Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Joss Whedon does. I'm just toying around with it for a little while.
Chapter 11:
Calgary, Alberta.
Kennedy swung the axe diagonally downwards across the Vampire's torso. The vampire stepped inside her swing, bringing his forearm up to catch the handle of the axe, halting its downward motion. He lashed out with a brutal kick that slammed unforgiving into her solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her. She only barely managed to keep a grip on the axe and twist out of the way as he reached for her, trying to get a grip on her head. She dropped to a kneeling position, her lungs burning as they tried to remember how to inflate again. She swung the axe again, aiming for the soft tissue on his right side just below the ribcage. It wouldn't be a lethal blow to a Vampire, but with a little luck it would slow him down somewhat.
She heard a loud crack off to her right, like a large branch snapping. She glanced over just in time to see a slayer a few feet away drop to the ground with all the grace of a marionette whose strings had been cut; her head twisted around so far that it almost looked as if it was on backwards.
In her moment of distraction, she received a brutal backhanded punch to the bridge of her nose, knocking her to the ground.
********
San Diego, California.
"It's over, Dee." Dee could see Anne clearly now. She stood confidently, her arms crossed in front of her. "You know that you can't win this."
"If that's the case, why'd I even come?"
Anne shrugged, "You're the slayer. You have to come."
"I'm not here for you, and I'm not here for the world. I'm here to get my sister back."
"Fair enough." Anne looked at the glowing pool behind her, "You join us, your sister gets her soul back, and you have my word that nobody will ever harm her."
"Not a bad offer, but I have a better one."
"Oh, do tell."
"You let my sister go, I seriously consider letting you live."
"Well, I sincerely hope you won't be too dismayed if I decline." Anne told her, bringing her demon forth, "you can't take me."
"You really think that?" Dee launched a punch at the Vampire's floating rib. Anne blocked it effortlessly, and delivered a high snap-kick to the side of the Slayer's head.
Dee stumbled for a moment, stars floating in front of her eyes.
"Yeah, I do."
********
Calgary, Alberta.
Willow felt the spell take effect, almost before she finished her incantation. The spell itself was almost useless anyway. She didn't need to speak the words to make the magic, it was purely a tool to allow her to focus. Apparently, you had to concentrate harder when you were speaking in Latin.
The farther you were from the place your spell would have an effect, generally, the longer it took to have an effect. With the better part of a continent between her and San Diego, it would be a couple of minutes before the slayer there saw anything happen.
Now, it was out of her hands.
She looked up. Kennedy was down, a Vampire standing over her, ready to snap her neck cleanly.
"Aduro" A column of fire shot from her hand, flying over the prone slayer, lighting the Vampire that stood over her.
He burst into flames, finally exploding in a cloud of glowing embers.
One down, how many thousands to go?
Kennedy kipped up, bringing her axe up, ready to attack.
********
San Diego, California.
C'mon, Dee, hold yourself together. Dee could feel the anger bubbling within her. She wanted so badly to lash out at anything moving within ten feet of her, but that wouldn't help April. She had to control herself.
There were stories of the Berserkers of the ancient Vikings. Those who would work themselves into a rage before battle, and strike indiscriminately. They would fight even when grievously injured, and would attack friend or foe alike. Generally not a desirable trait in a Slayer.
Anders had called her a berserker on occasion, and to some degree, the analogy was probably apt. There had been occasions when she'd struck with nothing more than rage driving her forward, she'd struck indiscriminately and with little consideration for her own safety. But even on the occasions when she'd seemed to lose control, she'd been holding something back. As if she was afraid to let that part of herself loose.
Just hold yourself together, Dee.
She'd lost count of the number of hours Anders had spent with her in meditation, trying to get her to control her more animalistic tendencies. To bring order to chaos, as it were.
She flowed through the motions effortlessly, doing some of the best sparring she'd ever done. She wasn't fighting badly.
She was just getting beaten.
It was as if every move she'd done to that point, Anne had seen coming long before. Almost as if she'd played this exact fight out in her mind and knew exactly what moves she needed to make to counter the Slayer's.
Out of the corner of her eye, Dee could see April standing, her arms crossed in front of her, a small smile playing on her lips as she watched her older sister get brutally pummeled by her alter-ego. Dee would only barely be able to deflect one blow when a second she hadn't even seen coming slammed, undefended, into her.
********
Calgary, Alberta.
Kennedy slammed a wooden stake into the center of a Vampire's chest, then spun around smoothly separating the next vampire's head from his neck. These guys were good. They didn't have the unthinking drive or the strength that the ubervamps had had all those years ago, but they made up for it in skill. These were, hands down, the most skilled vampires she'd ever faced. And she'd faced a lot of vampires. She'd faced them in Rio, she'd held them at bay here. Now she was learning just how bad a normal-everyday vampire could be.
Behind her, Willow muttered another incantation, and a ball of fire erupted about twenty feet in front of Kennedy. She may as well have been trying to relocate the Pacific Ocean with a thimble. It destroyed every vampire in a ten foot radius, but it barely even slowed down the rest.
Oz, whatever your Slayer's about to do, she'd better do it fast.
********
San Diego, California.
Anne's fist slammed into the Slayer's stomach, doubling her over as she followed it with a backhanded strike across her right temple, just behind her right eye. Dee knew that she would be treated to a nasty black eye the next morning.
Assuming, of course, that she lived that long.
Anne, on the other hand was still cocky, confident. So far, the Slayer hadn't managed to land a single blow.
Anne had spoken to her about seeing a chess board twenty moves deep, now she was proving it. Dee had yet to launch an attack or combination of attacks that she hadn't somehow known was coming.
"C'mon, Dee. You know you can't win this." Anne didn't even sound out of breath.
Which, considering that she lacked breath to be out of, was unsurprising.
"I've beaten you once."
"You think you're going to extend that record?"
"I can try." Dee threw a feint with her right that Anne ducked easily. She followed with a hook kick aimed at the Vampire's right temple. Anne simply dropped to the ground, scissoring her legs around the Slayer's, dropping her ungracefully to the ground.
Dee's lungs emptied in a rush as she slammed facefirst to the hard concrete floor. She was getting beaten. Pure and simple. Anne was beating her.
Part of her just wanted to give up. Let it end. What chance did she have against Osiris anyway? If the world was gonna end anyway, at least she could say that she'd tried to save it.
"Give up?"
Dee didn't even feel like she had the energy to respond.
Anne smiled, "Good."
The next thing Dee felt was a pair of fangs sinking deeply into her right shoulder.
********
Calgary, Alberta.
Willow didn't know how many slayers she'd seen fall. With each one, she felt her spirit pass as the unstoppable behemoths forced the Slayers to give them ground. She watched, disheartened as the Vampires managed to slowly push the army of Slayers back. They just didn't have the numbers to hold them back.
She muttered another incantation, a wall of flame shot skyward, forcing vampire and slayer alike to recoil from the searing flames. Even as she did it, she knew it wouldn't be enough. It would hold them back for a while, but not for long. They would find their way around it.
But it would buy them time.
She just hoped it would be enough.
