Birthday Bash 2019 Prompt 5

15. Crossover

Haru grunted in pain as she was slammed against a tree deep within the woods, and two golden snakes shot out like bullets to start wrapping around both her and the tree to hold her fast. Their bodies were impossibly long for how narrow their bodies were, but physics were merely suggestions to their creator.

"This will be the last day of your life, puny mortal," the white-haired demon sneered at her, but she was already shaking off the discomfort.

As sad as it sounded, she was even used to the snake heads hissing dangerously, one to each ear.

"You feel like taking bets on how many of your snakes are going to die tonight?" she asked with a surprisingly indifferent tone. "It's a Tuesday, so I'm guessing three."

The tall blue-skinned being bristled angrily before taking slow menacing steps until they were nearly nose to nose. "Will you take this more seriously?! I have the power to drag you down to the gulfs of misery and endless woe!"

"So do my college professors," Haru answered like she didn't care, hoping that Hiromi would find her at any second. "Do we really want to go through the whole routine tonight? I'll buy if you're up for ice cream instead."

His eyes were now literally blazing with blue fire. "I do not eat ice cream. I am not some mere professor. I am a demon, and you will learn to fear me if it's the last thing I beat into you!"

"Are you certain of that?" a new voice asked from the other side of the tree that Haru was bound to.

Haru wasn't stupid enough to look away from whatever demon was currently threatening her, so she literally had a front row seat to when Apollo turned his flame-filled eyes away from her to look at the intruder. Even the snake heads turned where they were posed and gave hisses that almost sounded like screams of absolute terror.

The blue fire immediately went out, revealing a very naked fear in Apollo's silvery eyes. "G-Gikkingen!" he gasped, stumbling backward from his victim like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"My my. What questionable circumstances I've come across, and on my first visit to the surface in over a century."

Haru was insanely curious as to why someone with that polite of a British accent would strike such fear into a demon that made a habit of kidnapping her once or twice a week for the past month. But she still kept her eyes on Apollo, enjoying his panic for the moment.

"Why don't we cut a deal?" the new voice asked as gentle footsteps drew closer and closer. "You release the young lady and start running. If you're nowhere to be found on this continent in ten minutes, I won't hunt you down."

Apollo gave a strangled cry and immediately held his hand out for his equally hysterical snakes.

They unwrapped from Haru and shot towards their master, each one wrapping around one arm and part of his chest until they resembled an intricate body tattoo. That didn't keep them from shaking and whimpering like dogs that were about to be whipped

Apollo didn't waste a second before dissolving into a pillar of blue flame, which faded away until nothing and no one was there at all.

Haru would have collapsed to her knees if a steady hand didn't catch her by the elbow and shoulder.

"I hope you won't judge all demons by Apollo, miss. But I am quite impressed with how well you kept your head."

Haru managed a small scoff before looking up at the demon that had nearly made her regular tormentor faint from terror.

… For a demon, he wasn't half-bad. Just a man that had a cat's head and dressed like an old-fashioned gentleman. No, he had a tail too. Maybe he was a cat hybrid? There was even a bit of fur peaking from between his long sleeves and gloved hands.

She looked him up and down before asking the inevitable as she steadied herself with his assistance. "So, do I say 'thank you' or find out what you're about to wrap me into?"

He started in surprise. "What? Why would I… How did you maintain your calm when faced by Apollo? I've seen humans flee and bleat like sheep at far less than what he did to you just now."

Well, there wasn't much of a chance of keeping him from finding out at the rate his curiosity was going.

"My sister's the Slayer. Well, best friend that's practically my sister," Haru corrected herself with a wry smile, forcing herself to stand on her own two feet. "Almost every demon, vampire, and unholy beast of the night since high school's been using me for bait, blackmail, intimidation, one brain-washing that Hiromi was able to snap me out of, you name it."

His large green eyes grew wider in understanding. "Ah. You're that one. I should have known." He took a few steps backward in order to give her a grand bow. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Haru." Even after he stopped bowing to her, the tabby feline kept his top hat to his heart in a tender salute. "I am pleased to report that your name is being used as an expletive by the demons that survive the thrashing the Slayer provides to anyone that threatens you."

"I tried to warn them," Haru insisted through a naughty smile, though she was secretly wondering what to do from here. She had occasionally met a decent vampire, a shapeshifter that knew how to respect a simple 'no', but a demon?

The cat demon only laughed at her statement. "It takes a rare demon to heed a warning that he doesn't want to hear, especially since your sarcastic reputation appears to be completely deserved. Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and I have zero intention of causing you harm or distress."

Haru cocked her head and decided to go for it. "A pleasure to meet you, then. Will you mind if I ask why you decided to visit topside?"

He gave her a sheepish smile. "I got bored. My pocket dimension in the Underworld is such that I almost never feel the urge to go and poke around other demons, let alone topside." Then his smile turned just a shade wicked. "For some reason, the other demons very much prefer for me to stay in my dimension. They seem to feel that I disrupt the natural order of their work."

That could either be good or bad, Haru concluded. He must be extremely powerful to only need the threat of becoming irritated to send Apollo running with his forked tail between his legs. But he was being extremely courteous to her, and all the little danger signals her body could pick up were serenely silent. She didn't even have to pretend that her heart rate was normal.

"How about I take you for some ice cream instead of Apollo?" she invited, even though she wasn't sure that intentionally staying around a demon was the smartest thing to do. "I owe you that much for helping me skip the regular routine."

His amazing green eyes lit up happily as he returned his hat to its perch. "I would be delighted. Have humans figured out how to make more than vanilla and chocolate since my last visit?"

Haru stared at him, slowly grabbed one of his hands, and guided him out of the woods to the road of enlightenment. "Yes."

xxXxx

A/N; This is one of the ideas that I had after watching musical clips from the Buffy episode 'Once More With Feeling'. I've never sat down and watched the show, but Dawn looked like she was as standard a damsel in distress as you can get, with a dose of annoying on the side. But then I thought about how often Dawn probably got kidnapped thanks to being associated with Buffy, and I thought this would be a very funny way to show that certain clichés really can get overused.