Harry didn't say anything. He didn't do anything. He didn't breath, though that wasn't anything new. One word - a name - echoed through his head.
Ginny...
Her small, slender form walked out of the shadows. Her voice, soft and soothing, came to him. "Harry...I know you've been through a lot...its over now..."
She embraced him, slowly, tenderly. He could feel the incredible tenderness of having her close to him again, could feel himself spiral back to a time when the only thing in the world that mattered was the two of them, and...
He brought the Sword of Gryffindor down, cleaving her neatly in two.
"Next time," he said. "Make sure that your illusions have scent."
The shadows emptied with a horrible shriek. Harry brought up the Sword. That had pissed him off. That had pissed him off a lot. And now he was going to get even.
A slimy Plaetine demon took a swipe at him with its three-clawed hand. Harry caught the swipe on his sword, forcing the creature back so forcefully that it fell. Harry brought the Sword down on the thing so quickly that it didn't have time to yell before he'd separated its head from the rest of its body.
A vernamium came running out of the shadows, swinging a huge broadsword at him. The damn sword must have been as tall as Harry.
Harry took the blow on the blade of his own sword. The vernamium tried to use its strength to bare Harry to the ground, but Harry turned the blow slowly aside. As the creature's force was redirected downward, Harry spun, driving a forceful elbow into its head. He plunged the Sword of Gryffindor downwards, splintering the vernamium's spinal chord.
A pair of vampires attacked him from behind. Harry, sensing their presence, leapt straight into the air, bellied out, and drove his legs backward, striking one vampire hard in the chest, driving it backward and Harry forward. Harry landed in a roll, bringing up the Sword to meet an attack from a Fyarl demon. The second vampire attacked as well.
As the Fyarl swung at Harry, Harry ducked. He threw out a palm to redirect the vampire's kick, sending it backward. Harry drove his outstretched hand upward, upper cutting the vamp and sending it three feet in the air. In the same motion, Harry raised his leg and kicked the Fyarl, sending it sprawling.
Harry oriented himself. Diana was still safe by the door, but a circle of demons was closing in on him. As the circle closed, Harry felt a brief tingling on the back of his neck.
He grinned, remembering Craig's lessons on gravity.
Harry wound up and threw the Sword of Gryffindor at one of the demons. The Sword penetrated the demon's chest, and it fell backward. As it fell, Harry charged it and leapt forward.
As the Sword, still impaled in the demon, went vertical, Harry went horizontal. Gravity seemed to fade away, and Harry used the Sword's hilt to swing around in a circle. As he spun, hitting the Fyarl in its face, he twisted a bit and delivered a scissors kick to the vampire, twisting its head off. It fell in dust to the ground.
Harry, still spinning in the gravity-less void he'd created, pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the dead demon. He continued to spin, rising a bit and swinging the Sword with him. His combatants had begun to experience the effects of Harry's magic, leaving the ground quickly and jerkily. Many died from Harry's swipes.
In a split second, gravity returned. Harry landed on the ground, pressing his hand, still clutching the bloodied Sword of Gryffindor, to the ground. Around him fell the dismembered bodies of the demons.
Harry's vampire face shown with lustful hunger. "Let's go, then," he said. "Come on! I'm going to kill you!"
The two figures emerged, finally, from the shadows, allowing Harry to get his first good look a them.
The first thing he noticed was that neither had eyelids, or eyelashes, or anything other than a pair of deep, blood red eyes. Their mouths were ovals filled with needle-like teeth.
"We gave you the chance," the first of the two creatures said. "We really don't want to harm you."
"I'd laugh if my sense of humor wasn't dead," Harry said, realizing the slight pun a minute too late.
The other creature laughed. "Oh, that's funny! Damn, kid, you ought to be on Leno."
"No thanks," Harry said. "We're just friends, Leno and I."
The creature laughed again. "Are you always this funny?"
"Only when I'm about to kill you," Harry replied, and swung the Sword of Gryffindor.
So far, Harry had never swung at anything and missed. He'd been blocked; his blows had been redirected and misdirected; and his blows had sometimes done no good. But he'd never missed.
The two creatures stood behind him now. The second chuckled.
"Neat trick, huh?" it asked. "Wanna see another?"
Harry didn't see it - the syringe was already draining its contents into his body, sedating him magically.
When Harry awoke, he was in a small, all white cell. He shook his head.
"Well, we can add sedatives to the list of the things I didn't know about vampires," he mused to himself. To his surprise, he heard Diana respond.
"I'm sure it's an interesting read," she said.
Harry smiled. That was close to Diana's old self. He got down to business quick, though. "Where are we?"
Diana tried to lean around from her cell, but the invisible wall shocked her. She yelped, more out of surprise then pain, and then smiled sardonically. "No clue, but I bet they don't forget to pay their rent."
"Let's hope they lost the electricity bill," Harry said, prodding his own electrical prison. "Hmm..."
At that moment, a door at the end of what had to be a long corridor opened and shut. A cart was being pushed down it.
"Diana!" Harry whispered. "I'm still asleep!"
Diana whispered a fleeting affirmative. Her force field went down, and a small package was tossed to her. The field was back up practically before she knew what was happening.
"Is the vamp still asleep?" one of the guys pushing the cart asked.
"Looks it," the other said. "Come on, drop the field. We can give it to him now and he'll eat it later."
As soon as Harry's field was down, he was up. He snapped the first cart-pusher's neck, grabbing the other quickly and placing a silencing hand over his mouth.
"Sleeping vampire..." Harry muttered. "You are so dumb, you really do deserve to die."
The cart-pusher whimpered. Harry applied pressure to the back of his neck, and he slumped forward, asleep.
"Maybe not today, though," Harry said. He tossed the unconscious man into his own cell, dragged the cart and dead man into it as well, and then reactivated the field.
As he let Diana out, she gave him something approaching a playful smile. "Naturally, you leave me for last."
Her eyes rolled back into her head, and Diana stopped moving forward for a minute. Harry stopped too, sensing her own lack of movement, and turned to her.
After a second, Diana slumped forward, breathing hard. "What did you see?" Harry asked, urgently.
"Guards," she choked out, obviously distressed over something. "Harry...there's more..."
The door snapped open. "Yep," Harry said. "Definitely more. You can wait in here." He shoved Diana back into her cell and reactivated it. "Where you're safe."
The human guards charged Harry. He reached for the Sword of Gryffindor, to find that it was no longer attached to his belt.
"Oh, lovely," he said to himself. "Looks like this goes down with some good old fashioned skin, huh boys?"
Harry literally caught the first punch, crushing the man's hand. The man screamed, and Harry twisted the man's wrist, undoubtedly breaking it. The man was born to his knees, and Harry kicked him over.
The remaining four men all came at him at once. Trusting to his magic and reflexes, Harry jumped.
He ricocheted off one wall, punching a guard on the way to the other side of the corridor.
He hit this wall and redirected himself up, clinging impossibly to the ceiling and scurrying along it. He fell from the ceiling, turning a small flip to face feet downward, reached out his feet, and performed a lightning fast leg scissors maneuver. The guard fell to the ground, and Harry rolled away.
He came up blocking a punch. He sidestepped it and drove his right arm violently upward, breaking the guard's arm at the elbow. The guard cried out, and Harry stepped around him, kicking out his knees, and finally spinning, elbowing the pain racked guard in the back of the head, knocking him mercifully unconscious.
The last guard charged him from across the corridor. Harry went low - very low - swiping the guard's legs out from under him. The moment in time seemed to freeze for Harry, as the guard hung poised in the air. Harry came up in the blink of an eye, hitting the near stationery guard with enormous force.
The guard hit a force field and was continuously shocked by the electricity. The guard finally slumped, unconscious, and smoking a bit.
Harry hurried to Diana's cell and deactivated it. She stepped out and promptly smacked him across the face.
"Don't do that to me again!" Diana said. "I can defend myself!"
"Jeez," Harry said. "I was only trying to help..."
"I can help myself! Humph!" And she stalked away, towards the door.
A demon in one of the other holding cells, who'd apparently been bored with the fight, laughed and pointed at Harry. Harry gave the demon an angry look, and it abruptly stopped laughing and pointing.
"Diana! Wait!" Harry said, seeing her nearing the door. "We don't know what's out there!"
"Oh, Harry, you can't always protect me," Diana said. "Besides, what are the odds that there is something right behind this door right now...?" As she said it, the door started to swing open.
"You are such a jinx," Harry said, preparing himself for another fight. The door finished its slow opening arc, and Harry stood, dumbstruck once again.
In the doorway, carrying the Sword of Gryffindor, stood Angel. "Welcome to Wolfram and Hart, Harry," he said.
Ginny...
Her small, slender form walked out of the shadows. Her voice, soft and soothing, came to him. "Harry...I know you've been through a lot...its over now..."
She embraced him, slowly, tenderly. He could feel the incredible tenderness of having her close to him again, could feel himself spiral back to a time when the only thing in the world that mattered was the two of them, and...
He brought the Sword of Gryffindor down, cleaving her neatly in two.
"Next time," he said. "Make sure that your illusions have scent."
The shadows emptied with a horrible shriek. Harry brought up the Sword. That had pissed him off. That had pissed him off a lot. And now he was going to get even.
A slimy Plaetine demon took a swipe at him with its three-clawed hand. Harry caught the swipe on his sword, forcing the creature back so forcefully that it fell. Harry brought the Sword down on the thing so quickly that it didn't have time to yell before he'd separated its head from the rest of its body.
A vernamium came running out of the shadows, swinging a huge broadsword at him. The damn sword must have been as tall as Harry.
Harry took the blow on the blade of his own sword. The vernamium tried to use its strength to bare Harry to the ground, but Harry turned the blow slowly aside. As the creature's force was redirected downward, Harry spun, driving a forceful elbow into its head. He plunged the Sword of Gryffindor downwards, splintering the vernamium's spinal chord.
A pair of vampires attacked him from behind. Harry, sensing their presence, leapt straight into the air, bellied out, and drove his legs backward, striking one vampire hard in the chest, driving it backward and Harry forward. Harry landed in a roll, bringing up the Sword to meet an attack from a Fyarl demon. The second vampire attacked as well.
As the Fyarl swung at Harry, Harry ducked. He threw out a palm to redirect the vampire's kick, sending it backward. Harry drove his outstretched hand upward, upper cutting the vamp and sending it three feet in the air. In the same motion, Harry raised his leg and kicked the Fyarl, sending it sprawling.
Harry oriented himself. Diana was still safe by the door, but a circle of demons was closing in on him. As the circle closed, Harry felt a brief tingling on the back of his neck.
He grinned, remembering Craig's lessons on gravity.
Harry wound up and threw the Sword of Gryffindor at one of the demons. The Sword penetrated the demon's chest, and it fell backward. As it fell, Harry charged it and leapt forward.
As the Sword, still impaled in the demon, went vertical, Harry went horizontal. Gravity seemed to fade away, and Harry used the Sword's hilt to swing around in a circle. As he spun, hitting the Fyarl in its face, he twisted a bit and delivered a scissors kick to the vampire, twisting its head off. It fell in dust to the ground.
Harry, still spinning in the gravity-less void he'd created, pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the dead demon. He continued to spin, rising a bit and swinging the Sword with him. His combatants had begun to experience the effects of Harry's magic, leaving the ground quickly and jerkily. Many died from Harry's swipes.
In a split second, gravity returned. Harry landed on the ground, pressing his hand, still clutching the bloodied Sword of Gryffindor, to the ground. Around him fell the dismembered bodies of the demons.
Harry's vampire face shown with lustful hunger. "Let's go, then," he said. "Come on! I'm going to kill you!"
The two figures emerged, finally, from the shadows, allowing Harry to get his first good look a them.
The first thing he noticed was that neither had eyelids, or eyelashes, or anything other than a pair of deep, blood red eyes. Their mouths were ovals filled with needle-like teeth.
"We gave you the chance," the first of the two creatures said. "We really don't want to harm you."
"I'd laugh if my sense of humor wasn't dead," Harry said, realizing the slight pun a minute too late.
The other creature laughed. "Oh, that's funny! Damn, kid, you ought to be on Leno."
"No thanks," Harry said. "We're just friends, Leno and I."
The creature laughed again. "Are you always this funny?"
"Only when I'm about to kill you," Harry replied, and swung the Sword of Gryffindor.
So far, Harry had never swung at anything and missed. He'd been blocked; his blows had been redirected and misdirected; and his blows had sometimes done no good. But he'd never missed.
The two creatures stood behind him now. The second chuckled.
"Neat trick, huh?" it asked. "Wanna see another?"
Harry didn't see it - the syringe was already draining its contents into his body, sedating him magically.
When Harry awoke, he was in a small, all white cell. He shook his head.
"Well, we can add sedatives to the list of the things I didn't know about vampires," he mused to himself. To his surprise, he heard Diana respond.
"I'm sure it's an interesting read," she said.
Harry smiled. That was close to Diana's old self. He got down to business quick, though. "Where are we?"
Diana tried to lean around from her cell, but the invisible wall shocked her. She yelped, more out of surprise then pain, and then smiled sardonically. "No clue, but I bet they don't forget to pay their rent."
"Let's hope they lost the electricity bill," Harry said, prodding his own electrical prison. "Hmm..."
At that moment, a door at the end of what had to be a long corridor opened and shut. A cart was being pushed down it.
"Diana!" Harry whispered. "I'm still asleep!"
Diana whispered a fleeting affirmative. Her force field went down, and a small package was tossed to her. The field was back up practically before she knew what was happening.
"Is the vamp still asleep?" one of the guys pushing the cart asked.
"Looks it," the other said. "Come on, drop the field. We can give it to him now and he'll eat it later."
As soon as Harry's field was down, he was up. He snapped the first cart-pusher's neck, grabbing the other quickly and placing a silencing hand over his mouth.
"Sleeping vampire..." Harry muttered. "You are so dumb, you really do deserve to die."
The cart-pusher whimpered. Harry applied pressure to the back of his neck, and he slumped forward, asleep.
"Maybe not today, though," Harry said. He tossed the unconscious man into his own cell, dragged the cart and dead man into it as well, and then reactivated the field.
As he let Diana out, she gave him something approaching a playful smile. "Naturally, you leave me for last."
Her eyes rolled back into her head, and Diana stopped moving forward for a minute. Harry stopped too, sensing her own lack of movement, and turned to her.
After a second, Diana slumped forward, breathing hard. "What did you see?" Harry asked, urgently.
"Guards," she choked out, obviously distressed over something. "Harry...there's more..."
The door snapped open. "Yep," Harry said. "Definitely more. You can wait in here." He shoved Diana back into her cell and reactivated it. "Where you're safe."
The human guards charged Harry. He reached for the Sword of Gryffindor, to find that it was no longer attached to his belt.
"Oh, lovely," he said to himself. "Looks like this goes down with some good old fashioned skin, huh boys?"
Harry literally caught the first punch, crushing the man's hand. The man screamed, and Harry twisted the man's wrist, undoubtedly breaking it. The man was born to his knees, and Harry kicked him over.
The remaining four men all came at him at once. Trusting to his magic and reflexes, Harry jumped.
He ricocheted off one wall, punching a guard on the way to the other side of the corridor.
He hit this wall and redirected himself up, clinging impossibly to the ceiling and scurrying along it. He fell from the ceiling, turning a small flip to face feet downward, reached out his feet, and performed a lightning fast leg scissors maneuver. The guard fell to the ground, and Harry rolled away.
He came up blocking a punch. He sidestepped it and drove his right arm violently upward, breaking the guard's arm at the elbow. The guard cried out, and Harry stepped around him, kicking out his knees, and finally spinning, elbowing the pain racked guard in the back of the head, knocking him mercifully unconscious.
The last guard charged him from across the corridor. Harry went low - very low - swiping the guard's legs out from under him. The moment in time seemed to freeze for Harry, as the guard hung poised in the air. Harry came up in the blink of an eye, hitting the near stationery guard with enormous force.
The guard hit a force field and was continuously shocked by the electricity. The guard finally slumped, unconscious, and smoking a bit.
Harry hurried to Diana's cell and deactivated it. She stepped out and promptly smacked him across the face.
"Don't do that to me again!" Diana said. "I can defend myself!"
"Jeez," Harry said. "I was only trying to help..."
"I can help myself! Humph!" And she stalked away, towards the door.
A demon in one of the other holding cells, who'd apparently been bored with the fight, laughed and pointed at Harry. Harry gave the demon an angry look, and it abruptly stopped laughing and pointing.
"Diana! Wait!" Harry said, seeing her nearing the door. "We don't know what's out there!"
"Oh, Harry, you can't always protect me," Diana said. "Besides, what are the odds that there is something right behind this door right now...?" As she said it, the door started to swing open.
"You are such a jinx," Harry said, preparing himself for another fight. The door finished its slow opening arc, and Harry stood, dumbstruck once again.
In the doorway, carrying the Sword of Gryffindor, stood Angel. "Welcome to Wolfram and Hart, Harry," he said.