Here's Part Seven, otherwise known as the evil chapter :-). As always, comments and screams of horror will be adored and loved.

Thanks and adoration to my beta readers, Fab and Erica Olson.

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Blinky the Tree Frog



Disclaimer:
The Buffyverse belongs to Mutant Enemy as far as I'm aware. No money being made, no infringement intended.

Spoilers for Season Seven up to at least Episode 12 (Potential). It's set right after.


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Part Seven

"Blood makes noise
It's a ringing in my ear
Blood makes noise
And I can't really hear you
In the thickening of fear"

Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega

Run. Just run. Don't think about the stitch in your side, or what Andrew's planning to do or the dead bodies you might be running towards or...or... Just runandrunandrunand...

God, how had this happened? There should have been more time. They should have been able to find Tucker and stay watching in hiding while they sorted out a proper plan and Andrew took the time to conjure up a nice safe demon that Tucker couldn't eat and then the demon would knock him out and they'd go home and no one would be the wiser and...

Time. It all happened far too quickly and there was no time. No time at all and now all he could do sprint down the road and curse at the absence of taxis and...

Run. Just run.

***************

"Tucker? Oh my god! Is that really you? I haven't seen you in...in... God, what happened to you?"

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

Andrew recovered slightly and hurriedly tried to add a little tact. "Uhh... no, no. I mean... a little. You... you're kinda washed out and... and like you've been under a lot of stress or... or something."

He almost laughed. "I've been under a lot of ssstressss. But I feel a lot better now."

Andrew's expression was a perfect blend of confusion and worry. "Well. Well, it's...uh... nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, Andrew. "

"Errr... Yes. Nice." Andrew shifted uncomfortably and snuck a quick look back at the store. Xander was still in the register line talking, but he'd be out any minute and probably wouldn't be very pleased to see his older brother. Still, Tucker had to have seen Xander standing there and he didn't look worried, so it probably wasn't up to Andrew to mention it, right? "So... Umm, you were in Las Vegas last time I heard from you, right? Are you...are you in town for anything?"

"I think it's sssafe to sssay I am."

"Oh. Okay." He hesitated, but Tucker didn't seem disposed to continue his answer. Why was his brother staring at him like that? "Umm. Well. I've been good. Well, not good exactly. Or good at all, actually. Actually I've been pretty bad. But, y'know, things are looking up. Ummm, I've decided to repent my evil ways. And stuff. Are you... are you sure you're okay?"

"Jussst fine."

"Oh. Well." He flicked a nervous glance back to Xander. "Well, I... I might have to go soon. I mean, I'm kinda here with someone, and... and they're kind of in charge. Sort of."

"That'sss a pity. I would have liked to have talked longer."

"Oh? Did...did you have something to tell me, or, y'know, some other reason..."

Tucker looked thoughtful. "Do you remember Tibby?"

Andrew blinked, confused at this change of subject. "The cat we had when we were kids?"

"That'sss her, yesss. Remember how we alwaysss usssed to laugh at her when ssshe caught a moussse?"

"Uh, yeah." Andrew smiled awkwardly at the memory. "'Cause she would never just eat it, she always spent ages toying around with it first, even if..."

Tucker grinned widely.

"Even...uhh..." Andrew took a few steps back. "I uhhh... IthinkIneedtogonow..."

In one swift move, Tucker darted forward and grabbed him by the throat in a vice-like grip.

"No, no. Sssee, I'm planning to torture you for information and kill you horribly. Any objections?"

"Ghhaaack!"

"No? Didn't think so. Let's go somewhere more private then, shall we?" He kicked in a burst of the speed he'd acquired from an Espid demon and in the blink of an eye they were standing in a nice private dark alley.

Sunnydale had a lot of dark alleys, which was handy. He suspected that passer-bys might be a little put out by what he was going to do to his little brother now that he'd finally gotten his hands on him.

**************

In another of Sunnydale's many alleys, an older Andrew sat crossed-legged in a circle of carved stones as he carefully poured a bag of sand onto the ground. He shaped the sand into a rough approximation of a square, then sat back and picked up an elaborately decorated dagger from where it lay in a tangle of objects he'd pulled out of his rucksack. Finally he stood up, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"My name is Andrew Wells, and I beseech thee to listen as I enact this ritual to call forth one of the Demoshaemon. Listen from before me, and listen from behind me, and know that I will honour your presence."

He sat back down. "To bring about your attendance, one must know the symbols of power that honour you." He leaned forward and traced a symbol into the sand using the tip of the dagger, carefully erased it, and then drew another, and another. When he had finished with the fifth symbol he left it there and straightened up.

"And this I do. To bring about your attendance, one must know the language of power that honours you..."

***************

"I don't understand! Why are you doing this!?"

Tucker had loosened the grip around his brother's neck to allow him to talk, but Andrew still looked far from comfortable. He was pinned awkwardly against the alley wall; his arms pinioned above his head by one of Tucker's hands while the other held his neck. He looked terrified.

Tucker waited a few seconds to relish the fear before answering. "I told you. I need information, and then I need to kill you. Ssseemsss pretty sssimple to me."

"But you're my brother. We were friends! Kind of friends, anyway... We practised demon summoning together! You never wanted to kill me before!"

"Timesss change."

"But it's me! It's Andrew! Why would you want to kill me?"

He smirked. "Becaussse you're an annoying little moron?"

"No I'm not! I mean... maybe I am, but that's no reason to kill me. I mean... I mean..."

"Thisss is getting boring. How about I ssstart on the torture?"

Andrew eye's widened in horror. "No! No torture! You don't need to... I don't know anything! I don't know anything at all about anything and you really don't need to..."

There was a call from somewhere out in the parking lot. "Andrew!"

Tucker flicked his gaze briefly to the alley entrance. "Looksss like your buddy'sss calling for you. Ssshould we let him play?"

Andrew squirmed slightly and tried to look brave and resolute. "Uhh... no. You should... you should just leave him..."

"Andrew, where the hell have you gone!? I don't believe this!"

Tucker smiled at his brother. "Oh, I think he'd be interesssting to meet. Call for him."

"No!"

He unsheathed the claws on the hand that held Andrew's neck and let them sink ever so slightly into the skin. "I said, call for him."

"No! Don'tkillmeno..."

They went in just enough to draw blood this time. "Call. For. Him."

Andrew screeched in panic, "Xander! I'm over here!" and Tucker extracted the claws triumphantly.

"Good boy."

Footsteps made their way to the alley entrance, accompanied by a lot of grumbling. "Andrew, you better have a damn good explanation for this... oh."

In one smooth move, Tucker dropped Andrew, darted over to Xander, sent him flying headfirst into the alley's back wall and then neatly grabbed Andrew again before his brother had even managed to react. Damn, he loved demonic powers.

He directed a menacing smile at the man who was now lying in a dazed heap at the back of the alley. "Hello Xander. We went to ssschool together, didn't we? Sssoo nice to see you again."

"What... what the hell..."

Andrew squirmed desperately "How are you doing this?"

"I got sssome upgradesss. Now Xander, I want you to stay there while I have a chat with my little brother here. Don't worry, if he can't tell me what I want I'll be sssure to get to you."

Xander winced and put a hand to his head where a nasty lump was already beginning to form. He managed a defiant face as he struggled to pull himself up. "You... you're expecting Andrew to give you information? Trust me wise guy, he doesn't know anything you'll... wait a... Brother? You're..."

Andrew choked desperately. "It's Tuck...It's Tucker, Xander! Only... only he's all evil and... and strong and demony and..."

"Sssuperior?"

"Whatever happened to you, it didn't make you any smarter." Xander finally got to his feet, swaying ever so slightly. "Put him down, Tucker."

"Or what, you're going to collapssse on me? Ssstay in your corner, I'll deal with you in a minute." He turned back to Andrew. "Now... where were we?"

***************

"He kept saying it was vitally important to know where Andrew was?"

Willow frowned and nodded. "I told you, it was really weird. I refused to say anything, obviously... But Kennedy, he seemed genuinely panicked. I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have... I've had this weird sense since yesterday; like my magic's trying to tell me something's off."

Kennedy reached over and patted her arm. "Willow, you did the right thing. He could have been anyone , even someone connected to the First. And if your magic was telling you something's off, it was more likely warning about the weird little... Accipiofeles?"

"That's how you say it, yeah. And according to the books they're harmless burrowing creatures, kinda the demonic equivalent of a mole. That's not going to account for..."

The phone rang.

Willow gave Kennedy a worried look, then walked over and picked it up.

"Hello? Is this..."

"Willow, it's me."

"Oh. Buffy. Sorry I thought you were someone... So! What's up?"

"The usual. Counselling, shuffling papers, three kids at the school attacked and nearly killed."

"That's terrible! Did you..."

"No dice. Whoever or whatever did it got away before I even realised what had happened. I'm going to have a look around the grounds after school though, just in case. I thought I'd better call to say I'd be late."

"Oh. No problem then."

"Are you okay? You sound a little spooked."

Willow tried to sound supportive. "Oh no, no. Everything's a-okay at Slayer Central. You have fun with the searching."

"Oh yeah, it'll be a blast. Bye Will."

"Bye Buffy."

***********

"...To bring about your attendance, one must know the gestures that honour you."

Andrew used the knife hand to sign several shapes in the air.

"And this I do. To bring about your attendance..."

***********

Almost there. Not far now. Keep running, even though the stitch in your side is awful and you're gasping for breath and your knees hurt from when you tripped over a minute ago and...

This is too important. Keep running!

And please, please don't let me be too late, please...

************

"You sssee thessse clawsss?" Still holding Andrew by the neck, Tucker flexed his other hand and popped the claws again. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Xander looking around frantically, seemingly trying to decide whether to make a break for it or stay and try to fight.

He grinned. "Thessse clawsss don't belong to me. I ssstole them, ate them off a demon and ssspat out the bitsss I didn't like. I've ssstolen a lot of thingsss, little brother. I don't let any opportunity passss me by. That's why I want you to tell me how to activate the nice metal ssseal in the basssement of the high ssschool."

Andrew stared at him wide eyed. "I... I don't know..."

The claws flicked forward and sliced a shallow cut down the side of his brother's face. Andrew let out a squeak.

"Don't give me that bullssshit. I know you've been down there. I know you know sssomething . I can feel you trembling, your heart racing. You're not a brave perssson, little brother. Don't try and fool me into thinking you are."

Sensing movement, he twisted an arm around without looking and shot two paralysing darts directly behind him. There was a thump as Xander fell to the ground and the metal bar he'd about to hit Tucker with rolled away. Tucker turned his head and leered. "And you are a brave perssson, but you're not very sssmart. I told you to ssstay in your corner."

"...couldn'..jus..."

"And it talksss. Well done. Mussst have a lot of adrenaline in your sssyssstem. You might even be able to ssshake off the paralysssisss in time to mop up the blood."

Andrew whimpered. "Xander!"

He turned back to his prey. "I'd be a little more worried about yourssself, little brother. I'm tired of playing. Tell me everything you know about the ssseal, or I'll peel all your ssskin off and flay you alive."

**************

"...To bring about your attendance, one must breath the air thrice while thinking of you."

Andrew closed his eyes and took three deep breaths...

**************

Dust skidded into the parking lot at about a hundred miles an hour and looked around frantically. A couple of shoppers looked at him oddly and then shrugged and went about their business. There was no sign of Tucker, and no sign of present day Andrew or Xander. What was going on? Where were they!?

Dust forced himself to stop and think. Tucker wasn't going to be standing in broad daylight, he'd attract too much attention. He'd need an out of the way niche. Alleyways. Look in alleyways.

**************

"Jussst tell me what you know, Andrew. I'm running out of patience!"

"...andrew...d...don't..."

"Tell me or I'll kill him too! I'll peel hisss ssskin off in front of you."

"Oh god no!"

"Tell me. You don't have much time, little brother."

"I... I..."

"TUCKER!"

Tucker's head snapped around and he stared in absolute astonishment at the shortish, brown-haired person who stood panting at the alley entrance.

"How... in... the... living... HELL did you get here?! "

****************

The final part of the ritual. Andrew stared at the rocks, and the sand, and the knife. He'd done everything right up to now, hadn't he? There'd been no mistakes? He'd better have, because this next bit couldn't be done twice.

Still he hesitated, listening to his blood pounding through his veins so loud it drowned out everything else.

No. No hesitation, no fear. This was the only thing he could think to do, and for all he knew, time itself was in the balance.

And so he spoke. "To bring about your attendance one must provide a vessel for you in this world, a liquid vessel made from the summoner himself."

He brought down the knife and sliced open his left artery.

"And that I will."

***************

Dust tried desperately to stand straight and stop gasping. Damn his lack of fitness. But on the positive side: no dead people! Sure, Xander was very weakly trying to pull himself off the ground and had probably been hit by one of Tucker's paralysis darts, but he was still okay and semi-mobile. Now he just had to play 'distract the psychopath'. This'd be fun.

"You... you don't... don't think you can get rid of us that easy, do you?"

Tucker was still staring at him in utter disbelief. Andrew, hitched up against the wall, was relatively forgotten for the moment. "Here? You got here? How did you get here!?"

"Wasn't that hard. You didn't stop to check whether the Hourwhether you ate had a mate, did you?"

"I don't believe thisss!"

"Believe it. You're never going to get rid of us, Tucker. We know everything you do." Dust watched his adversary carefully. Taunting the power-crazed maniac was generally not a good idea.

Tucker hissed. His fins unfolded themselves and ruffled, and his skin twisted and hardened into a makeshift armour. Combat mode. Dust had really pissed him off. Wonderful.

"Oh my god, oh my god."

It was kind of surreal seeing the young version of Andrew. Dust felt like he had to be reassuring. "It's okay, everything's going to be fine."

Tucker's laugh didn't even sound human now. "Oh, you think? What are you going to do now, little man? Fight me with your non-exissstent fighting ssskillsss?"

"I'll manage. I'll do what I can."

"...look, whoever you are... get help... call...call buffy summers..."

He gave Xander an apologetic look and tried to look as though he wasn't frightened out of his brain. "It's okay, I know what I'm doing."

That got another laugh. "Riiight. Where isss he, Dust? Too afraid to face up to himssself?"

"He's not afraid of that. Or you."

And Tucker laughed and tilted his head towards the Andrew who was struggling at the end of his arm.

"Doesssn't look that way where I'm ssstanding."

**************

Stay conscious. Stay conscious. Stay conscious and god, that's really bleeding a lot isn't it. Bleeding and pooling in the circle and soaking into the sand and the world was getting fuzzy around the edges... that wasn't good... probably should put pressure on the wound but can't because have to wait for the demon to come and god it hurts and not feeling well, not at all and... glowing. The circle was glowing.

The circle glowed, and the pool of blood and sand in front of him began to pull itself into shape, as though the pool was incredibly deep and something was dragging itself out. Then the form rose, and the figure coalesced, and a 10 foot Demoshaemon halted in front of him, a twitching red snake that was slightly translucent, as though his blood was all that held it together. When it bowed slightly and touched its head to his, however, it felt solid.

Dizzily Andrew reached for a handkerchief and pressed it to his wrist, barely registering that it was immediately soaked. "Ok...okay... hello?"

"Hello. What is it you wish of me, summoner?"

'The Demoshaemon, being summoned from the caster's blood, will instinctively know their language.' Andrew remembered the passage of the old book well. Thank god it had held up.

He was very dizzy. What was he doing again? Oh right. Important. This was important. "There...there's a person... Down the road. Go down the road at the end of this alley, turn at the police...the big tall white building. Keep going until the road ends... there's a place with shops... near there, you might have to look around but near there... there's a person who's got lots of demon...bits in him. And he's going to try to kill two...three people. Tucker. His name's Tucker Wells."

"Yes?"

"Fight him. The people he's trying to kill... they have to get away. Fight...fight him as much as you can. Make it so he can't hurt them. They have to get away!"

"And when they are away?"

"You can go back... back to where you came from. You... I don't think you can stop Tucker anyway, there's no point in you getting killed... And if you do get killed?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry. Now go!"

The Demoshaemon nodded in respect at this sentiment. Then it flicked out of the alley and down the street, blindingly fast.

Sunnydale's population either did their best to ignore the sight or put it down to a trick of the light. They'd gotten good at that.

***************

"Well, that wasss fun." Tucker smiled at Dust, who was now pinned by Tucker's other hand at the wall next to Andrew. "Now I get two people to torture."

Andrew sent a miserable look to Dust "I'm sorry", he said.

"It's... it's okay. Everything's...ack!"

Tucker squeezed and laughed. "What? Under control? Jussst what did you think you were doing?"

Dust choked. "Wait... waiting..."

His tormenter raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for wh...."

Something large sent him flying across the alley. He slammed against the wall, pulled himself upright, and came face to face with the Demoshaemon.

"Tucker Wells?"

"What?!"

"Fight." And it hit him again.

Dust picked himself up from where he'd fallen in a heap with Andrew. He looked grimly triumphant. "That. You psycho."

Andrew was staring at their unexpected saviour. "Ohmygod! Where'd it come from?"

Dust gave him a look. "That's not so important right now, Andrew! We have to go. Now. Xander, can you walk?"

"Right now...right now even sitting's looking difficult and are we s'pposed to know you?"

"Kind of." He looked down the alley where Tucker was now in full fight mode with the mysterious demon. "Let's just get out of here, now, okay? Andrew, get over here, help me carry Xander. We have to get back to the house. Buffy... Buffy can protect you."

They grabbed Xander and began to carry him towards the car park. "Andrew, can you drive?"

"Uh...yeah. I haven't driven Xander's before though..."

Xander made a face. "I don' think I'm gonna be able to, 'kay Andrew? Jus' try."

"Try. Right... right, I can try."

"Good. Thad's good."

"He tried to kill me! My brother tried to kill me! I don't believe... He just..."

Dust helped find the car keys and they lifted Xander into the back. "He's changed. I mean, really changed. He... he did something to himself and it's driven him insane."

"Wasn' he the guy who sicked hellhoun's on the prom?"

"More insane. Okay Xander? It drove him more insane." Dust hauled himself into the front and Andrew started the engine. They screeched out of the car park.

When Andrew had steadied both the car and himself somewhat and they were on their way he said, "I also can't believe what it was that saved us! That was a Demoshaemon, you know? They're really rare in our dimension, 'cause of what you have to do to summon them..."

Something in Dust went cold. "To summon them?"

"Yeah." Andrew seemed eager to talk, to distract his mind from what had just happened. "They need a vessel, something to manifest themselves in. And usually it takes a lot of blood to..." Dust yelped, and he jumped and swerved the car slightly. "What?"

Dust was staring at him in horror. "Blood?!"

"Uh, yeah. Lots, usually."

"Stop the car."

"What?"

"whad..?"

"Stop it! He grabbed the hand brake and the car came to a shrieking stop, nearly ploughing into a streetlight.

"What the heck?!"

Dust wrenched open the door and threw himself out. He started to run, and then stopped abruptly and swung around. "Andrew! Get you and Xander back to the house! Buffy can protect you from Tucker, he doesn't want to take her on. Go!"

"But what are you doing?"

Dust gritted his teeth. "I'm going to kill someone. If they aren't already dead."

**************

Andrew blinked at the stones. Pretty stones, with nice carved patterns, sitting in the swirly red. He suspected they belonged to him, but he wasn't too sure. He didn't feel well. Everything was swirly and he wasn't sure which way up he was. Sitting up or lying down or maybe upside down. Weird. He was tired. Sleep now?

"Andrew?!"

Calling. Someone was calling. Was that him?

"Andrew!"

He blinked and tried to pull the threads of his mind together. "...dust?"

There was the sound of running, and Dust dropped down next to him. He was sideways, Andrew thought dizzily. That was weird.

"There's blood everywhere! Oh god, you idiot! What did you do?!"

He had to think for a minute before he could get his mouth to move. "...told you... summoned something..."

"You cut open your wrist! God, you're bleeding everywhere! What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to... Oh god, oh god I can't believe you did this!"

"...had to..."

"You didn't! There had to be another way! I can't... This is the stupidest thing you've ever done!"

He had to giggle at that. "Oh, this is far from the stupidest thing I've ever done", he said.

Then he passed out.

**************