Strange Place to Live:
Demon Hunter
by Cynamin

"Friends will take our side, enemies will curse us
But to be alive is to know your purpose"
~A Place in the World
Mary Chapin Carpenter

Wednesday Night (Cont.)
The Warehouse

First into the building, Kenneth had to be extremely quiet, which was difficult in the metal air ducts. To be extremely quiet meant he had to be extremely slow. The Hunter was surprised at how physically taxing it was. Trained in the arts of magic instead of physical strength, he was unprepared for this approach. Last time the Slayer had done the brunt of the crawling, and now he understood why. It was fortunate that his battle with the demon summoner would not be a physical one.

The ritual began soon after he entered, and he could hear every word of it clearly. To distract himself from the physical strain of crawling, Kenneth listened closely to what was happening and got himself magically prepared for what he had to do. He listened as the battle erupted below him, knowing that the Slayer had made her entrance and he would have to act soon. He had only a little ways more to go, then he would be able to leave the air ducts and face Orin. Orin, who had taunted him while killing his Mentor. The hatred was distracting.

The distraction cost the Hunter. He did not realize that he had knelt someplace that would not hold his weight until it gave beneath him. With a crash he fell from the air duct, startling those below him. He cried out in pain as he hit the concrete floor. If nothing was broken, he was certainly sprained and bruised. The fall knocked the breath from him as well.

For a moment he simply lay there, stunned. He couldn’t help but think that it was indeed a good thing his was not a physical battle. Then he heard a chuckle from above him.

A familiar face sneered at him. "Well," Orin mocked, "thank you for dropping in. These your party crashers?"

Kenneth picked himself slowly to his feet. "We’re here to stop you," he said.

Orin snorted with derision. "They’ll have to get through my demons first, and I’m afraid they’re not having much luck." The demon summoner returned to his spell, the dimensional portal hanging small and red above a diagram in the center of the room.

As best he could while still favoring his right leg, Kenneth faced him defiantly. "I am going to stop you, Orin."

The demon summoner let out a bark of a laugh. "You? My boy, after that entrance you made, you can’t even stand up straight. How do you think you can stop me?"

Kenneth said nothing, only gathered his magical strength.

The summoner could not help but notice. He looked at Kenneth, then stepped towards him angrily. "It’s no matter," he said, "you’ll die just as your mentor did - weak, drained, and food for my lowest pets." He smiled cruelly.

Kenneth could stand it no longer. He raised his hands angrily and blasted into Orin with the raw force of his magic.

It was as if he had tried to attack with a swarm of dull pins something that needed the focused attack of a sword. Most of the attack diffused around Orin to no effect, while Kenneth exhausted himself. The summoner staggered slightly, then smiled.

"Is that the best you can do, little Hunter?" he mocked.

Kenneth took a deep breath. Orin was trying to bait him, he knew this. He could hear his mentor’s voice in his head, an early lesson. "An angry mage can better serve himself by casting no magic than having anger distract him." Though it was hard to calm down, Kenneth knew he had to. Ignoring his pain, the Hunter thought carefully about what he wanted to do, focused his powers on Orin’s focus stone, and released it with cold precision.

The magic deflected around the stone, but Orin suddenly looked concerned. He had the stone well shielded, but any shield could be broken. The battle - the real battle - began in earnest.

Several minutes went by, during which an invisible battle took place. None of the demons interfered as the Demon Hunter and the demon summoner parried with spells instead of swords. Both of them were weakened, but neither seemed to have the upper hand. Kenneth couldn’t understand it. He was putting everything he had into this fight, but Orin should have been dividing his magic in order to sustain the portal. Logically, Kenneth should have had the advantage. Still, the stalemate continued.

So focused was Kenneth on his magic, he did not see Orin pull out the wicked looking ritual knife. What he did see was the blur of movement as Orin made for his heart. He managed to dodge and avoid the killing blow, but two things happened as a result. First, the deflected knife dug into his shoulder, leaving a deep gash. The other thing that happened was that in dodging Kenneth put weight on his injured leg. It refused to support him, and he cried out in surprise as he fell.

When his vision cleared from his initial shock, Kenneth found himself staring up at Orin from the floor once again. He smiled cruelly and laughed. "You poor fool," he said. "You have no idea what you’re dealing with." Kenneth said nothing as the demon summoner circled him like a vulture. "Look around you, boy. Did you really think this was all the demons I could control?"

Kenneth could not help but let his gaze wander the room. The Slayer and her friends had almost defeated Orin’s allies before the army began climbing through the portal. Still, counting the demons unconscious or dead on the floor and those still fighting, Kenneth was coming up short. Even including those who would be expected outside as guards and those who might have died and left nothing but dust or slime, the numbers still didn’t add up to what he and Buffy had counted earlier. The Hunter stared at Orin in horror.

The summoner smiled. "My strongest demons wander this town tonight. They feed, and in turn feed me. My magic grows with every life they take." He knelt beside Kenneth, playing with the knife in his hand. "Now, Hunter, you -" Suddenly, he grunted in surprised pain and whirled away from Kenneth.

Behind Orin stood Willow, her ax held before her. She’d only managed a glancing blow, and her hands shook, but her face shown with courage.

The summoner snarled at her. "What do you want, little girl?"

Willow held the ax before her threateningly. "Stop the ritual," she demanded.

Orin laughed. "Or what? You’ll kill me? You couldn’t kill me. Even if you could, you wouldn’t."

Her voice shook, but she held firm. "Why not?"

"Didn’t you hear me?" the summoner demanded. "My demons are out there. Only I can call them back. You kill me, and they are free. They will eat your town alive."

"Not all of them."

Orin returned his attention to Kenneth too late. Taking advantage of the summoner’s distraction, he had gathered the last of his magical strength and in one focused blow smashed the crystal at the center of the diagram. The ritual and the stone were shattered.

There was a moment of complete silence in the room, then chaos. The portal flared, but instead of expelling its demonic cargo it began to pull them back in. Those demons caught part way out of the portal shrieked in agony as they were torn apart. Many voices, inhuman and terrifying, howled in protest as they felt the portal’s pull. The entire warehouse was a maelstrom of demonic forces, and the fighters clung to each other, seeking whatever shelter they could. Crouching on the floor in the center of the chaos was Kenneth, protecting himself as best he could. His magical shields were gone and all he could do was protect himself with his arms. That did not block out the sounds, however. Though he could not see the demon summoner, he could hear him, and he shrieked like one of his demonic minions. It seemed endless, and though Kenneth knew the portal’s collapse would effect only those demon born, he could not help but fear for his life.

Suddenly, it was over. The sounds of demonic screams broke off and everything went still. In the sudden silence Kenneth could hear the pounding of his own heartbeat. Then, slowly, others moving, taking stock of themselves and their friends. Sounds of relief came next, and soft laughter.

Kenneth tried to get back to his feet and failed. Seeing his trouble, Willow helped him and smiled.

"You won," she said.

It took a moment for Kenneth to reply. "Yeah, I guess we did." He looked at Willow seriously. "Thank you," he said.

Willow shrugged uncomfortably. "Come on," she said. "I think you’s better get to the hospital. That cut’s going to need stitches."

Kenneth nodded. "I think I broke something when I fell, too," he said ruefully. He leaned on Willow’s shoulder, limping towards the rest of the group and the front door. "You know, Orin was right. Not every demon will have disappeared with the ones here. Some will have been too far away."

Willow laughed slightly. "We can handle it," she said. "After all, we’re the Slayerettes."

Epilogue

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