Crown and Key
By Sandra and William Johnson
Chapter Six
Dawn hummed to herself as she readied the popcorn. For some reason she couldn’t get this tune out of her head, and she hoped that by humming it, she might. Dawn opened the door to the refrigerator and grabbed the butter.
“Dawn Summers…”
With a jump, Dawn dropped the butter at the sound of the willowy sounding female voice. “Who’s there?”
“Dawn Summers…”
Dawn looked around, seeing she was alone and shrugged. “I must be hearing things. Not enough sleep, or caffeine or something. Caffeine, that’s it. Haven’t had enough Coca Cola lately.”
Dawn hastily picked up the butter and grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge, placing them on the table, and humming to herself again. She grabbed the soda and popped it open, taking a swallow.
“Dawn Summers. Hear me…”
Dawn spit Coke all over the kitchen floor as she jumped at the voice again.
“Wh…who’s there?” she said, her voice just a tad shaky, her eyes looking around the room frantically. She was ready to shout for Willow and Xander as a kaleidoscopic light suddenly formed on the wall opposite her.
“Do not be afraid child. I am a friend. My name is The Sorceress, and I am contacting you because I need your help.”
“The Sorceress. Right. Okay. So, where are you?”
“Far, far away,” the willowy, whispering voice said. “A very great distance. One which makes it so I can only project my voice to you. You are in grave danger child.”
Dawn grimaced, “I’m always in danger.”
“The Gem of Earthly Magic must be restored to the Sword of Power, and soon. Only with the aid of it’s bearer can you hope to withstand the evil that is…”
Suddenly, the voice faded away. “Sorceress? Hello? Anyone there?” Dawn looked around, waiting for the voice to return, but it didn’t. Having grown accustomed to strange and magical things happening all the time, Dawn went into the other room. Xander was pretending to be sleeping, even as he gawked at Tiffani Theissen on the screen. Willow was talking on her cell phone. Dawn waited patiently for her to hang up
“Sorry Mrs. Mallory, “ Willow said into the phone, “I haven’t seen Quinn in a day or so. Sure, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him if I see him. I have to go now. Bye” Willow folded up her cell and slipped it back into a pocket, looking questioningly at Dawn.”
“Uh, Willow, can I talk to you for a sec?”
The redhead smiled at Dawn, “Sure Dawnny. What’s wrong?”
“Well, I just had a conversation with someone not there. She called herself The Sorceress and said I’m in danger.”
“Slow down Dawn. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
Dawn sat down, took a deep breath, and began to tell Willow and Xander about her conversation with the voice.
* * * *
Buffy and Lara walked the streets, idly keeping an eye on things as they looked around. “So, this is how you spend your evenings? No wonder you’re such a bubbly personality”
“Thanks a lot Lara. You know, you ASKED to join me on this.”
Lara smiled at her new friend, “Only teasing you. So, what are we looking for anyhow?”
“Oh, the usual. Vampires, zombies, demons. Things that go grunt in the night.”
Lara shot her a sideways glance. “Not all nightly grunting is bad, you know.”
Buffy smiled grimly. “In my experience, it’s the grunters that are the problem. The things that go hum-bump usually are harmless.”
Lara shook her head, “And I thought I led an interesting life”
The two turned the corner, passing the Sunnydale Movie Theater and heading down Main Street. “So, you never did tell me what a Tomb Raider is”
“Mostly, I recover lost artifacts. My father was an archaeologist and I guess you could say I followed in his footsteps. Lets me travel the world, see exotic places, help Queen and Country”
“You don’t sound too enthusiastic”
“Well, lately, the things I’ve recovered have caused more trouble than they’re worth. First the Triangle, than Pandora’s Box, now the Crown. Makes me wonder if maybe I should leave well enough alone.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Look at it from the other side. If you don’t recover them, someone else will. And, that someone could be the type to use it to open a new Hell Dimension or something equally bad. Then I get called in and whoops, there goes my vacation!”
Lara smiled again, “Thanks Buffy. Really. Now, though, I think we should stop them” and she pulled her guns from their holsters, gesturing at the two men cornering a young brunette against a wall.
Buffy, leaped into action, the first vampire turning and moving to block her kick. Lara’s guns fired with precision accuracy, hitting the second vampire, forcing him to release the girl, who immediately fled into the darkness.
“Gee, she didn’t even wait to say thank you!” Buffy exclaimed, her foot impacting with the first vamp’s skull and sending him reeling. “Come to think of it, YOU didn’t say thank you either, Lara!”
Lara turned and pointed one of her pistols directly at Buffy. She fired, sending the approaching vamp flying through the air. Had she not shot when she did, the creature would have taken Buffy by surprise. “That thanks enough?”
“Call it even!” Buffy shouted as she staked the twitching vamp, reducing him to a pile of ash. She looked up at the ensuing battle, her eyes wide as she studied the Tomb Raider in action.
Lara fired continuously at the other vampire, the bullets forcing him back again and again. Suddenly, both guns clicked, empty. The vampire grinned and charged at Lara. Lara smiled a lopsided grin as she ejected the spent clips, and holstered the guns, which were automatically reloaded. Her arms raised back up as the vampire leaped into the air, hands extended for Lara’s throat. She dropped into a roll, guns barking with fire again, riddling the vampire’s body and sending him spinning into the wall.
Buffy pulled the stake from her vampire and spun to face Lara as the monster exploded in a cloud of dust. “You have self reloading holsters?” she exclaimed with surprise.
Lara shrugged, “A girl can never have too many toys”
Meanwhile, the vampire was slowly regaining his feet, his body riddled with bullet holes. “Do you know how much those things HURT?” he exclaimed.
“Do we really care?” Buffy quipped, and reached for her stake. To her surprise, she was fresh out. The vamp advanced quickly. Buffy reached up into her hair and pulled out the two wooden chopsticks that were holding it up off her neck. She idly tossed them over her shoulder, her blond locks cascading down her back as she walked away. The chopsticks flew straight as an arrow into the vampire’s heart. “This sucks” he remarked just before exploding in a cloud of dust.
The two women looked at each other and laughed for a few minutes. “We’d better move on. The Sunnydale Police aren’t the greatest in the world, but even they will respond to all that gunfire.”
Lara followed Buffy as the two raced down the alley and turned the corner. Neither of them noticed the statuesque blonde following them.
“Well, they certainly make enough noise.” Adora remarked. “Certainly makes it easier to follow them.”
Suddenly, Adora went stiff, her blue eyes bulging out as she felt a presence enter her body. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. With a gasp, she fell to the ground.
Minutes passed, then suddenly, Adora rose from the ground, brushing dirt from her body. “Finally,” she remarked, her voice slightly different, carrying a hint of a Caribbean accent. “I have returned to Sunnydale.”
“Well, isn’t that just special?” a sniveling, weasly voice said. “I always wanted a blonde from the Islands”
Adora whirled around, face to face with a short, skinny vampire. “You don’t know who you are dealing with, vampire.”
“Oh, I don’t? And who AM I dealing with?”
“I am Kendra, the Vampire Slayer.” She paused, and then a low, raspy whisper emerged from her lips. “And I serve the Queen”
“The…THE QUEEN? Sorry. Didn’t mean anything. Honest.” The vampire backed off, hands raised protectively.
Kendra, in Adora’s body, leaped through the air, grabbing a nearby wooden crate and hurling it at the retreating vampire. The crate hit the vampire in the back, slamming him to the ground.
“I like this body. It’s strong and athletic…and surges with untapped power”. As she spoke, Kendra advanced on the vampire. It struggled to regain it’s feet even as Kendra grabbed a broken piece of wood and slammed it into the vampire’s back and through it’s heart. The creature exploded in a cloud of dust. “That felt GOOD.” Kendra remarked. “Now, to complete your task.” The whispery voice in Kendra’s head commanded, and Kendra felt herself moving. Against her will, Kendra headed for Main Street, and towards the Summer’s home.
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