Wes, however, toppled backwards.
He sprinted forward and caught the Englishman before he hit the floor. "Wes!" he cried.
He received no response however. His eyes stared upwards at the ceiling.
Connor shook him gently, and then after several minutes he blinked slowly. And then again.
"Wes…" Connor tried again.
His sight moved slowly towards Connor's face, and regarded him with dead eyes.
Then he smiled.
----------------
Wes walked back down the corridor, tracing the path he and Connor had walked from. Soon he appeared in the dining room.
However, there was no trace of the others.
"Dammit," he whispered worriedly.
He sat down – or didn't, as this dimension seemed to contradict everything he did with a feeling opposite to that of the action being performed – and sighed.
"I have to figure this out."
----------------
Connor soared backwards into a wall, blinking in an attempt to maintain consciousness. Wes rushed him and all he saw was his fist heading towards his face before blackness engulfed him.
----------------
Wes started awake. He had fallen asleep – and he didn't know for how long.
He stood up quickly and assessed his surroundings. He was still in the strange likeness of the mansion dining room, and there was still no sign of…
His eyes narrowed as he concentrated on a sliver of light hovering about four feet from the floor of the room.
He wandered over cautiously, ready to leap out of the way if it made any sudden movement, but it remained still. He reached out his hand to touch it –
- But stopped when he heard a strange noise behind him.
He turned to face it and saw an enormous figure like the one which had cast him here.
Except ten times bigger.
He slowly lowered his hand and remained perfectly still as it seemed to sniff around, looking for something – probably him.
Then it looked up at him and snarled. It rushed towards him and flung him backwards against the far wall of the room.
----------------
No-one was looking, but if they had of been they'd have seen the dust rise in a suspiciously man-shaped pattern on the far wall.
As it was, however, they were trying to stay alive.
Xander tumbled backwards after Wes had flung him onto the table, and Faith leaped on his back in an attempt to subdue him. He reached around and lifted her fully into the air and threw her to the ground.
He snarled inhumanly and rushed at the downed Xander, then tried to – what looked like – push his hand into his chest. Xander screamed in pain and Faith lifted a chair and smashed it against the side of his head.
Normally it might have killed a normal person but Wes just looked around and growled. Katie brought a statue down onto his head and his neck jerked suddenly and he sank to the ground.
Katie dropped the statue and gasped, putting her hands over her mouth.
"Did I…?"
Faith checked Wes over. "Nope, you just KO'd him. Nice work."
Xander groaned and sat up. "What the hell went wrong there?"
Katie helped him up. "He seemed to be possessed by something…"
"I second that opinion. Let's make sure he doesn't wake up." After a startled look from Katie, he quickly added, "Y'know, while he's possessed."
"Right."
"Also, where's Connor? And Kennedy?"
"That'd be your job, Xand," said Faith, tossing him a radio. "Keep in touch."
"Heh…"
----------------
Wes leaped backwards to avoid the scything talon, and then to the side.
It rushed him and pushed him backwards once more, and then brought its claw down hard.
Wes sidestepped, but in doing so he brushed his hand against the small patch of light he'd noticed earlier.
Suddenly the world was a rush of noise and light. Colours of all shades swirled around him, and he felt a great wind pushing against him. He raised his arm to shield his face but noticed one, that his arm had no effect on the wind, and two that his arm was also flickering and swirling like the world around him.
He took stock of his surroundings and noticed – to his surprise – himself, lying on the ground. He staggered over to the body and touched it, and then the wind reversed direction and he was pushed towards the body.
He opened his eyes to a stabbing sensation in his head. He touched the ugly bruise gingerly and winced.
"Wes…?"
"Uh…yeah?"
"Wes!" called Faith.
He winced as her shout penetrated his banging headache.
"What the hell happened to you before?"
"Oh…God knows…I think I was in another dimension."
"Oh. Cause your body kinda stayed and attacked us all."
He stood up shakily. "Yes…myself and Connor encountered a wraith-like demon in one of the corridors. It attacked us – and it also appeared to take Kennedy's soul."
"Oh…" whispered Faith, suddenly deflated at this news.
"I'm confident she's alright," continued Wes. "After all, she is a Slayer now. I found my way back, so I'm sure she can too."
"I guess."
"How is Connor…?"
"Xander's looking for him. We stayed because your possessed form was really strong."
"I guess that might have something to do with the splitting headache I've got?"
"Sorry about that…" muttered Katie.
"Quite alright. Just…try not to shout."
----------------
Xander approached Connor's body and poked his shoulder, half expecting him to leap up with a crazed look in his eyes like Wes had.
Instead, he groggily sat up and groaned.
"Wes got you too, huh."
"Yeah," said Connor, standing up.
"We need to get back to the others – we have Wes under control but we don't know how long for."
"Where's…?" asked Connor, looking down the corridor, but it was empty when Xander looked back.
"C'mon," he ushered, and lead the way.
To look straight into the eyes of a hideous wraith.
Xander froze, uncertain of what to do – however, Connor had gathered a sufficient amount of wit.
He shoved Xander into the far wall and then brushed his hand against the wraith's body. It lunged for his hand, and he managed to slip around it.
What he hadn't intended to happen was for it to move right back around and lunge for Xander instead.
He rushed forward, trying to attract its attention, but it was no use.
The wraith stabbed at Xander.
But somehow he twisted around and grabbed the talon.
He then twisted it around and stabbed the demon in the head with its own appendage.
Connor, stunned into silence, could only gape at the sight of Xander still holding the wraith's arm while the other dangled limply from the side of its body.
Suddenly, it let out an unearthly shriek that penetrated the two men's skulls like a shard of ice, stabbing a harsh pain through their nervous systems.
Then it imploded with a flash of light, and was no more.
Taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure, Connor picked up Xander and gave him a look which was a mixture of puzzled and admiration.
"It just seemed to make sense at the time…" said Xander sheepishly. "It was attacking me its talons, but it could pass through solid objects with its body."
Connor nodded in understanding. They headed towards the dining room.
----------------
Wes looked shaken when they arrived back.
"What the bloody hell was that noise?"
"Wes! He's all…normal…again," said Xander.
"Xander killed the wraith, and it made that noise before it imploded."
"You've killed it?" asked Katie. "Excellent!"
Connor noticed a collection of broken glass around the floor, and then noticed a couple of panes missing windows right at the top of the room.
"Now we just need Kennedy and we can be out of here."
"Speaking of…I didn't see her back in the corridor."
"Damn…"
"Maybe she's been possessed too?"
Wesley hmmed and Faith looked troubled.
Wes broke the silence. "We may have to leave her behind. If she is possessed then there's nothing we can do for her – we have no research materials, and no spell components even if we wanted to try a simple exorcism."
"It'd kill me to do it…but Wes has a point," said Faith, and they all nodded reluctantly in agreement. They didn't want to leave her, but they may have no choice.
"We also need to ascertain our position relative to the school, or at least some familiar landmarks."
"Why?"
"So we can hunt down the Erus Veneficus."
"Sounds good," came a voice from behind them. It was Fred, sitting up slowly. "I owe him for nearly making me toast."
Wes smiled and helped her up, then successfully roused Gunn.
"Alright, then. We're nearly set."
"What about…?" asked Gunn, and Faith filled him in. "Oh…right," was his comment, and Fred just nodded resolutely.
"Well then, shall we be off?"
----------------
Kennedy – or rather, the being inhabiting Kennedy's body – was staggering slowly down a hallway of the mansion. It wasn't as strong as the spirit which had taken over Wes, nevertheless it was inside a Slayer's body and now possessed all her reflexes.
It had just switched dimensions though, and was taking some time to grow accustomed to its surroundings.
Suddenly it stopped and sniffed the air. A sound which might be described as a scream heard from a great distance grew prominent in the air.
The spirit smiled.
----------------
Wes and the others were about to exit the dining room when they became aware of a faint but high pitched noise. They looked around, puzzled, for the source of the noise, when a stream of white light burst from the corner of the room.
They shielded their eyes, but it didn't seem to do any good.
Then, hundreds of wraiths poured out of the opening in the dimensional barrier and swirled around the group.
----------------
The noise echoed around the chamber containing the Seal.
The First stood, listening to the high pitched shriek.
"Crap…" it muttered.
----------------
Willow lay gasping on the floor having endured more torture from the Erus Veneficus. The man in question stood up suddenly after a strange noise came to his attention.
Then he smiled.
"An intriguing development…" he whispered.
----------------
The age-old question went; 'If a tree falls in a forest, yet there is no-one around to hear it, does it make a noise?'
A similar thing was occurring in a Sunnydale cemetery. The shriek could have been heard there, if anyone had been there to hear it.
And then the wraiths descended upon it, disappearing into the earth.
Then all was quiet.
And then a hand punched through the ground, clawing its way to freedom.
----------------
The noise awoke the sleeping inhabitants of the school drama hall. Soon everyone had staggered out of their makeshift beds and gave each other puzzled looks as to what the distant shrieking was.
Suddenly, wraith-like creatures appeared among them, from through the walls.
They swirled around the bodies, seemingly looking for something, but passed through leaving everyone unharmed.
Puzzled even further, the inhabitants of the hall huddled in one of the corners to discuss this phenomenon.
All except two.
One of whom was standing keeping watch on the balcony, at least he had been until the wraiths appeared.
Now, one of them swirled around his feet, paralysing him into place.
It span around his body, further up his chest and to his face.
"Oh, bollocks," said Spike.
----------------This being the second part of the monster chapter I've split into two pieces. Please review! Also, please check out the fic's website; www.nisus.cjb.net. Any comments just email me or of course, submit a review!