Saturday, June 14, 2008

BtVS-the 4400 Crossover Thing (1/?)

Xander dodged the vampire's blow, idly musing about how (and why) vampires existed in the middle of the Sahara desert, which wasn't exactly well-known for its shade. They were far rarer there than in the United States, like how the demons which were common in Sunnydale were less common here (and some of the demons here, even the more common ones, hadn't been in any of Giles's books before Xander had used the Council's money to buy some more regional spotter's guides) but still they were there. It made no sense, but that wasn't exactly a new thing when it came to demons and vampires. Vampires being there, however, made even less sense than usual, because he was almost literally in the middle of nowhere (he'd once been literally in the middle of nowhere, when there was this weird portal thing and he'd gotten stuck in it for three days before Willow had gotten him out, and it had freaked him out enough that ever since it had happened he'd always been careful to distinguish between the two). His Jeep had broken down far from any village, much less an actual city, so he'd been thanking Willow's Goddess for his map and compass, and the water-finding and purifying spells he'd painstakingly learned despite Xander and magic being non-mixy things, because he'd have been dead before now without the help. But the vampire worried him; it wasn't the first he'd seen this night. He might buy one vampire in the middle of nowhere, but three? Vampires stuck to civilization because there wasn't anything for them to eat anywhere else, or at least nothing that they'd voluntarily eat. For at least three vamps to be out there, they'd have to be crazy, or organized (likely both), or there'd have to be a demon enclave or town of some sort nearby. Which, if there were demons nearby, probably was not of the good for Xander.

Finally, Xander tripped the vamp and planted his stake in her heart, but her tripping pulled his stake out of his hand before he could pull it back and it turned to dust when she did. It had been his last stake, too; he'd been carrying fewer stakes once he realized the serious lack of vamps in Africa (although he'd still carried two for his own peace of mind until they'd both gotten destroyed), and to keep the amount of stuff he had to take with him down. The bag of weapons and clothes (he'd put them in the same bag so he would only have to grab one thing) was heavy enough without adding more to it. Vamp dusted, Xander relaxed; this wasn't the hellmouth. He probably wasn't going to be attacked again right away.

He heard a growl behind him and felt the urge to find a wall to beat his head against. Of course he was going to be attacked again right away. After all, the PTBs hated him and wanted to get rid of him. He reached towards the knife attached to his belt slowly, trying to keep the demon or animal from attacking for as long as possible by not making any sudden movements and knowing that his bag of weapons was now behind the demon (or animal, though that was less likely). At the same time, he slowly turned around to see what he was facing.

It was a demon, like he'd thought it was (because it was always the demons that attacked, and a lot of animals acted submissive towards him). Its name was…okay, he never remembered the name unless he really had to, like when he was talking to someone he didn't know about it. The Scoobies and an increasingly large percentage of the New Watcher's Council called them angry momma demons, because they were perfectly sweet and even-tempered until they thought their children were being threatened, and then they became really dangerous. Turned red, grew spikes, popped out fangs full of poison, the whole shebang…kind of like this one was doing now. The fact that he could see this meant there was light coming from somewhere, despite the previous new moon, no flashlight or lantern conditions, but Xander couldn't spare even a glance away from the angry momma demon to find out where it was coming from.

All things considered, he would have been less surprised to find himself in a crowd of people at Highland Beach if he'd looked into the light.