However, at least now she had a fighting chance, something she wouldn't have had if she'd remained at Krez's mercy.
Dawn knew she needed to find a way out. Even if she only managed to end up in the desert, she had to at least escape Chalchicomehuel so he couldn't use her for his ritual.
Above all else, she had to prevent that.
The universe itself depended on it.
Spike stopped short, closing his eyes as he breathed in deep. The three others stopped a second later, turning to look at him.
"What is it?" Buffy asked softly.
Spike's blue eyes snapped open. "Dawn. Her scent is nearby."
Buffy's heart jumped nervously. "Is she…?"
"I don't know," Spike admitted with a shake of his head. "She's bleeding, or at least she was at some point."
"Can you find her?" Emma asked, her concern for her friend obvious in her voice.
Spike nodded. "I can track her scent. It's strong."
"Then we will follow you," Aiden said, his words following the thoughts of the others.
Spike and Aiden switched positions in the group, with Spike now leading and Aiden flanking them in the rear, watching for possible attacks. Periodically, Spike would stop, breathing in deeply again to verify from which direction Dawn's scent was coming.
When one of those times he announced, "She's close," Buffy had to keep herself from calling out her sister's name. They needed to stay as quiet as possible in the enemy's lair, yet the panic inside of her was one Buffy knew wouldn't calm until she could touch the younger Summers and assure herself she was all right, and it almost made her forget that.
Then, they turned a corner and saw her, and Buffy let out a sigh of relief. Dawn stopped at the sound of their footsteps, surprise, then elation going over her face before she ran to them.
Buffy grabbed her younger sister, hugging her tightly as she whispered, "You're alive."
"So are you," Dawn said, returning Buffy's firm embrace before she pulled back and ran to Spike. "And you… Krez told me you were dead again."
"Had a bit of a scare, but I'm good now," Spike assured her. "And who is Krez?"
"Was," Dawn corrected him. "He was this creepy little demon guy, the one who was in control of those big snakes." She shuddered once, but then her face steeled. "I killed him."
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked, squinting in the darkness to see if she could make out any serious injuries on Dawn.
"I've been better, but I'm alive, so I'm going to count my blessings," Dawn replied. "Oh, and I saw Chal…Cha… The evil demony guy. Just for the record, he's freaking creepy. And I think he's wearing your amulet, Aiden. Either that or he just likes flashy jewelry."
"The amulet is near," Aiden confirmed to Dawn. "I've been able to sense its presence since we entered the fortress."
"Aiden was leading us to Chalchi-whatta by his connection to the amulet when Spike caught your scent," Buffy said.
"Well, he's definitely here. He sent me off with Krez, though I don't think that went quite as he planned," Dawn replied.
"Then let's find him, kill him, and do that world saving thing we do," Spike said with determination.
His four companions in agreement, Aiden began to lead them towards the amulet—and Chalchicomehuel—again.
Chalchicomehuel was not pleased. He'd sent his guards to retrieve the Key only to be told she was not there—and that Krez was now dead.
The loss of Krez was truly no loss at all. The pathetic lackey had been more often useless than useful; however, the loss of the Key was much more of a problem.
Chalchicomehuel knew the fault truly lay with himself for leaving the welfare of the Key to the likes of Krez, yet he never accepted blame for anything. There was no point in it when he was always so conveniently surrounded by minions who could take it for him.
"You!" he bellowed, pointing to a guard. "Why did you not keep a better watch on the Key?"
"I…I was not assigned to this post, my lord," the guard replied, trembling as he spoke.
"I asked not for an excuse!" Chalchicomehuel replied with an angry hiss. He stormed over to the guard, ripped the demon's head off, tossed it to the ground, and then turned to address the remaining guards.
"Find me the Key! Now! The girl could not have gotten far."
Without hesitation, the guards rushed from the room to do their master's bidding.
Chalchicomehuel kicked Krez's body then roared in frustration.
A yell of pure fury reverberated off of the stone walls, bringing Aiden, Spike, Buffy, Dawn, and Emma all to a dead stop. "Okay, what the hell was that?" Buffy asked.
"I'm going to go with something very much not of the good," Dawn replied.
"It is Chalchicomehuel," Aiden said. "He is angered."
"Think he found Dawn gone?" Spike questioned.
Aiden nodded. "It is most likely."
Before they could begin moving again, the sound of heavy feet hitting the hard floor began to approach, causing all of them to raise their weapons.
Soon, Chalchicomehuel's guards were coming at them from all sides, attacking fiercely. "Something tells me these guys can see us," Buffy said as she stabbed one through with her sword.
Aiden swung his own weapon, decapitating another guard. "They are Slomytith demons. They're immune to glamours and other spells of deception."
"Then we just kill them all," Spike said, stabbing one then swinging around to take out another.
One of the guards made a loud, trembling sound in the back of his throat. Moments later, more were flooding the hall.
They were beyond outnumbered; they had no chance of succeeding.
Spike yelled as five of the guards converged on Buffy, pulling her down. He tried to get to her, but was stopped when another group tackled him.
Something hit him hard, and his world went dark.
Dawn couldn't remember a time when her head had hurt this badly. The world seemed to spin, and she groaned, lifting her hand up to try to cover her oversensitive eyes.
Or at least she would have if she could've moved her arm…
She blinked, trying to bring the world into focus. She realized she was back in the throne room Krez had led her into, only this time, she was chained securely to a chair.
"I see you are awake, Key," Chalchicomehuel said from beside her, his forked tongue flickering. "I made an error in letting you out of my sight before, but I can assure you, it is not one I am going to repeat."
Chalchicomehuel rose from his throne and walked over to Dawn, tracing the side of her face with the edge of one of his talons. "The time for the ritual is nearly at hand. Soon I shall rule over all dimensions and achieve the ultimate power that is my destiny."
"Actually, snake boy, I think your destiny is to be a pair of boots and a matching handbag after my sister kicks your scaly ass."
Chalchicomehuel hissed and backhanded Dawn. "Hold your worthless tongue, Key!"
Dawn didn't reply again, though she glared at Chalchicomehuel.
He looked at her, his eyes blinking rapidly, before he seated himself again, his hands folded in front of him in a way that reminded Dawn of a demonic lizard version of Mr. Burns. "Besides, if your sister is one of the people who I found trespassing in my fortress, then she is no threat to me at all." He waved a hand dismissively. "She is dead. They're all dead."
Tears welled in Dawn's eyes, even as she shook her head. "No…"
"Yes. I have dealt with them. But don't worry, Key. You'll be joining them as soon as I have finished my ritual."
Dawn fought back burning tears. She refused to believe Buffy—or any one of them—was dead. They were all fighters, all Champions. They'd all survive and they'd save the world, because that's what the good guys did.
She sat still in her chair, clinging to that hope.
Emma sat against a cold, stone wall, her knees pulled to her chin. The cell she'd been thrust into was small, barely enough room for her to even move.
Memories she would've rather kept buried were rushing through her head, and she didn't know if she wanted to scream or bust into tears.
So she simply remained quiet, still.
She didn't know what had happened to the others. The attack in the hallway had seemed to happen so quickly, the guards ambushing and surrounding them before anyone really had a chance to fight. She'd taken some down with her, but there had been too many, and she'd soon been overwhelmed.
The last thing she remembered was Spike yelling for Buffy. After that, was nothing…until she woke up in this cell.
The room was completely filled with darkness. She'd reached out, only to find that she had at most a foot of space surrounding her. It was her worst nightmare come back to life.
Emma didn't know what Chalchicomehuel had planned for her, but she hoped it was anything but leaving her here to die slowly. She would've preferred the demon guards killing her in the corridor.
Hell, given the choices, she'd rather be pulled out and tortured to death. Anything to get her out of here…
The longer she sat there, the harder it became to breathe. She fought off the waves of panic assailing her, but with every one, it became a little bit harder. Memories of her past were converging with fears for her future and filling her with terror.
She felt as helpless as she had as a child.
Only now, she wasn't…
Her eyes snapped open, the tears stopping. She wasn't helpless.
She was a Slayer.
Emma struck out with her boot, the thick sole connecting with the wall in front of her. She heard the rock chip, and she kicked again, this time harder.
Knowing she needed more force, Emma slid down as far as she could, both of her legs stretched out in front of her. She took a deep breath, then kicked out with both legs at the same time with as much strength as she could muster.
The large stone went shooting out and crashed into a far wall. She flipped herself around and peeked out through the hole, noting that whatever sort of cell they'd stuck her in was by another torch-lit corridor. She waited for a moment, but the guards didn't come running at the sound of the smashing stone.
Emma knew it would be a tight squeeze, but she was pretty sure she could fit through the hole she made. There were definite perks to being as small as she was, even if she never could seem to come anywhere close reaching the top shelf.
She pushed through the hole, wincing as her shoulders stuck for a moment, but then she was able to force them through with a little twisting. Finally, she stood, now back on the outside of the cell, and wiped the dust from her body.
At first glance, it looked like she was simply staring at a stone-lined hallway, but seeing as she'd somehow ended up buried behind the rock, she assumed the others must be as well.
She didn't know why Chalchicomehuel's guards hadn't killed them outright back in the hallway, but she could ponder that later.
Right now, she needed to find her friends so they could save the world.
I've got the drafts written for all the chapters of this one now except the last chapter (which is half written) and the epilogue. So I'm going to try to just post a chapter every day until I get it all up.
Please take a moment to review!