Sorry about the massive delay but for some reason I'm having huge mental blocks on this fic! Sorry, I'll try to get the next chappie up as soon as possible but who knows when that'll be… PLEASE, PLEASE R+R!
Disclaimer: You know the drill… I'm not Joss
Emptiness WithinChapter 4: The faces I know
It was night.
The sky was an ominous black, dark clouds denying the earth the moon's gentle rays. The stars were nowhere in sight and everything was still and silent.
It was as though the whole world was dead.
The trees were still, their leaves undisturbed by winds.
Darkness danced gleefully along the streets, racing along the roads, leaping onto walls and roofs claiming the world for itself.
It was everywhere.
Unstoppable.
Inevitable.
And in the darkness, evil dwelled.
A young girl walked through the darkness, pale skin blazing through the night as she peered fearfully over her shoulders. Her steps would quicken with panic and slow with fear in an endless cycle of watching and checking.
"What's little girl like you doing out on this cold freezing night?" a taunting voice called out to her.
With a horrified gasp, the girl whirled around, blue eyes widening in shock as a tall dark-haired man stepped out from the shadows.
"You don't want to be by yourself out here," the man grinned slyly at her, "It's a dangerous world."
He took a menacing step forwards.
"Why don't I help you home?"
The girl backed away slowly, her face pale in the streetlights. She almost stumbled over her own feet as the man took another step towards her.
"No… umm… uh… that'll… I mean… I'll be…" the girl trailed off, "Fine."
"But surely you don't want to be attacked do you?" the man sent her a predatory grin, "I can help you."
"No, I'm fine," the girl tried again.
The man leapt forwards and grabbed her arm as the girl began shrieking in pain.
"Get off me!" she screamed slapping at him "PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP!"
The man laughed and wrenched her arm painfully.
"Help! Help!" he called out, his voice booming through the night.
The girl looked around with wide blue eyes hoping against all hope that someone would come to her rescue but silence and stillness prevailed. Slowly she looked up into the man's leering eyes.
"Scream all you want… no one is going to help you."
A small smile flickered across the young girl's face as the man's eyes widened in shock.
"You've got something," the girl whispered to him, "On your face."
In a blinding move, she sprung free from his grasp before punching him in the jaw. The man's head snapped backwards as the girl lashed out with her left foot catching him above the knee. He fell, screaming in pain, as the girl laughed.
"Scream all you want," she taunted, "No one is going to help you."
The man was rolling around on the rough gravel, his hands desperately clutching his knee as the girl looked on dispassionately.
"You sicken me," she drawled, her eyes flashing with fury, "I mean I get why vampires and all that are evil… I mean they're demons! You expect them to be evil but you… you're just a man. A human being and yet you choose to be evil. Why?"
The man looked up at her with pain-glazed eyes as the girl continued to stare down at him, studying him as though he was something she had never seen before.
"How… what are you?" he managed to choke out
"A human being making her choice," the girl said calmly as she walked away.
She suddenly stopped and turned around slowly.
"Get yourself to a hospital," she commanded quietly, "And if I ever find out you're pulling this crap again… you better be dead before I get to you."
She watched as the man slowly crawled to his feet before stumbling away throwing fearful glances at her as she sighed watching him scamper off into the night.
"Why?" she wondered sadly.
Her thoughts were broken by the sound of footsteps approaching her from behind.
"Slayer," a sinister voice hissed, malice coursing through that single word.
Rebecca Swain whirled around and faced the vampire, a small smile curling her lips.
"Finally," she said calmly, "Something I understand."
She whipped out her stake and lung forwards.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAThey came at her in a blur of swings and flying kicks.
Faith ducked under the first swing before lashing out with her left foot catching one of her opponents in the chest. She flew backwards hitting the ground roughly but was still up and fighting, leaping back into the fray with deadly force.
Two punches cracked in Faith's chest before the Slayer ignored the pain radiating out from the wounds choosing instead to grab her attackers' heads and bash them together violently. Both girls fell to the ground, knocked out cold as the brunette Slayer swung around with a left hook catching her third opponent in the chin. She crumpled as Faith whipped around in a spinning kick that struck her last attacker in the chest.
The girl flew backwards hitting the wall with a resounding smack.
"That was pretty good girls," Faith nodded at them with an easy smirk, "Gotta work on the speed a little but all in all you're all five by five."
The four young Slayers moaned in pain as they began to slowly recover from their brief spar with the older Slayer.
"Five by five?" Emma Morris staggered to her feet, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Faith shrugged lazily.
"Fine, great, fantastic, orgasmic," she grinned at their shocked faces, "Take your pick."
"Okay," Sari Evans grimaced, "Firstly, five by five is twenty-five and secondly… ew."
Faith shrugged again as the other two Slayers finally managed to get up.
"That hurt like a son of a bitch," Beth Viana moaned rubbing her head, "Jeez, June man you've got a thick head."
"You've got a thicker skull," June snapped angrily, "I'm still seeing Tweetie-birds."
"Girls," Faith cut through their bickering, "Chill. Both of you have got equally thick skulls."
Beth and June glared at her as Faith smirked back at them.
"All of you did great," Faith added, "You could've taken me down if you worked out a better plan first."
"Does the plan involve an Uzi or a grenade?" Sari muttered.
Faith laughed and told the girls to get cleaned up. The four Slayers dragged themselves up the stairs to the main building as Faith turned around, her dark eyes immediately darting towards the punching bag that dangled from one corner of the ceiling.
With a small smile on her face, the Slayer stalked towards the suspended bag as though it was a vampire, watching its swaying movements slowly.
Her concentration was broken as someone thundered down the stairs, feet slapping against the metal surface.
"Geez, mini-B," Faith drawled glancing at the intruder, "What's got you all worked up?"
Dawn Summers stared into Faith's eyes.
"They've found her."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Are you sure?" Xander looked around the room wildly, his single eye stopping briefly on everyone's face, "Are you absolutely, one hundred per cent, this-is-no-Candid-Camera-gag sure?"
"Yes, Xander," Giles said dryly, taking off his glasses, "When I told you I was sure, I was pretty sure I meant sure."
"How sure?"
Giles gave him his patented disapproving glare before turning to the occupants in the room. Dawn and Willow sat near him, the younger Summer's eyes wide with shock and excitement but Willow was much more calmer, only her sparkling emerald eyes betraying her joy.
Faith and Kennedy was also present, leaning against the wall as they silently observed the Scoobies' expressions.
"What do we do?" Xander demanded asking the question on everyone's mind.
"I don't know," Giles sighed cleaning his glasses slowly, "The situation is rather… complicated."
"Complicated?" Dawn yelped, "We get her home in one piece… how complicated is that?"
"Dawnie," Willow gently placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder, "If Buffy had wanted to come to us, she would've done it a long time ago."
"So what do we do?" Faith asked, speaking up, "I mean…"
The dark-haired Slayer paused.
"Do we want her here?"
"Of course we do!" Dawn and Xander yelled at the same time.
Kennedy snorted.
"It's not like we need her here. We're doing just fine without her," the younger Slayer muttered, "I mean she wasn't there for us so what right has she got to come back?"
Dawn glared at her.
"I distinctly remember Buffy helping us to get the scythe, which oh-so coincidentally helped us win the battle and activate all the Slayers," Dawn snapped, "Otherwise we would've all ended up being Ubervamp-chow."
Kennedy glared at her and opened her mouth to argue but Willow wisely intervened, shooting her ex-girlfriend a warning look.
"Okay guys," Willow warned, "Resolve face coming in. Resolve face says stopping arguing, resolve face says rational thinking coming in."
The infamous resolve face slammed into place, stopping any further arguments as Faith spoke up again.
"So what is B up to these days?"
Giles sighed.
"She's an assassin."
Everyone stared at him.
"WHAT?"
Giles shrugged helplessly.
"That's why my sources tell me, Buffy has become a supernatural assassin of sorts eliminating demons… for a price of course," Giles trailed off, "And very high prices, I suspect."
"She's slaying… for cash?" Faith whistled lowly, "Damn, B must've changed… she's turned smart."
Everyone stared at her.
"You know," Faith shrugged, "Just saying."
"She's getting paid millions?" Willow raised an eyebrow as Giles nodded gravely, "Jeez, Anya was right. She should've start charging a long time ago."
"Yeah, then she wouldn't have done that Doublemeat gig and end up meeting penis-lady," Dawn muttered, shuddering at the thoughts to those dark days when her diet consisted of Doublemeat Medley leftovers.
Everyone stared at her in her shock and surprise.
"What?" Dawn muttered glaring back at them, "That's how Willow described that Lamprey demon…"
Willow nodded.
"Yeah, it really did look like she had a giant long strangely brown pen…"
"I think we got the picture," Giles cut in hurriedly as Xander and the two Slayers present nodded eagerly, "Moving back to Buffy."
"I think we should try to see her face to face first," Xander suggested, "I mean, she's still Buffy isn't she? Maybe I can work some good old Harris charms and…"
"Make her run for the hills?" Faith muttered.
"Hey!"
"We can kidnap Dawn," Xander suggested, "I mean not actually kidnap her. You know pretend Dawn's in danger, Buffy would be sure to come running back."
"I don't know whether to be insulted or complimented," Dawn whispered to Willow who smiled back.
"Buffy always was the big protective sis but no," Willow glanced at Xander, "We shouldn't trick her into coming back, she should want to."
"Okay, it's decided then," Faith said calmly, "We try to find B and meet her face to face."
Giles nodded.
"I think that is our best option," the older man admitted, "But there is one problem…"
"What is it?"
"We don't know where she is."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Where the hell are we going?" Ryan demanded.
Ying-fa shrugged.
"Bahamas sound good?"
"No, Ying I don't think we're going to the Bahamas," Indy added gently.
"Where are we going?" Ying-fa asked, "I mean we can't drive around in this stolen car forever."
Indy was in the drivers seat guiding their stolen van down along the dark streets as Ryan and Ying-fa sat shotgun, the witch uncomfortably perched on the man's lap as Ryan kept shooting her leering looks which Ying-fa ignored. Buffy, Horace and Tori was sitting in the row just behind them with poor Gil forced to squeeze in at the back.
"I don't know, I'm enjoying where I am right now," Ryan smirked as Ying-fa turned around to glare at him.
"You twisted perv," she snapped.
Ryan responded by jiggling his knees causing Ying-fa to bounce up and down as the witch let out a yelp of surprise. From behind him, Tori stretched out and smacked him across the back of the head.
"Ow!"
"Stop it!" Tori growled at him, shooting him a dangerous glare.
'"Jeez, touchy much?" Ryan muttered.
Tori's eyes blazed with rage.
"I'm pregnant," Tori growled, "And I've just been attacked by a vampire and his pack of moronic cronies, plus we've just got kicked out of own house and we're cruising the streets in a stolen car with a demon in the back so when we get pulled over my cops we'll probably end up riddled with bullets so excuse me if I'M A LITTLE HORMONAL!"
Silence filled the car.
"We could get a bigger car," Gil suggested from the back.
Indy snorted.
"What? The Ferrari Titanic?" she muttered, "Unless there's a tank lying around, this is as spacious as it's going to get."
"So where to?" Horace asked, forcing them back onto the matter at hand, "Where are we going?"
"Don't know," Indy glanced up at the rear view mirror, "Anyone got any ideas? Buffy?"
The blonde Slayer was looking at the window, her green eyes glazed over as she sat, lost in thought.
"Buffy!" Indy called.
The Slayer visibly jumped as she was wrenched back to reality.
"What?" she glanced around in confusion as everyone stared at her, "What? What's wrong?"
"We're just wondering where we should be going," Ying-fa explained to her, "What do you think? The Bahamas?"
"Stop it with the Bahamas!" Tori snapped.
"We can always go to one of our other safe houses," Gil suggested.
"Are you sure?" Indy frowned, "I've got this feeling those bastards know all about us… maybe they know about the safe houses as well."
Ying-fa snorted.
"I think they'll be too busy licking their wounds."
"Damn right," Ryan nodded, "Getting impaled by a sword takes some time to heal… even if you're a vamp."
"So agreed then?" Indy called out, "Secondary safe house?"
"Yeah!" everyone called out minus Buffy who was staring out the window again.
"Do she think she's alright?" Ryan asked whispering into Ying-fa's ears so only the witch can hear him.
The Asian woman glanced at the blonde Slayer and sighed softly.
"I don't know," she whispered back, "I don't think any of us knows what she's going through."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Buffy could tell her friends were talking about her but she ignored them, instead focusing on her own tumultuous thoughts.
Seeing Angel again…
It had been a shock to her system… which was as much an understatement as saying that she disliked coming back from the dead all those years ago.
And forcing to fight him again?
Images from the past came into her mind. The silver blur of swords and blades clashing as Acathla stood beside them ready to open its stone jaw and suck up the world into hell flittered through her mind superimposing themselves over the fight just hours before.
Buffy shuddered before slowly realising that the van was slowing down, she looked up just in time to see that Indy was studying her through the rear-view mirror. Seeing her friend's concerned look, she forced a small smile trying to reassure the dark-skinned woman.
"Where are we?" she asked startling Ying-fa and Ryan who turned around to look at her worriedly.
Buffy frowned at them.
"And why is Ying-fa sitting on Ryan's lap?"
"She's giving me a lap dance Hooters-style," Ryan smirked broadly as Ying-fa glared at him.
Tori smacked him again as Ryan flinched.
"Ow! Stop that!" he shrieked as Tori hit him again.
Buffy felt a true smile flitter across her face as she watched her friends' crazy antics. Indy was now threatening to kick them all out of the car if they didn't behave, sounding for all the world like a frustrated soccer mom as Gil started sniggering from his place in the back of the van.
Ryan huffed and fell silent as Ying-fa shot him a final warning glare.
"So where are we?" Buffy asked repeating her question again.
"We're at one of our secondary safe houses," Indy explained, "We should rest up at least for tonight and then tomorrow we'll see what we should do. Okay?"
Everyone nodded in reply knowing full well not to argue with Indy once she got into her leadership mode.
"Great, now get out before we all get cabin fever and Ryan tries to stick Ying-fa," Indy told them undoing her seatbelt.
"He can try but I'll castrate him first," Ying-fa muttered venomously hopping off the man's lap and getting out of the car in one swift movement.
"Sorry Ying but you don't have a chainsaw on you," Ryan shot back cockily as everyone rolled their eyes.
"Oh?" Ying-fa batted her eyelids at him, "I was thinking more along the lines of you know… a nail clipper!"
"Are you trying to make some innuendo about the size of my p…" Ryan began, a fierce look on his face.
Ying-fa snorted.
"Duh, of course I'm making a small… actually very small innuendo about your size," Ying-fa smirked, "Of course being the brain-dead moron you are, you couldn't pick it up."
She shot Ryan a final spiteful look before turning around and facing the dilapidated building straight in front of her. It appeared to be abandoned, broken windows revealing the dark unlit rooms within. The outside façade was falling apart, broken bricks littering the filthy pavement underfoot.
"Reveal," Ying-fa murmured making a clockwise motion with her left hand.
The glamour faded away revealing a sheer wall of unbroken bricks and whole windows.
"Coming?" the witch asked turning to glance at her friends, "It's cold out here."
"Hey, Tori need help? Or are you so knocked up you can't even fit through the door?" Ryan teased trying to lighten the situation.
Shooting him a dirty look, Tori extracted herself from the car and practically shoved past Ying-fa knocking the witch aside. Yanking the door open she briskly walked into the safehouse slamming the door behind her as everyone stared after her.
"Was it something I said?" Ryan wondered aloud.
This time it was Gil, Horace, Buffy and Indy who slapped him across the back of the head as Ying-fa looked on, rolling her eyes in exasperation.
"Ow!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Ow…" Gunn rubbed the back of his head gently, wincing in pain as his fingers brushed up against the bruise there, "Damn that demon was strong."
"They kicked our ass," Lindsey said quietly from his position near the window, "Damn, we didn't stand a chance."
Gunn looked up and saw was Lindsey was looking at. Through the glass he could see the flurried movements of doctors and nurses as they tried to patch the rest of their team together. Illyria was the most injured with multiple gun shot wounds followed by the two vampires, Angel and Harmony but with their super-healing the sword wound through their chest wasn't that worrying. And finally Wesley brought up the rear, having only suffered a few bruises, a cracked rib and a nasty concussion.
"Who were they?" Gunn asked wincing as he shifted slightly trying to make himself comfortable in the hard plastic chair.
The medical ward of Wolfram and Hart was practically a carbon copy of a top-rate hospital right down to the uncomfortable, sterile waiting room.
"Her new friends, I guess," Lindsey said quietly.
The door leading into the waiting room swung open as a blood-splattered doctor walked in.
"We managed to extract the bullets out of Illyria," the man announced as the two lawyers turned around to regard him, "I believe you wanted them for future studies?"
Lindsey nodded as the doctor walked over to him handing him a small plastic packet filled with bloodstained bullets. Lindsey studied the tiny twisted pieces of metal before nodding at the doctor, effectively dismissing him as he tucked the packet into his pocket. The doctor left them as Gunn frowned in confusion.
"Future studies?"
"We want to see how that witch made these bullets able to hit Illyria."
Gunn nodded as Lindsey sighed and turned back to the window, his mind drifting back to the battle and the events preceding it.
He hoped the Slayer's Council had taken his phone call seriously. They needed to know that Buffy Summers had resurfaced again. Having read through her unbelievably thick file, which listed victories after countless victories against the forces of darkness, Lindsey had the feeling they were possibly the only people who were equipped to deal with her.
Sighing gently, he moved to sit down but was stopped as his phone began ringing. Frowning in confusion, he pulled it out of his pocket and put it to his ear.
"Hello?"
'Mr. McDonald?' the smooth, refined voice of a company secretary filtered through the phone.
"Yes?"
'There's a woman here to see you.'
Lindsey frowned in confusion.
"Who?"
'She says her name is Willow Rosenberg.'
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Willow looked around the foyer of Wolfram and Hart as the receptionist began talking into her phone. It had taken quite a bit of energy for her to magically teleport herself all the way from Cleveland to Los Angeles but this was an emergency. The receptionist hung up her phone and pasted a polite smile on her face as she looked up into the witch's face.
"Mr. McDonald will be right with you."
Willow nodded as she felt the spells that protected Wolfram and Hart converge on her, she felt detection and sight spells study every inch of her skin causing her to shudder. With a small frown and a whispered word, she deflected the spells forcing them away from her as she continued to wait.
It didn't take long.
A handsome young man appeared through one of the many doors leading into the main foyer as Willow turned to regard him, reminding herself not to give the man away.
A polite smile graced her lips as she moved forwards feeling the receptionist's eyes drilling into her back.
"Mr. McDonald?" Willow asked quietly.
Lindsey nodded.
"Ms. Rosenberg, who nice to meet you," the man said gently.
They smiled politely at each other, their lie faces on. Thank god, Willow had gotten better at lying over the years otherwise both of them would've been in major trouble by now.
As they continued to make polite conversation, Willow summoned her magic around her forming an invisible barrier around them. The spells protecting the building slid off the magical wards like rainwater off glass, giving them precious privacy.
"Mr. McDonald," Willow began again as she opened up her mind.
An invisible tendril of power freed itself from her mind shooting across the short distance between them and wrapping itself around Lindsey's.
'Lindsey… is it true?' she asked telepathically.
"I believe this is your first time here?" Lindsey asked aloud even as his mind began to answer her.
'Yes… Angel managed to track down Buffy.'
'What happened?'
"Yes, this is quite an impressive building you got here," Willow told him as their continued to silently communicate.
'She has some new friends… and they kicked our ass… bad.'
"Well, we're under new management so the decors changed a bit."
'Is everyone okay?'
'We'll live,' Lindsey told her telepathically.
'Do you know where she is now?'
'No.'
Willow inwardly sighed even as she continued to hold a verbal conversation with him.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure you're wondering why I came," Willow shot him a small grin, "I really need to speak with Angel… I believe his the new management here."
'But I got something that could help you.'
'What is it?'
'One of Buffy's new friends is a powerful witch… really powerful. She mojo-ed some bullets so they could Illyria, I've got them with me… maybe you can work some spells on them track down the witch. It's what we did to find her in the first place.'
Willow gave the slightest of nods.
'Okay. Give them to me.'
"I'm sorry but Angel is unable to see you right now."
The red-haired witch sighed nosily in frustration.
"Oh, that's too bad," she pouted, "When can I talk to him?"
Lindsey shrugged helplessly.
"Sorry, don't know but I'll have someone contact you when he's available."
Willow nodded as Lindsey held out his hand.
"It was nice meeting you," he said politely secretly concealing the packet of bullets in his palm.
As Willow clutched his hand, he passed the bullets to her before stepping away.
"Thank you," Willow said calmly dismantling the communication spell between them and the wards that protected them from Wolfram and Hart's enchantments.
Willow walked away as Lindsey stared after her.
"Good luck," he whispered, "You'll need it."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"This is a stupid idea."
"You think?" Ying-fa muttered, "Why do I let you people drag me into this?"
"You love us?" Ryan asked.
"Get bent."
Indy shuddered.
"This is going to get ugly… I mean really ugly."
"We're going to get soooo scarred," Ying-fa sighed, "Mentally traumatised… for life."
Indy whimpered.
"Can we not do this? I mean really not?"
Ying-fa snorted.
"You could've gotten out of this but noooo… 'it'll be fun!' you said… ha! Where's that fun loving spirit now?"
Buffy sighed in frustration.
"If you guys don't want to do it then don't!"
"Coward," Ryan muttered.
"Pervert," the blonde Slayer shot back.
"Ryan talked us into this…" Indy muttered, "Damn us and our competitive spirit."
"So? Are we ready or not?" Ryan grinned at them, "Cause I'm itching to get started!"
"Fine," Ying-fa groaned, "Deal."
"Alright! And let's begin a rousing game of Strip Poker!"
Indy and Ying-fa glanced at each other.
"We're very, very stupid," Indy groaned.
"Yes, you are," Buffy observed.
"How come you're not playing?" Ying-fa demanded.
Buffy frowned pretending to think.
"Hmm… I wonder… oh wait!" she clicked her fingers, "That's it! Because I'm not a dumb-ass."
Indy sighed.
"Let's get this over and done with," she muttered, "Damn this stupid safehouse having no T.V. and/or musical device."
Ryan sniggered.
"Oh, I'm sure this will keep us entertained," he taunted as he began dealing out the hands.
Buffy watched on as the three players glanced at their cards. Ryan was smirking wildly whilst Ying-fa seemed incredibly annoyed. Indy's face was unreadable as she glanced at her fellow players.
"Hit me."
Horace and Tori had gone to bed hours ago, Gil had disappeared out the door a while back telling them that he was going out to 'snoop'. Buffy wondered idly what the purple demon had actually meant but she pushed it out of her mind as she watched Indy win the first hand of poker.
"Come on, Pervo-boy," she smirked, "Strip."
"Do you want me to take my pants off?" Ryan shot back.
Ying-fa and Indy shuddered.
"Hello no," the witch muttered.
Buffy sniggered as Ryan took off his shoe instead.
This was going to get interesting.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Interesting," Giles looked at the handful of twisted bullets, "These managed to hit and hurt Illyria?"
Willow nodded distractedly as she held up one of the bullets and peered at it, examining the metal from all directions.
"Lindsey was right… there's some powerful magic on these…" she murmured softly.
"Can you track the source down?" Giles asked.
Willow shrugged.
"I haven't really done this kind of stuff… I mean location spells I'm your girl but tracking down pure magic? I'm not so much your girl… more like the not girl… but hey! Powerful witch… so I should be okay… right?"
Giles nodded sagely.
"I think you'll do fine."
Willow nodded and took a deep breath.
"But this is something new to me… I have to kind of merge with the magic… and fiddling around with other people's power… especially someone this powerful? You may see Wicked Witch of the West Willow…"
"Or you may become a Cher-look-alike again," Faith said from her position in the corner of the room, "You can do it, Red."
Kennedy nodded in agreement as Willow shot them a nervous smile.
"Don't worry, me and Giles will ground you," Dawn said perkily.
Giles shot her an annoyed glare as Dawn wilted.
"Giles will keep you grounded and I'll observed and make with the non-grounding," the younger Summers pouted as Xander sat beside her, silent as his dark eyes studied his friend's face.
Willow smiled tightly at Xander before gesturing towards one of the bullets. It instantly flew up into the air until it was at eye-level with the witch.
"Here goes," she sighed reaching out to take the bullet.
The redhead gently wrapped her fingers around the cool metal surface and closed her eyes.
"Reveal!" she whispered, magic rolling through her voice.
As the others watched on, Willow seemed to be struggling with the bullet as purple and blue light swirled around her in an ecstatic kaleidoscope. Strands of red hair began turning pure white as the air hummed with power. Everyone gasped as Willow's eyes suddenly snapped open. Gone were the usual emerald green, her irises were pure darkness, a stark contrast to the angelic aura that tinged her hair.
"REVEAL!" she cried again.
To Dawn it seemed two voices had spoken at once, one guttural and low, the other heavenly and divine. Gold light blazed through the gaps between her clutched fingers as Willow began shaking violently.
"Will!" Xander moved to grab his friend but Giles shoved him back into his seat.
"Don't," he commanded quietly as Willow continued to tremble.
Her black eyes blinking uncontrollably as her hair flashed from red to white with alarming speed. Everyone jumped as Willow's head snapped backwards and her jaws burst open, a blast of crimson light shot out and struck the ceiling burning a massive hole in the plaster.
"Red!" Faith charged at the witch but Willow had other ideas.
She blasted the Slayer back with another blast of crimson magic before raising her fist and throwing the bullet clutched in it forwards in a burst of gold light. Everyone hit the ground as the bullet slammed into the wall, driving itself into the wood.
"Willow?" Dawn yelled frantically as she slowly crawled to her feet, "Willow! Focus! Ground yourself!"
For a few seconds, Willow struggled with herself blinking furiously, trying to clear her system from the magic that roared through them. Finally the black bleed away from her eyes as her white hair turned itself back into its customary red.
'Whoa," she gasped slowly sitting down as her legs turned to jelly, "Oh goddess."
"Okay, what happened?" Kennedy asked helping Faith up off the ground, "What happened?"
Giles shrugged helplessly as he studied Willow carefully.
"Willow?"
"It was hard," she managed to gasp, "The magic… it was powerful… it corrupted me but it worked…"
She looked up at them.
"I know where she is."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"This sucks," Ryan muttered.
"Awww… lil Ryan baby boy doesn't like losing?" Ying-fa smirked.
Ryan growled at her and took off his shirt. Buffy shook her head as she glanced at her three friends. Ryan was now down to his boxers as Ying-fa and Indy sat across from her, Indy minus one shoe whilst Ying-fa was still completely clothed.
"You cheat."
Indy rolled her eyes.
"What are you six? You're losing… get over it!"
Ryan huffed as he dealt out another hand. Indy began to laugh as she saw her hand.
"You may as well take over those boxers now," she smirked, "Three aces baby! So unless you've got a royal flush or something…"
"AHH!" Ryan threw down his cards, "This sucks."
"And I'm going to leave before Ryan starts wearing his birthday suit," Buffy said hurriedly as she began getting up.
"Where are you going?" Indy asked, a worried look on her face.
"Oh… around," Buffy said vaguely, "Stake a couple of vamps… you know same old, same old."
"Do you want company?" Ying-fa asked starting to get up.
"Nah," Buffy shook her head, "Stay, gloat over your victory. Mock Ryan, I'll be fine."
"Sure?"
"Sure."
Buffy made sure she had a few stakes tucked into her jacket pocket as she made her way to the front door.
"Oh, and Ying was cheating," she tossed behind her shoulder as she opened the door.
"WHAT?" Ryan squawked as Ying-fa began laughing loudly.
Buffy smirked to herself as she stepped out into the cool night air, closing the door behind her effectively cutting off Ryan's indignant tirade as his two friends continued to laugh at him.
Smiling to herself, Buffy glanced at the dark streets internally debating with herself which route she should take. Mentally shrugging, she randomly chose one and began following it out into the city.
Darkness soon concealed her slight form as the Slayer went patrolling.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Hey!"
Rebecca turned around and smiled as she saw Beth run up to her.
"Hey, Beth… how was training?"
The young Slayer smiled ruefully as she held up her arm allowing Rebecca to see the ugly bruise forming there.
"Faith stomped me, June, Sari and Em into the ground," Beth explained as Rebecca laughed.
"Sorry, I missed the fun."
The two girls began heading towards their shared dorm room as they continued to chat.
"How was patrolling?"
"Dandy," Rebecca pulled a face, "A wannabe rapist tried to hit on me."
"And?"
"I hit him back.
"Hard?"
"You bet."
"Nice."
"If I was you I would've snapped his neck," a new voice said from behind them.
Both Slayers turned around.
"June," Beth sighed, "Not everyone is as sadistic as you."
June laughed.
"Rapist? No-one would miss him."
"We don't go around killing people," Rebecca reminded her.
June's face hardened.
"Rapists aren't people."
"Person experience, much?" Beth muttered raising an eyebrow.
June shrugged.
"All I'm saying, people like that… they don't deserve to live."
"Oh please so that in front of Faith or Giles," Beth begged, "I wanna see their faces."
The auburn-haired Slayer rolled her eyes.
"As if, both of them have major stick-up-their-ass complexes," June muttered.
Beth and Rebecca exchanged glances. All out of the Junior Slayers, June Mayer was perhaps the most troublesome. A spitfire, trouble-maker and rebel but one hell of a fighter, she had a tendency to be over-violent so it was no surprise that Kennedy had personally taken the younger girl under her wing training her until she could match some of the older Slayers in one-on-one battles.
"Whatever," Beth muttered rolling her eyes.
Two more girls joined them.
"Beth, Rebecca," one of them nodded briskly at both Slayers before turning to June, "Hey June!"
The two Slayers rolled their eyes as they studied Lucy and Maria, June's best friends or cronies depending on who you were talking to.
"I watched your sparring section!" Lucy cried, babbling enthusiastically, "That one-two combo punch you pulled was soooo cool! You are so good, June!"
"Gag me," Rebecca muttered as Maria remained silent.
The dark-haired Slayer, compared to her two friends was much more sedate and calmer. Speaking only when spoken to but mostly she just sat out of conversations studying everyone with her dark-brown eyes.
"Hey!" a sixth voice broke into Lucy's tirade as everyone turned to look at the source of the voice.
Sari Evans grinned as everyone looked at her questioningly, Lucy with an annoyed look on her face.
"Slayer meeting."
"About what?" Beth asked, confused, "Is the world ending… again?"
Sari shrugged.
"Seems important so let's make with the meeting before Faith stomps our ass into the ground."
"Okay," Rebecca shrugged and began heading off towards the main meeting room of Slayers HQ as the other Slayers fell in behind her.
Lucy continued to prattle on loudly to June as the others suffered in silence, forced to listen to her pointless and never-ending diatribe. Beth however was still frowning.
"What's wrong?" Rebecca asked, a concerned look on her face.
Beth shrugged.
"Don't know… puzzled I guess… I wonder what's going on?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"What's going on?" Rona asked with a frown, looking straight at her fellow Slayer.
Kennedy shrugged.
"Chill, Rona. You'll find out soon," the Slayer said grimly.
Rona shrugged as she took a seat beside Vi, who had a confused look on her face.
"Is the world ending?"
Kennedy laughed.
"I wish," she muttered rolling her eyes, "Let's just say we've got a blast from the past."
Before Vi or Rona could ask another question, the door to the meeting room popped out and a stream of Junior Slayers flooded into the room.
"Whoa," Sari murmured seeing who was already in there, "This is big."
"Wha?" Rebecca asked confused.
"Look Vi, Rona and Kennedy. Three SDVs? This is big."
"SDVs?" Beth was confused.
"Sunnydale Veterans."
"Veterans?" June muttered, "What? They went to 'Nam?"
Sari glared at the redhead before taking her seta as Rebecca and Beth sat next to her. Emma Morris and Nora Kebec soon joined them as Giles walked into the room flanked by Dawn, Willow and Xander with Andrew Wells trailing behind them.
"Hey, Dawn!" Sari called waving to her friend.
Dawn smiled back at them before turning serious again as Faith entered the room behind Andrew.
"Okay! Girls!" she called, her voice slicing through the din like a razor blade, "Quiet!"
A hush fell over the room as Giles took centre stage.
"We've just received some news…" he began.
Everyone hid smiles as he took off his glasses and began cleaning them slowly, trying to group his thoughts together.
"We've just received some news… about Buffy."
Vi and Rona's eyes widened in shock as the Junior Slayers stared at each other.
"Buffy?" Emma whispered to Rebecca, "Who?"
"Slayer before Faith… she was a God in slaying," Rebecca murmured back, "But a couple of years ago… she disappeared… I don't know why… the story gets kinda vague bu…"
Faith shot them a warning glare as the two Slayers gulped and hurriedly fell silent.
"We know where she is right now and we've decided," Giles sighed, "We've decided to try and talk to her."
"Why?" Rona demanded suddenly, "Why should we? It's not like we owe her anything."
Silently Faith held up something in her hands. Every Junior Slayer gasped as they realises what the crimson object resting in the older Slayer's hands was.
"The scythe," June whispered reverently staring at the perfectly crafted weapon, "Oh god… it's beautiful."
Rona fell silent as Faith held up the scythe for all to see.
"Buffy gave us this… and because of her we won the war against the First," Faith sighed, "And I just want you to know that I'm not trying to defend her. Just stating facts. I think we should try to contact her, B's a hell of a fighter. She's someone you definitely want on your side and if we could get her to come back it'll boost our ranks."
And with that she lowered the scythe and fell silent as Willow took the stage trying not to appear nervous as she felt everyone's eyes drill into hers.
"I know where she is… I also know why we couldn't find her for years. She has a protection spell on her that deflects locating charms but thanks to a recent spell I did it's no longer effective against me," Willow took a deep breath, "We're going to try and contact Buffy tonight. But it's not that simple, she has some new friends… dangerous ones. Angel in L.A. tried to go after her and he and his team got chewed on and spat out… so we need volunteers… you girls… we need your help."
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Sari asked sticking up her hands.
"Easy, Sari," Kennedy growled, "If anyone gets in our way we thrash them."
"Oh."
"So any volunteers?" Faith asked speaking up.
Every single Slayer stuck up their hands as Faith and Kennedy glanced at each other.
"Vi, Rona," Faith called, "You're in. June, Rebecca, Emma, Beth, Sari, Nora… you're all in."
"Oh yeah!" Beth and Sari high-fived each other as the other Slayers slumped into their seats glumly.
"What!" Lucy wailed, "No fair!"
Even Emma; quiet, sweet, gentle Emma had to roll her eyes at Lucy's melodramatics.
"Arm up girls," Kennedy commanded, "We're going in."
"Where are we going? And how?" June demanded.
Willow shot her a small smile.
"Welcome to Willow Witchy Greyhounds, please keep limbs within vehicle at all times."
"Ahh… Willow from witch to mass transport," Xander mused, "Of course not in a sexual, skanky sort of way."
Everyone laughed as Giles sighed took off his glasses and began cleaning them again slowly.
This was going to be a long night.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Buffy whistled a jaunty tune as she strolled through the dark and dirty streets, her senses on high alert.
"Vampires…" she called out in a singsong voice, "Come out, come out wherever you are."
No answer.
"Ummm… I've got a bag of blood candy I'm willing to share?" she tried.
Still no answer.
"Fine," Buffy huffed, "Have it your way."
She rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt as she studied the scene in front of her. A group of demons stood over something lying on the ground as their bright red eyes glared through the darkness, their fang-lined maws wide open as a strange screeching noise erupted from their throats.
"I wish for vampires and I get demons…" Buffy sighed, "Is there a vengeance demon around?"
She ran up to the pack of demons.
"Hey! Uglies!"
They whirled around revealing long dangerous talons as Buffy paused.
"Fanged, clawed and dangerous uglies?" she tried again weakly.
She glanced at the dark object they were standing over and her eyes hardened as she recognised the similar sight of blood pooling on the cold, hard pavement.
"Bastards," she muttered.
She leapt right at them, ripping a stake free from her jacket as she lashed out at the first demon.
Wood slammed into teeth breaking them on impact as Buffy swung again. The demons roared and charged at her as Buffy went into full slaying mode, a cocktail of adrenaline, instincts and experience driving her every move as she punched, kicked and fought moving too fast for conscious thought to keep up.
She slammed the stake into one of the demon's eyes as it fell away screaming in pain. Without a pause she whirled around, foot shooting out as it struck one of the demon's knees. An audible crunch filled the air as cartilage popped. The black demon collapsed screeching in pain as it roared around on the filthy concrete.
One demon slashed out at her as Buffy ducked before embedding her stake into the demon's gut. It stumbled backwards thrashing around wildly in its death throes as Buffy pulled up another stake and picked her next opponent.
Two demons double-teamed her body slamming the Slayer away as pinpoints of red blazed through the darkness multiplying with each second.
Reinforcements were coming.
Buffy growled in frustration as she backhanded one demon before throwing herself into a horizontal twirl double-kicking another demon in the face. Bodies began piling up around her as cuts began gathering on her arms and chest. Fending away another taloned swipe with her stake, she kicked the demon in the cut before uppercutting it in the face.
It flipped over backwards as Buffy back-kicked it in the throat, using the heel of her shoes to crush its windpipe. It died nosily as more demons appeared to take its place.
The blonde Slayer looked around desperately, hoping to see an avenue of escape or a more effective weapon but her luck ran out as demons raced through the darkness to block her back. Cursing inwardly, she fought on crushing demons with punishing blows as the ring of monsters tightened around her.
"Damn," she leapt onto one of the fallen bodies and used it as a springboard to flip over several demons.
Kicking one in the back, she sent if flying towards her companions knocking several of them over. In the chaos, Buffy made her break.
She raced into an alley easily scaling a rickety fence that tried to feebly block out intruders. She raced on through the darkness as she heard the demons give chase.
Rounding a corner, she cursed loudly as she realised it was dead end. She whirled around to run back but the demons were already there.
They charged at her as Buffy back-flipped onto a nearby dumpster. With the extra height, she was able to fend them off with less difficulty than before.
With deadly speed and accuracy, her legs lashed out catching each demon in the face or throat as they tried to reach her.
Two demons leapt at her as Buffy fought to keep them at bay, with a victorious roar they slammed into her, tackling her against the wall.
Buffy could feel the unstable masonry give way as their combined weight slammed down onto it.
"Oh man," she whispered as the wall collapsed inwards.
Bricks and debris rained down on them as they sailed through the wall and into darkness.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sari felt the world stopped spinning as she fought the urge to throw up.
"Whoa… who needs Disneyland when you got that ride?" Beth muttered as she stumbled around unsteadily.
"Where is she?" Faith asked getting straight down to business.
Willow concentrated as Dawn and Xander watched on worriedly. Suddenly her eyes snapped open.
"There!" she yelled pointing at some dark alleyway.
The Slayers and the Scoobies ran off in the indicated direction as Faith hefted up the scythe ready for anything.
However she was not expecting a veritable army of demons to be blocking their way.
"Shit," she growled as they charged at them, "Partner up! Like we practiced! I want everyone to partner up! Red! Try to thin the crowd!"
Willow nodded as she held out her hands and concentrated, whispering a spell beneath her breath.
A tongue of green flames lashed out and incinerated several of the charging demons as the Slayers prepared themselves. The spell died down as the horde of demons still remaining pushed through the lingering flames with savage roars.
Dawn raised her crossbow and fired it expertly, the bolt slamming into a demon's throat taking it down as the Slayers leapt into the battle.
Emma and Rebecca fought side by side as both of them wielded their swords expertly slicing demons left, right and centre. To their right Vi and Rona fought, Vi armed with the dagger that had served her well in the final battle of Sunnydale as Rona unleashed her fury with the help of a battleaxe.
June and Kennedy were together, both Slayers favouring hand to hand combat punctuated with the odd stake thrust.
Beth, Sari and Nora held their own as they fought with Dawn and Xander, the two non-Slayers firing off arrows with their crossbows as the Slayers went into close combat with stakes and swords.
"Red!" Faith yelled as she whipped the scythe around decapitating a demon neatly, "Something tells me B is somewhere in this crowd!"
Willow nodded knowing what the dark-haired Slayer was getting at. She unleashed another blast of magic as an invisible force shoved the demons aside. Faith took the opportunity to dash for it as the demons closed in again, she ran as she fought, the scythe a constant blur of silver and red as she sliced through limbs and chests alike.
Leaping over the last few demons, Faith's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the gaping hole punched into one of the walls.
"Like bloody Alice in Wonderland," Faith muttered as she took off at a dead sprint.
She leapt from the opening and landed into a fray.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Buffy was down but she was far from out. Fending off the demons, she lashed out with all four limbs throwing them off her. They literally exploded away from her as she flipped back onto her feet.
Her stake flew from her hands striking one demon in the throat as she nailed another demon with a vicious haymaker. A quick side step avoided a wild clawed swipe as she punched the demon in the face.
It flipped backwards as Buffy whirled around to face her next opponent. It charged at her screaming and roaring in rage as Buffy prepared to meet it face on.
Suddenly the demon froze, red eyes widening in shock and glazed over in pain as it clutched at its chest. Buffy's eyes trailed down the demon's body until she realised there was a wooden stake sticking out from the leathery skin, her eyes widened in shock as the stake retracted itself allowing to lifeless body to fall onto the ground with a gentle thump.
She looked up at the demon's killer.
"Hello B," Faith drawled casually staking another demon with the wooden end of the scythe.
Buffy cocked her head to one side, hostility burning in her eyes.
"Hello Faith."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
CLIFFHANGER!
A/Notes:
This is my first BTVS fic so it's pretty hard for me to write each character so that they stay true to the show… how did I go? Please, please tell me if you have any troubles with my characterizations I'll try and improve it.
How did you like the Junior Slayers? Please tell me if they actually work! And thank you to everyone who review and said they love my own characters! That means so much to me! Thank you!