Disclaimer: And again – I own nothing.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! I love you all! Here's the next chapter…I guess you would recognize some of the parts as taken from the DA episode "Love Among the Runes" , but I changed a lot of stuff….anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!
Fire and Blood
By: human28
Chapter Twelve
The decrepitude and utter collapse of the dire part of the city wasn't what made its surroundings so abhorrently unpleasant. It was the miserable and overcast atmosphere that turned even the most cheerful person into a desolate wreck. The entire place was swarming with plunderers, beggars, and thieves. The air reeked of sweat, suffering, and even death.
But nothing compared to the town's main attraction: the mental asylum. It was dwarfed by many of the dilapidated buildings in the area, rising only at a mere eight feet…although there were rumors of floors underground. Shadows cast by a dim, yellowish light could often be seen through the barred windows.
Shadows of the demented…
"Stan my man! You should really check this out!" The young man who was dressed from head to toe in stained white clothing called out excitedly. He was also donning a straitjacket, which meant that he was one of those who had, let's just say -- an unsoundness of the mind.
His roommate took no heed of him. Stan, who was not only bound by a straitjacket, but gagged by a strip of cloth, simply stared at him inertly.
"Ah, never mind." The young man shook his head, and resumed his staring outside the barred windows. Below them, a strange ceremony was taking place…and above them, the sky was alit by a meteor shower…
"Kon'ta ress!" A woman covered with tattoos that held meanings no one knew about cried out exultantly. She was clad in robes the color of red wine, and these contrasted greatly to her abnormally bruise-colored skin.
A fire burned in the center of a ring of robed figures. One of the figures stepped out of the perfect circle. He was carrying a torch, and as he raised it to the sky, the rest followed suit.
"Ken'da hiff!" He exclaimed just as more shooting stars lit up the night.
"Ken'da hiff!" Everyone chanted back, their voices echoing hauntingly through the night. It was at that moment that a young woman in her late teens was brought into the middle of the circle. She was dressed in red, as well, the end of her robes swirling at her feet. Gagged and chained, she was tied to a steel pole near the blazing fire. Her sapphire blue eyes glimmered with terror as she watched the priestess open the wooden box next to her.
And pulled out a python.
The snake writhed in the priestess' grip as she raised it to the heavens. "Adara mos rekali, konoss rehu jek!" she whispered in her inhuman voice. The young man watched in fascination as the priestess passed the python around the circle and pulled out a long black dagger.
Murmuring the chant under her breath, she approached the bound woman and slowly ran the edge of the blade on her cheek. The young woman's eyes shimmered with both fear and pain as blood dripped from the cut. The priestess smiled and caught the droplets of crimson in a glass vial.
She then motioned to two men dressed in brown robes to take away the woman. The swiftly bandaged her bleeding cheek and carried her off to the darkness.
Back to her cage.
The young man shook his head in disbelief. "And they call us crazy." Ignoring the rest of the ceremony, he grabbed his trusty broken blade from his hiding place underneath the bed and broke the rest of the bars on his window. After several minutes of hard laboring, the bars finally broke free.
His dark gray eyes shone with mirth. "At last! Freedom!" he cried out in jubilation. He glanced at Stan one last time, patting him awkwardly on the shoulder. "I'm outta here, my dear friend. Take care, okay?"
And with that last goodbye, he jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.
…
The mental institution was surrounded by a ten-foot high concrete fence, and on top of that, an additional two feet of concertina wire. The tarnished steel gate that led inside was tightly-shut. Two burly men dressed in black stood on either side of it. Strangely, none of them were carrying weapons.
Beyond the fence, they could clearly see the asylum that housed more than a hundred tormented souls.
Parked just outside the forbidding place, hidden behind an abandoned brick building, was a gray, nondescript van that had obviously seen better years. Within the said vehicles, sat members of Dawn's rescue team. All of which were staring in slight fascination and trepidation at the building in front of them.
The silence was broken by the cocking of a gun. Alec flashed them a lopsided grin as he attached silencers to his and Max's weapons. "Sorry to interrupt the staring session, but don't you think we should get going?"
"Right. Going." Buffy nodded, trying to shake off the feeling of dread that was slowly settling on her shoulders. "So Giles and Xander stay here and keep an eye on things." The two men nodded and positioned themselves in front of the bank of computers set up inside the van. Each and every one of them had minuscule cameras attached and concealed in their clothes, enabling Giles and Xander to see everything they would see inside the asylum.
"And the rest of us," she took a deep breath. "Goes in and faces all the big baddies."
There was a murmur of agreement and everyone prepared to exit the van.
"Good luck guys," Xander whispered, watching them go. "And if you guys need back-up. Just give us a shout. And it'll be your ol' pal Xander and the G-man to the rescue."
"I told you not to call me that!" Giles grit out through clenched teeth.
Xander grinned apologetically. "Sorry, G-man – I mean, Giles."
Buffy shook her head at her friend's antics and ushered everyone out of the vehicle, giving out some last minute instructions. A cool breeze blew past her the second she stepped onto the damp ground, and it took several moments for her eyes to get adjusted to the darkness. A half-moon shone dimly above, hanging in between two gray thunderclouds. The blinking stars were slowly disappearing behind more rain clouds.
It was peculiar, because just a few minutes ago, a meteor shower had graced the heavens. And in the blink of an eye, they seemed to vanish, to be replaced by an impending downpour.
Buffy glanced at the redheaded witch who was running alongside her. She too was gazing up at the sky above, studying them with curiosity. "What is it Wills?"
"I've never seen the weather this unusual," Willow murmured silently. She shut her eyes, even as she sprinted. Ahead of them, Buffy could see the rest moving like shadows. Especially Max, Alec and Sam. They moved like cats, making no sound, making no one aware of their presence. Behind them, Faith and Spike were talking in low voices, discussing the recent events.
Willow opened her eyes and turned to look at Buffy. Her emerald green gaze was overcast with anxiety and deep apprehension. Buffy's skin prickled as another cold breeze blew past them. "I don't like the feeling of this, Buffy. The aura this place is giving out – its giving me the creeps."
"Well, to think that – that place is filled with skewed minds…" Buffy shuddered. "A life gone awry. Its horrible."
Willow nodded, and they spent the next few minutes in silence. They skidded to a stop behind a large dumpster and peered around the edge, keenly observing the two guards that were currently on sentry. "I see the cameras," Sam informed them, her gaze trained on somewhere near the gates that none of the others could see, save for maybe Max and Alec.
"Yeah, I see them too." Max agreed. "So, let's do this. Alec and I will take care of those two gorillas, and Sam takes care of the cams. That cool?"
"What about us?" Spike asked, a bit miffed. "Don't we get to join in?"
"You're too slow. The cameras will see you." Alec said.
Spike sputtered out a string of obscenities. The three X5s ignored him, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished.
"Woah! They're fast." Faith whistled, impressed.
Buffy could only agree. She watched in mild fascination as the three of them finally made an appearance at the gates. Sam swiftly worked on the cameras, looping them with the film that Xander and Giles had ingeniously made. With that done, Max and Alec made quick work on the two guards who instantly fell to the ground with not more than a mere thud.
Sam turned to their hiding place and gave them a thumbs up.
"That's our cue," Buffy told her companions. "Let's go."
…
To be Continued……
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