Chapter 37

What Lurks In The Dark

"I'm going to kill dat demon dat killed Buffy." Kendra declared to the others, before turning to look at them and grabbing her sister Slayer's arm. "Faith you stay with Amy. Everybody else, kill anything dat moves."

"Naw, I got this." Faith said as she let Kendra go and looked to Vanessa, even as Bringers started to fill the room. "I owe that bitch an ass whoopin'."

"Alright." Kendra said through narrowed eyes as she threw her backpack and shotgun at the young witch's feet. "Amy stay here and be careful. Let's do dis!" she shouted as the others ran forward. Being drawn to Kendra's backpack, Amy, made sure the coast was clear before she opened it and pulled out the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.

Vanessa threw Faith to the floor then ignored her to kick Marcie in the stomach. Getting a second wind, Faith got back up and went behind her, only for the blind woman to stab behind herself catching Faith in the chest with her cane.

Faith blocked some of her hits then got thrown against the wall again. This time when she landed Faith stayed perfectly still, watching her. Confused Vanessa scanned the room, but was apparently unable to see her.

Gotcha bitch. Faith thought to herself as she jumped to her feet, once Vanessa's back was turned.

Hearing movement Vanessa looked over at her but all she saw was a bright shape disappear from her vision as Faith froze again. Figuring that it might be the Slayer, Vanessa made some stabbing and cutting motions in her general direction, but didn't even connect. Suddenly her vision exploded into bright color as Faith dropped her with a hard face punch.

By the time Vanessa rolled back up to her feet, Faith had frozen in place again, making the blind woman look for her in vain. There was a bright flash in Vanessa's vision as Faith moved to her side, then froze again, her fist cocked ready to strike.

Faith then kept repeating the same maneuver several times more. In the end Vanessa was right in front of her. As she got ready to take a stab in Faith's direction, she grabbed Vanessa's cane and diverted it into her own body then let her drop to the ground.

Standing over her unconscious form, Faith knew that she could and should end Vanessa's life. Seeing Finch's lifeless body in her minds eye, her hand shook a bit. Knowing that she still couldn't do what needed to be done, she faded into the crowd of Bringers and joined her friends in the fight.

Marcie went invisible after killing the Bringers around her and ran towards Lyndsay. Attempting to bring down her weapons to kill him, he suddenly grabbed her by the throat, in a death grip, and pulled her close.

"So you couldn't even complete one little task?" Lyndsay asked as his eyes glowed red, prompting her to return to the land of the visible.

"A little thing called the apocalypse happened." Marcie replied through gasps of air. "And in case you haven't noticed, I reformed."

"So by your own admission you quit on the job?" Lyndsay asked with a smile. "I hope you don't think you're still going to get paid?"

"I'm... I'm glad you kept your sense of humor, counselor."

"I'm much more then a lawyer now. I'm judge, jury, and..." he paused for a moment as he squeezed her throat a little harder. "Executioner."

As Marcie's life started to flash before her eyes, she decided that she didn't like most of what she saw. Using the little bit of life she had left, she tried to reach down and grab her sai's. Falling out of her hands with nerveless fingers, she was about to accept death until she heard the rat a tat tat of a gun.

Being dropped to the floor, her lungs almost exploded as she gulped in as much air as possible. Seeing Lyndsay double over in pain, his body riddled with bullets, Marcie scooped up her sai's and rammed both of them through his heart instantly killing him. Looking up to her savior, she saw Samantha, crouched down on a level above her. Giving each other a nod, Samantha threw a grenade into the crowd of villains and watched as the explosion blew Hamilton off the bridge and down the Deeper Well, before bringing out her gun and tearing through the Bringers.

"This fight isn't going as well as I hoped." D'Hoffryn said to the First as he looked down at the scene before him. "What do you think we should do?"

"Awaken one of the Old One's." Buffy/First said with a smile. "Since the Slayers are here, I think it's only fitting to bring forth the one that started it all for them."

Taking the vial of blood that they had collected from Faith earlier, D'Hoffryn and Buffy/First floated to where the first demonic vampire's sarcophagus was. As D'Hoffryn smeared Faith's blood on it, The First started it's incantation.

"We awaken you from your slumber Maloker." Buffy/First started. "Come forth and rule the night once more."

As the jewel in the sarcophagus started to turn, unlocking the horrible demon inside, D'Hoffryn suddenly had a thought. "Won't he need some form of host?"

Giving him a winning smile, Buffy/First watched as Maloker's demon essence shot out of the sarcophagus and went inside of a screaming D'Hoffryn.

Kendra cracked her knuckles as she stared over at her adversary, who was smiling. Angered at her opponents demeanor, she ran forward and tried to punch her in the face, surprised as Lissa caught her fist. It seemed that she wasn't the only one to be gifted with power.

As Kendra leaned in with her punch, putting her full power into it, she was again surprised to see Lissa taking it, even going as far as to push her back.

"You're not the only one with power bitch." Lissa said with glowing eyes and a smile at Kendra's surprised look. "The First gave me some of it's own."

Before Kendra could retort, both women heard the sound of wings flapping. Looking up they saw something huge flying towards them.

"I think that's for you." Lissa said with another smile as she let go of Kendra's hand and slipped into the darkness of the cave.

"What... the fuck is that?" Faith asked as she walked up behind Kendra, the others having killed off the rest of the Bringers and joining them.

"He's the reason vampires exist." Amy replied as she looked through the Necronomicon ex mortis. "He's the reason you two and Buffy never got to live a normal life."

"Maloker." Kendra mumbled to herself as the ancient demon finally landed.

He had a bat-like appearance, with pointed ears and loose, wing-like folds of skin connecting to his arms and body. He had sharp fangs and claws, a crest-like protrusion on the back of his head, and charcoal gray fur covering most of his body. He also towered over them at eight feet tall, only shrinking down to six feet to accommodate the small area he had landed in. Taking in his surroundings, he let his bat like wings fall onto his chest, where they disappeared into his body.

Sniffing the air, Maloker's eyes narrowed as he looked between Kendra and Faith. "Slayers!" he grumbled out as he slowly started to move forward.

"Now that the introduction is over... what the fuck are we going to do?" Faith asked. Before anybody could say anything, Maloker suddenly appeared beside her. "What the..." Blam... he slapped her so hard she flew to the other side of the cavern where she fell unconscious.

The attack happened so fast, that Kendra didn't even have enough time to fully turn around as he hit her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Wheezing and a little dazed, Kendra crawled away to crouch beside a boulder. She looked at the vampires version of God and then got up to fight with it. She kicked, he ducked. She punched, he blocked. Taking the advantage he punched her in the face, then in the stomach, making Kendra fall to the ground face first. Quickly scooping her up, he tried to choke her, but she spat blood in his face, startling him, and giving her enough time to escape his clutches. Deciding to get this thing away from the others, Kendra ran away. Maloker licked the blood off of his face, smiled, and headed after Kendra.

"Come on guys we need to go and help her." Marcie said as she watched Maloker give chase to Kendra.

"We will." Samantha replied. "Let's just get Faith and..."

"You guys should really worry about yourselves." Buffy/First said as it appeared before them. Pointing behind them, they saw that Harmony's eyes were bleeding and she was in the middle of vamping out.

"She must be under Maloker's thrall." Amy whispered as Harmony ran towards them.

Kendra wasn't making a fast flight since she was limping. Not knowing what else to do she could only go deeper into the cavern, which was getting darker and darker. Taking a deep breath, to pick up her scent, Maloker had followed her to the building and was looking for her. Coming out of the darkness, she surprised it by coming from behind it and smacking it in the head with a large rock, but she didn't even manage to knock him down. They fought and he wrestled the pipe from her hand when she swung it at him again. Crushing it into dust they returned to martial arts.

He punched her and as she bent over at the waist, he kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing into a wall. He came at her again, and she dropped to the ground to avoid his fist. She stood, and he punched and kicked her, finally causing her to double over in pain as he punched her in the ribs. He punched her in the head, sending her to the ground again. As he picked her up, he backhanded her in the face, then punched her so hard, she flew 25 feet across the room.

Going in for the kill, he ran toward her, but she looked around and noticed a pulley hoisting a pallet of metal beams. It seemed that the First was planning on renovating the cavern with structural supports. Perhaps it was planning on staying in the Deeper Well for the long hall. Ignoring that fact, Kendra kicked a control lever for the pulley, sending the beams crashing on top of Maloker as he came towards her. Still lying on the ground, Kendra hid her face as the pipes landed, with a loud sound. Thinking that she had bought herself a little time, she got up and ran away slowly, still limping, but stopped and turned around as she heard movement. Her eyes widened as she saw the vampire king rising from the pile of metal beams, unhurt. He leapt out of the rubble and sprinted after her with incredible speed.

In no time at all, he had caught up to her, grabbing her from behind and throwing her into a wall. She stepped back, still standing, as Maloker literally crawled up the wall to gain momentum and height to kick her in the face, knocking Kendra to the ground. Before she could move an inch, he kicked her in the head again before grabbing her arm and throwing Kendra through a concrete block wall, that was created as part of a support for the room. The wall crumbled down on top of her, the whole thing caving in, and there was blackness.

"Pathetic." Maloker said as he paced around. His cold blood rushing through his body, from the brief fight. The First Slayer Sineya had put up a better fight and had even defeated him in battle. But this Slayer. She was so weak that it made him wonder why the demons of today hadn't taken over this world by now. Perhaps they were just weak as well. Using a sort of demonic x-ray vision, he looked through the rubble and saw a red outline of Kendra's body and saw that her heart beat was slowing. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Faith and the others entering the room. He stared at the witch for a moment, as Amy used telekinesis to hold onto the vampire with a soul. Placing his attention back on Faith, he suddenly smiled. "Perhaps you'll put up a better challenge." he said as he ran towards her.

Kendra laid on the ground, breathing shallowly and her eye sight going in and out. Through glazed over eyes she saw someone standing over her, speaking. Focusing her eyes and concentrating on listening, she saw that it was Buffy.

"Kendra... Kendra can you hear me?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"Bu...Buffy?" Kendra asked, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her. "But you're..."

"Dead. Yeah I know." Buffy said with a small smile that quickly faded at the thought of how serious this was. "It's not your time yet Kendra. Now get up!"

"I...I can't." Kendra replied weakly with tears in her eyes.

Looking up, Buffy saw that Maloker was attacking Faith and knowing how weak the other girl was, Buffy knew that Faith and the others wouldn't make it. Glancing back down at Kendra, who was barely clinging on to life, she knew that there was only one way this could end.

"One more time." Buffy whispered as she put her hand on Kendra's chest and disappeared.

Eyes snapping open, Kendra used mystical power to throw the rubble off of herself. Hearing the noise, Faith and Maloker stopped fighting and looked back at her. Red light surrounded Kendra then entered her body through her nostrils. Growling, visible power surged through her body as the ground shook under her feet and her eyes turned white.

"Ah... a true challenge." Maloker said as he turned his back to Faith and started to walk towards Kendra. He sensed new power coming from her and it made his cold blood run even faster.

"Hey Ken...!" Faith yelled out as she threw the Slayer scythe on the ground before her.

"I don't need it." Kendra replied with a combination of her and Buffy's voice.

"Ah... arrogance." Maloker said with another smile. "Many have fallen to me because of that trait."

"And then there was me." Kendra replied with a smile of her own as she got into a fighting stance.

With a growl Maloker came for Kendra. She was able to hold her own against it for a moment, but soon she was being beaten back. The onlookers grimaced as Maloker dealt harsh blows to Kendra. Still, she managed to get in an offensive move here and there, punching and kicking the demon between its own moves.

Pressing an advantage the vampire king punched Kendra to the ground, but she got back up to fight more. It threw her about 20 feet away, and she landed on the ground, knocking a sai out of Marcie's hands. Picking up the weapon, she aimed it at Maloker as it ran toward her, hitting it right in the heart. It only paused for a moment, then came at her again.

Deciding that maybe she needed the scythe anyway, she went into a roll and grabbed it before swinging it at Maloker, but it ducked and pushed her into a wall. As Kendra fell to the ground, he disarmed her before throwing her back toward the center of the open area. It punched her again and again, making her fall into a pile of rocks. Picking one up, she was about to throw it at the demon but it crushed it before she could throw it. It punched her again, and kicked her under a boulder before throwing her a dozen feet into the air, through a scaffold platform. Kendra managed to stay on the platform, and Maloker scaled the scaffolding to get to her. He then grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground and choking her as she struggled against him.

Reaching down, she grabbed Marcie's sai in the Old One's chest, pulled it out, and jabbed its eye. It roared and dropped Kendra. While it was dealing with its injury, Kendra started punching it, and kicked it to the ground, where it landed in a pile of rocks and wooden boards. Weakly, it tried to punch her back, but she kept punching and kicking it until finally she banged its head into the metal scaffolding. Kendra grabbed some nearby barbed wire and slipped it around Maloker's throat. It fell to it's knees, and Kendra pulled on it and nearly severed its head, before he used all the strength he could muster to push her nearly the length of the room.

"You were close, Slayer." Maloker mocked as his neck started to rapidly heal itself. "Oh so close."

Faith can you hear me? Kendra spoke telepathically to her sister Slayer and never taking her eyes off of the demon king.

"Yeah um..."

Speak to me in your mind. Kendra warned her.

B is that...

I'll explain later. Kendra cut her off. How do you feel about a quick game of hot potato?

With a smile, Faith fell in line behind Kendra as the older girl picked up the Slayer scythe. As the both of them took off in a dead run towards Maloker, Kendra threw the scythe in the air. Catching it, Faith swung the scythe and chopped off Maloker's head at the same time Kendra stabbed him in the heart with Mr. Pointy. With not so much as even a cry, the Old One exploded in a cloud of dust in front of them.

"Amy make sure that thing never comes back." Kendra told the witch.

Thumbing through the Necronomicon, Amy found the right passage. "Am sigiliu de tine pentru totdeauna Maloker." with that incantation given the ashes of Maloker floated in the air and went into the mouth of the Necronomicon.

"Is... is it over?" Harmony asked as her hand went up to her head. Her mind was finally clear.

"I don't know... is it... B?" Faith asked as she turned and looked to Kendra. Giving her a smile, Kendra's eyes turned back to normal and she passed out, Faith catching her before she hit the ground. "I guess that's a yes."

"Let's get the hell out of here." Samantha ordered.

"Not so fast. You think this is over?" Buffy/First asked as she materialized in front of them.

"Actually I do." Amy said defiantly. "I finally figured out how to defeat you."

"Oh?" Buffy/First asked with a smile. "Do tell."

"I admit that I can't kill you or zap you into another dimension, but there is one thing I can do." Amy replied with a smile that even made the First nervous. "I can take away the only form of influence you have in this world. Eu vă blestemă în această zi. Eu vă benzi de vocea ta, care este unica putere ai."

As the First tried to speak, from what seemed like a harmless spell, it found that no words would come out of it's mouth. Taking another form and then yet another it found that it could no longer speak at all or project it's thoughts into others. Giving Amy a look, the witch merely held up the Necronomicon ex Mortis, before opening up a portal and disappearing with her friends.

Kendra awoke to sunlight beaming down on her face and birds loudly chirping outside of her window. Becoming fully alert she saw that she was in her bedroom with Dr. Lexie Carver, Jesse, Faith, Marcie, Harmony, Gunn of whom was holding his children, and Dawn standing over her.

"It's about time you woke up." Faith said with fake irritation.

"What she meant to say was welcome back." Jesse spoke up as he leaned down and kissed his wife softly on the lips.

"How... how long was I out?" Kendra asked as she tried to sit up, only for Lexie to put a soft hand on her chest to make her lay back down.

"You've been unconscious for about twelve hours now." Lexie told her as she took her stethoscope out and started to listen to Kendra's heartbeat. It was strong. "You need to get some rest. How do you feel?"

"Like a bus hit me."

"Was... was that a joke?" Faith asked with a smile. "When Buffy possessed you, she must've left behind her sense of humor."

"What do you mean?" Kendra and Dawn asked at the same time.

"You mean you don't remember?" Faith asked. "You did the whole comic book white eyes thing and you started talking like B. We killed Maloker together and Amy and Wesley are in the other room right now looking at that funky book you found."

"Maloker..." Kendra whispered as she took a tentative step out of the bed. Letting her get up, Lexie moved out of the way and watched as Kendra went to Gunn and gently took Jasmine out of his hands. As the baby softly cooed in her arms, Kendra smiled down at her before looking out of the window and overlooking the city.

"We scrunched the Court of Owls, silenced the First and we stopped the Old Ones from coming back." Faith said thinking out loud about their accomplishments. "I could sleep for like a week yo."

"I guess we all could." Gunn said considering doing just that. But sitting around resting would only make all of them think about what they had lost and he just didn't want to think about any of that now. Looking over at his sister in law he saw that Dawn didn't want to think about any of those things either. Especially not Buffy.

"Yeah, we kicked evils ass but what are we going to do now?" Marcie asked.

"Hey she's right." Dawn spoke up. "What are we going to do now Kendra?"

As the others chattered around her, Kendra just stared straight ahead at the city now known as New Sunnydale. As she contemplated what's next, she smiled before her eyes narrowed. Seeing Buffy standing beside a tree, looking back at her, both women smiled at each other. With a tear falling from her eye, Kendra watched as Buffy went behind said tree and disappeared. Starting to remember a few things, she knew that Buffy had saved her life. Glancing down at Jasmine, she re-vowed that she would keep the other Slayer's children and family alive. She didn't know what was coming next but she would do whatever it took to fulfill her promise.

Under the Ruins of Sunnydale High

A Few Days Later

Lissa and Vanessa stood over the Seal of Danzalthar and smiled as the blood of the victim, they had just killed, poured on it. The First had come to them several days ago but couldn't speak. It merely imbued them both with it's power and lead them here. As the seal started to open, they watched as an ashen grey hand poked out of it.

End Season four.

Thanks for reading this story guys and girls but I've decided to end it here. Thanks to all of my faithful readers.