Thanks for all the reviews…you guys rock!
Blondi gurl: I haven't decided yet, but if he was, it would be with Hermione.
Sammy: You don't have long to wait…
Dreamer Child: Hehe, so I guess you don't like Malfoy and Hermione? I'm not quite sure what's going to happen with those two yet, I don't know if they will become a couple or not…you'll just have to wait and see.
Enjoy the chapter…lots of action in it and some of you may be happy about some of the things that happens.
Chapter 22. Another apocalypse?
The lessons for Willow seemed to help her a lot; she seemed to be making a lot of progress with Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall's sister was a squib so she had learnt Wicca magic, with McGonagall's help. Wicca magic was different from wand magic; wand magic required magic within, whereas Wicca magic required magic from the earth and therefore needed a lot more control. It was control Willow did not have, and with McGonagall's help, it was apparent that she was making progress. It also helped that Willow had a goal to reach, if Willow could gain control of her magic, Tara would come back to her, and Willow needed Tara more than anything.
Three days after Faith's talk with Ron, the Chosen Two went patrolling together. Charlie left for Romania and promised to be back in a week, and Willow was looking good. The two patrolled around Hogsmeade and in the Forest, and found things…busy. Something was happening and more demons and vampires were found than usual. The two did not turn in until dawn and they did not wake till dusk.
Buffy was dreaming. She twisted and turned in her bed, the covers trapping her feet as they closed in around her. She murmured, her forehead covered in sweat.
***
It was dark. The moon shone high in the sky, creating a glow on the clearing. Trees surrounded the clearing, making Buffy feel like she was trapped. A symbol painted in red was in the middle of the clearing and demons and vampires surrounded it, praying. Three hooded figures stood at the front. One of them poured a dark thick liquid that looked like blood on the symbol and it glowed and the ground shook.
A hooded figure turned to Buffy, and lowered it hood, brown hair spilling out around his face.
"Hey sugar." The man said, before shoving his fingers into Buffy's heart.
The setting changed, and Buffy was still in the clearing, but the man was gone. The ground was opening beneath her and she noticed for the first time that people around her were fighting. She watched in slow motion as a dark clothed figure was bitten by a vampire, and the face appeared in front of her.
"Can you save me?" Snape said and Buffy felt pain burn through her as she saw a skull with serpent protruding from its mouth rise high in the sky.
"She comes…not yet…but she will." Buffy heard a deep voice ring through her ears as she saw people around her die at the hands of demons and vampires.
"Who comes?" Buffy asked desperately and the scene changed and Buffy found she was looking at someone with green eyes, exactly like Buffy's ones.
"Not yet…not till the battle." The deep voice said again as the girl's eyes bore into Buffy's. And just as Buffy was going to ask who, the voice said something again, something Buffy knew was very important, but would forget as soon as she would wake up. "The girl…the key."
***
Buffy awoke with a start, her blonde hair plastered to her face. She gasped as she recalled the dream, and she screwed her eyes as she tried to remember the last bit. Something about…someone…it was important, Buffy knew it was, but the last words that the person had uttered were gone from Buffy's memory.
But the dream, the part were the figures were crouched around the fire and the fight was important now, Buffy knew. Buffy hurried pulled on some jeans as she was only wearing an oversized shirt and ran out of her room, only to bump into Faith, who seemed as breathless as she was.
"B? You saw it didn't you?" Faith asked and Buffy nodded. "What d'ya think?"
Willow, who was seated on the couch next to Sirius, looked up from a book she was reading. "Buffy? Faith?"
The two slayers looked at Willow and Buffy cracked a tired smile. "Slayer dream." Buffy said, casting a glance at the worried looking Harry who was seated next to Sirius and Hermione and opposite Ron.
Willow bit her lip, before thrusting an envelope into Buffy's hands. "Came just now." Buffy opened the envelope and scanned the letter, before sighing and running a hand through her blonde hair.
"Cordy had a vision." Buffy said.
"What?" Willow asked.
"Apocalypse, in two days. Friday thirteenth." Buffy replied.
"She got that from a vision? Damn, PTB moving up these days." Faith said and Buffy glared at her.
"No, apparently, word in the street is that there is going to be an apocalypse on Friday." Buffy said. "And someone's gonna die."
"Well, incase they don't know, we ain't in Sunnydale anymore. Hell, we ain't even in the CA, B." Faith replied.
"Doesn't matter. Did you guys know there's a Hellmouth in Edinburgh?"
Faith groaned and Willow slapped her forehead. "You're shitting me B!" Faith complained and Buffy grinned sadly.
"Wish I were Fai, but it's all right here. Giles says that the end of the world is at midnight on Friday, and the group of demons and vamps responsible is called the Baslets."
"Baslets?" Willow asked, her brows furrowed. "How come we haven't heard of them before?"
Buffy shrugged, and folded the letter and placed it on the table. "That's what we gotta find out. Guys, time for research mode."
***
After reassuring Buffy's nephew and his friend's worries that the world will not end, they all settled down to research. Buffy informed Dumbledore on the situation, and he said Buffy had the Order's help. Help was fine, but what they needed to find out was about the demons, strengths, weaknesses and how to stop the group from ending the world. Being Wednesday evening, they had a limited amount of time and Buffy was starting to get worried. Until Hermione found something on Thursday evening.
"Baslets. A group of vampires and demons who worship four powerful demons that belong to one of the hell dimensions. When one of the top demons die, one the next Friday the thirteenth, were forces are more wicked than usual, the remaining top demons open the Hellmouth in Edinburgh as a sacrifice ritual. Another demon is then brought forth to take the place of the dead one." Hermione read from one of the books and Buffy scrunched up her nose.
"Sacrifice? Who are they sacrificing?"
Hermione scanned the page and smiled triumphantly as she found what she was looking for. Then her smile dropped and she read the passage out loud.
"Three sacrifices, a willing demon or vampire, a human and a magical being, preferably a slayer, but it could also be a witch or wizard. So basically someone with magic in them." Hermione summarised.
"How do we stop them?" Willow asked, and Ron leaned over to look at the book.
"The ritual must start as the day ends and another begins. So midnight. If we just prevent them from starting on time, they'll have to wait to the next Friday the thirteenth. Which is in about six months time." Ron said, his body too close to Hermione's for comfort.
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "We? Who said you guys were coming?"
Harry gave her a look. "We're helping you research. I think that qualifies."
"No." Sirius said, not looking up from the book he was reading. "It's dangerous."
"That's so unfair!" Ron said angrily, before grinning sheepishly at Sirius who had just shot him a reprimanding look.
"Look, we appreciate the help and everything, but you guys can't come. Sirius is right, it's dangerous." Buffy said apologetically.
"You were doing it when you were my age." Harry pointed out.
"Yes, but Buffy was the slayer." Lupin retorted and Harry sat back in his seat, sulking.
Faith looked at Harry's sulking posture and sighed. "What could it hurt B?"
"No!" Shouted three voices at once, belonging to Buffy, Sirius and Lupin. Faith grinned apologetically at Harry.
"Sorry kid. I tried." She said, before resuming her reading on a book.
Buffy rested her gaze on Harry's body for a moment before resuming to her researching; Sirius sat close next to her, a pile of book in front of them. Buffy's blonde hair was hastily tied up into a bun on the top of her head, strands of hair hung down from her face. Great, Buffy thought. Harry still hates me. She glanced up and saw him staring at her. She smiled and he returned it, but it seemed more forced. Oh yeah, he hates me. What is his trauma? One day I'm just gonna put him in a room and force it out of him.
Buffy sighed and returned her gaze to the book, when Sirius nudged her and pointed to a paragraph in his book. Buffy leant closer to him so she could see what he was pointing out.
"The top demons of the Baslets look like that," He pointed to a small picture of a demon with a blue face, red horns, sewn lips and black eyes. Buffy shivered involuntarily as she felt Sirius' hot breath on her bare neck, and Sirius looked at her curiously. "You alright, Buffy?" He asked, his low voice sending more shivers down Buffy's spine and goose bumps on her arms. Buffy nodded dumbly and he smiled, then put an arm around her and pulled her closer. His gaze returned to the text, but Buffy's were still on his face. "These demons…called Habet demons… can only be killed by decapitation. And they can't speak, for they have no mouth, but communicate through telepathy." Buffy scrunched her nose again as she remembered the time when she had gained a demon's power to hear thoughts. That was not a good day.
Faith groaned loudly from across the room and stood up, stretching with a yawn. She shook her legs and arms and winked at Buffy. "Wanna go out, B?" She asked, and Buffy nodded.
"Sure." She replied, removing herself from Sirius' grasp quickly and standing up also. "Guys, keep researching, see what we can dig up about this group. Dumble-d said he'll have the Order working on it too, so look out for them." Buffy instructed, and she left the room, not before smiling shyly at a grinning Lupin, who had seen Sirius' and Buffy's position.
.
***
Buffy and Faith made their way quickly to Hogsmeade, stakes in their back pockets and knives in their boots. They were to do a quick sweep of Hogsmeade and then they could head back to Hogwarts. Hogsmeade was usually quiet, most vampires and demons knew that this was a wizard town, so the occupants would obviously know how to defend themselves. But there were some, some vampires who were either too dumb to realize they had no hope in this town, or vampires who thought they were powerful enough to take on the town. So mainly stupid vampires. Faith and Buffy combed the backstreets of Hogsmeade, the main streets were bustling with people, and the vampires would not attack them in a crowded place, especially if they had wands.
It seemed unnaturally quiet to the two slayers as they walked the alleys, only spotting one vampire on the way. Faith dusted the vampire, and they headed to one of the cemeteries, of which there were two in this town. One was a small, almost private cemetery, situated faraway from the town, and the other was a large one. The large one was where they were headed.
"You worried?" Faith asked, breaking the silence as they walked.
"About the apocalypse? A little. Hopefully we'll stop it. It seems weird y'know?" Buffy answered.
"Without the gang and all?" Faith replied, and Buffy nodded. "Yeah. I kinda miss 'em."
Buffy grinned. "Just don't tell Xand?"
"You know it." Faith said, smiling.
The two girls walked in silence, their stakes clutched in their hands, their eyes searching the shadow as they looked for vampires or demons. The two girls passed under a group of trees, the sky hidden from the leaves, creating darkness. They turned a corner, and froze.
"Look who we have here." A vampire snarled, and several vampires behind him grinned. There was about fifteen of them, fourteen vampires and one demon who had a blue face and looked like the demon Sirius had pointed out to Buffy earlier. They were all wearing the same thing, black tunics and a white symbol painted on the front, of a bowl and a star.
"You guys are the Baslets?" Faith asked, and the leader of the group, a tall, broad shouldered one nodded.
"Slayers." He said with a nasty grin. There was a murmur in the crowd. "Take one. Leave the other."
And the fight began.
Buffy and Faith were rushed at by all vampires at the same time, the demon stood to one side, watching the action.
"B, watch out!" Faith yelled as a vampire rushed at Buffy from behind. Buffy delivered a roundhouse to the vampire and deftly staked it, then jabbed with her elbow into another vampires gut. Vampires surrounded her, and she could hear Faith fighting but she could not see her. A vampire punched Buffy, sending her smacking into a gravestone, the force of it crumbling the stone. The vampire strode up to Buffy, and curled his cold fingers around her neck, pulling her up off the ground. Vampires around him grinned and jeered, and Buffy could see Faith fighting five vampires a couple of meters away from her. Buffy twisted and squirmed, her hands were at the vampires hands, trying to loosen its grip. She was getting dizzy, her feet were off the ground and she was running out of air. She saw white spots at her eyes, and her movements became weaker, her arms stopped flailing and her eyelids threatened to close. And then she fell, her feet crumbling under her as the vampire exploded to dust, Faith behind it.
"B!" Faith yelled, moving towards her, but three vampires held her back, and Faith yelled again. Buffy groaned, and stood up weakly.
"That's going to hurt in the morning." She said, rubbing her neck. The vampires looked on in shock as she snap-kicked a vampire near her, and swung at another one with a large piece of stone in her hand. Faith grinned, and head butted the vampire behind her and then flipped him onto the floor, bringing her heel down on his heart, the vampire exploding to dust.
"Xand fitted it for me." Faith explained with a grin, and she backhanded one vampire as Buffy staked another. There was now seven vampires left, plus the other demon who watched. Buffy and Faith were more confident now, and they worked together, their backs facing each other as they fought.
It happened quickly. The leader of the vampires brought out a large dagger and plunged it into Faiths leg, making her scream in pain. He then kicked her and she flew across the air, landing at the foot of the tree with a smack. She lay unconscious.
"Faith!" Buffy yelled, momentarily distracted. That was a mistake. The remaining vampires took the opportunity to tie rope around her hands. Buffy screamed as the leader of the vampires ran his dagger across Buffy's midriff, red blood staining the pale blue top. Another vampire gagged her, and she tried to get free, but she found she couldn't. Another vampire tied her feet together, and Buffy was left helpless. She looked terrified over Faith's body, her eyes shining with unshed tears. The demon came forth with a large black bag, and she tried to scream, but the gag stopped her. She struggled, but the bag came down over her head as Faith's eyes slowly opened. Before Faith could do anything, the vampires had put Buffy in the bag, and ran off, the bag in tow. And Faith had no strength to stop them.
Oo…cliffie…not as big as the one Sam-453 gave us…geez! Update soon Sam-453, I think everybody wants you to!
Please review!
