The Seventh SlayerBy Kantayra
Chapter TwelveWith lightning-quick reflexes she hadn’t even known she’d possessed, Ajaya dove under the table. A second later she heard the sound of glass shattering. She clutched her ears at the sound of the explosion and hissed when a few of the shards from the window cut her hands.
“Ajaya!”
She looked up startled when she felt someone shaking her shoulders. It was Buffy, under the table behind her and bleeding from numerous glass cuts in the face.
“Are you all right?” Buffy demanded.
Ajaya nodded weakly and watched Buffy crawl over to Isabelle and give her the same treatment. She absently noticed now that their entire brunch group was under the table as well – apparently years of training had honed their reactions well.
“Is everyone here?” Fletcher demanded of Buffy, holding his napkin firmly to a large cut on Willow’s arm.
“All here.” The Slayer-turned-vampire looked more flustered than Ajaya had ever seen her before.
“Why aren’t the security lock-down procedures working?” Fletcher demanded.
“I-I don’t know,” Willow stuttered, obviously still in shock. “It should have…” She trailed off and winced, clutching at her forehead.
“Xeris!” Fletcher called to the Velik Demon under the far end of the table.
He nodded, apparently intuiting Fletcher’s unspoken command, and dashed across the room, ducking low as he went. It was a good thing he did, too. Several laser sights of snipers flashed through the window, lit up by the dust that was still in the air due to the explosion.
Ajaya continued to watch as Xeris wove through the damaged furniture in the room, finally coming to a halt near one of the bookcases at the rear of the room.
“Distraction?” Fletcher looked around.
“I’ll—”
“I’ll do it!” Spike yelled abruptly, cutting Buffy off before she could volunteer.
She cast him an annoyed glance but winced when he leapt up onto the surface of the table. Instantly, several shots were fired in quick succession. Ajaya shut her eyes tight after the first one caught him in the arm – he was fast, but not that fast.
“Holy shit,” Isabelle exclaimed beside her. “What on earth does he think he’s—”
She stopped when she saw Xeris stand up while all the fire was targeted on Spike and flip open a control panel. He slammed his fist into the large, red button at the center, and metallic crashes sounded all throughout the room as steel walls descended, covering the windows.
Isabelle blinked in the sudden dark, and then dim red lights illuminated the room just enough to get around.
“Everybody up,” Fletcher ordered, satisfied when the first few shots fired against their new steel protection did little more than make slight ‘pinging’ sounds.
He pulled Willow to her feet carefully, and Isabelle assisted him in carrying her over to the far side of the room, away from the windows.
“Is everyone all right?” he demanded wearily through one broken glasses lens.
They all stood around with varying degrees of injury, nodding in shock. Ajaya was relieved to discover that the explosion itself had only resulted in minor cuts. Isabelle was nearly as unscathed as she was. Everyone else bore minor cuts across their faces and arms, but aside from the gash on Willow’s arm and an injury that was causing Monica to limp, they’d been extremely lucky.
Spike was, by now, the worst off by far. Buffy sat him down gingerly against an overturned armchair. In addition to the bullet in the arm Ajaya’d seen him take, he had another one in his side and something – quite possibly a laser – had grazed the side of his head.
“We need to get him medical attention,” Buffy said worriedly.
He nodded meekly, his eyes fluttering shut from the blood loss.
“Now!” Her voice held a note of panic in it that Ajaya’d never heard before.
“We can’t go anywhere until we get the security system up,” Fletcher insisted.
“Isn’t this it?” Isabelle gestured to the metal plating that was still holding up just fine.
“Just for this room,” Fletcher waved her off. “Monica, can you walk?” he demanded.
The were-jaguar bit back a grimace when she got back up to her feet but nodded.
“Good,” Fletcher went for the door. “We’re going to the main control room. Xeris, do you have your communicator on you?”
The midnight blue demon held up the device.
“We’ll contact you when it’s safe to come out. Get everyone to the medical wing as quickly as possible.”
Xeris nodded and shut the door quickly behind Fletcher and Monica before any potential snipers could shoot in.
“So we just wait here, then?” Isabelle asked incredulously.
“It will not be safe anywhere else until the entire building is sealed off,” Xeris informed her solemnly.
Ajaya borrowed several cushions that were scattered across the floor and settled Willow down more comfortably. “Are you OK?” she flinched slightly at the wound.
Willow managed a wry smile. “I’ve had a lot worse,” she said and then grimaced, “but they aren’t hurting me right now like this one is… Buffy?” She turned to the vampire pair over by the wall. “Buffy?!”
“What?” Buffy looked up in surprise, apparently aware of anything besides her mate for the first time in a while.
“What’s the prognosis?” Willow demanded.
“Just blood loss.” Buffy rested Spike’s uninjured temple against her chest and held it there. The way his head lolled about indicated all too clearly that he was unconscious. “So close, though…” She went back into her own little shocked trance while she cleaned the wound to his head as best she could.
“Buffy?” Willow repeated, keeping her focusing on the here and now. She gave Ajaya a pleading look.
“Buffy, what’s happening?” Ajaya got the message and continued to distract the forlorn vampire.
“I-I don’t know,” Buffy admitted. “Those were pretty big explosions…”
“Explosions?” Isabelle cocked a curious eyebrow in her direction. “I only heard the one.”
“Two,” Buffy insisted. “Only a split second’s difference. It was the second one that took out…” She trailed off and stroked her lover’s platinum hair fondly.
“Guess our reaction time wasn’t as good as I thought,” Willow winced slightly and shifted. “We had a second of advanced warning. Who do you think did this, Buff?”
“The Watcher’s Council?” Buffy hazarded a guess. “What could possibly be taking Fletcher this long?” she demanded irately, staring at Xeris’ silent communicator.
“They have to pass at least a dozen doors to get to the elevator,” Xeris responded calmly. “They must cross each one carefully.”
“I know that!” Buffy barked impatiently. “It’s just—”
She was interrupted by the chirping of the communicator. Several dozen more metallic clangs drowned out Xeris’ conversation.
“All clear,” he finally called out once it was silent again.
“Let’s go.” Buffy lifted Spike up gently into her arms, careful of his wounds.
Isabelle did likewise to Willow, and the six of them made their way through the remarkably undamaged hallway towards the medical wing, Xeris in the lead.
The entire building was now lit only by the red, flashing emergency lights, and for the first time it really struck Ajaya that despite the comfortable atmosphere of the mansion, it was a place of battle.
“Xeris!”
The group spun around at the call.
“Are you all right?” Alex demanded, Nicolas hot on his heels. They both held laser rifles as they approached.
“No casualties that I’ve seen,” Xeris reported. “Fletcher and Monica activated the security shut-down. We’re trying to get to the medical wing now.” He gestured to the unconscious Spike and injured Willow.
“Can you make it on your own?” Alex demanded of Buffy. “We need as many people as we can get to hold off the points of entry.”
Buffy nodded. “Here.” She slipped the ring off of her finger and handed it to Nicolas. He quickly put it on.
Alex nodded. “Xeris, Ajaya, you’re with me.”
Ajaya accepted the extra rifle that Alex had been carrying and followed the other members of her team down a side hallway.
“This way.” Buffy took the lead. “We should stick to the main corridors,” she began babbling slightly to Isabelle. “That way, we’ll stay out of the way of all the teams—”
She stopped abruptly when they reached was Isabelle assumed was the entrance to the medical wing. There was no doubt that this was ground zero for the explosion. Ahead of them, everything was in ruins, twisted shrapnel from the walls making the way completely unpassable.
“Uh…what do we do now?” Isabelle asked, still in shock.
“W-We…” Buffy trailed off in horror at the sight before her. She had no idea if the rooms had been occupied or not, but if they had there were certainly no survivors…
“Maybe we should find Fletcher and report this?” Isabelle suggested.
“Good idea,” Buffy agreed, shaking herself out of her stupor. “He’ll be in the war room. If there’s anyone here with medical training…” She broke off sadly. “They’ll be down there, too,” she finally finished assertively.
* * *
“Safety on, off,” Alex quickly showed Ajaya the controls on her laser rifle. “Just aim and pull the trigger.”
She nodded nervously.
“Follow Nicky,” he ordered her. “Do whatever he does.”
Nicolas flashed her a reassuring smile.
“Got it,” Ajaya nodded vigorously.
“There’s at least three snipers out there. Stay low. Everyone ready?”
Alex got three nods.
“Go.” He ordered.
Xeris dashed out the back door while the other three gave him cover fire. The demon found shelter behind an overturned birdbath and signaled that he was clear.
“Let’s go.” Nicolas grabbed her hand, and they ran for the memorial wall while Xeris and Alex let loose a volley of shots at their concealed opponents.
Ajaya breathed a deep sigh of relief once they were safely behind the wall.
“You OK?” Nicolas asked, finding a notch to rest his rifle in and taking aim.
“Fine.” Ajaya copied his actions.
“There’s one over by the trees there,” Nicolas indicated with his sight. “Fire in that direction.”
“OK,” Ajaya agreed.
Nicolas gave Alex the go ahead, and Ajaya began firing like crazy once he ran from the safety of the doorway.
“Ha!” Nicolas cried in delight beside her. “Got him!”
“How can you even tell?” Ajaya asked, firing again when she saw a bullet shoot from the bushes near where her target was.
“Vamp vision,” Nicolas responded, reloading his weapon. “Plus, no more shots from that direction…”
Ajaya continued firing when Xeris made another run forwards.
“You ready again?” Nicolas asked.
Ajaya nodded, and they scrambled over to a small grove of trees fifty feet closer to her target.
“OK,” Nicolas said as they dove to the ground to avoid several shots overhead, “here’s what we’re going to do. You stay here and cover me. Only worry about the guy up ahead. Alex and Xeris’ll take care to the other one. Just keep firing so he can’t get a good trace on me.”
“What are you going to do?” Ajaya asked in alarm.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nicolas insisted. “Ready?”
Nod.
“Now!”
Ajaya fired in rapid succession at the source of the sniper’s bullets. Nicolas dashed out from the grove of trees and bobbed and weaved through the garden paths, making his way over to their target.
Despite Ajaya’s best attempts at being distracting, one bullet fired in Nicolas’ direction, and only vamp speed allowed him to duck to the side in time. The bullet grazed right past him, so close that it actually passed through his jacket.
Ajaya’s eyes narrowed in anger, and she snapped her attention back to the opponent in the bushes. A strange calmness settled over her, and it felt as though the world receded. All that existed was the sniper opposing her. Everything seemed magnified, focused, clear… She could actually see him. Without thinking, she took perfect aim and fired. The bullet’s trajectory seemed to move in slow motion, and she could follow it clearly as she hit her mark.
Then, suddenly, the trance was gone. Yelling and firing and explosions returned with deafening intensity. She felt herself go a bit dizzy after what she’d just experienced.
Only half-aware of what she was watching, she saw Nicolas make the final dash into the bushes. There was a bit of a scuffling, and then he emerged again, running over to her position.
“You got ‘im.” He gave her a friendly clap on the shoulder. “He had two Magic Drinkers with him for some reason, but I cleaned them out. Good work.”
“Uh-huh,” Ajaya muttered dumbly.
“You OK?” Nicolas’ elated expression turned concerned. “Are you hit?”
Ajaya managed to shake her head. “It…he… Was it human?” she finally asked weakly.
“Human?” Nicolas raised an eyebrow. “Of course, he was…” he trailed off, realizing her dilemma. “Hey, Ajaya.” He caught her by the shoulders. “This is a war,” he said softly. “There are casualties. And he attacked us first. It was pretty much him or us.”
“I-I know,” Ajaya stuttered before slipping back into her native tongue. “I didn’t want to kill anybody. I don’t know what came over me! I was the hunter and he the hunted, and I didn’t feel any remorse or human pity or…or…”
Nicolas was concentrating on what she was saying very intently, probably – Ajaya realized belatedly – because he was trying to translate what she had said.
“It happens to everybody,” he finally responded in Bengali. “The thrill of the hunt. But it is especially hard for us predator species. You just have to take it for what it is: an instinctive reaction to survive. It doesn’t mean anything about you as a person when it happens. The only thing that’s important is how you feel about it afterwards.”
“I feel terrible,” Ajaya whimpered, sniffing away at her tears.
“Then I’d say you don’t have anything to worry about,” he gave her a friendly smile.
Across the yard, two more shots were fired and then silence.
“Nick, you still there?” Alex’s voice called out.
“All present and accounted for,” Nicolas shouted back. “C’mon,” he said, turning to Ajaya. “Let’s get back inside. You can worry about what happened later.”
Ajaya nodded meekly and took Nicolas’ offered hand. They made the quick run back to the mansion, and all breathed a sigh of relief once they were safely back inside.
“Things seem to be quieting down,” Nicolas commented as the sounds of weapons slowly tapered off in the background.
“My guess is that they’re retreating,” Alex nodded. “Let’s go find out what’s going on…”
* * *
“Aha!” Monica exclaimed in delight, hitting a few keys on the console before her and watching red lights appear on the map in front of her all around the building. “ ‘Shields are up, Captain’,” she managed to joke.
“Good,” Fletcher said from his position on Spike’s legs. He and Buffy were attempting to hold the unconscious vampire still while one of the medics removed the bullet from his side. “How many intruders to we have left?”
“Just two out front, it looks like.” Monica continued to watch the map. “Alex is kicking ass out in the garden…”
“Any new perimeter threats?” Fletcher demanded just as the nurse victoriously pulled the bullet out of Spike.
“It looks like they’re retreating,” Monica frowned. “Curious… I didn’t think they’d give up this easily.”
“It was probably an attack designed to do the maximum damage in the smallest amount of time.” Fletcher yanked hard on one end of a bandage while the medic fastened the other end around Spike’s stomach. “Keep an eye on things.”
In the meantime, Isabelle held Willow’s arm steady while another medic put disinfectant in the wound. The old witch winced in pain but refrained from crying out loud.
“It looks like they’re gone,” Monica commented.
“Then we’d better go count our casualties,” Fletcher said wearily. “If this is the worst of it,” he frowned, watching Buffy cradle a now bandaged Spike and feed him a bag of blood, “then we’ll have come out of this damn lucky…”
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