Author's note: Sorry for the late update. I've been busy with real life and I wasn't feeling artistic lately. Anyways hope this chapter is worth for those who have been waiting. A sincere thank you goes to the reviewers. You guys rule!
CHAPTER 3: STEAL THE STOLEN
Joan stood before an old mansion. The faded gray textured walls gives off the illusion that the house had been in hibernation in the past year and now. It's vertical reach vibrated ominous waves. Only it's luminescent interior made it seem more awake. More active. According to the local, this is where the damned scroll is located. For a place that's housing a mystical scroll, it didn't appear to have any high-tech security measures. Not even dogs were present to provide a diminutive amount of safety. No guards, no camera or whatsoever. It was as if the owner of the mansion doesn't know the purpose of security. There was nothing in sight that could prevent Joan from waltzing in and swiping the scroll, if this is the place of its genuine location.
The former golden Slayer breathed out a sigh and sized up the steel gate that barred her from entering. Or at least SHOULD try to bar her from entering the property. Taking a couple of steps back, the blonde mercenary dashed quickly and using her leg strength, her feet pushed from the pavement, shooting herself upwards with forward momentum into the air. Her form towered over the gate a few good feet. Gravity called the airborne blonde downwards and downwards she fell. The fallen dry leaves crunched beneath her foot as she landed gracefully with both feet firmly planted on the ground.
So far, no obstacle presented itself. No dogs barking, no alarms blaring, no guards busting out and trying to take her down.
Walking forward, she made her way towards the mansion. With every step, the leaves made a crunching sound under her foot. Not exactly the stealthy approach but she doubted that anyone is inside the house would hear it. Unless they're demons or a fellow Slayer. She quickly dismissed the thought. Her "spidey sense" had not even made a tingle, nothing demonic or slayer-y nearby. As she neared the house, she noticed the front door was slightly ajar open. Upon closer inspection, the door's side was damaged. It was jarred open. Someone else is here to steal the scroll. She cannot allow that to happen. Quietly pushing the door open, her head peeked in to scout the interior for safety.
As she was about to enter, a prickling feeling wormed up in her spine. The feeling differed from the ones she felt when vamps or demons were nearby. No, it was the feeling of being followed. She had been feeling these "prickling" as she made her way here. Every time she turned around, no one except your average pedestrian were present in view. Eventually, the sensation faded. Whoever it was, she thought, she or he is good at hiding. Maybe she was just mistaking the stalker vibe with the mundane chilly weather. Turning briefly, she wasn't surprise to find no one in sight. Letting out a sigh, she went inside the mansion.
Inside, the sight of a man slumped on the floor confirmed her suspicions. Someone had been trying to steal the scroll. She knew the petty thief was dead for she heard no breathing noise. No rising and falling motions of the chest--definitely dead. She doubted that the man just had a bad stroke of luck, had a massive heart attack and then died. The poor thief had been killed by something. Security. Judging by his scratched neck, a demon.
The scroll conspicuously was conspicuously laid on an altar, just a few feet from the thief's inanimate form. Intricate patterns and gibberish letterings (to Joan anyway) contained in a circle lay painted on the wooden floor.
Not feeling any danger other than the "prickling", she walked forward to the altar that held the acclaimed scroll. Immediately upon her foot's contact, the gibberish circle glowed black. A split-second later, a brief but powerful gust swirled from the center of the circle. Her senses were now overloading. The house didn't have any mundane security because it had a mystical one. A range more effective than any high-tech security could provide. After the gust died down, a ghost floated above the circle. It's transparent empty black eyes fixed on Joan. Though the rest of its features were undistinguishable, she could feel its desire. A strong desire to kill her. The ethereal entity raised its a formless appendage to its sides and it formed a transparent limb with claws. With an alien cry, it flew with blazing speed towards Joan. Joan reacted by charging towards the enraged ghost and quickly launched a high kick, intending to collide with the demon with a devastating kick. There was no collision. Her foot went through the entity as if it had struck air. The entity swiped with its claw. It tore part of her denim jacket and scratched her flesh, drawing blood. She anticipated the creature to do the same motion with it's other limb, so she tried to parry its wrist to stop the attack with her arm. No luck. The offending mitt went through it as if Joan's arm wasn't there and scratched her chest.
Realizing that slaying the savage ghost is out of the question, she ran. She wasn't going to escape; she had utmost intention of getting the scroll. Feeling the creature zooming behind her, she turned around and faced the ghost once more. When distance permitted it, the ethereal creature slashed with its claws. This time, Joan dodged, obviously the safer way of avoiding injuries. The creature slashed at her relentlessly but she dodged in the same manner. Though she wasn't sustaining further injuries, she also wasn't getting any closer to her goal. She can't dodge forever. Eventually, she'll make a mistake that could turn out fatal for her. Once again, she ran from the creature but this time she headed for the scroll. It was pointless to deal with the creature but that doesn't mean grabbing the scroll had become a moot point.
The altar zoomed in her view as she bridged the distance between it and her. She immediately swiped the scroll as it closed within reach and tucked it in her jacket then rolled to the left, avoiding a painful claw from the enraged entity. Wasting not a second, she ran for the exit; the furious ghost tailing her. Joan could feel the ghoul gaining inches on her but kept on speeding. As she neared the exit, the ghost had now completely gained on her and resumed the slashing. Sensing the scratch coming, she dived towards the exit in order to get out of harms way.
The blonde mercenary is now outside the mansion, lying on the pavement. Lifting her head, she saw the furious ghoul floating on the doorway, with it's empty eyes. It was unable to go outside. She figured that the spell circle she activated, creating the ghost, binds the ghost to the interior of the mansion. It would have been ineffective as a guard if the ethereal demon could roam outside of its freewill. Someone would just wait for the right moment, when the ghost is trolling the outside world, then sneak in and steal the goods.
Joan stood up, brushing off dry leaves that stuck to her. She looked at the ghost once more and said, "Better luck next time, Casper."
Turning on her back, she walked off the property with a proud grin on her face. Mission accomplished.
As she walked, her mind was figuring out how much should she asked for. She reasoned for a fairly thick amount. Stealing the scroll had not been an easy task for her with the ghost guarding it. A ghost that she was unable to harm but can hurt her. Any other person, like the dead guy on the floor, would have been killed. It was certainly a good deal more difficult than her past jobs where she only had to deal with either the mundane or your average pushover demons. Such great protection for a parchment.
She took out the accursed scroll and glanced over it. It had letterings that she was unable to identify. It wasn't Sumerian. From her days in Sunnydale, she had looked at enough Sumerian texts, even though she could not read it, to recognize one. Giles even tried to teach her the language, which was a futile effort. Texts and books simply fail to captivate her interest. Letting out a sigh, she rolled the scroll and placed it back in her jacket.
The gate that failed to bar her from entering once again stood in her way. Suddenly, a "prickling" tingled up her spine, stopping her from jumping over the gate. This time it didn't fade away; it strengthened. She spun around trying to trace the source. This time, she found where it was coming from. It was coming from a gorgeous woman, who is sitting on the wall to her right side. The brunette woman jumped down and faced her. Without a word, the woman's hands, wrapped in leather gloves, curled into a ball and slugged her. Joan caught off guard took the punch but it barely fazed her.
"You know, it's customary to say hi instead of a right hook when you meet someone," Joan quipped.
The woman simply nodded in return.
Joan began circling the mysterious woman, eyeing her with curiosity. She had never met the woman before and yet here she was slugging her. What was she after?
The look of confusion on the brunette's face about how she wasn't at least bruised by her punch made her smile. She obviously didn't know that she was a Slayer.
To Joan's bafflement, the woman took off her leather gloves from both hands, flexing her hands. "Look lady, I don't think that taking off your gloves will make your punches do more damage than before. You might just end up hurting your hand."
The brunette flashed her a pretty grin. "We'll see." She let off another right hook that Joan anticipated, blocking the punch. Upon contact of each other's skin, Joan felt a shock jolt through her skin making her pull her hand back in reflex. This motion left her open to a punch from her assailant's left and like before, she was shocked literally when their skin made contact. Needing a moment to regroup, Joan launched a wide swing with her legs causing the brunette to step back in order to dodge.
"What are you?" Joan asked, bewildered with the "shocking sensation" she felt.
"A freak," the woman briefly answered and proceeded with her assault. Learning from the past seconds, Joan avoided skin contact by dodging instead of blocking. Seizing the opportunity after dodging a backhand from the woman, she spun around, gathering force, and let off a devastating kick that connected to her attacker's chest, sending her speeding against the wall. There was no shock this time for there was no skin contact. Only boots against polyester. Though her assailant had some neat tricks under her sleeve, she was still not match for her.
"Look, your little shock trick is fancy and all but you can't beat me. You know that inside. What do you want from me?" she squatted down near the brunette.
"Tell me something first. How come you aren't unconscious from the last round? A voltage high enough to knock a normal person unconscious just ran through you a few seconds ago and you're still standing, winning against me."
Joan simply smiled at her. "That's because I'm not a normal person," she waited a moment to see if she could figure it out but only received a raised eyebrow from the brunette. "I'm a Slayer...but I don't do the 'fight the good fight' thing anymore. The other Slayers are here for that."
The brunette laughed. "I should have known that from watching you dodge that angry ghost."
"You're the one who's been following me?"
"Yeah. I'm also after the scroll. Finding the location was a bitch but then I saw you, Joan Moonstrom. I knew right then that you're after the scroll too so I followed you. I was going to steal the scroll from you after you stole it. Obviously, it didn't work."
"I'm pretty popular aren't I?" she grinned.
"Only in the 'hiring' business," she answered, returning the grin.
"So who are you?"
"Gwen Raiden," she breathed out. She stood up on her feet after Joan did.
"You know, my client wanted to hire you instead of me but you were already taken. Anyway, tell your client that his going to have to look for the scroll in Rome if he wants it badly."
Normally, she would never have disclosed such information on a competition but for some reason, she felt obligated to. She wouldn't get into trouble with her client; she only told a vague info. Once she received a nod from Gwen, she jumped over the gate and started heading back until Gwen called after her.
"We should meet sometime, hang out."
Joan turned around and replied, "Pay me a visit in Rome when you're not on a job and we'll hang out."
Through steel bars of the gate, she saw Gwen smile at her. She turned on her back, and continued heading back; she had a scroll to give to her client.
-------
First time I've written a chap that was 2000 words long. I apologize if there's grammar mistakes;I don't have a BETA. If you're interested please email me. My add is in my profile or just say so in the review.
Like it? Hated it? Don't make sense? Please tell so by reviewing :D.
Next chapter, we get to meet the Scoobs (well Faith mostly).
Oh, I have a website up by the way. Not everything is archived in yet but you guys should check it out! It's really plain though and not eveything is up(Ony one really). I'm too lazy inserting break codes on my stories.