Chapter 5
It had been two hours since they had descended to the floor below and it was two of the longest, toughest, physically trying hours that Xander could ever remember going through – the demons all resembled hide-covered 300 pound linebackers with bat-like wings on their skulls and off of their backs, but the worst part was that they were resistant to most forms of magic, so that meant that Sasha was going hand-to-hand nine times out of ten. This, though, allowed her to use her remaining equipment more economically, as they replenished her body and mana with each successful hit that she made, so she was good to go every time.
He, unfortunately, did not have such a luxury and was frequently drinking health and rejuvenation potions to restore his lost blood, flesh and general health; health and rejuvenation potions weren't magical cure-alls, as they merely sped up the healing progress and, as such, they hurt like a son of a bitch. He found this out the hard way after one of the demons broke his leg and Sasha set it and forced a rejuvenation potion down his throat – he was screaming in agony for several minutes until the healing process was finished, but it was nearly ten more minutes before he could actually put weight on his leg again, and all the while she was beating back demons left, right and center. As such, she was getting stronger, but also was starting to show lots of signs of wear and tear as far as her body as concerned – blood matted her dark hair to her forehead, there were various tears in the denim of her jeans, dried blood on her vest and arms, but what struck him most was the look of bone-dead tired in her eyes, as while the potions restored his stamina and vigor, her weapons couldn't do that.
With a grunt he got to his feet, risking the monumental ass chewing he was about to get, "Sasha, stand down and take a breather."
She looked back, her eyes slightly wild, as he approached, "You should not be up, Alexander."
"Well, I am, and you're going to take a breather." His weapons snapped out into place and he rolled his shoulders, "You need it." Without giving her a chance to argue, he stepped forwards and lashed out as another demon came through the door of the room they had been backed into – it was damned fortunate that the demons were like vamps in that they turned into a small pile of dust when killed, but there had been a lot of them killed and the small piles of dust had begun to mount.
"Fine." She went off to the back and sat down with a groan, but whatever she did next was none of his concern as another demon came through the door.
"Good." That was the last intelligible thing he said for the next ten minutes, as he was slightly busy lopping off arms, legs, ears, wings and heads of demons as they came through – he actually lost count of the number of deaths, but could feel the burn of his muscles and the steady drip / oozing of blood from various small wounds on his arms, legs and torso. "Shit, this can't be getting any better, can it?"
"Probably not," Sasha said, coming up behind him, "But if you step back, I have an idea." He did and she threw up her hand, her eyes intense and glowing, then there was a sudden rush of pure power and a wave of cold as the door was suddenly sealed off with thick ice and the wave of demons stopped. With that done, Sasha began to crumple to the floor.
He caught her and held her shivering body close as he tried to speak, but his jaw refused to work, so he settled for giving her a rejuvenation potion. After a minute, he was able to speak, "Sasha, what in the HELL was that?"
"Ice ... w... all." Her voice was weak and so very tired, but the rejuvenation potion was taking hold. "New spell ... I've been ... working on." She seemed to snuggle back into his embrace, "Nice."
"Very cool," opting to misunderstand what she meant by her last statement, but not letting go. They both sat there for a while, him holding her, and through the barrier of ice he could hear demons hitting it and then heard an odd exploding sound, as if they themselves were turning to ice and exploding, "How long will it last?"
"20 minutes, or there about. Takes all of my mana to do, but it's worth it." She turned in place to where she was sitting sideways, her cheek resting just over the top of his breastbone, and sighed, "Can we stay here for a little while longer? So tired."
The scent of desert rose and demon blood, laced with sweat, hit him like a freight train and he was hard-pressed not to move her; it was almost intoxicating, "Ten more minutes, Sash, then we go." She nodded from her position, sighed and sunk lower into his chest, as if she had fallen asleep.
Ten minutes later, to the second, her eyes snapped open and she raised her head up slightly, blinking away the 'sleep', and then yawned hugely, "Sorry." There was, for some odd reason, a tinge of blush on her cheeks and neck.
He shrugged, "No problem – it's not every day a beautiful woman falls asleep in his lap."
She gave him a look, "I wasn't asleep; I was meditating and using one of my passive skills to replenish my mana stores." She stretched in place, a rather pleasant feeling all things being equal, and yawned again before getting up, "Shall we?"
{Sasha's relative POV}
He was oblivious – that was the only explanation that she could come up with; she had inadvertently fallen into a trance of Warmth after the spell to replenish her mana stores, fallen into him, or he had caught her, and rested rather comfortably for nearly fifteen minutes. When she awoke from her trance, she turned in is embrace and after that it was pure flirting on her part – innocent enough, but it was disheartening that he appeared not to notice, or if he did, he did not say anything, which was her hope.
"We shall." He stood up and smiled at her, which gave her a little hope, but then that smile slipped away as his 'battle mask' slipped into place, the mask that one showed the enemy, "The wall?"
She nodded and took her position next to the door, knowing that it would be only a matter of minutes before the spell lost it's power and collapsed, and wondered exactly how well it would hold – in theory her Ice Wall would freeze and shatter any demon or monster that touched it, which was a definite advantage if a summoner was responsible, as a summoner was able to resurrect any minion it had unless it was frozen and shattered. It cost her all of her mana to use, but it was worth it, especially when it only took ten minutes in her trance of Warmth to recoup most of her mana.
The spell began to lose power and the wall began to shimmer and then it disappeared with a flash and a rush of chilled air and frosty fog. On the other side of the wall it looked like a virtual sand dune and treasure trove – apparently more than a few monsters and demons had tried to get through and they had been 'loaded', as the term was. "Profits abound."
"Indeed," her companion said, stepping out of the room and searching the inky blackness before he joined her in picking up the bounty of her labors.
She found numerous potions that went into the pockets of her borrowed vest, but then came across two rings and an amulet that she could feel were on the rare side – one of the rings gave better attack speed, while the other gave a faster casting rate, but it was the amulet that enhanced the skill levels of the person, but also gave mana and health boots with each hit. Xander handed her several things and she handed the first ring and the amulet to him, "Here, these should help you out."
He looked at her and grinned boyishly before slipping on the two items, shivering as he did, "Whoa."
"Are you okay?" She was worried that something might have gone wrong, but he then looked at her and was grinning infectiously.
"I sure as hell am! Is this what you feel like? All tingly and buzzed?"
She looked into his eyes oddly and determined that he wasn't playing with her head, "How so?"
He shrugged and finished grabbing some coins that had dropped, "I was kind of tired, but now it's like someone just topped off the tank with the high grade stuff and keeps it there."
She rolled her eyes, worry disappearing, "Focus, Alexander – we have a great deal to accomplish here, still, and a very little amount of time to do it in."
He nodded and took position at the door, taking a breath before slipping outside as quietly as a ghost, and she was behind him after a five count.
{Enemy POV}
"Well, this does not appear to be a good thing." The voice was that of an upper crust British man, in his late forties or fifties, but his entire self was hidden by a bank of the blackest shadows, his glowing red eyes the only thing that was visible.
"No, my Lord, this is not a good thing. You told us that the Child would be easy to kill." This voice belonged to a robed figured with a staff, his skin old, gray and wrinkled, eyes a deep black and his teeth were sharpened to a point. He was a Litch, essential a vampire, but one that, oddly enough, was capable of casting fire spells.
"By all reports he should have been easy to kill, Elias," the first voice came back, his voice no longer good-natured, but rather a sneer. "I did, however, warn you not to underestimate anyone from the town of Sunnydale, let alone someone who worked with that bitch Slayer, Summers."
"True, you did." The Litch, Elias, rubbed his fingers over his chin and assumed a position of thought, "What should we do now? That accursed spell of the Sorceress eliminated most of our demon foot soldiers here and the Summoners cannot replace them for several days."
"As many in my world would say, put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye, Elias. I have helped you all that I can, for now, and they are very close." The British voice laughed cruelly and began to fade away, "Goodbye, Elias, I do hope that your death is quick and relatively painful." The voice laughed evilly and vanished back into the shadows, the eyes fading to black, leaving Elias alone in the stone room.
"I truly hate that Watcher, I truly do."
AN: Okay, That's enough for this chapter – I'll get around to the next chapter and they'll finish the level ... or die horribly, who knows, but gee, who would have guessed that a Watcher was involved with the other side. Ten Brownie Points if you can guess who it is ... and it IS NOT Quinten Travers. Peace, AR.
It had been two hours since they had descended to the floor below and it was two of the longest, toughest, physically trying hours that Xander could ever remember going through – the demons all resembled hide-covered 300 pound linebackers with bat-like wings on their skulls and off of their backs, but the worst part was that they were resistant to most forms of magic, so that meant that Sasha was going hand-to-hand nine times out of ten. This, though, allowed her to use her remaining equipment more economically, as they replenished her body and mana with each successful hit that she made, so she was good to go every time.
He, unfortunately, did not have such a luxury and was frequently drinking health and rejuvenation potions to restore his lost blood, flesh and general health; health and rejuvenation potions weren't magical cure-alls, as they merely sped up the healing progress and, as such, they hurt like a son of a bitch. He found this out the hard way after one of the demons broke his leg and Sasha set it and forced a rejuvenation potion down his throat – he was screaming in agony for several minutes until the healing process was finished, but it was nearly ten more minutes before he could actually put weight on his leg again, and all the while she was beating back demons left, right and center. As such, she was getting stronger, but also was starting to show lots of signs of wear and tear as far as her body as concerned – blood matted her dark hair to her forehead, there were various tears in the denim of her jeans, dried blood on her vest and arms, but what struck him most was the look of bone-dead tired in her eyes, as while the potions restored his stamina and vigor, her weapons couldn't do that.
With a grunt he got to his feet, risking the monumental ass chewing he was about to get, "Sasha, stand down and take a breather."
She looked back, her eyes slightly wild, as he approached, "You should not be up, Alexander."
"Well, I am, and you're going to take a breather." His weapons snapped out into place and he rolled his shoulders, "You need it." Without giving her a chance to argue, he stepped forwards and lashed out as another demon came through the door of the room they had been backed into – it was damned fortunate that the demons were like vamps in that they turned into a small pile of dust when killed, but there had been a lot of them killed and the small piles of dust had begun to mount.
"Fine." She went off to the back and sat down with a groan, but whatever she did next was none of his concern as another demon came through the door.
"Good." That was the last intelligible thing he said for the next ten minutes, as he was slightly busy lopping off arms, legs, ears, wings and heads of demons as they came through – he actually lost count of the number of deaths, but could feel the burn of his muscles and the steady drip / oozing of blood from various small wounds on his arms, legs and torso. "Shit, this can't be getting any better, can it?"
"Probably not," Sasha said, coming up behind him, "But if you step back, I have an idea." He did and she threw up her hand, her eyes intense and glowing, then there was a sudden rush of pure power and a wave of cold as the door was suddenly sealed off with thick ice and the wave of demons stopped. With that done, Sasha began to crumple to the floor.
He caught her and held her shivering body close as he tried to speak, but his jaw refused to work, so he settled for giving her a rejuvenation potion. After a minute, he was able to speak, "Sasha, what in the HELL was that?"
"Ice ... w... all." Her voice was weak and so very tired, but the rejuvenation potion was taking hold. "New spell ... I've been ... working on." She seemed to snuggle back into his embrace, "Nice."
"Very cool," opting to misunderstand what she meant by her last statement, but not letting go. They both sat there for a while, him holding her, and through the barrier of ice he could hear demons hitting it and then heard an odd exploding sound, as if they themselves were turning to ice and exploding, "How long will it last?"
"20 minutes, or there about. Takes all of my mana to do, but it's worth it." She turned in place to where she was sitting sideways, her cheek resting just over the top of his breastbone, and sighed, "Can we stay here for a little while longer? So tired."
The scent of desert rose and demon blood, laced with sweat, hit him like a freight train and he was hard-pressed not to move her; it was almost intoxicating, "Ten more minutes, Sash, then we go." She nodded from her position, sighed and sunk lower into his chest, as if she had fallen asleep.
Ten minutes later, to the second, her eyes snapped open and she raised her head up slightly, blinking away the 'sleep', and then yawned hugely, "Sorry." There was, for some odd reason, a tinge of blush on her cheeks and neck.
He shrugged, "No problem – it's not every day a beautiful woman falls asleep in his lap."
She gave him a look, "I wasn't asleep; I was meditating and using one of my passive skills to replenish my mana stores." She stretched in place, a rather pleasant feeling all things being equal, and yawned again before getting up, "Shall we?"
{Sasha's relative POV}
He was oblivious – that was the only explanation that she could come up with; she had inadvertently fallen into a trance of Warmth after the spell to replenish her mana stores, fallen into him, or he had caught her, and rested rather comfortably for nearly fifteen minutes. When she awoke from her trance, she turned in is embrace and after that it was pure flirting on her part – innocent enough, but it was disheartening that he appeared not to notice, or if he did, he did not say anything, which was her hope.
"We shall." He stood up and smiled at her, which gave her a little hope, but then that smile slipped away as his 'battle mask' slipped into place, the mask that one showed the enemy, "The wall?"
She nodded and took her position next to the door, knowing that it would be only a matter of minutes before the spell lost it's power and collapsed, and wondered exactly how well it would hold – in theory her Ice Wall would freeze and shatter any demon or monster that touched it, which was a definite advantage if a summoner was responsible, as a summoner was able to resurrect any minion it had unless it was frozen and shattered. It cost her all of her mana to use, but it was worth it, especially when it only took ten minutes in her trance of Warmth to recoup most of her mana.
The spell began to lose power and the wall began to shimmer and then it disappeared with a flash and a rush of chilled air and frosty fog. On the other side of the wall it looked like a virtual sand dune and treasure trove – apparently more than a few monsters and demons had tried to get through and they had been 'loaded', as the term was. "Profits abound."
"Indeed," her companion said, stepping out of the room and searching the inky blackness before he joined her in picking up the bounty of her labors.
She found numerous potions that went into the pockets of her borrowed vest, but then came across two rings and an amulet that she could feel were on the rare side – one of the rings gave better attack speed, while the other gave a faster casting rate, but it was the amulet that enhanced the skill levels of the person, but also gave mana and health boots with each hit. Xander handed her several things and she handed the first ring and the amulet to him, "Here, these should help you out."
He looked at her and grinned boyishly before slipping on the two items, shivering as he did, "Whoa."
"Are you okay?" She was worried that something might have gone wrong, but he then looked at her and was grinning infectiously.
"I sure as hell am! Is this what you feel like? All tingly and buzzed?"
She looked into his eyes oddly and determined that he wasn't playing with her head, "How so?"
He shrugged and finished grabbing some coins that had dropped, "I was kind of tired, but now it's like someone just topped off the tank with the high grade stuff and keeps it there."
She rolled her eyes, worry disappearing, "Focus, Alexander – we have a great deal to accomplish here, still, and a very little amount of time to do it in."
He nodded and took position at the door, taking a breath before slipping outside as quietly as a ghost, and she was behind him after a five count.
{Enemy POV}
"Well, this does not appear to be a good thing." The voice was that of an upper crust British man, in his late forties or fifties, but his entire self was hidden by a bank of the blackest shadows, his glowing red eyes the only thing that was visible.
"No, my Lord, this is not a good thing. You told us that the Child would be easy to kill." This voice belonged to a robed figured with a staff, his skin old, gray and wrinkled, eyes a deep black and his teeth were sharpened to a point. He was a Litch, essential a vampire, but one that, oddly enough, was capable of casting fire spells.
"By all reports he should have been easy to kill, Elias," the first voice came back, his voice no longer good-natured, but rather a sneer. "I did, however, warn you not to underestimate anyone from the town of Sunnydale, let alone someone who worked with that bitch Slayer, Summers."
"True, you did." The Litch, Elias, rubbed his fingers over his chin and assumed a position of thought, "What should we do now? That accursed spell of the Sorceress eliminated most of our demon foot soldiers here and the Summoners cannot replace them for several days."
"As many in my world would say, put your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye, Elias. I have helped you all that I can, for now, and they are very close." The British voice laughed cruelly and began to fade away, "Goodbye, Elias, I do hope that your death is quick and relatively painful." The voice laughed evilly and vanished back into the shadows, the eyes fading to black, leaving Elias alone in the stone room.
"I truly hate that Watcher, I truly do."
AN: Okay, That's enough for this chapter – I'll get around to the next chapter and they'll finish the level ... or die horribly, who knows, but gee, who would have guessed that a Watcher was involved with the other side. Ten Brownie Points if you can guess who it is ... and it IS NOT Quinten Travers. Peace, AR.