Hows that for Speed!
I was gonna have a few more filler chapters but I couldn't think of much to put in them, and I didn't really want to write them so they would have taken forever and been really bad, so I thought I'd just get onto the good (I hope) stuff.
Btw, more fight scenes, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I hate them, I'm crap at them, but I still need them in the story.
Chapter 8: Kakistos, Again
I arrived and saw him there, exactly as I remembered him, tall, imposing, butt ugly, and standing over my watcher, ready to start cutting chunks out of him.
"Kakistos" I called with courage I really didn't have.
He turned and smiled, and the smile looked all the worse on that face. I hadn't realised I had done so much damage last time but his eye was gone and then was a long jagged scar down his face where I had dragged the knife to get it out, I think I know why he hates me so much now. "Hermione, so glad you could make it"
"Guess vamp healing ain't all it's cracked up to be" I commented. I swear I saw Snape roll his eyes from where he was on the floor.
"There's that wit again. You didn't sound so big and clever crying out for your last watcher" he smiled when he saw how the comment affected me. I tried to cover up my feelings with a blank mask, but I've never been good at that. "You know," he mused "I'm almost tempted to let you live, just so you can live with the guilt of letting another one die"
"Don't go to any trouble, Snape and I don't get on that well. He doesn't even let me off for late homework because I've been slaying"
Kakistos carried on as if I hadn't spoken. "Who knows, between the two of us we could set a new record for the most amount of watchers assigned to one slayer. Of course, I'm only almost tempted. I think I'd rather just see you dead, but I'm going to have to cut your eyes out first, nothing personal, just revenge"
"Isn't revenge personal?" I asked. I was terrified now and trying not to let it show. Why the hell had I come? It's true; I don't like Snape all that much. I knew he wouldn't thank me, and yet here I was facing down the thing of nightmares, my nightmares for a man who wouldn't even let me hand my homework in late.
He smiled; well it was more of a twisted smirk with a promise of pain really. "Don't kill her, leave that finale to me" he said to the five other vampires in the room. "Just wear her down a bit; I wanna see her sweat first"
I hadn't been expecting this; I wanted to go straight into a fight with him. I was full of fear fuelled adrenaline and I just wanted it to be over. I could take five vampires, and I might even be able to take Kakistos, but I couldn't do both in one night. I was gonna die, and it looked like I was gonna take my potions professor with me.
I can't even remember what happened next. The fight was a blur with me too busy trying to survive to notice what I was doing. I fought them though, I kicked, punched and staked until I was surrounded by five piles of dust and too much of my own blood. There were more vampires around now, but Kakistos had seen enough, he wanted to fight. I was worn out, struggling to catch my breath and bleeding too much. I felt a mixture of fear that he felt the need to have me beaten down before he'd fight me, a pure terror that I was too beaten down to do any more damage to anyone but myself. But I fought him.
It was useless, I went to hit him and he blocked it, he hit me and I flew across the room. At some point in my beating I came to my senses and ran. I ducked into another room; I knew this had been a bad idea. What the hell was I supposed to do now, I didn't have a ten foot stake on me, and I didn't' know how else to kill him. Then something really weird happened. A blonde girl appeared beside me and not just any blonde girl.
"Buffy?" I whispered. She looked as surprised to be there as I was to see her, but neither of us had time to question it.
"You're about to break the first rule of slaying" she whispered to me.
"The first rule?" I asked
"Yeah, don't die. You don't have to be one or the other you know. You can be a slayer and a witch. So get your wand out, stop using it as a multi purpose stake and use your mojo to beat the bad guy" she passed me my knife. The one that Kakistos has used to kill Adrian, it had filled my with disgust to even pick the thing up again, but somehow I knew bringing it tonight was the right thing to do.. "Remember, staking isn't the only way to kill a vampire"
I stared at the knife in my hand for a minute, then my lips curved up as a plan formed. I got my wand out and muttered a quick spell. The knife in my hand grew until it looked more like a sword. "Wish me luck" I said as I rose. I don't know if she replied or if she was gone already but I didn't wait to find out. I came running out at the vampire. He was unarmed and over confident, but he still put up a fight. He batted me into a wall with ease. I lay at the foot as he neared me; I winced as I tried to move the arm that the sword was in. I put all the fear I could muster into my face as he pulled me up so I was standing still at least a foot below him.
"I'm going to enjoy this" he said, he pulled out a small knife if his own, clearly intent on fulfilling his promise about my eyes.
"So am I" I replied as I pulled the sword up and across his neck before he noticed. It seemed he hadn't even realised I was holding the thing. He had enough time for his surprise to turn to anger before he crumpled into ash.
I smiled. His minions had run during the battle, but so had Buffy, as I looked around for her I realised she was nowhere to be seen. I pushed all thoughts of the other slayer out of her mind as I went to help my watcher.
I helped Snape back to his rooms in the dungeon. I had suggested taking him to the hospital wing, but he insisted that as the maker of all her potions he had most of them in his rooms, so there was no need to raise suspicion. He didn't speak to me after that, not even a thanks for facing my worst fear to save his life. Stupid greasy git.
"Hermione?" asked Professor McGonagall. "Where were you during yesterday's transfiguration lesson? And the rest of your lessons that day"
I thought as quickly as I could but was coming up with a blank. I was about to make up a very weak excuse about being ill but not wanting to trouble Madam Pomfrey when something very strange happened.
"That was my fault" said Snape appearing as if from nowhere, or rather whatever shadow he happened to be lurking in, I swear the man would make a better vampire than most of the ones I slay. "As you know I was incapacitated yesterday, but I needed some potions made urgently. Hermione is a 'capable' student" he spat out the word capable. "I assumed she would not make so many mistakes as most of the dunderheads I teach. Of course it turned out I was wrong and I'll have to do them all over again. I should have asked a first year to do it; I probably would have gotten better results"
I tried to hide my smile at this. Snape had actually stood up for me for once. He'd done it his own way and insulted me so nobody actually realised he was doing me a favour, but it's still an improvement. Who knows, one of these days he might be able to do it without the insults.
McGonagall didn't look completely convinced at first but the withering look Snape shot me before disappearing along the corridor seemed to seal it. "Very well" she said to me. "Make sure you catch up on the work you missed"
Left alone in the hall I let the smile out. Snape was not Adrian, I realised that, he would never be, but he was my watcher, and that wasn't a fate worse that death.
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I had this other idea on how Hermione killed Kakistos that I really liked so I just thought I'd tell you. She was gonna throw a stake at him and he was going to be all cocky thinking it wouldn't kill him, then she would put a charm on it to make it grow big enough to kill him. Then I decided it would be better if she killed him with the knife that he used to kill Adrian, just because it has more meaning
Just re read the chapter- it's kinda short-sorry bout that.
On another note, please review!
