the blue energy surrounding his hand. Forcing the magic to hit the Grimm, he felt the magic climb up his arm and sear through his veins. Angel let go of the magic when he heard a screech of pain come from the creature he was aiming for; the burn wasn't close to fading and he clenched his fist in obvious pain.
"Forces unite!" It was Deni. She had seen Angel and decided to perform the short spell herself. Angel looked over and saw her blank face; apparently she had more experience in magic than he himself had. There was no sign of pain in her features, and with the pain he just felt he knew it would be impossible to harness the feeling it brought. When he saw one of the creatures corner Gunn and Fred, he pushed the pain away and tackled the Grimm in front of them.
The Grimms had stopped their entrance into the Hyperion. Arrak continued to rise from the conjured ring and with him came several other unrecognizable forms. Deni and Willow recognized the figures as the Stellios, in which at that point they took real form. Willow recalled the spell and knew she had to keep her concentration otherwise the spell would immediately reverse. The creatures halted abruptly and screeched all at once, sounding not too unlike the sound of several nails being raked violently slow over a chalkboard. The sound seemed to fuel the forms coming from the ring at Willow's feet. Within seconds the creatures took the form of large red lizards, salamanders, and appeared to moan inhumanly with eyes glowing red as a flame. Suddenly, they attacked the Grimms and the AI crew backed off, leaving Deni next to Willow. "Angel, protect Willow! The spell could still go wrong at this point!" Angel nodded and joined the two, evading several Stellios in the process, which whisked away from him to seize the Grimms near them.
The sound of the Grimm's screech tore at the team's ears as a Stellio ripped into its prey with teeth sharp as razors, making it practically impossible to concentrate on a single thought. The Stellios tore after the creatures and Cordelia screamed as she heard another screech very near her. For a second it was as if she could see a scythe coming down to slice her into two searing halves, and if Wesley hadn't grabbed her from behind and tackled her to the ground, she knew she would have. Angel watched the mirror pieces on the ground and watched the Grimms begin to scatter from the entryway, fanning around the room. He turned and saw Fred with Gunn, who had still been swinging away at a Grimm, but was slowly losing ground. Pushing all pain from his thoughts he held up his hand again, concentrating not on the spell but on banishing the pain when it would come. "Forces unite!" His hand began to burn again as the blue light encased it; it wasn't fire. He wouldn't burn to death. Of course, he knew this when Deni was able to perform the spell without hesitation or fear of burning herself.
Angel fired the glow outwards towards the Grimm as he did before, double checking the mirrors in order to make his aim true. His hand burned further, but this time he knew it was coming, thus he didn't feel the impact of the pain so abruptly as before. The Grimm was warded away and a Stellio attacked it, and the creature screeched again, its voice dying away. As though it had never existed, thus went all of the other Grimms, and Deni began to feel relief of the tension as she waited for the moment to end at long last. Everything she had worked for was finally coming to a close, but the battle between the Grimms and the Stellios still waged on. Someone once said that the destination isn't nearly as exciting as the journey it takes to get there. If there was a person who liked sarcasm, Deni thought, it was that guy.
Suddenly, Deni felt an odd feeling of foreboding, and she looked at the god Arrak, who seemed to turn his attention to her. His form began to glow brighter and she suddenly felt trapped as she found herself unable to move her attention from him or even move away from him. Angel drew his attention from the Stellios tearing the Grimms apart with such a force that it was hard not to picture what anguish the reaper-like creatures were feeling,; he looked at Deni as she and Arrak seemed to have a certain attraction pulling them together. This worried him as he noted a slight fiery glow in her eyes as she was approached by Arrak. The female vampire seemed unable to move and he heard the Stellios begin to moan loudly as they finished off the last of the Grimms and turned their attention to Deni and Arrak.
The fire god reached out and touched Deni's skin, but she didn't burn as she was grabbed around the neck tightly and stayed still as though trying to disappoint him by not moving to stop him. He wasn't able to choke her because vampires didn't have breath, but naturally had the instinct to choke when held as such. "Denierre, you have betrayed my trust for the last time. This witch has summoned me under the mark which had been given to you by the fire witch five hundred years ago." Arrak's other hand grabbed the necklace and held it tightly; it seemed after awhile that he was unable to pull it from her neck. "She hadn't the sanction to create this entity nor do you have the right to use it as you have." He threw Deni into the wall behind her and she shook her head and blinked furiously to gather her wits, her necklace still around her neck. "The bargain the fire witch made was to be fulfilled by her alone and I was betrayed."
"She died almost a week later than that. The bargain was abandoned. I would not call it betrayal. Her intentions were pure as we said."
"You were never to summon me as such." As one of the performers of the spell, Deni was considered a summoner. Deni stood up and dusted herself off as if to present a good impression on the god; he had no interest in appearance, though. "I am aware of the bargain and it has not been abandoned. I have seen the fire witch. She lives."
"And I'm telling you that she, the one who summoned you the first time, is not the same girl."
"You lie. Her soul is the same."
"I do not lie. She is not the same person who made the bargain." Cordelia leaned over to Wesley at that moment.
"How can she not be the same if she's got the soul?"
"I think they're referring to reincarnation. This Fire Tamer must be extremely powerful if she is able to make contact with the fire gods. I don't believe we're meant to know any of this though."
"Huh? Why not?" she said rather loudly.
"Silence!" said Arrak. He reached out for Deni through his anger but was stopped by her necklace. Deni didn't have too much experience with fire battles, but knew that they needed more open space in order to fulfill the requirements. This was nowhere near enough room, Deni reasoned, deflecting the fire from her. "The necklace! Return it now as you have abused the power given to you!"
"It was given as a gift for personal protection. It cannot be returned. You and I both know this. I say to you, stop this so that we may settle this wisely."
"I have waited five hundred years! It will be settled now!"