Harry Potter and the Other Slayer by TruSlayer
Chapter 5: Becoming - Part Three
Previously:
"Let me guess," Spike said, "Someone pulls out the sword..."
"Someone worthy..." Angelus cut in.
"The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues," Spike finished.
"He will swallow the world."
"And every creature living on this planet will go to Hell," Angelus added.
Angelus walked up to Acathla for a closer look and turned to Spike and Drusilla, "My friends... we're about to make history... end."
SUNNYDALE HIGH - LIBRARY
"Damn," Giles muttered as he slammed the phone down on the receiver in his office. He walked out into the main room to find Buffy, Kendra and Tom at the table waiting for news.
"I've been on the phone to the museum," Giles announced, gaining everyone's attention, "The artifact in question is missing, and the curator has been murdered."
"Vampires?" Tom asked, standing up from the table.
"So it would seem," Giles replied.
"Are you sure that this was the tomb of alfalfa?" asked Buffy, as she stood beside Giles.
"Acathla," corrected Giles, "And yes, the information provided by Kendra's watcher seems conclusive."
Willow, who was researching behind the library counter, walked back into the main room and asked, "Okay, somebody explain the whole 'he will suck the world into Hell' thing, because that's the part I'm not loving."
"Well, the, uh," Giles explained as he put on his glasses, and sat on the table, "the Demon Universe exists in a dimension separate from our own. With one breath, Acathla will create a vortex, a-a kind of, um... whirlpool that will pull everything on Earth into that dimension, where any non-demon life will suffer horrible and... eternal torment."
"I've been doing some research on the subject and found a reference to Acathla's final battle," Tom mentioned as he held up a dusty tome, "The translation is a bit sketchy, but the point gets across. Apparently, Acathla was in the act of creating a portal to hell, one that would grow until it consumed the planet and all of it's inhabitants. Fortunately for us, a knight, a champion for the Powers that Be at the time, came forth and killed the demon before the portal could be created. But should Acathla be revived, he will open the portal, and all of the Earth will be consumed."
"So that would be the literal kind of 'sucked into Hell'. Neat," Buffy smiled nervously, she said, "Tom, I think you should try the curse."
"I tend to side with your friend Xander on this one," Kendra stated, "Angel should be eliminated."
"Oh, I'll fight him. I'll kill him if I have to," replied Buffy, "But if I don't get there in time, or if I lose, then Tom might be our only hope."
Clearly taken aback, Tom stepped in, "I don't think that would be very wise, Buffy. I've gone over the curse several times and I have rarely seen such a complex ritual. The rite itself is not the problem, but the magicks that I would be channeling are not exactly known for being reliable, there's just too much room for error. We need a backup plan, should all else fail."
"We have," Kendra said as she withdrew a sword from her bag, "Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon. If all else fails, this might stop it. I tink."
"Ooh. May I?" Giles asked as Kendra handed him the sword, "Thank you. Well, let's, uh, hope all else doesn't fail. Tom, how close are you to figuring out the ritual of the curse?"
"I've read most of the curse, but I'll need about a day to get all of the things we need for the ritual and...Willow, what was the main component of the spell?"
"An 'Orb of Thesulah'?" Willow replied, with the ritual in hand, "Whatever that is."
"Spirit vault for rituals of the undead," Giles answered as he handed back the sword to Kendra, and began to stride over to his office, "I've got one. I've been using it as a...paperweight."
Returning into the room with the orb in his hands, "Angel has a ritual of his own to preform before he can remove the sword and awaken Acathla. With any luck, it should take some time."
As Giles placed the orb on the table, Buffy and Tom could only stare into its depths.
ANGELUS' MANSION
"Spike."
Not wanting to be caught on his feet, Spike quickly sat back down in his wheelchair as steps sounded coming toward the room.
"Spike, my sweet!" Drusilla exclaimed as she came through the portieres that were covering the doorway, "The fun's about to begin."
He wheeled himself into the main room to find two of the fledges dragging a barefoot, bare-chested young man, with his hands bound, in front of Angelus.
"It's about time," Angelus groaned, annoyance evident in his tone, "It took a half-hour for the two of you to find one measly sacrifice? What, you need Dru to hold your hand next time?"
Spike could have snickered at the faces that the two fledglings made, so full of fear. He had told those two, as he had told every recruit, "You don't want to piss off Captain Forehead, it may just be the last thing you ever do."
As the fledges shuffled away, Angelus started the ritual.
"I will drink... the blood will wash in me, over me, and I will be cleansed. I will be worthy to free Acathla," Angelus chanted as he approached the young man.
"Bear witness..." He said, looking at Spike.
"As I ascend..." Turning to Drusilla, shifting into his game face.
"As I become," Facing the boy, he picked him up and bit hard at his neck, tasting his blood. Then, he pushed him to the ground, brushing his hand against the boy's wound, smearing blood on it.
"Everything that I am, everything that I have done, has led me here." Angelus continued his chant as he crept up to the stone demon, "I have strayed, I have been lost. But Acathla redeems me. With this act, we will be free."
With both hands, Angelus clutched the hilt of the sword. The moment that his skin made contact with the leather handle, a blinding light emanated from the sword, making Angelus shake from the power of the sword.
Angelus attempted to yank the sword out, but as soon as he did, a bright red flame burst from the sword, throwing Angelus back and onto the floor.
"Someone wasn't worthy," Spike mocked in a sing-song tone.
"Damn it!" Angelus hollered as he scrambled to his feet.
In the corner of the room, Drusilla was bugging out, moaning, "This is so...disappointing!"
Angelus started to pace furiously, "There must be something I missed. The incantations, the blood...I don't know!"
Spike could only suppress his snicker, and put his hand over his mouth.
"What are we going to do?" Drusilla whined.
"What we always do in a time of trouble: turn to an old friend," Angelus said menacingly, "We'll have our Armageddon. I swear!"
SUNNYDALE HIGH
"When you say she sacrificed herself..."
"I mean, she walked into my classroom, in broad daylight," Buffy replied to a skeptical Tom, "and lit up like a christmas tree. She said something about people dying if I don't go to him, tonight."
"Now, Buffy I don't..." Giles tried to reason with her.
"Giles," Buffy rebuttled, "she said more would die, I have to go."
Kendra picked up the crossbow on the table and replied, "Then I shall go wit you."
"No, I need you here just in case. Both of you," Buffy said, glancing at Tom, then in a quiet voice, "I can take care of myself. And look, as long as Angel is fighting me, then he cannot do this end-of-the-world-ritual thingy, and thats a good. Tom, what do you think?"
"I just want to crosscheck-"
"We don't have time," Buffy insisted, "If this is gonna work it has to work now."
"Alright," Tom replied, "Once we're all set up, I'll need a half hour at the most."
"Which means you just have to hold Angel off," Giles supplied, looking through the shelves, "Don't let him close on you. If the curse succeeds you...you'll know."
LATER
"Quod Perditum est invinator."
"Not dead, nor not of the living, Spirits of the interregnum, I call," Tom chanted, pouring all of his energies into the orb.
Around Tom, everyone was standing guard. Willow and Xander were watching from the stairs. Cordy was burning the incense for the ritual. Giles was hanging onto Tom's every syllable, ready to stop him if something went wrong. Kendra, was idly watching from her post at the front door, with a crossbow in hand.
"Let him know the pain of humanity. Gods, reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the swo-"
Xander suddenly was tackled to the floor as a vampire blind-sided him from behind.
All at once, vampires started to storm the library. Fist went flying in all directions. All but Tom, who seemed to still be in a trance, staring blankly at the glass orb.
From behind, a vampire knocked Tom to the floor, severing the connection and bringing Tom back to reality.
With sudden realization, he reached into his boot and soon enough, Tom reduced the vampire to a dust pile. Assessing the damage, Tom saw that Willow and Giles were both unconscious, Xander was holding a broken wrist, and Kendra was holding off three vamps at once.
In lightning fast movements, Tom ducked to the floor and leg sweeped one of the vamps on Kendra, and staked him from the floor.
Then, a clapping of hands caught everyone's attention, and Tom was less than thrilled to find out who they belonged to.
"Enough," Drusilla commanded the other vampires, entering the room.
In another show of speed, Tom vaulted over the heads of the other vamps and swung a kick at Drusilla's head, which she caught with one hand.
"Naughty, naughty slayer," taunted Drusilla as she gripped his ankle with her other hand and threw him head first into the wall.
Darkness immediately overcame him...