Chains Forged in Fire

Chapter 14 – Reinforcements

Voldemort cursed to himself as he waited for the arrival of his guests. All his careful planning had come to nothing because of those damn demons that had come to serve his enemy. All attempts he had made to gain access to Hogwarts have failed and he was no closer to killing the boy. With each day that passed Voldemort felt the prophecy like a knife at his throat. The time for subtlety was over.

However, there were still those demons to consider. Even though there are only five of them, those five would sweep a bloody path through his army. But if the demons were the problem, then all he had to do was fight fire with fire.

Grabbing a knife, he sliced his palm and held it out towards a wall and began to chant. A bright glowing circle appeared on the wall and from it stepped three figures. Over six feet tall, the three demons looked around at their surroundings with disdain. They finally brought their gaze back to the human before them, their expressions remaining the same.

"You are Voldemort?" one asked.

Voldemort drew himself up to his full height and glared at the demons, "I am. You know why I have summoned you here."

"Yes. But the price for us aiding you in your battle will not be cheap," another one explained.

"You stand to gain one of the largest demonic empires in existence – I do not call that cheap," Voldemort rebuked.

The three demons merely looked at the wizard.

"Your enemy is the Master of Slayer. The one who controls her, controls Power. She also has a vast army at her disposal; our only advantage is that we don't lose much time between our world and yours. Every Elite is worth a thousand demons, and Slayer is worth ten thousand. To fight Slayer is to commit suicide."

"Then why are you here?" Voldemort demanded.

"In a hell dimension, Slayer has no weakness. But this is not a demonic dimension, perhaps here she does. Bring us proof that you have weakened Lady Slayer and we will decimate your enemies."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"If we knew, we would not need you human," the demon said with disdain, "call us when you have proof."

The demons turned to leave and as the other two passed through the third stopped and turned to the wizard, "And if you value your life, do not call if you don't."

As the portal closed the Dark Lord resumed cursing. The boy was completely out of his reach – he wasn't even able to enter Potter's mind anymore ever since Slayer had switched allegiances. Something was protecting the boy's mind, and Voldemort suspected that is was Slayer herself.

Those damn demons! It always comes back to them. I need a spy within Hogwarts…

Voldemort smiled as a plan began to take shape in his mind.

Joyce Summers stared in shock at the enormous castle before her. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Beside her, Giles smiled faintly at the women's reaction knowing that although she intellectually knew about the existence of the supernatural she hadn't experiences much of it up close – that she remembered – other than for vampires.

The two entered the Great Hall and were greeted by Professor Dumbledore, and the other Sunnydale residents – minus Faith. Idly, Joyce looked around to see if she could spot Buffy.

"It is a pleasure to make you acquaintance, Mrs. Summers," Dumbledore said warmly. Giles introduced the Headmaster to Joyce, and then turning to the others, realized that Faith was missing.

"Where is Faith?"

"She went off to try and find Buffy," Willow answered quietly, reliving what she had seen just a few hours before.

You're still telegraphing your punches.

Of course, Willow was overjoyed at the evidence that Buffy might be getting her memory back – but another part of her was furious that it was Faith that she was remembering. Why was it always about Faith? About the Slayer connection they shared?

"I have also asked Harry to come, so hopefully your daughter will be found shortly," Dumbledore said gently, noticing that the Slayer's mother was looking slightly overwhelmed. The group engaged in small talk for a few minutes when they could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Entering the hall was Harry, Valet, Slayer and Faith – the latter two arguing about different battle tactics. Sitting as she was, Joyce was hidden from view by the standing figures of Dumbledore and Giles. Hearing her daughter's voice, Joyce stood quickly and stepped out from behind the two men.

Slayer stopped upon seeing the woman and stared in shock.

Harry groaned and grabbed at his head and Slayer shot forward faster than the eye could follow. Within moments she had a knife trained against Joyce's throat, and her arm was shaking with the effort.

Through gritted teeth Slayer said, "Master, release me from my vow!"

Harry could barely hear his slave through the pain in his head. All of Slayer's emotions were rushing through him, and the anger and pain and sorrow were almost more than he could bear. Faith stood by the kneeling boy wondering what to do. She was afraid that if she made a motion towards the other slayer, Buffy would slit her mother's throat.

Sensing their master's agony, the other five demons appeared and quickly surveyed the situation. Valet was kneeling by his master, trying to find the source of his pain; Slayer had a knife to an older woman's throat; the other humans seemed immobilized from shock and fear. Gawain gasped as he got a better look at the woman's face.

"Katrina?"

The other demons stared at their comrade in shock. All of them knew of the human woman who Slayer had treated as family, and in return had tried to kill her. It was told other members of the Elite as a warning to never trust humans – a demon and human could never be allies – even if they were half-human. But that woman was dead, slain by Slayer's own hand.

"Release me!" Slayer shouted again, and Harry groaned as yet another wave of emotion flooded through him. Valet finally realized the source of his master's pain, and slowly began to chant. Harry felt his thoughts clarify as the pain was swept away. He smiled weakly at his valet, and tried to rise unto unsteady feet. He was surprised to feel a hand haul him up, and even more surprised to see that it was Tuath, Slayer's Shadow. The young demon just smiled brightly and stood guarding his mentor's master.

Clear headed, Harry blanched even whiter as he saw Slayer about to kill a women.

"No!" he shouted and quickly went to Slayer's side. Even though he had felt her emotions – and pain – he didn't know why she was acting the way she was. "Let her go."

Slayer did so immediately, but her muscles shook as she tried desperately to disobey his command. Carefully, Gawain placed a hand on Slayer's shoulder and took a closer look at the women. The resemblance was remarkable, but he could now tell that they were not the same person.

'Slayer, look – this is not Katrina. She is dead, by your own hand."

Understanding dawned in Harry's mind as he recognized the name as the woman who had tried to kill Slayer.

"Indeed, this is Joyce Summers. She just arrived from America to see you," Dumbledore said quietly, hoping not to startle the still shaking demon. Though, the situation had placed several of his fears to rest. It appeared that Harry did have complete control over his demons – for better or for worse.

The rage in Slayer slowly died as she registered what the others were saying. She watched as the woman sat down heavily as her legs could no longer hold her up. Faith slowly walked around Slayer and tried to comfort the distraught woman.

"Who is this woman?" Slayer asked in a deadpan voice.

"This is Joyce Summers…you're mother," Giles replied, giving Joyce a cup of tea that had appeared on the table. The demons exchanged looks as they realized the significance of the statement. A coincidence that the woman Slayer had treated like a mother looked like her birth mother? When is it ever?

"Why is she here?" she said in the same deadpan voice, her face revealing nothing.

"To help you remember who you are, Buffy," Xander said.

Slayer turned and gave her Shadow a pointed look, who nodded and stood closer to Harry. Bowing to Harry, she glared at the humans and disappeared. Harry turned to the others with anger in his eyes.

"Why won't you leave Slayer alone!" he yelled, ignoring the disapproving look Dumbledore threw at him.

"Because she's not Slayer – she's Buffy Summers! She's not a demon – she's human!" Xander yelled back.

'But she doesn't remember that!"

"She's starting to," Faith said quietly, but everyone heard her. The demons stared at the Slayer darkly.

"Why do you say that?" Gawain asked.

"She remembered how I used to fight…before."

Joyce, fairly recovered from her ordeal, looked at her surrogate daughter with hope in her eyes.

"My daughter's remembering…"

The mother's hopeful words hung in the air. So absorbed in their own thoughts, no one – not the demons or Dumbledore – noticed the small white-haired figure listening from his hiding space.

The Dark Lord turned at the squawk of the approaching owl and smiled as he read the contents of the message it carried.

"So…the great Leader of the Elite is nothing more than a human. And the poor thing has lost all memory of her human family and friends," a dark smile grew, "Perhaps I can be of some assistance."

Voldemort ordered for paper and quill and his Death Eaters moved quickly to obey his commands. They had learned from their comrades experiences that being slow meant being dead. Within moments the Dark Lord was writing a new command for his spy and the owl was on its way.

Smiling, Voldemort began to make preparations for the arrival of several guests.

After all, he and his new allies had an assault to plan.

Slayer walked out of the Forbidden Forrest an hour later sweaty and bloody but a great deal calmer after being able to take out her aggression on creatures that her Master didn't have a strange aversion to her hurting them. A voice called out to Slayer and she turned to see a white-haired student leaning against the castle wall smirking at her. At her glare, he tossed her a towel.

"Hogwarts has standards, you know. You should clean yourself up, demon."

Slayer growled, but used the towel as her sweat caused her cuts to sting. With a grunt of thanks she threw the towel back at the smirking student and walked back into Hogwarts. In the back of her mind, the student was familiar but trying to remember the different humans that roamed the castle was not high on the demon's agenda.

Draco Malfoy watched the demon enter the castle, and then whistled. Instantly, a black owl landed on his shoulder. Taking the towel soaked in Slayer's blood and sweat, he wrapped it around the owl's neck and it took off back to its master.

An hour later Slayer, after cleaning herself up, she went in search of her master. Distracted by the events from earlier, Slayer didn't pay much attention to the slight tingling enveloping her body.

Ah, my allies, how good to see you again.

Following the connection with her master, she eventually made her way back to the Great Hall and was surprised that no one – with the exception of Dumbledore – had left the room since earlier even though almost two hours had passed. For some reason, the sight of her master talking with the woman from before filled Slayer with unease. The demon made her way Harry who, sat beside Faith, and knelt before him. Slayer blinked trying to dispel the sudden fog that entered her mind.

In fact, at this moment the spell I cast using Slayer's own blood should be making itself known.

Distantly, she heard Harry call to her but suddenly she couldn't answer him. Her mind was in chaos as it kept flashing from one memory to the next. Within moments, the last hundred years of her life passed before her eyes. A memory from one of her early days of being tortured emerged and Slayer couldn't help the scream that tore through her throat.

This wasn't just any spell – it's a memory spell…what do you think will happen when the human conscious is forced to bear the weight of the demon's crimes?

Harry reached down to Slayer, who was holding her head and chanting 'no' over and over. Faith also knelt down by her sister slayer and touched the blonde gently, hoping she wasn't going to anger the demon. Slayer's body shook under the two different hands as more memories flooded through her mind. Trying desperately to rise above the flood, she grabbed onto the two other presences within her mind.

Excellent! Well then, I do believe we have a massacre to plan.

Faith and Harry gasped as their connections to the blonde flared and for a moment some of Buffy's memories flooded through their minds – childhood, torture, friends, battles, death…

The memories faded as the spell finished and the blonde girl knelt shaking on the floor. Demons and humans surrounded her – asking her if she was okay. Distantly, she heard them and slowly she raised her tearstained face to look at the two people kneeling in front of her. Hazel eyes met two sets of brown and in unison they asked:

"Slayer?" "Buffy?"

TBC

A/N: Hope it was worth the wait (sorry 'bout that)