Lightning struck not three inches from where Zatanna stood as she closed the door of her car.

"Are we sure we wanna get into this?" Lana yelled out above the sounds of the storm, her hair being whipped around by the wind.

"Too late to back away now!" Zatanna yelled out, pulling out her hair sticks from her loose bun. Her dark, loose waves tumbled free and whipped around crazily in the wind as she held one stick in each other and used a spell to turn them into swords. She threw one to Lana and one to Bart, who asked,

"Why not use a spell to kill all the demons!"

"Because I don't have that kind of power yet!" Zatanna called back, heading towards the demons. Lana and Bart followed suit, flanking the raven-haired Homo magi as they made their way towards the demons surrounding Dr. Fate.

One of the demons, a particularly nasty yet generic looking thing with some fur and horns made for Zatanna, who screamed out, "Nomed pots! Nrub!" The demon went out in flaming gory as Zatanna swiftly moved past it, lashing out at a second demon that looked like it may be from the same clan as the first.

Lana raised her sword in defense as a yellow skinned demon – replete with a magenta freckled face and mouths where its eyes should have been – brought its claws down on her. She blocked the demon's move and brought her knee up, catching him in the stomach. As the demon went down, Bart jumped in and hacked its head off, sending the demon bursting in a spray of putrid white blood.

"Why are they here!" Lana cried out, asking either Bart or Zatanna.

"I don't know!" Zatanna called back, as thunder rolled through the skies. "If we can get over to Dr. Fate maybe he can help us!" She savagely slammed her open palm into a random demon's face, sending him back a step or two, giving her enough room to try to land a flying kick. The demon caught her, though, and threw her down on the body of a demon she had just taken out moments ago. Zatanna cursed as she fell, not having enough time to actually use any spell to break her fall.

As Zatanna fell, Bart rushed up behind the demon and hacked its head off, sending the head flying in one direction as the body narrowly missed Zatanna, who was scrambling to get up. "There're so many of them!" she exclaimed as she dusted off her pants. She turned to Bart then and asked him, "Bart, if you run through the demons fast enough, what do you think will happen?"

"Not sure," he replied, giving a demon behind him the elbow. "They might go all splatters-ville, or maybe I'll end up hurting myself. I've never tried anything like that before."

Zatanna nodded, "Alright, we won't try that quite yet then."

"Augh! Guys, a little help here!" Lana cried out as a demon pinned itself onto her, sending Lana down on the cracked earth and mud. She struggled for a few moments, kicking and trying to lash out, but the demon was too strong for her.

"Nomed teg ffo fo reh!" Zatanna yelled out, causing the demon to go flying back in the air. He'd be back soon, she knew, as she moved to take out another one.

"I don't think we're doing much good here!" Bart said, backing up Lana. Zatanna seemed as though she were doing okay on her own, and so Bart chose to stay with Lana, who actually seemed to love playing the damsel in distress. Even if she didn't love it, Bart had to admit that the girl had an unprecedented knack for the role. What was it that Clark saw in her, besides her beauty?

"You're right, we aren't!" Zatanna called back, after commanding a demon to turn to stone. "We need to move closer to Fate!"

"How the hell do we do that!" Lana cried out, hacking off a demon's arm. Blood squirted out of the demon's arm, splattering another demon. The demon in question started to burn immediately.

"Like this!" Bart yelled out throwing his sword out wide. He grabbed both Zatanna and Lana and ran through the chaos, dodging demons as he took the girls to the center of the demonic maelstrom. He stopped then, and let go of the girls just in time to grab his sword. "Now we fight our way out," he said, hacking away at a demon.

Zatanna took only a moment to take note of how adept Bart was in the middle of a battle with a group of demons before taking out a demon on her own. Was it possible that Bart had seen things on his petty crime spree across the world? Had he met other demonic beings before? If that were the case, and if he still knew where to find them, she might be able to use his help in trying to find Zatara.

But first to the matters at hand.

Zatanna took note of a particularly muddy area and, concentrating on it, yelled out, "cidicA dnaskciuq!" As her spell took place, she saw three golden ankhs zoom past her head and hit the chests of three different demons, each one dying instantly.

Zatanna looked up to see Dr. Fate descending down upon them, lightning flashing just above his head as he did so.

"Zatanna," he said in way of greeting, landing down right next to her.

"Dr. Fate," Zatanna replied right before using a spell to decapitate a demon.

The two magick-users worked as a team, Fate's spells proving far more effective than Zatanna's.

Zatanna whipped around when she heard a shrill scream come from Lana. She was going down, fast. Zatanna used a spell to knock the demon attacking Lana away before turning back to Dr. Fate. "Nothing we're doing is working, Dr. Fate," Zatanna said, her voice showing how heavily she was worried. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I upset someone," Dr. Fate replied simply. "The demons won't go until blood has spilt and someone dies." He threw a force-field around himself and Zatanna. "And it won't be yours or your friends. Go inside to Inza, and let me handle this. We'll discuss your reasons for being here later."

Zatanna looked at Dr. Fate with fire in her eyes. "I don't think so. My friends and I, we can help you with this," she said. "It evens the odds a bit more."

"Your father-"

"-would only put up the act of trying to stop me," Zatanna replied defiantly.

Dr. Fate let the force-field down. "If you insist."

"I do," Zatanna replied, flashing Dr. Fate a confident smile before leaping back into the fray.

Sunlight filtered gently in through the window and onto Alicia's face. The young woman had been asleep, and a soft, sweet smile was spread across her face. Her eyes fluttered open at the sunlight and she squinted her eyes as she checked the clock on the nightstand next to her. Eight-eleven am. Alicia sat up, drawing her blankets around her as she turned to face Clark, who wasn't beside her.

"Clark?" she asked softly.

"Mmfph," came a voice from slightly above her.

Alicia cocked her head up, looking directly above the spot where Clark should have been sleeping. The Kryptonian floated in mid-air, his head resting on his folded arms, as he slept peacefully, a happy grin across his face.

"So, I made you that happy, did I?" Alicia asked coyly, her eyes searching Clark's handsome face. He seemed to be lost in his own dream world, and though Alicia hated to wake him up, she knew that getting to Salem was incredibly important to him. "Hey, Clark?" she asked, reaching up and placing a gentle hand on his strong, broad bare shoulder. "Clark…its morning." When the teenager gave no reply, Alicia nudged him a little roughly and, in a firmer voice, stated, "Clark."

"Hey, hmm…what?"

"Wakey wakey, loverboy. It's morning."

As Clark groggily regained consciousness, he dropped from mid-air and landed on the bed rather hard. Alicia moved out of the way, grabbing her blankets along with her.

"Had a nice night?" Alicia asked flirtatiously as Clark sat up on the bed. Alicia awkwardly got up from the floor, still holding the bed sheets and blanket close to her.

Clark grinned at her. "What do you think?"

"You tell me, Mr. Man," Alicia said as she got back on the bed. She kissed him chastely on the lips and pulled away, staring into his eyes for a long moment.

The night before…well…what could she say about it? To say that it had been perfect would be cliché; to say that it had been beautiful would be expected. Sure, the night had contained its own moments of teenage awkwardness, but overall…Alicia's smile grew in spite of herself. She was happy. Happier than she had been in a long time, happier than she might ever be again. "There's a lot I'd like you to say…but we don't have time for it, lover. We have to be in Salem, remember?"

"We?"

"You really think you're going without me?"

"I don't want to put you in any danger," Clark replied. "So…I thought it'd be best if you stayed here."

"Danger? Clark, whatever it is that you're going to Salem for, I highly doubt it's dangerous. Besides, my powers can get us there faster than yours."

"Have you even seen the place that we're going to?"

Alicia shook her head. "No, not really. But I've been to Salem, and once we teleport there, it won't be hard to find the address we're looking for. Come on, Clark…please?" she asked, giving him a somewhat pouty look.

"You just want the bracelet off," Clark joked.

"Henh. I am a good girl now."

"Yes, so I've experienced," Clark replied, alluding to their night together.

Alicia whacked Clark with a pillow as she said, "You know what I meant."

"Yeah. Alright, let's get dressed," Clark replied, getting up and grabbing a towel.

"Why are you going to Salem anyway?" Alicia asked, realizing that she didn't quite understand what it was that was going with Clark and Salem.

"I'll explain in the shower," Clark said, winking at Alicia as he walked into the bathroom.

Alicia grinned vivaciously as she dropped her blankets and followed Clark.

The fight against the demons was getting worse, and the tiny team of four was losing miserably.

Or, at least, they felt as though they were.

The young woman looked over to where Dr. Fate and Lana were locked in battle, only to see them faring just a little better than herself and Bart were. Dr. Fate was definitely powerful, but if what he said was true, what they were trapped in might just mean a battle to the death. For all of them or just one of them, Zatanna was unsure.

She just wished there was something that she – or any of them really – could do to stop this madness.

Bart and Zatanna had stopped their playful quipping sometime ago and had retreated to a darker place inside them, a place where they could unleash the primal warrior that Zatanna believed to be in most humans and magick-users.

"Dammit, this is getting us nowhere!" Bart said, chucking his sword to Zatanna, who grabbed it out of mid-air. She tried hacking off demons' body parts with it, but upon finding that she didn't feel comfortable with the sword, immediately transformed it into a compact battle axe.

"What are you doing!" Zatanna asked Bart as she deftly dismembered two demons. She liked the axe in her hand, and felt renewed energy as she fought; realizing that casting so many spells had started to take a toll on her.

"Trying to see if I can use my powers any differently," he replied, starting to speed around a trio of demons. As he gained speed, Zatanna noticed flashes of yellow electricity bounding from the mad red whirlwind that was Bart Allen.

Her attention was severely broken with a punch to her gut from another demon. Zatanna whirled her axe in her hand and brought it down on the demon, splitting him in half and causing him to combust in a splattering of goo before it completely hit the ground.

As Zatanna started to take on another demon, Bart accomplished what he was hoping to accomplish. He'd started a small tornado with his speed, and inside the tornado was trapped the three demons he'd been circling.

As the tornado whirled madly in place, Bart blocked an attack from another demon and threw it into the whirlwind, the demon getting caught up in its chaotic circling.

"Nice idea!" Zatanna yelled out as she jumped up and caught her current opponent in the face with a neat roundhouse kick. The demon fell back just enough to fall headfirst into the whirlwind.

Zatanna didn't know how many demons the man-made tornado would take, and so she used a spell to fry the demons alive in the tornado. As the tornado started to die down, Bart started another one around another set of demons.

Lana Lang wasn't enjoying herself. She was back to back with Dr. Fate, a man she didn't know, yet a man who was supposed to help her. As Lana lashed out at demons, cringing every time blood spurted, Dr. Fate used a variety of spells to send the demons nearly anywhere and everywhere except for where they were.

Lana had done some martial arts training after realizing that she would need to learn how to defend herself thanks to the insanity that was Smallville, but she had never prepared herself for battles of this ilk.

As Lana got more and more entrenched in the battle, she was surprised to discover that, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was able to name the demons. How was that possible? Lana pondered over this as she hacked away at the horn of a particular demon and reached out to grab the horn, taking it and slamming it into the demon's gaping wide maw, sending the reddish brown thing down on the ground and killing it.

She knew how to do that, she realized, surprised. She had instinctively known how to defeat the demon.

But…how?

Lana didn't have any time for thoughts as she took on her next opponent, dispatching that one just as easily. Her eyes glimmered with confidence as Lana turned to face the others. She could do this. She could fight them

And they just might win.

Clark and Alicia were hardly ready for the scene before them when Alicia finally teleported them to the address that Bart had provided Clark.

"Please tell me that we're on the set of a movie somewhere," Alicia asked, turning to Clark. "You know, like, Joss Whedon's latest venture or something."

Clark shook his head. "I don't think so. I think that those – what…demons? Monsters? Whatever they are, they seem to be the real deal."

"Where're the others?" Alicia asked, searching the horrific scene before them for some sign of, well, Lana, since that was the only one out of the trio that Alicia had actually seen before. She wouldn't recognize any of the others.

Clark used his x-ray vision to survey the scene in front of him, trying to see if he could find any human skeletons. It was a horrific scene indeed, with rain and lightening beating down on a parade of howling, screaming, roaring demons of almost any and every shape, size, and color. He found what he was looking for moments later.

"There," he said, pointing out to the tower. He could make out two figures, one that was unmistakably Lana wielding a sword, and the other an obviously male figure dressed in blue and yellow, with a golden helmet perched on his head.

Just a few feet away from them, he took note of Zatanna and Bart also fighting the demons. Bart seemed to be zipping around creating tornadoes, into which Zatanna was throwing their opponents, and then using some sort of spell to incinerate them.

"Guess we'd better hop right in," Clark offered. He turned to Alicia. "We'll go towards Zatanna first."

Alicia nodded bravely as she took hold of Clark's hand. "Let's go then."

CRACK! The demon's nose cracked as Zatanna slammed her open palm into his face. "God, I'm sorry. Do they have plastic surgeons for your kind?" Zatanna quipped as she whirled and kicked him in his chest, sending him into Bart's latest twister.

"Zee, behind you!" Bart yelled as he took notice of a shimmering green something behind the sorceress. Zatanna launched herself in the air, twirling and catching Clark Kent square on his face.

Zatanna went down like a rag doll thrown against a brick wall as Clark stood there, shocked, holding the hands of a blonde girl that neither Bart nor Zatanna had seen before.

"Clark?" Bart asked.

"Hey," Clark greeted, looking cautiously around them. "What's going on here?"

"Long story short? Demonic attack that won't end until one of us bites the dust," Zatanna answered as Bart helped her up. She dusted off her jeans and grimaced as she noticed a tear in her fishnet arm warmers. She turned to Alicia then and asked, "And you are…?"

"Alicia. Baker. Clark's…umm…" Alicia faltered for a moment, unsure of whether or not to call herself Clark's –

"Girlfriend," Clark supplied, surprising even himself.

"Oh." Bart and Zatanna said in shocked unison, both of them giving Lana – whose back was turned to them as she fought off some demons – a glance.

"Long story," Clark said.

"If Lana catches wind of this, and things start to sway close to Dawson's Freaks territory, you will be so dead," Zatanna said, raising an eyebrow.

Clark nodded shyly, remembering Zatanna's reasoning behind Clark telling Lana his secret in the first place. So they wouldn't go all prime-time teenage drama on each other in the middle of any life-threatening problems.

Like the one at hand.

Which they were reminded of by a demon trying to hit Clark. Clark whirled around and used his heat vision to set the demon on fire. As he did so, both Bart and Zatanna whirled into action, Zatanna giving Alicia her axe so she could defend herself.

As Clark used his strength and heat-vision to knock out demons, Zatanna and Bart worked as a team as they went back to the way they had been fighting earlier.

Alicia stood, confused, in the midst of this, not sure what to do exactly.

It was…well…she didn't know what it was, when she thought about it…whether it was hilarious or ironic or whatever else…but just last year she'd run around killing people and threatening to kill others, and here she stood in the middle of a battlefield, unsure as how to kill demons.

And she had a battle axe in her hand.

"The hell are you doing!" Zatanna asked as she turned a demon into stone. "Start hacking away, lady!"

Alicia nodded and hefted her axe, swinging it at a nearby demon. The axe connected, but only slightly so. Alicia struggled to pull the axe out from the demon's neck but found herself unable to budge it. She cursed under her breath and turned to Clark for help, but noticed he was already busy fending off another piece of hell spawn. Alicia grabbed the axe again and, praying that this would work, teleported away. The axe teleported with her, though the demon stayed where it was, it's head half hanging on its head.

Zatanna pushed the demon into Bart's tornado moments before Alicia reappeared.

"Do you have any powers besides teleportation?" Zatanna asked between trading blows with yet another demon. The demon moved to bring his hands on either side of Zatanna's head, but Zatanna went down and lashed out with her leg, sending the demon down on its back. She took the axe from Alicia and hacked the demon's head off.

"No…no other powers," Alicia replied, taking the axe back.

Zatanna nodded. "Alright. Keep fighting then. And stay close to Bart, Clark, and me."

Alicia outwardly gave her assent to the sorceress and turned to take on a demon that was paying no attention to her whatsoever. She landed one good blow on the back of his neck, alerting him to the attention that she was giving him. The demon snarled at her as he made a swipe for her. Alicia hacked his arm away, only to see another grow in its place. Alicia cursed as she made to swipe the demon's belly, sending a viscous orange fluid all around the area around her.

Soon, though, Alicia was into the fighting. She was hacking away, ducking, punching, kicking, and picking up her own rhythm as she retreated to a place far within her mind. The same place, she realized, where she'd gone to when she had gone all Madison Bell on Lana a year ago.

Alicia pushed those thoughts away as she ducked an arrow from a crossbow and then came back up again, looking to see where the arrow had come from. Spotting the demon, Alicia teleported over to it and took it by surprise, butchering the demon.

She smiled wildly to herself, realizing that the more psychotic aspect of her nature could be put to good use her.

Not that her psychotic aspect still existed.

Right?

The young blonde grunted as she took a hit from a demon and swung back, knocking it unconscious. As she did so, she heard Clark screaming in pain. Alicia instantly appeared behind him, shock all over her face. Zatanna bore the same expression of shock as she threw apart the molecular configuration of a demon, thereby blowing it up.

She rushed over to Clark.

"What happened?" Zatanna asked, looking back and forth between Alicia and Clark.

"The arrow. It struck Clark." Alicia answered, wide-eyed with shock. Wasn't Clark, like, impervious to damage or something? She'd been under the impression that Clark's skin was impenetrable. So how…

"Dammit," Zatanna said. "Their weapons. They're made of magick. That's one of your weaknesses," she explained as she used a spell to ease an arrow out of Clark's back. She used the same arrow to kill another demon before turning back to him. "Be careful," she said. "We can't have you dying." With that, Zatanna resumed her fighting.

They all fought for another long while, every one of the people out there refusing to give in to their aching bones and tired muscles. Things still seemed hopeless though.

Alicia backed up Clark, fighting any demon that threatened Clark with a magickal weapon. She'd stolen a sword from a demon and was using that as her form of defense, blocking blows and administering short, painful jabs.

She loved Clark, Alicia realized, as she backed him up. She loved him the way that she wouldn't love anyone else ever again. He was her first love. Her greatest love. The love she'd do anything for. She smiled bitterly as she realized that last year she had nearly become a serial killer to fulfill that love. But that was done. Over with. She'd had a fresh start with Clark, and he'd introduced her as his girlfriend to her friends, so that was a really good sign. Plus, she thought, they made a really great team out on the battlefield. Something told her that this wouldn't be the only time Clark found himself in a dire situation, and Alicia wanted to be there with him all the way, backing him up and being his system of support.

Yep, they had the potential to go somewhere really, really great.

As Alicia fought while lost in thought, she didn't notice that Clark was inching away further and further away from her until she saw a demon with a bow and arrow take aim for Clark's back – with Clark unaware once again. Alicia knew that the demon was too far for her to teleport in time and stop him from shooting, so she did the only thing she could.

Alicia listened to every instinct in her body and teleported to where Clark was, screaming out his name.

Clark whirled around as Alicia appeared in front of him in a poof of green mist. Alicia's eyes widened in horror as the mist dissipated and the arrow that the demon had loosed struck her in the heart.

As Alicia went down, so too did the demons on the battlefield dissipate. Clark watched in horror as Alicia collapsed on the ground, blood dripping out of her wound and mingling with the rain.

She fell with a thud to the ground, her life being the one that ended the vengeance spell that had been placed upon Dr. Fate.

Clark went down after Alicia, falling to his knees and hugging her to his chest. He knew the wound was fatal, knew that she was dead, because that was the only way that all the demons could have disappeared.

He stared at Alicia's face, which was rapidly starting to turn blue, before he gave out a loud, anguished cry.

Writer's Note: Hey all…sorry I took longer than usual to update….this chapter ran a little longer than my usual ones. :-D I probably coulda done the fight scenes a little better, but it turns out I'm not too good at doing the grander fight scenes. Definitely need to work on that, lol.

Anyway, yeah….let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, okay? I do realize it's probably not my best piece of work so far, but still, any and all reviews are totally welcome and completely appreciated!

Thank you!

(And yeah…Arnold Vosloo as Fate? LOVE that!)

Until next time!