Chapter Four:Researching And Leaving
I've never seen or had to deal with demons. Not in real life. I'd seen them in visions of Sunnydale, but other than that, I was walking into new territory. If only I would have known what I'd see next. It was purely gruesome. Evil's best. I've never been a "let's see blood and guts" person, let alone Slayer. I know that's bad. Since I'm a Slayer and all, but I did have a problem with it. (Well, not now, but you'll understand that later)
So, here I was, walking. By myself. In a graveyard. Did I mention alone?
I don't understand it. I'm a Slayer. I have killler strength. But, you will never understand how afraid I am before a hunt. Before a kill. Because, you don't know what goes bump in the night. I do. And it scares me more than you can ever imagine when I'm about to meet that thing. A thing that kills people. People like me. But then, I remember, I'm not like those people. I'm a Slayer. The fear that runs through me... it's like a High. A High that gets your heartbeat going. It's what makes your five senses that much stronger. You hear things you're not used to hearing.
You see, when you understand fear, your fighting tends to be much better.
Fear can get you killed. But it can also help you to fight off your worst demons. The trick... is to never let that fear get to you. You let it get to your senses, but not to yourself. You bottle that fear up and take it out on the thing that is causing that fear to overcome you. That's a Slayer's biggest weapon. Knowing how to control her emotions and using it to defeat your opponent. That's the one, if only, thing I've learned from Faith.
I was walking down the graveyard, nervous. I took a deep breath, inhaling all that fear and exhaled it by blowing out, eyes closed, listening to the air around me. I heard it. It was northwest from where I was standing and it was breathing quite heavily, slurping noises coming out. I knew then it was killing a human. Like me. I took a deep breath and pulled an axe out of my bag on my shoulder. I threw the bag on the ground and heard it go bang as I examined the axe. The blade was sharp, and I smiled. An axe is a Slayer's best friend when it comes to demons.
I clutched the axe beside me tightly and walked towards the sound. I walked behind a mausoleum with the name "GRANSTAFF" on it and peeked behind the corner. When I saw it, I covered my mouth and bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming.
The sight was simply grotesque. A brown-skinned demon with huge horns that looked like antlers made it look like a deer. Except it stood. And I didn't know how it stood with those antlers. It was crouched next to a young girl who looked about twenty, and she looked dead. It was doing something to her head, blood spilled all around. Every now and then, the demon would take its finger, dip it in the blood, and lick its finger. I cringed at the sight as it pulled at the girl's head.
It's trying to get into her head, I realized, Slayer observation kicking in. Looks like it's trying to go for her brain. I then thought about what I could do. I had to save this girl if she was still alive. I hoped she was still alive. If I hit it from the back, chopping off its head, it should be dead. But I'd have to sneak over to the other side of the mausoleum. I backed up a bit and turned, stepping quietly. I got about half way to the front of the mausoleum when I heard a loud crack under my feet. Fear was kicking up again, and I used it to my advantage, listening to the sounds around me. I heard the demon coming after me.
It knows I'm here, I thought. I exhaled and made a quick decision and ran towards the back as fast as I could, swinging the axe up over my head as I ran.
The demon came at me full speed. As I took a first horizontal swing, it held up its arm and blocked it, and I realized fighting demons is more different than vampires. Vampires are easy to kill. You block a punch here, they block a punch there, you get some punches, they get some punches, you stake them, they turn to dust, the end. But demons are more stronger. Knowing my strongest points, I kicked it in the stomach and knocked it back, then swung the axe in an arc, managing to slice it's arm off. It looked at its' arm lie there twitching on the ground, looked at me, and said, "Ereh enod ton erew. Stiawa ecnaegnev." As I watched, confused, it ran off. I then ran over to the woman and grabbed her wrist, feeling a pulse beating. I sighed heavily, thankful that she was still alive. I'd beat myself up if she wasn't.
"What happened here?" I heard Tymeria ask, approaching behind me.
"Demon," I replied. "I think it was trying to eat her brain." I pointed at where we had fought. "I cut his arm off."
She crossed over to the arm and picked it up. She then looked at me. "I'll take this to your house. You take the woman to the hospital, say it was an accident at the park, she was swinging, jumped off, and hit a branch, and it cut her."
"Yeah. Right." I picked her up and ran off as Tymeria walked in the opposite direction.
When I finally got home, I found the others at work looking for this demon.
"Got anywhere yet?" I asked.
"Nope. Nowhere," Dawn replied.
"How's the woman?" Tymeria looked at me.
"She'll be okay," I said reassuringly. "She's got a mild concussion, but the doctor says she'll be in perfect condition again after a few days spent at the hospital."
"That's good," Dawn said, then turned back to her book. "Meanwhile, we're getting nowhere."
"Yeah," Faith stated coming in, pointing at Dawn. "Watcher Junior here's getting nowhere in the books... you'd think she'd get somewhere with all her years watching Giles go at it."
I glared her down for a minute, then gave a heavy sigh. "Whatever. People's lives are at stake, and I'm not gonna let people die just so I can win this round." I pointed at her. "But don't you even think you're gonna win next round, cause I'm gonna win it way better than you did this one, and I'm gonna win it fairly."
"Whatever," she said, shrugging carelessly, which pissed me off even more. "Bring it on. I'll be more than ready."
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a book, starting to research, trying to get my mind off Faith. It didn't strike odd to me just why Buffy and Faith didn't get along for so long, and chances are they still wouldn't if she was in Halesberg. Wish I had went traveling to Europe, I thought. Then I could get away from this evil, conniving idiot. I don't know why she got at me the way she did. Maybe it was because it was Faith. Come on, wouldn't you be this bugged if you knew Faith? Wouldn't you want to crack her neck and just be done with it? But that was the one thing she knew best about, fighting. The moves, the thought process behind it, she knew it all. That's the only thing she could ever teach me. That I'd ever want her to teach me. True, she killed an innocent human being, but we all make mistakes. She just doesn't know what makes her so annoying. Maybe I should sit her down, have a heart to heart with her. Maybe that would help, maybe she'd appreciate my ca-
"Yo! Earth to the Dreamy Slayer!" Faith yelled, waking me from my thoughts. "The phone. Could you get that?"
I looked over to see the phone ringing on the table beside my chair. "Oh, yeah..." I trailed off and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey! Tori! How's it going?" I heard Buffy's voice on the other line.
"Buffy... hey. It's... a little chaotic here," I told her.
"It's Buffy?" Dawn said, looking up from the phone. I nodded as I listened to Buffy ask, "What do you mean, chaotic?"
"Oh, we've got our first demon trouble here in Halesberg," I explained.
"You don't think Halesberg has a Hellmouth secretly resting under it, do you?" she said, being half way sarcastic, half way honest.
"No. We've checked. Four times. It's definitely not," I told her.
"Oh. Okay. If you insist. So, what's the haps? The big bad? Cause, maybe I can help. Seen a lot of demons in my day," she said.
"Well," I started, "there's this demon that was trying to get inside this girl's head. I don't know if it wanted her brain or what, but it was trying as hard as it could to get into the head."
"Description?" she asked.
"A brown-skinned demon with horns like antlers, but stood on the ground on two feet," I replied.
"Hmm..." she trailed on, pondering the information. "You think antlers would narrow it down a lot."
"Yeah, but not if there's only one demon that has these antlers," I told her.
"True... hmm. Good luck with that. So how's a February month in Virginia?" she asked.
"Oh, it's pretty mild right now, here. So what's your February month like, where ever you are?" I said.
"Oh, it's actually warmer than it would be in California. I'm in Italy. I've settled down, and I want Dawn to move over here," she said calmly.
"Italy? That's nic-... you want Dawn to move over there with you?" I cried as the words sank into my head.
"Yeah. I'm staying here in Rome. I've got a new boyfriend, and Andrew's decided to move here too, so now that I'm settled I think it's time for Dawn to come join me," she said. "Can I talk to her?"
"Oh... sure," I looked up and said, "It's Buffy. She wants to talk to you, Dawn."
Dawn took the phone and then heard the news for herself. She looked ecstatic. Even if she was leaving me. I mean, Dawn and I had been stuck together like glue for the last several months. And now she was leaving... I'd feel so empty without her.
When she got off, she told everyone the news. Everyone was happy for her. I tried to show it as much as I could. It was hard... and a major blow to my world. But I knew it had been coming. So it wasn't a total shock or anything... right? She then continued to say, "I'll be leaving in two days. I better go to my room and pack."
I followed her, asking "Do you want any help? I mean, it's not like I'm getting anywhere with the research. And I need a break."
"Yeah," Dawn said. "I guess I can use the help. Besides, I want to spend as much time with you as possible before I leave." She gave me a smile. Dawn was always so pretty, it took everything I had in me not to be jealous of her for it. Many girls at school were. And when she smiled... let's just say, although her sister's some big bad Slayer, Dawn would beat Buffy in a beauty competition any day. She'd win five times in a row if she smiled through them all.
While helping her gather some of her things and start packing, she looked at me and asked, "Are you okay with this, Tori?"
"I'll be okay," I said reassuringly. "I mean, I knew it was coming. It's just... we haven't been seperated since May. It'll be a little hard at first."
"Yeah," she said, crossing over to me. "But I'll email you, cause calling people is so out now, and I'll send you pictures, and we'll IM each other, it'll be like I never left your side..."
She started crying and gave me a hug. "I'll miss you so much... you're the best friend I never had..."
"Well, like you said, we'll write..." I started crying. Then I backed up and stood up straight. "Look at us! You're a half witch and I'm a Slayer. And we're bawling like idiots! We've gotta toughen up." Then I realized what I had said. "You're a half witch! We can make this work. You just have to learn teleporting. Then I can see you everyday."
"But teleporting's for demons, Tori," she reminded me.
"Oh, yeah. I knew that. Anya said that once. You can only go airborne... and it takes longer," I sighed. "I guess we're sticking to writing?"
"Writing it is," Dawn nodded, wiping a tear off her cheek.
Those next two days, Dawn spent as much time with me as she could. We didn't get anywhere with researching, even with Robin helping Faith and Tymeria. I drove Dawn to the airport and after getting a huge hug from her, she left for Italy.
I slumped home and started researching again. I was pretty sure we had went through the whole entire library. It had been a week, and we still hadn't found anything.
"It's a good thing we're Slayers and not Watchers," Faith said one day. "Wait a minute... I'm your Watcher. Then, damn, I suck at Watching."
"You're just now figuring that out?" I asked her, looking up from my book.
"Bite me, Shorty," she told me.
"Why are we still looking? This demon's probably out of town by now," I sighed. There was no way we'd find it, not now, not ever, so why were we even tryin-
"Hey, girls," Dad said as he walked in. "And.. Robin." He looked around. "Why.. are we all in the library? Reading? Slayers never read."
"Demon. A week ago. Trying to find it in the books. Haven't gotten anywhere," I told him.
"What's with your incredibly short sentences?" he asked.
"Haven't gotten much sleep, with school and researching, and missing Dawn and all," I said.
"Ah, yes. She went and joined Buffy and Andrew in Italy, no?" he walked over to a shelf and pulled out what looked like a really old book.
"Yeah. Bet you're glad to get rid of that little runt, eh?" Faith said, laughing. "What a fresh little thing... a gay thing, too."
"You don't seriously think that?" Dad looked at her, eyebrows raised.
Faith snorted. "D'you see the looks he gave Xander? Ain't no way he's not gay. Or, at least, bi."
"Hmm... yes," he looked at me. "Now, Tori, what did this demon look like? What did he do?"
"He was brown-skinned. Had antlers. Stood on two feet. Tried eating a girl's brain," I told him.
"Yes... the antlers and brown skin are probably to blend into the natural world, to look like an animal. Eating... brains is what you want to look into," he said, flipping for the book.
"Watch him crack it in the next five minutes," Faith said, looking at me. I nodded.
"What are you reading, Dad?" I asked.
"Oh, the Encyclopedia of Demons," he told me. "It's the easiest way to look up a demon. I'm on the "Index" book, thumbing through 'brains, eating.'"
"I didn't even know we had something like that," I said, turning to the other three. "Did you guys?"
Robin, Faith, and Tymeria shrugged and said no.
"Ah, here we are," Giles said, pointing at a page and turning back to the rest of the encyclopedia to find the right book.
"Told you he'd find it," Faith said. "Guy's, like, Macho Man with the books." She then laughed.
In a couple minutes, Dad had the book opened and was reading from the text. "'The Lysacrete demon is a vile and vicious demon. Looking like an odd deer to blend in to its' surroundings, this demon lives in wooded areas, feeding on animal brains and the occasional human passerby who was unfortunate enough to walk through its' territory. Many Lysacretes are not able to get through the human skull on their own, but have been known to find natural tools to open the skulls.'"
"Okay... so... what do we do now?" I asked.
"Wait, there's more. 'The Lysacrete has but one weakness, their own head. They must eat brains to maintain their own from exploding, which will kill them,'" he read on.
"So, you're saying that we need to go for the brain?" Tymeria asked.
"Their brain goes kerplooey?" I cut in.
"Some strange, whacked up demon that is," Faith said, standing.
I turned to her. "What do I do?"
"Tonight... you find it, and you kill it," she told me.