The foam dripped slowly down the side of the annoyingly empty glass. He watched it with regret, trying to think about the best way to convince the already suspicious barmaid that he was in fact of legal age to acquire the foamy nectar of the working classes. He glanced up at her, trying to gauge what kind of mood she was in. She met his gaze and he could see a slight roll of her eyes, glancing around almost furtively she took his empty glass and refilled it out of sight of her boss. He smiled at her gratefully and made sure to leave an overly large tip. His smile was returned in a disinterested way and he could tell that she was almost as bored as he was. She was stuck in a dead end job where she got to watch everyone else having a good time while she was running around cleaning out slops; he was stuck with no job watching all his friends having a good time getting ready for college while he was running around cleaning demon-blood off of various weapons. It was a toss up who between the two of them had the rough end of the deal.
He'd decided it was time to take off, to do the whole clichéd American Road Trip thing and see something other than the hell hole that was Sunnydale, he just hadn't quite gotten round to doing anything about it. Story of his life really, he always had big plans but then something always got in the way. And so here he was, sitting in the Bronze, relying on the kindness of the unknown barmaid and the drunkenness of his mother who hadn't noticed the money missing from her purse.
He lifted the refilled glass, marvelling at the way the light filtered through the amber liquid, surely this was the nectar of the gods...or was it ambrosia? Which was the food and which was the drink? He never could remember, maybe he should ask Giles - it was bound to be something the ex-Watcher knew, he tried to file the question away to ask the older man later on but he knew that somehow it would slip his mind - the same as always. Looking around he could see the peculiar mix of patrons in the Bronze. There were the ubiquitous school students who liked to think of the club as theirs. They were clustered around the various tables around the stairwell, trying to hide or ignore the stamps on the backs of their hands giving away their underage status. On the dance floor were the music aficionados, the people who were actually there to listen to whatever band was playing. And then there were the people propping up the bar. Mostly alone, they were almost exclusively in their early twenties and already heavy drinkers. Each of them had the look in their eyes of people with a grudge against life and who were determined to forget that with the aid of hard liquor. He almost smiled at the way they were acting until he realised that he himself fell within that category.
Surveying the room over the rim of the glass, he focused on the door as it swung open. The opener walked into the room as though he owned it. Wearing familiar looking dark clothing, the young man stopped, framed in the doorway, and surveyed the room. The newcomer looked to be around the same age as him, and something about him made the hackles on the back of his neck stand on end. He knew him, or had known him a while ago.
As if feeling Xander's stare, the young man looked directly at him and an electric charge seemed to work its way up Xander's spine. A puzzled look worked its way onto the stranger's face and he began to swagger across he room towards the end of the glass-topped bar where Xander had claimed a seat. The way he carried himself, the self-assured arrogance, tugged at the spark of recognition already formed in his brain. He reached the bar and leaned against it looking straight at him. Xander felt his nostrils flare as the scent of the other man filled the air. That was what proved to be the final trigger and the next thing he knew, Kyle was pawing at his arm and sniffing at his hair. A feral smile worked its way onto Xander's face and he allowed a quiet growl to escape. Kyle instantly pulled away and dropped his head to the side, exposing his neck, subservient. The grin widened and turned into an unnatural laugh. Gradually Kyle joined in the laugh and the other patrons of the bar looked at the two of them curiously. There was something about that laugh - it was animalistic, almost hyena-like.
Hundreds of miles away, in an abandoned storage facility in downtown Chicago, a hooded form stood hunched over a glowing crystal ball. He watched with glee as the parts of his plan began to come together, the summoning was finally working. There was the tinkle of glass from behind him and he spun instantly; a street kid was staring at him with an expression of sheer terror on her face. It was a look he was used to and actively went out of his way to inspire with his appearance. Some demons tried to fit into society, to 'pass' as human but not he. Standing over seven feet tall there wasn't much chance of his getting lost in any crowd. A whimper came from the girl as she took in the sight of his scaled flaky skin, the open weeping sores and the redness of his eyes. This one had potential. A scurry of movement from behind the girl caught his attention, yes, this definitely had potential. Before the hapless girl could even think about screaming he pointed his arm towards her, hand held out palm facing her and called "Nyumba Ya Sanaa!" There was a flash of greenish light in her eyes and she collapsed to the floor. He smirked a little and glided forward to claim his prize. As he lifted the unconscious girl carefully, her nose twitched a little and his smirk widened. He turned and swept out of the warehouse leaving the now motionless body of the de-souled rabbit unheeded on the floor.
By mutual unspoken agreement, Xander and Kyle stood as one and left the club. As they left, the other customers kept their eyes downcast but the scent of their relief at the boys' departure was strong enough to cause the laugh to begin afresh. Once outside, the laughter died away and they looked at each other warily. It had been a long time since they had been pack mates and a lot had changed in the interim. "Of all the gin joints in all the world..."[1] Xander began, a dangerous tone in his voice. Kyle began laughing again and Xander found himself joining in. It was good to be back in the pack again, but something was missing; the sheer abandonment that he remembered, the 'want, take, have' attitude wasn't there. The pack wasn't complete either - Heidi and Rhonda were missing. Xander remembered that Heidi had ended up in the secure unit of the local psychiatric hospital being force-fed narcotics on an hourly basis. Rhonda hadn't been so lucky, she'd remembered everything and couldn't cope, she'd gone for a walk one night and never returned. Her parents still held out hope that she'd make it home but, in a town like Sunnydale, the chances of a defenceless girl returning from a solo late night walk were slim to zero. Quite how Kyle had coped he didn't know, the boy had left Sunnydale immediately after the inquest into the demise of Principal Flutie and Xander had been grateful for that at the time. But now he was back, and so were the feelings that Xander had suppressed for two years now.
No matter what everyone else thought, there had been a part of the hyena left in him after the transference, some kind of subconscious memory that was just waiting for the right time to resurface. He had learned to use the extra senses he seemed to have developed; the predatory instinct had proven useful more than once. It had always been in the back of his mind, never before controlling him. So why was it doing so now?
Something was tugging at his memory, trying to get his attention but there was a hunger building up in him, distracting him, and he knew if they didn't eat something soon they'd likely denigrate into cannibalism. Having barely escaped that fate last time, Xander wasn't exactly keen to experience it this time around. Luckily, or perhaps not depending on your point of view, the Doublemeat Palace was pretty close by and he suggested it to Kyle who nodded eagerly.
"Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?" he asked. Xander looked at him with puzzlement on his face, at least that partly answered the question about where he'd been for the past 24 months. "They don't call it a quarter pounder with cheese?" The other man shook his head, "No man, they've got the whole metric system over there. The wouldn't know what the fuck a quarter pounder was." Despite himself, Xander was intrigued.
"Then what do they call it?"
"A Royale with cheese." [2] Strangely enough, now that he knew the answer he found he really didn't care, neither did he want a burger any more. Willing the hunger away he confronted Kyle and demanded to know what he was doing here, and why the hyena spirit seemed to be rising again. Kyle's eyes glazed over and he seemed to be reading from an internal script, "Very soon he will have summoned an army great enough to launch an assault."[3] His voice was distant, unfocused and as Xander watched him he felt the pull as well. Something wanted them in Chicago; someone was building an army and needed them. He couldn't explain how he knew that; he just knew
[1] Casablanca
[2] Pulp Fiction
[3] Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
The demon swept majestically into his underground lair still carrying the unconscious girl. When he had first arrived in this dimension he had been surprised at the number of forgotten spaces there were. Huge caverns opened out underneath densely populated cities, vast acres of lands were available for anyone who wanted them and yet no one had claimed them. So they had become the domain of Tormanixon, a glamour cast over the entrances had kept people from finding them unless he wanted them to.
Now the caverns and abandoned sewer systems beneath Chicago were filled with cage after cage of beings of all kinds. Mammals seemed to be the easiest prey in this reality and as such he focused his talents on those. Each had their uses, and as he unceremoniously dumped the rabbit-girl he had recently transformed into a dank cage, he reflected that she may prove useful to lure the two remaining predators from his acolyte's botched experiment to him.
Not so long ago, the human who had summoned him to this reality had tried to outsmart the demon and become the most powerful manbeast in history without involving Tormanixon. He had tried to take into himself the spirit of the most vicious breed of hyena. He had failed. The loss of his human acolyte had been vexing; the man's position in the zoo industry had ensured that the demon lord had a ready supply of symbiote minds to transfer. The compromises he'd made had annoyed him initially, still there was something to be said for the sharp mind of the common rat. In addition, as a result of the man's failure, there was the rarest prey of all walking the earth. Beings with the instinct of the predator and the intelligence of the human - the latter being something that Tormanixon usually took great pains to eradicate from his subjects. He could hardly wait until these subjects were fully under his control.
Tormanixon could control the minds of all the creatures he transformed immediately; however these Hyena people eluded him. Not being present for the act of transference was blocking his efforts. He had managed to call the weakest pack member to him immediately after the event but the others were resisting. Never one to give up, the demon had continued in his efforts and had gradually won over the others to the stage where he could compel them to do things without actually controlling them. It was frustrating. But he knew he would win out in the end.
The alpha-male was proving near impossible to bend to his will, however. It was clear that he was feeling the impulse to come to his unknown master but had as yet to succumb to it. Tormanixon had sent the beta-male to spur things along and this seemed to have improved matters and it appeared that they may be on the way to him right now. The demon decided to check in on these two once more and, with a theatrical flourish, produced the crystal ball from a recess in his robe and placed it on an upwards-jutting piece of rock in the centre of the chamber. Almost immediately it glowed with an eldritch light. The caged creatures grew excited as two forms began to coalesce within the sphere. Tormanixon bent closer to hear what they were saying.
He had tried to fight the urge to head to Chicago but with Kyle around it was too strong, he couldn't resist anymore. It was strange but the two of them seemed to be communicating on a non-verbal level - another reminder of the pack days that he wasn't all that keen on reliving. Barely moving his head he nodded towards the beat up car his uncle was leasing him, the one he'd planned on taking around the country. Classic Chevy Bel Air convertible, it was the one cool thing he had, but looking at it now through different eyes he could see the rust patches glaring at him from underneath the polish. Kyle could apparently see the same thing. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"[1] Xander just glared at him and didn't answer. Gliding easily into the car he turned the ignition and kept his fingers crossed mentally that it wouldn't crap out on him. The car roared into life and Xander offered a quick prayer of thanks to the god of car mechanics. Kyle stood, seemingly unwilling to get into the death-trap and Xander snarled, gunning the engine; it never hurt to remind the other man who was in charge here. There was a glimmer of fear in Kyle's eyes as he meekly got into the car and the feral smile was back on Xander's face. He stepped on the accelerator and the ancient tires squealed as the car roared out of the parking lot. They were on their way.
[1] Star Wars: A New Hope
Tormanixon watched with concern, yes they were heading in the right direction but it seemed that there was a problem of sorts. The alpha male seemed to be in two minds about the whole thing, the tenuous control Tormanixon had developed was waning fast and the young man's will seemed to be exerting itself. This had never happened to the demon before and he was more that a little concerned at this new turn of events. A puzzled frown crossed his face, causing freshly healed sores to once again crack open and ooze viscous fluids. He tried to tell himself not to worry, that at least they were heading in the right direction, what could possibly go wrong?
On impulse he decided to ensure that they found their way to him immediately. Glancing around he caught sight of his newest creature stirring in its cage. She was beginning to wake up. Tormanixon swept towards the girl and grinned evilly as she scrabbled back trying to get away from him. She knew she was prey; he'd done well with this one.
Opening the cage he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, tearing free a handful of long bleached white blonde hair as he did so. The girl gasped and immediately went rigid, her eyes darting each and every way; but there was no escape from his grip. Effortlessly he lifted her with one hand and dragged her towards the centre of the chamber to where the crystal ball still rested on the makeshift pediment. Waving his free hand over the glowing sphere he watched as a portal began to form around it. Wind began to whip through the chamber despite the subterranean nature, and lightning sparks grounded themselves on the rusty bars of his captives' cages. The smell of singed hair and burned flesh began to fill the air, confirming to him that these mortals really were as stupid as they looked. Without speaking a word he held the girl/rabbit over the portal and dropped her through. Instantly the portal snapped shut and he again hunched over the crystal ball to see what difference he could make.
A storm seemed to have built up from nowhere, making Xander more nervous than usual. The rational part of his brain told him that being in a car was the safest place to be should lightening strike. However, the rational part of his brain had to shout to be heard over the other part, the hyena part, which was screaming in fear and demanding that he run for cover as soon as possible if not sooner. Luckily for them both the rational side seemed to be winning out at the moment. Of course, that then raised all sorts of questions like: if that part of him was winning out then why exactly was he on the road to Chicago with a boy who had bullied kids for years and who he had always had an intense dislike for? Xander shrugged that question away and concentrated on the road. The last thing they needed was for them to be a hit by a tree blown down by the sudden gale.
He glanced across to the passenger seat to see Kyle apparently taking a nap. The boy was curled up bonelessly in his seat, apparently oblivious to the danger posed by the storm. It had been this way for the past couple of days, Xander doing all the driving and Kyle 'relaxing'. Frustration and anger started to build in Xander, almost more than he could control until he looked back out into the road, swore and swerved. A girl was lying on the blacktop.
The tyres on the old Chevy squealed in protest at the emergency stop, but somehow Xander managed to stop the car ending up in the run-off ditch at the side of the road. Luckily he had his seatbelt on and as inertia dragged him forwards it locked tight, pulling against his chest in a way he knew he was going to be feeling for days.
Kyle hadn't been so sensible however, and the former bully ended up sprawled in the foot well on the passenger side of the car, mewling in obvious pain. Xander couldn't stop the laugh that came automatically from his lips, nor did he especially want to; after everything that had happened Kyle deserved every ounce of pain he got.
Remembering the girl who had caused him to nearly crash the car he couldn't afford the repair bill on, Xander looked around for her wildly. He caught sight of her still lying in the same position as before. After 18 years in Sunnydale, he considered himself pretty much prepared for anything, but something made him take extra care approaching her. The rational side of his brain was again yelling at him; something was definitely wrong with this picture.
She was just lying there, her eyes were open and she was watching him approach. There was something akin to terror in her expression and he paused briefly to wonder at that. The feral part of his mind shrugged it off however; she was prey nothing more. That thought made him stop at the halfway point between the car and the girl. Prey? What made him think that?
Seeing him stop with a look of bewilderment on his face the girl took the opportunity to make a run for it. She didn't get far, however. Unnoticed by either of them, Kyle had snuck around to cut off the most likely escape route. He grabbed wildly at her and she tried to kick out at him in between his blows. She suddenly went limp and Xander felt his heart stop at the thought she might be dead, but then her head dropped to the side and he could see her eyes. She was still alive but clearly petrified; she looked like a rabbit caught in the glare of oncoming headlights. The thought came to him by instinct and he knew that the choice of phrasing had been no mistake.
He looked up to see Kyle looking at him expectantly. Racking his memory he dredged up the question the other man had asked, what next?
"Follow the white rabbit."[1] He replied enigmatically, as Kyle carried the motionless girl towards the car.
Once she was safely bundled inside, Xander slid in behind the driver's seat once more. The storm seemed to have abated somewhat and it seemed safe enough to move on. He couldn't help but think the girl's arrival and the freak meteorologucal events were connected but he seemed to be finding it more and more difficule to follow a through to it's obvious conclusion. The hyena was getting stronger; he could feel it
[1] Matrix
Tormanixon chuckled with delight. He had not only been dead set with his targeting, but the boys had fallen for it. They'd taken the girl into the car and were using her to get them to where they needed to be. The only slightly negative aspect of the current plan was that he had no choice but to use a subservient prey animal to do his bidding and there was a good chance the animal instinct would take over. With the inner turmoil of the alpha-male Tormanixon was fairly confident that it wouldn't prove too much of a problem, at least not until they drew closer to his own sphere of influence. And if it did? Well, there was no shortage of other subjects in the cages beneath Chicago. He'd simply send them another guide.
After what must have been hours but felt more like days, Xander pulled the car over to the side of the road and got out of the car. Over the past couple of days he'd started smoking, a horrible habit he knew but it served to keep his mind off other things. Sitting on the bonnet of the car he took a deep drag from the Camel and noted with regret that there weren't very many left in the pack. They'd have to stop at a convenience store before too much longer.
The sun was just setting and they were nearing their destination but still the argument raged on inside his own head. One side of him wanted nothing more than to get to the shadowy caves he'd seen in his mind's eye; the other side of him was standing back and asking why. To his chagrin, the rational side of him sounded an awful lot like Giles. As the time had gone on it had been getting easier to ignore the rational side which worried him. That was the part of him which had convinced Kyle that it was easier to stop at diners for food rather than hunt. If the feral side of him won the internal battle there was no telling what would happen to them both. A quick glance backwards at the passengers only underscored that. The girl they'd found on the road was perched on the edge of the back seat staring straight ahead with a terrified expression on her face. The very fact that when he'd originally seen her he'd automatically branded her prey meant that he'd been especially careful to keep Kyle and himself fed; it would be too easy to give in to the predator/prey instincts that were screaming at him.
They had been driving for days now and the cynical part of him noted that at least he was getting the road trip thing done in record time. From one coast to the other they had travelled but not one tourist attraction had even tempted them to stop. All those missed opportunities - he knew that if he ever truly woke up to himself he'd regret them, but right now he didn't care. The one thing his schizophrenic brain agreed on was the need to get this over with as quickly as possible.
Movement from the passenger seat drew his attention away from his inner turmoil and back to the matter at hand. He looked at Kyle disdainfully, unable to keep the sneer from his face. It was clear that the boy was facing no dilemma over his actions at all. Xander wished that for once he could see things as plainly as Kyle obviously could; but then where they be? Probably in Chicago a darned sight sooner that this, his inner voice replied. He shook his head roughly, trying to clear the renegade thoughts from his brain, and throwing the cigarette butt into the ditch beside him he climbed back behind the wheel.
"It's 106 miles from Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses." He turned the key in the ignition again, sparing a glance at the girl in the back seat. To his surprise she leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Hit it."[1]
He grinned at her through the rear-view mirror and floored it. The tyres squealed and left a long streak of rubber on the cracked blacktop.
Jen had never been so scared in all her life. First of all some creepy guy with half a face had done something to her and the next thing she knew she was falling from the sky and landing hard on the highway. A car had narrowly missed her and then the occupants had abducted her! She was seriously beginning to regret running away from home. It had seemed like such a cool idea and then she'd gone to the city and things hadn't worked out quite so well. Not only had she gotten lost but also she kept getting kicked out of squats - who knew there was a code amongst the homeless?
She'd finally found a bunch of warehouses that were completely empty and she'd moved in. And then she'd come back one day to find this freakazoid creep in her space! She'd dropped the bottle she'd scammed from the 7-11 and then he'd shouted something at her. She didn't remember very much after that, just a kind of fog across her mind that made it hard to concentrate. All she wanted to do was get away from the freakazoid. And then when these two men had picked her up she knew she was in real trouble. Her daddy had warned her about the kind of men who picked up girls at the side of the road, a nasty voice in her head Jen thought that maybe her daddy knew so much about the sleazes of the world because he was one.
The fuzziness in her head made it really hard for her to think though, so she'd sat quietly in the back of the car. She just wanted to get back to Chicago and she thought she could hear the voice of the freakazoid telling her that was exactly what she needed to do. Neither of the sleazy guys had tried anything though - the one in the passenger seat just seemed to sleep all the time and the driver, Xander his name was - she thought that was a really funny name but hadn't said anything about it, just looked really angry at something, himself probably.
He stopped the car every now and then for a smoke and Jen thought that was pretty gross. At least he wasn't smoking in the car or anything but hadn't he seen any of those health ed films they showed at school? If he knew what those things did to him then she was sure he wouldn't do it. And then she'd looked at him and realised he had a lot more to worry about than the Big C. He met her eyes for a brief second and it was almost like she could see two people in there. One of them looked really worried and confused - and she knew that feeling intimately! - and the other looked really scary, like he wouldn't think twice about breaking her neck like they did to those monsters on that TV show her friends had watched on Tuesday nights. Her daddy hadn't let her watch it though, said it was too adult for her, but she'd seen it a couple of times anyway - some girl killed monsters for a living. Jen had thought it was okay, but to hear her friends talk you'd think this was the best thing since sliced bread!
He finished his latest smoke and threw it away, so not only was he killing himself but he was littering as well! If she hadn't been so scared she'd have told him off for that! As he walked back round to the driver's side and climbed in it suddenly struck her that she didn't need to be scared of him. She didn't really get why, maybe it was because it looked as though the worried version of him was the one looking at her right now. Whatever the reason was, she made the decision to trust him. The other guy seemed about to wake up and Xander said something about being pretty close to Chicago, he'd looked at her then and on impulse she leaned forward and spoke just to him. "Hit it." And he did
[1] Blues Brothers
The car rolled slowly into a heavily industrialised area of downtown Chicago. Jen had given him directions, but as they drew nearer to their goal he found he didn't need them. It was like there was some kind of homing beacon calling them in. Over the last 100 or so miles Xander had continued his struggle with his inner demons, for the moment the rational (Giles-like) part of him had the upper hand and he was fairly confidant he could keep it that way. Since their last pit-stop something seemed to have changed. Kyle had grown even quieter than before and conversely Jen had livened up a bit, at least to the extent where she'd spoken to him. There was something about her, a kind of vulnerability that just made Xander want to protect her.
He'd always had this impulse to look out for people who didn't seem able to handle themselves all that well; it was a part of him that he'd almost forgotten about in the past couple of years. It was what had gotten him in trouble in the first place, looking out for Lance had put him in the hyena house at just the wrong time All of the people he had surrounded himself since then with were more than capable of looking out for themselves now, and his self-imposed role of protector of the weak was laughable when you compared him to Buffy. But the Slayer wasn't here, it was just him, and he took it on himself to look out for this little lost girl. Somehow he knew that was the key to beating back the animal instinct in him. This innate 'Xander-ness' was stronger than anyone, himself included, gave him credit for.
There was a gasp from Jen in the backseat and he glanced up to see her staring wide-eyed at the warehouse directly in front of them. Looking to his right he saw Kyle sitting bolt upright as well. This was the place, no doubt about it.
Applying the brakes gently, knowing he'd put the old car through a lot of abuse in the last few days, he let it roll gently to a stop. Killing the engine he remained sitting, looking out at their goal. Something wasn't right, it was as though there was a voice in the back of his mind screaming to get his attention. There were no words there, just impulse and he knew he had to fight it. Without warning Kyle bolted from the car and ran for the entrance to the darkened building yelling out "They're he-ere!"[1] Swearing under his breath Xander followed him, not looking to see if Jen was with him, he knew she would be - the call was too strong.
He skidded to a stop at the door of the warehouse, there was an eerie green light coming from beneath it - never a good sign. Jen slammed into him; apparently she'd been so intent on getting inside that she hadn't seen him stop. He looked down at her and saw a strange thing in her eyes; it was like looking into a mirror of his own thoughts. She was clearly trying to stop herself from going into the warehouse and wasn't quite winning. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one in two minds about this then!
Motioning for Jen to stand back, he threw open the door fully expecting to see Kyle on the other side. The boy wasn't there however; in fact the warehouse itself didn't seem to be there. Where it should have been was a large green glowing sphere of light, lightening flashes coming from it and grounding themselves on the door surround. With a yelp he jumped back before he was struck. Jen was standing behind him wide-eyed and obviously more than a little freaked by what was going on.
His mind was racing, where the hell did Kyle go? Going through that doorway seemed like the worst idea in the history of bad ideas; surely he hadn't done it? Looking down at Jen again, he could see she was having real trouble holding herself back from going through. It looked as there was no other choice, and despite the lightening strikes, he didn't think either of them would come to any kind of harm doing it. Still, he wasn't too keen to take Jen through there into the unknown.
Decision made, Jen looked up to see him watching her with concern in her eyes. She forced a steely expression on her face and nodded with determination. Without a word they stepped through the sparking doorway and into the sphere of light.
Somehow she wasn't quite so frightened any more. The creepy voice she'd been hearing in the back of her mind seemed to be fading away a little, or maybe it was just getting easier to ignore with Xander around. All her life she'd meekly followed anyone who told her what to do, even when she ran away it was because her best friend Stacy was going to do it as well, only Stacy hadn't come. Part of her knew that Xander wouldn't let anything hurt her if he could do anything about it so she was happy to do whatever he said.
He took her hadn and she nodded that she would go with him. They stepped forward into what had been the warehouse. The weird looking ball of light surrounded them both and she thought she could hear someone calling her name, they sounded scared
[1] Poltergeist
The voices in his head were shouting at him, they were begging him for help but he couldn't see them, he couldn't help them. Frustration boiling up in him, the only thing that kept him grounded was the grip the girl, Jen, was keeping on his hand. Without someone here he knew he'd be lost and the feral part of his brain tried to encourage him to let go, to lose himself. Somehow, in this place and in this time it was easier to listen to that part of him. He looked down at the small hand gripping his own and snarled, she was prey, she just didn't know it yet.
Jen felt his grip getting tighter and she looked up at him, his eyes were glowing with a creepy light and he had a teeth-filled sneer on his face. He was actually making the kind of noise she'd only ever heard the rabid dog her daddy had killed make. It was definitely a growl, but the menace in it sent ice-cold shivers up her spine. The fear was back but she knew she couldn't let go of his hand, she couldn't get through this without him and she had the strange feeling that the same was true in reverse.
So she froze; it was an innate instinct, if she didn't move then maybe he wouldn't either. Suddenly it felt as though they were falling, she braced herself, remembering the pain she'd felt when she'd fallen onto the road.
The floor seemed to drop away from beneath his feet and Xander suddenly felt as though they were plummeting towards the earth at an incredible rate. He tried to prepare himself to tuck and roll but he had no idea when they'd hit a solid surface.
Within the seconds the ground came rushing up to meet them; he landed painfully and the wind was knocked out of him. He kept hold of the girl's hand though; there was no way he was letting this prey get away from him now.
The ground beneath them felt cold and wet as he lay there trying to get his breath back. Rocks littered the area around him and he could tell from the pain in his side that he'd landed on at least one of them. Standing slowly, it still hurt to breathe - he thought it might be a broken rib, he looked around to get his bearings. Definitely a cave of some sort, underground from the chill but other than that he had no idea.
A noise from beside him, a whimper almost, and he spun around to see Jen cowering on the floor, her hand was locked in his like a death grip. The terror in her eyes coupled with the sharp pain from his side brought him back to himself. He had lost control, again.
Despite the pain, he forced a reassuring smile onto his face, hoping that she'd see the difference. She didn't move for a second and he panicked as he thought that maybe she'd injured herself in the fall; but then she stood, still a little wary and joined him in surveying their surroundings. A gasp escaped her as she recognised it, this was the place the freakazoid had kept her locked in a rusty cage. She spun round quickly, yes there were the cages. Xander followed her gaze and the shock was clear on his face. Stretching back as far as the eye could see and then further was cage after cage. Each of them holding at least one person, but there was something not right about them. Every single one of them had an eerie green glow in their eyes, and as they felt his gaze rest on them they grew agitated, rattling the bars of their confinement. They were strangely quiet otherwise, only adding to the eerieness of the situation.
In the centre of the makeshift jail stood an inordinately tall robed figure. Demon. Had to be. The thing had its back to them and seemed to be chanting the same phrase over and over again "Nyumba Ya Sanaa; Nyumba Ya Sanaa; Nyumba Ya Sanaa." The words echoed in Xander's head and he recognised the voice as being the one that had called him from the other side of the country.
Having a face, or rather a back, to put to the voice seemed to release something in Xander's mind. All this time he'd thought he was struggling with himself, when it turned out that he was fighting against a demon. That much he could handle. He dropped Jen's hand and moved into a fighting stance, this thing was clearly much bigger than he was but it couldn't know that Xander had been fighting alongside the Slayer for three years, could it?
A niggle of doubt began to work it's way into his mind and when Jen again cowered behind him for protection he cursed himself for bringing her along. Okay so maybe he wasn't going to get out of this alive but to risk someone else like this was unforgivable!
The demon still hadn't shown any signs that it was aware of their presence yet. It just stood chanting over and over again; he felt like the words should mean something to him, but they didn't. He couldn't explain it to himself but it was almost as though when he'd seen the demon standing there, part of himself that he'd fought against had drained out of him.
Enough stalling, he decided, it was time to take the fight to the demon. He signalled to Jen to start opening cages and, despite the terror in her eyes, she agreed meekly. He crept up behind the demon, trying to avoid making any noise at all when suddenly a shape came flying our at him from a darkened corner of the cave. Knocked to the floor again, the pain from his damaged ribs flared from a dull ache into a raging torrent of agony. He saw blackness at the edge of his vision and knew he was close to passing out.
Tormanixon watched through the crystal ball as the alpha-male and the rabbit arrived behind him. He showed no signs of awareness, rather he began the chant to seal the animal transference permanently. The male had been injured in his abrupt arrival into the central chamber although he seemed to be desperately trying not to let it hinder him at all. When he dropped into the chamber it seemed that the transference had taken full effect and the human spirit was gone. Within seconds however, the gleam was gone from his eyes and the ever so human emotion of self-doubt was back.
The demon watched, fascinated, as his newest subjects took in their surroundings. Over the years his collection had grown to the extent where even he could no longer keep track of the number of subjects he had under his control. The girl began moving around opening the cages and releasing the captives, Tormanixon wasn't worried however, no matter how many there were he still had them all well and truly cowed.
Still chanting, with the vague hope that the act of transference might yet work, he watched as the alpha-male slowly stalked towards him. No choice in the matter, Tormanixon summoned the beta-male. Perhaps now would be the perfect time for a power struggle within the pack structure. Losing the abilities of the alpha-male would be vexing, but Tormanixon had overcome worse obstacles in his path. The other male appeared instantly, tackling the alpha and knocking them both into an ugly sprawl. The demon laughed cruelly as the pain etched itself onto the alpha-male's face. This was going to be a short fight.
Xander curled into a defensive ball to get away from his attacker. The blackness around his vision was seriously impairing his judgement but he fought against unconsciousness desperately. It was Kyle, Xander swore at himself for having forgotten about the boy so quickly. His eyes were glowing and Xander somehow knew that there was very little of Kyle left in there; he was mostly animal now.
He twisted his head around frantically, trying to spot anything he could use as a weapon. What he saw made him wish he hadn't looked. The creatures, he couldn't bring himself to call them human any longer, that Jen had released were steadily advancing on him with murder in their eyes. Kyle's hand lashed out and scored three deep scratches down the side of Xander's face. He rolled away from the other boy and struggled to his feet. Kyle came at him swinging and managed to land a couple of punches that should have had Xander reeling, but he was running on adrenaline now and the other boy didn't seem to actually have any strategy, he was content just to keep swinging for the moment. Xander dodged this way and that, only retaliating when there was no obvious way out of a frenzied attack.
Waiting, ignoring the sounds of the others closing in on him and trying not to worry about Jen, he watched warily as Kyle prepared for another attack. He could see what the boy was going to do probably before Kyle even realised it. Kyle came at him, a low growl coming from deep within his throat, he swung wildly with his left and tried to follow up with a jab from the right but his target was no longer there. Xander had side-stepped quickly and come around to use the violence of Kyle's attack against him. He let the boy swing again and used the momentum of the punch to propel him forwards, straight into the rockface.
He danced back a few steps, preparing for the next onslaught. Kyle snarled at him and was preparing to leap. Xander didn't give him the opportunity however, putting all his strength behind it he aimed a kick at Kyle's head and the boy went down instantly. Out for the count.
A pain-filled howl instantly filled the chamber. It was deafening and seemed to be coming from all sides at once. Clutching his hands over his ears, Xander looked around wildly for the source. The demon was hunched over Kyle's prone body and wailing; and then it struck Xander, all of the other manimals had stopped in their tracks and were either howling along with their demon master or were clutching at the sides of their faces. Gradually the howl changed pitch, became more human and the voices he's heard begging him for help came back - it had been the demon's captives! Puzzled for a second, Xander noticed the eldritch green light was fading from the area around them, it seemed to be shrinking into an area around the demon and Kyle. That was when he spotted the shards of broken glass on the ground. Apparently when he'd dropped Kyle, he'd knocked the boy into some kind of magickal glass thing.
The demon sure seemed to think it was a big deal and finally Xander put two and two together, that must have been how it had been controlling the animals in the cave. Without the crystal he was on his own. Xander looked around him cautiously, not letting his guard down for a second. Those people nearest him looked a bit dazed and confused sure, but they looked like people again. Nearer the demon however, they still retained their feral nature and Xander thought that might be that case so long as the demon survived.
Steeling himself, knowing what he had to do, he stepped forward picking up a large chunk of rock as he did. The wailing began to subside as the demon tried to gather its strength, but it was clear that without the props it was nothing. Sprawled on the floor it looked up at him and mumbled something under it's breath. It sounded something like "Nyumba Ya Sanaa" but he couldn't be sure. For a second, Xander felt pity for the creature, but then he looked around at the dank cages and the terrified expressions on the slowly reawakening kids around him. No room for compassion here, he raised the rock above his head and brought it down with all of his might. Again. Again. The demon twitched a little and then all movement stopped.
By the time Xander dropped the rock, there wasn't much left that was recognisable. Nor was there much left of his rage. He looked around him but most of the kids had made a run for it. He couldn't blame them, he must look pretty awful with demon blood dripping from his arms and splattered across his body.
Taking a deep, pain filled breath, he turned to leave. A rattling of metal from behind him caught his attention however, and he turned to see where the noise had come from. In a dark corner, there was one occupied cage. Jen! He rushed across and unlocked the catch. She came flying out of it at high speed and grabbed him a huge bear hug. The pain was excruciating but he'd never felt better in his life! She explained how she'd gotten so scared when the captives had turned on her that she'd locked herself away and then she couldn't get out again, could he take her with him when he left? He laughed at that, as if he could leave anyone behind in a place like this! But then he saw the edge of fear in his eyes and he mentally kicked himself, she was still frightened of him and after what he had just done to the demon he wasn't surprised. He looked her straight in the eyes and told her everything was going to be okay, she didn't have to worry. An idea began to form in his mind, she was a street kid and he knew of a few places that would take her in back home, at least then he could keep an eye on her. "In fact, if you've nowhere better to be you can come back to Sunydale with me. How would you like that, Jen?" She smiled up at him, the fear completely gone from her eyes and he realised she was actually quite cute with that long near-white hair.
"Sounds good! Just one thing, my real friends don't call me Jen." He cocked his eyebrow.
"Oh? What do they call you then?"
"Sunday."