Chapter Two:
As Faith crept quietly around the outside of the old house, she almost sighed with boredom when she found the pad-locked cellar doors. Hunting during the day, when most demons were at their weakest, may have been easier than night patrols, but Faith had always preferred a lively fight over a quick stake-and-run job. Most of the vampires slumbering below would not even be aware of her attack, since they would be ashes as soon as the daylight was allowed to enter the lower rooms.
Still, it was better than sitting around and doing nothing all day. Whenever she took a moment to reflect, all she could think about was her failure in Sunnydale, to be a Slayer, to keep her 'friends,' to just have a life. She had even made a shitty bad guy when the Mayor had taken her under his wing...
Faith shook her head and gritted her teeth against the memories. Her eyes focused on the rusty lock holding the two weathered pieces of wood that made up the door closed. These vampires must have made themselves a cozy little nook here if that was all the protection they had during the day.
Before she attempted to enter the house, Faith pounded loudly on the doors and then listened for the sounds of possible guarding animals. She had invaded an old warehouse once and nearly lost her right leg to a couple of hellhounds left to watch over the place during the day. However, she had a feeling this coven had grown a little overconfident, especially considering what they were planning to conjure for themselves this very night.
They should have invested in the hellhounds, Faith thought with a vicious grin, Then, they may have lived to see tonight...
Faith lifted her foot over the pad lock and smashed the doorway inward with a few solid kicks. Once again she waited, watching the dust settling down through the streams of sunlight that now poured into the old house's basement.
She jumped down through the opening and landed on her feet effortlessly, stake in hand, searching for targets. But as she glanced around the room, a frowned formed on her face.
There were coffins scattered around her, maybe a dozen in total, but they were all open...and they were all empty.
Faith took a few careful steps forward, her eyes darting back and forth between the shadowy corners of the basement. Her movements were barely audible, footsteps taken with an inhuman silence few but Slayers possessed, each boot leaving a heavy mark in the earthen floor.
About half way across the room, Faith began to hear a rhythmic noise, the vibrato of heavy drums steadily pounded by large hammers. The sound echoed through the basement, causing decades of dust and debris to shower from the walls and ceiling.
One of the coffin lids slammed loudly, and Faith spun on her heel, stake in hand, ready to face one of her fanged enemies. But, she was still alone in the dingy room, and the noise around her was joined with strange chanting.
Faith growled in frustration, though the noise was lost among the rumbling drums. Where was it coming from? Certainly not from the upper floors or else the vamps would have angry neighbors to deal with as well as an angry Slayer. Faith doubted this little New York suburb would welcome the constant sound of demon chants on their block.
So...was the noise coming from below her?
The floor was made of solid dirt, so how could they be....
Suddenly the sound stopped, and everything fell silent...except for a particularly whiny voice, which also echoed from beneath her feet.
"Man, this is so cheesy," the complainer griped.
"It is not!" Another voice replied, "Now, shut up and keep chanting."
Faith grinned and, using the tip of her boot, she wiped the dirt away from a small area to reveal the wooden floorboards hidden beneath.
I can't believe I missed that, she thought, more amused by the continuing banter below than annoyed, I must be out of practice.
She listened for a few more minutes before she found the entrance to a stairway leading to the hidden chamber. As the rumble of the drums began again, Faith grinned and headed down.
"Drums...drums..." she said aloud, remembering a story she had read when she was younger, "Drums in the deep..."
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"Dude," the whiny vampire complained loudly, once again interrupting the ceremony, "These drums are totally rattling my brain. Do we gotta do this the whole time?"
"Yes! We do!" the leader of this coven answered angrily, "Now do you guys wanna summon this demon or not?"
As Faith caught her first glimpse of her enemies, she struggled not to laugh out loud. The 'leader' vampire was dressed from head to toe in a long purple robe, and he had a large, obviously homemade, crown on his head. He could not have been more than twenty when he was made a vampire, and his skinny form was almost drowning in the 'ceremonial' robes. Before him was a caldron, painted with cartoonish flames and scary eyes.
The other vampires were looking at the 'leader' with bored glances, and Faith turned her head slightly to see the infamous whining vamp speak again.
"Well...yeah...I guess, but Steve..." the vamp said, but was quickly interrupted.
"I told you..." the 'leader' growled in his high-pitched voice, "In ceremony, you are to call me Lord Quisnias! And each part of this is essential for calling the demon we want. Just one slip...and Lord Quisnias will have failed to give the demon its full power..."
The coven shifted with annoyance from foot to foot, obviously not a fan of the head vamp's chosen alias.
"Whatever, Lord Quiznos," the whiny vampire said with a sigh, "Let's just get this over with. I wanna eat someone tonight...or a few someones..."
A rumble of agreement rolled through the group, and their leader suddenly grinned.
"Fine," he said, and Faith watched as his face melted to reveal 'Lord Steve's' true nature. The rumble of the drums began again, and the other vampires also morphed into their true faces, all gnashing their teeth in anticipation.
"Gentlemen," the leader said, "Get ready for the feast!"
The chanting rose again, with more intensity than before, and Faith gripped her stake tightly. A dark blue mist began to rise from the caldron, and the air around her was sharp with the scent of brimstone.
"Arise!" the leader suddenly shouted, "Arise!"
Shit, Faith thought, These vamps may be geeks...but they know what they're doing...
Without another thought, the Slayer dove from her hiding place and staked three vampires before the others had time to react. With a few swift motions, Faith dusted two more who lunged at her with clumsy punches.
Before the ash could settle, she was face to face with the gripey vamp. He stared at her in wide-eyed horror, and then cried out at the stake struck his chest.
"Man..." he whined one last time, "This really...sucks!"
In the next instant, he was gone. Faith then turned toward the leader, who was still chanting over the steaming blue smoke. He was a persistent geek, she had to give him that.
Before she could reach him, another vampire grabbed her from behind. With an annoyed grunt, she spun around and flipped him toward the caldron. The impact of vamp on the metal pot had enough force to knock the concoction off its legs and the bubbling mess poured out over the floor.
Faith jumped onto a nearby table so the substance did not touch her feet, and watched with disgust as a misty form rose from the liquid. She could make out a pair of yellow eyes and a row of sharp white teeth. The vague figure floated toward her, and she saw a long tail snap around behind the creature as the shape in the smoke became more tangible.
"No!" the leader cried out, and pointed at Faith, "You ruined everything! That's not what it's supposed to look like!"
Both Faith and the shadowy creature looked over at the purple clad vampire as he spoke, his bony fists shaking above his head in fury.
"It was supposed to be solid..." the lead vamp shrieked, "And strong! With really great pecs and abs! Now look at it...all smoggy and weak!"
Faith heard the creature let out a low roar that shook the room as much as the drums had. Obviously, the demon did not appreciate the opinions of his undead conjuror. The vampire took a step back in terror as the creature closed in around him.
"Um...I didn't mean weak," the vamp pleased, "I meant, weak like...um...sweet...You know...cause being all transparent and dusty is really a good look for you..."
His rambling was replaced by his screams, as the demon tore the vampire apart. Faith watched in horror as the coven's dead leader was beheaded. She knew what the creature was looking for, the vampire's life force, but the vampire lost that at the same time he lost his soul.
That was why the coven wanted this creature. It took the spirit but left the body intact (so long as you did not insult its pecs and abs), making a plethora of food that did not fight back.
When the demon finished tearing the vampire to shreds, it turned again and focused its yellow eyes on Faith. She ground her teeth in preparation for a fight, and drew a long blade from her belt. There was only one way to kill this thing, and that was with a wound to the base of the neck. Problem was...where the heck was the neck on a formless wraith?
The creature moved toward her, and Faith did a back flip off the table and toward the stairway. She ran upward, hearing the swishing movements of the demon as it pursued her.
She reached the basement, and ran straight toward the light of the open doors. The creature screeched in fury as she fled, its long tail snapping angrily.
Faith reached the mangled remains of the doors and leapt upward. She swung out of the basement and rolled down along the lawn away from the house. She landed on her stomach, but spun around just in time to see the demon's dark smoky form spill out into the sun. It let out an inhuman shriek as the light of day broke apart its cold shadows and it seemed to evaporate into the air.
Faith was breathing heavily as she watched the trails of blue smoke disappear toward the sky. She sat up and let out a heavy sigh of relief. But, she soon heard another shriek tear through the quiet neighborhood, and she was immediately on her feet.
She still had the knife in her hand as she jerked her head back and forth searching for her prey. But the shriek had come from further off than before, and after a moment she spotted a pair of yellow eyes beneath a line of trees across the street.
The demon hissed and growled as it glared at Faith, now very aware of what she was, and also aware of its own weakness in the daylight. It needed to find people, someone to draw a life force from, so that it could strengthen its own body.
Faith watched as it swirled away, moving quickly from shadow to shadow down the peaceful neighborhood lane. She stowed the long knife in her belt again and ran off after the demon, hoping she could find a way to catch it...and kill it...before it was able to harm anyone else.