XDH Chapter 5

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry Halloween Crossover, Buffy AU
Chapter Summary: Plot progresses!  (And Spike meets...female Dante.)
Word Count: 1449
Rating: T

          It’s a simple enough matter to track down Lady Useless.  She’s being menaced by…a human pirate.
          He’s a little surprised when Cat Lady sprints past him and hits the pirate over the head with the gun.  Dusk might not have the heft of Ebony, but the pirate drops soundlessly all the same.  When he glances at her, she’s not even looking at him.  She’s kicking the downed body with vehemenence, and he’s not even sure she noticed his questioning gaze or even realizes anyone else is here.
          “I am sick of today and I am going to lose my deposit and I’ve been in life-threatening danger and demons are real,” she’s kicking the body, over and over again, and he nods.  It seems pretty shallow, honestly, but those are as good of reasons as any.  At least she’s using her breakdown in a constructive manner.
          “Would you feel better with the sword?” he asks, nudging the curved scimitar at the pirate’s belt with his boot.
          It takes her a moment to stop kicking and actually realize someone had been talking to her. “It does go better with my outfit.”
          “G-get away from me, demons!” Lady Useless yells, backing away.
          It’s not like he’s ever been super religious, but he’s done research.  “Can’t demons seek forgiveness from God, too?”
          That’s enough to give her pause and stop trying to run away.  “Do you swear you will protect me?”
          He kneels before her and kisses her hand.  “On my pride as a bodyguard, I swear it.  And I won’t let the others try anything, either.”
          When he stands back up, she’s blushing.  He’s still got it.
          “All right,” she agrees.
          “What about if I try something?” a British voice asks, and instantly he glances over.  Pretty boy with a nice aesthetic, and he’s loving the coat, but that’s a bunch of demons heading their way, and he’s got civilians to protect.  There’s a warehouse to his right.  It won’t do too much, but it’s worth the try—anything to slow them down.
          “Ladies first,” he suggests, opening the door.  “Broody, you’re with me.  Time to prove yourself.”
          Cat Lady grabs Lady Useless and pulls her inside, not letting go of the scimitar at any point.  Good.
          Fortunately, Broody seems inclined to follow instructions.  They follow the girls inside, and instantly the vampire blocks the door with his body.  “What’s your plan, Bossy?”
          Okay, his estimation of the vampire just jumped a couple notches.  “Get some stuff in front of the door…” he grabs and hefts a giant crate over his head one-handed.  He grabs another one.  “…not squash the friendly vampire,” placing them, with a thump, right next to him, “…And try to hold out.”  Broody moves out of the way, and he slides them into place. 
          Unfortunately, they don’t hold out for too long.  They’ve got a…
          They’ve got a Hulk.  Great.  How’d they even manage that?  Convincing a Hulk probably isn’t the easiest, from what little he’s read of the comics.  The earthquakes are quickly explained by the Tirhi he noticed in the back.  From the feel, though, it might not actually be a demon, just a costume, so it’s not like he can just shoot it in the face.
          “Giles is dealing with…Oh.  Oh no,” Red says, having appeared through the wall and having only just now noticed what they’re facing.
          “Get behind me!” Dante yelled, holding a gun in one hand and a sword in another.  He’d fought rooms full of demons before.  In fact, it happened pretty much every Tuesday.  But he didn’t have all that much practice in trying to keep civilians alive in a room full of demons, especially since if he Triggered he’d probably do just about as much damage as the room full of demons.  That’s assuming I can even DT and that’s a pretty big if.  The demons were chomping at the bit, wanting to charge, but they hadn’t yet.  And that probably meant a commander.
          Lady Useless had pretty much jammed herself into the corner.  Red was more reluctant to join her magically changed friend.  And Cat Lady looked like she wanted to stay up and fight, though that might just be the adrenaline, really.
          Reminded him of Lady, actually.  Now if only she had a bazooka.  A scimitar was a good start, but it wasn’t even demonic in nature.  Have to arrive properly accessorized to this kind of party.
          It didn’t really matter all that much for the ghost, of course.  These didn’t appear to be the type of demons that could affect ghosts.  But, as to the Cat, no matter how much spirit someone had, if they didn’t have the fighting power to back it up…
          Then the commander walked in.  The devil hunter had gotten a lot of practice gauging the relative power levels and all that fancy jazz on enemies, and the way the others deferred to him, the swagger, the sheer power (if unconcentrated, not likely something he can draw upon except in terms of brute strength, that’s something to keep in mind for the coming fight)…they all spelled out the fact that this was a stronger demon.  A vampire, which was unusual.  The one that had spoken outside, with that cool jacket.  Usually those guys were…well, fairly rare, but front troops.  Basically, just fodder for his ever-thirsty Devil Arms and the guns.  That meant Fanged had enough willpower and sheer strength to rise above even that and command demons of various classes that normally wouldn’t pass a vampire without ripping its head off.
          Okay, he had Dante’s respect, but he wasn’t just about to let him waltz past.  Sorry, kiddo.  I was gonna try keeping your body intact, but no way am I running away and leaving innocents to their fates.
          He let a shadow of that trademark smirk fall to the feminine lips as he moved into a fighting stance.  “Let’s rock!”  I really can’t help myself, huh?  Well, who’s complaining, anyhow?
          An eyebrow with a scar on Blondie Vampire raised.  “Looks like the Slayer’s whelp got some courage, eh?”  British, too.
          “Oh, I’m ready to take it if you can give it,” he snarked, gun hand moving into a taunt instinctively.  The demon was confused, but more than a little intrigued.  A beat, and then he was rolling, starting the fight with a volley of bullets.  Huh.  If I just sniff, I can sort of tell which ones don’t have full demon blood, so I’d assume those are the innocents.  Never mind that a few of them are way too short to be normal demons.  I’ll try to avoid taking them out completely, but no promises.  After all, I’ve got no plans to die today, and I’m not about to let these girls under my protection get an expensive final trip to the cemetery either.  And he’s pretty sure Broody’s gonna help out, too, which is something.
          The smile grew as he noted that Blondie was torn.  On one hand, the duster-clad vamp had a primary target, probably the helpless Slayer, but on the other…there was Dante.  Dante, who currently was in a sexy body (not that his own wasn't, but it kind of wasn't here right now), who was a threat, who was interesting.  And nailing pretty much every single one of the true vamps following Blondie.
          “The blonde and the feisty one ‘re mine.  Get the others!” he yelped after a couple moments of indecision-so he wants his cake and he wants to eat it too, huh?-then started into the fray, snarling.  Interestingly enough, some of the demons had seemed to join on Dante’s side, but then, they thrived on the blood and chaos.  He was no stranger to that sort of thrill himself.
          One of the real demons, a Cthonlak by the looks of it, got too close.  Dante spun easily, letting the sword rise and fall.  It took several lumbering steps and a halfhearted swipe of claws before the demon noticed its head had been sliced clean off its neck, and it stared at the devil hunter in a girl’s body as its body slumped one way and head fell another.  Altogether slow, and kind of morbidly graceful.  He’d already moved on, trying to create a hail of bullets in order to make any of the demons wary of approach.  It wasn’t like the bullets were just bee stings, either.  He’d already created several demon corpses or dust piles, but more just kept coming.  On the average day, he’d welcome a workout like this, but today wasn’t his average day, and it better not become my average day if it knows what’s good for it, he added mentally.