AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please don't kill me. *hides behind Spike* Sorry I took so long. I had a ridiculous amount of writer's block and I still hate hate hate this chapter even after I re-wrote it, like five times. My computer apparently hates it too since it keeps eating it. *rolls eyes* Anyway, enjoy!

CHAPTER SEVEN

He made his way silently down the deserted hallway. It wouldn't do to have them realise that the palace had been invaded. Everything rested on this mission and he was not about to screw up. They had made all the necessary preparations within a short fifteen minutes, and now they were infiltrating enemy territory to free the people of the Lythian system from the fearful state of Khivar's tyrannical rule. He had gone too far this time, and now, it was time to remove him from the equation. Permanently.

He paused at a junction in the corridors and sniffed the air, searching for that familiar vile stench that made him regret his heightened senses. He steered his two partners to the left and continued the journey to the enemy. Khivar. He came to a stop at a tall blue marble door. There were intricate carvings curving across the stone, the edges of the designs glinting in the light and giving a light blue sheen to the near-black surface. Silently, he nodded at the team leader, confirming that the target was inside. The leader closed his eyes, sending a silent message to his mate in the other group.

It was time…

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Michael sighed and leaned against a large heavy desk, anxiously watching the clock. It had been exactly thirty seconds since Maria had stepped through the portal with Rath and Oz and already he was regretting this plan. Of course, it was a good plan, but he'd like it better if somebody else was doing it. He looked across to Faith, who was staring blankly ahead, in mental contact with Rath. Suddenly, she blinked and shook her head.

"They found him," Faith announced as she closed her mental link with Rath.

"Good. Bastard's prob'bly plannin' some way to kill off everybody else on this planet," Ava said bitterly as she walked into the room. "Hope he burns when ya kill 'im."

"Ave, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be finding survivors with Cortenia," Isabel said.

"That's assumin' there's any survivors in the first place," Ava muttered angrily. "We ain't seen nobody breathin' since we went out. Cort's gonna take out a ship and check for survivors on this side." She turned to Serena, who had just loaded another gun and was now searching her clothes for a place to put it. "I need a spell to the other side of Antar."

Serena nodded, plugging some coordinates into the translation program that she and Alex had developed, so that they could create the wormhole spells quickly and efficiently, since they never did find the books of Wolf, Ram or Hart.

"It's gonna be hard to check an entire planet for survivors by hand, isn't it?" Serena asked sadly as she worked out the spell. "Seems impossible."

"We have to try. I can't just let everybody die like that," Ava said, determination strong in her voice. "I haf'ta help somehow. Ya know what I mean?"

Serena nodded in understanding as she printed out the spell and handed it to Ava, who took it, silently trying to get her mouth around the vowel-less words, before stuffing it in her breast pocket. She knew exactly what she meant. A few people in a planet of a few billion didn't seem like much, but just a few people in a planet with none was a lot. Just saving the few would be enough to make a difference because it wasn't likely that it could be any other way. Besides, what good would this mission do if there was no one left? What point was there in fixing the atmosphere with the Granolith if there was nobody to breathe the air?

"Great. I have to go get a team together." Ava moved towards the door, but paused with her hand on the knob. Turning to them, she said, "Good luck, guys. I'll see you when we get back." With that, she left, closing the door quietly behind her.

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Maria watched Rath's fingers as he silently counted down. 3…2…1…

She did a tight spin in her spot, landing a perfect spin-kick in the centre of the door. There was a loud crack as the hinges snapped and the heavy door slammed to the ground. Not wasting a second, Rath, Maria and Oz stormed into the room, guns cocked and ready.

The room was like the rest of the palace, immaculate and neat. The blue marble walls were polished to perfection, so shiny that you could see your reflection with ease. The floor was covered in a thick blue carpet with royal purple patterns woven into the fibres. There were a few pictures hanging on the walls, showing the harsh violence of the battlefield. Navy blue drapes hung over a large window, letting only a little of the sun's blue light into the room. Shelves were stacked neatly on either side of the room, with a heavy wooden table full of papers standing in front of each shelf. In the centre of the room, there was a large wooden desk with a leather chair on either side. The chairs were occupied by two men.

Khivar looked up at them, calmly leaning back in his seat and taking in the damage to the door.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Get up!" Rath growled, keeping his gun trained on Khivar's head. His index finger was itching, and would love nothing more than to pull the trigger, but he couldn't just yet. Not until they found out what else he was planning to do to Antar, and if he'd put that plan into effect yet. You never knew with Khivar, and they had to be careful.

Khivar smirked, resting his hands on his desk as he pushed himself up. Discreetly, he pushed the small button under the table, summoning his soldiers. Turning his head slightly, he caught his son's eye and gave a slight nod. Lindsey's lip twitched.

Maria turned her gun to the other occupant of the room. "You too." Lindsey put up his hands in the universal sign of surrender and stood up silently. She squinted at him. "Who are you?"

Lindsey cocked his head to the side. "Who are you?" he echoed playfully.

"Oh, how rude of me," Khivar said. "Lindsey, I don't believe you've met your cousin…what name are you going by these days, Deimon?" Rath growled under his breath and changed the setting on his gun to kill. Khivar just smiled nonchalantly at him, biding his time until…

The sound of a stampede of army boots echoed down the hallway as Khivar's guards stormed into the room, surrounding the three Saviours.

Khivar grinned wickedly. "Guess you didn't think this one through." He addressed his soldiers without turning away from the intruders. "Capture them."

Rath cussed under his breath, wishing he had shot Khivar when he had the chance. He fired aimlessly as the guards closed in on him, grabbing him roughly by the arms.

Khivar stepped closer to his…nephew. Now that Rath was right in front of him, he could see the slight resemblance. There was definitely the little mole right between the eyebrows, the mark of the Rathmeare family, on his forehead. Not to mention the fact that he was as irritating as his mother.

And no doubt just as fun to kill, too.

"Take them to the courtyard," he said a slow sadistic smirk spreading across his face. "It's been a while since we've had a public execution."

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace, a swirling mass of colours appeared in mid-air, tossing the air molecules around in a great gust of wind that had no place in a window-less hallway. It grew in diameter gradually until the three travellers could pass through.

Isabel glanced around as she stepped out of the portal. Right next to her, there was a huge metal door with an electronic keypad, a palm scan and a retinal scan. She scowled.

"Damnit, Michael, you said the spell wrong!" she said as she realised that they landed in front of the Granolith chamber instead of in it.

"I did not. I said exactly what it says here," he said pointing indignantly at the paper. She snatched it away from him and studied it. Using her nail, she scraped a speck of dirt off of it, and shoved the paper under his nose.

"That is an 'n', not an 'h', dumbass!" she whispered harshly, thwacking him upside the head.

"Ow! Lay off, Iz!" Michael complained. "Just 'cause you and Alex are into that kind of thing doesn't mean I am."

"What?" she asked confused, before it dawned on her what he meant. Her eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare.

"Okay," Kyle said, stepping in between them to break up the impending fight. "So say the right spell and we'll be able to get in."

"This one won't work from here," Isabel said. "We need a new one."

"Call Alex," Michael ordered as he snuck further down the hall to make sure no one was coming. He motioned for Kyle to do the same on the other end.

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'Alex?'

'Yeah, Iz. What do you need?' he asked telepathically, as he searched through his tracking program for Isabel's red blip.

'We need a new spell for the Granolith chamber. Michael screwed it up.'

Alex laughed and turned to Serena. "New spell," he said in explanation.

She rolled her eyes as she went to her computer to work it out. "I told her not to let Michael say the spell. He sucks at magic."

Faith snorted. Rath wasn't that good at it either, that's why his team had to walk to Khivar's office.

Serena printed the results and gave them to Alex to communicate to Isabel.

"Now can we go?" Faith asked impatiently.

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Maria winced as the soldier's fingers dug into her arms, her soft skin caving in and bruising under his ministrations. She struggled against him, using only a quarter of her strength. Of course, she could easily escape his grip, after all, he was just an ordinary Carnasian and she was the Slayer. She could effortlessly snap his arm at the elbow, crush his legs into dust and break his neck with her pinky in seconds, yet she was letting him drag her through the long halls of the Carnasian palace.

At that moment, she was seriously considering returning Rath's head to Faith in a cardboard box. Leave it to him to think up this ridiculous plan that worked way too frickin' well for her liking.

And maybe it was partially her fault for not letting Michael talk her out of this part of the plan, but she wasn't about to admit that.

The soldier tightened his grip on her arm, thick fingers pinching her skin brutally. She scowled.

She really hated decoy duty.

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"Okay, soldiers. You don't usually take orders from me. I get that. I don't actually care," Faith said. "I know you'd rather stay home at the base with what's left of your families and wait to die quietly in your room. I can't blame you. I'd rather be home too." She paused looking each of them in the face. "But your generals, your Saviours are out there on Carnath fighting for a chance to save your planet. For you. Now you can stay here, where it's safe, where you have a good few hours of oxygen left and maybe hope that Michael gets back in time to clear some more air for your sorry asses, I have no problem with that." She paused again. "Or, you can come with me. Come with us and protect your leaders. This is the last battle, the final frontier, the final countdown…"

"Faith," Serena interrupted in a low voice as Alex snorted under his breath at his sister's corny speech. She nudged him in the ribs.

"Serena, open the portal," Faith said, handing her the paper from her pocket. As Serena recited the spell, Faith returned to her speech. "Your home has been poisoned by this man. Billions of your people are lying out there dead. Suffocated. The life wrenched out of their bodies like…" she cut off as Serena nudged her in the ribs. "If you want to take Khivar down and save Antar, then grab your weapons." She pointed to the weapons table on the right side of the room. "And step through the portal."

The soldiers cheered, rushing to arm themselves before running through the portal. Alex turned to Faith as the portal closed behind the last soldier.

"No, that wasn't over dramatic," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up, 'Lexi," she said, poking him in the chest with her index finger. "You're just jealous that you don't got the skills." She smiled smugly at him before opening another portal and stepping through.

"Stop calling me that," Alex complained as he followed his sister.

Serena rolled her eyes. Kids. They may not have been siblings their whole life, but they sure as hell acted like bickering five-year-olds sometimes.

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"What do you think?" Khivar asked as he watched the intruders be escorted to the courtyard.

Lindsey narrowed his eyes as he stared into space. "I think this is a diversion."

Khivar nodded. "It's good to know that the time you spent on Earth in Celeste's care hasn't rendered you completely stupid," he said, walking towards the large window that overlooked the front courtyard of the palace. There was a large open area that would be perfect for the executions. At the edge of his peripheral vision, he could see a bright swirling of colour. A portal.  "Have the army gather in the courtyard," he said. "It seems the Royals are planning an ambush."

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Isabel recited the spell this time, and they stepped through the portal, past the wall, into the Granolith chamber.

The room was dark, with midnight-blue walls and floors that sucked in every trace of light, yet they could still see each other. A replica of the galaxy was painted on the ceiling with tiny shimmering stars. The five-star formation of the Lythian system was painted in the middle of it all, the five planets bigger and brighter than all the other stars. There were no windows and only one door. The walls were bare.

In the centre of the room, under the Lythian planet formation was a tall, black cone-shaped structure. The Granolith. It sat on an octagonal base, which had a soft white glow that reflected off the dark floors.

"Wow," Kyle said as he walked closer to the Granolith. He had seen it once before, but that was in a dingy cave in Roswell, New Mexico, and it looked like nothing special. But here, in this room, cast in the soft light of its base, it was beautiful.

"Careful," Isabel warned, "we still don't know what…" She was cut off by the shrill wail.

Kyle looked down to find his ankle in the middle of a long, thin red line. A laser.

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Oz growled under his breath as the soldier behind him hit him in the back with the butt of his gun, making him stumble slightly.

He remembered when Angel had told him about his trip to Pylea. About not being able to control the beast in the new atmosphere. While he was able to go out in the sun without bursting into flames, his vampire side had been stronger and uglier. It had taken more of an effort for his human soul to take over and bury the demon half of himself. Angel had told him once that for a while, he'd thought he'd never return.

As Oz felt the familiar lengthening of his canine teeth, with the edges sharpening in preparation of the kill, he realised that this did not only apply to vampires.

Already, he could feel his control slipping. The wolf was pushing its way to the surface faster than usual, fuelled by an unknown supernatural force that somehow came naturally from the Carnasian atmosphere. He supposed it made sense that since Antar made life so easy for him (never once had he felt the urge to change), one of the other planets would be a bitch.

Closing his eyes, he recited the words that Riverdog had taught him. The words that somehow summoned his inner human strength and suppressed the wolf that threatened its existence three nights a month.

He didn't realise that his pace had slowed down considerably since he focussed his energy on the chant.

The soldier hit him in the back again, sending him sprawling on the ground, flat on his face.

"Get up!" the soldier commanded, kicking him in the ribs.

Oz panted heavily as he slowly got on his hands and knees, his breathing coming harder and faster and heavier with every breath. The soldier grabbed him by the collar just as he let out a low growl, deep from the back of his throat.

"Don't touch him!" Maria yelled in a warning that was seconds too late.

Before the soldier even realised what was happening, the werewolf had turned…

And attacked.

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"Where are they?" Serena asked, her voice tinged with worry. They had arrived in front of the Carnasian palace about five minutes ago and already the body count was piling up. So far there was no sign of the others. She turned to Faith. "Are you sure they were coming this way?"

"That's what Rath said," Faith replied, tightening her hold on her gun as yet another of their soldiers was shot down. It seriously bothered her that her men were dying while she was hiding behind a rock. She was a Slayer for Christ's sakes. She wasn't meant to sit on the sidelines. "I can sense that he's still alive. I know that he's near, but he's not…" She trailed off, staring into the distance with unfocussed eyes. "Bugger."

Alex raised an eyebrow at her. "Spike-isms?"

"What is it?" Serena asked impatiently. "What happened?"

Just then, a large brown body jumped out the front door, a loud roar bursting past its snarling lips as it attacked anything that moved nearby.

Serena gasped. "Oz!"

Several of the soldiers had dropped their weapons in shock and horror as the wolf pounced on their teammates. Others ignored their enemies and turned to shoot at it, but the bullets only stunned him, the stinging of his wounds only angering him further. He showed mercy to no-one as he tore through flesh and bone with his teeth. His paws were soaked in blood, with strings of sinew wedged between his fingers and teeth.

The soldiers didn't stand a chance.

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Michael circled the cone, staring at it blankly. Finally, he stopped in front of it and cocked his head to the side, hoping that the new angle would help him figure out what to do with it. It didn't.

"Figure it out yet?" Isabel yelled over the screaming siren.

Michael scratched his eyebrow and shrugged. He raised his hand, holding his palm a few inches away from the smooth surface. He could feel the energy humming just under the surface of it. It called to him with its silent song. He closed his eyes, feeling the sweet tingle on his bare skin.

He never noticed the white glow that enveloped his body.

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