Suite 518/520 (and beyond and back again), Sunday late morning/early afternoon
Bel was spending the day lazing about, sprawled on the couch and watching TV. Phoebe was out and Anders was in the kitchen.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Valkyrie and Seraphim acting strangely. They were mewing at each other and looking around the room. "Hey, guys, what's wrong?" Bel called over to them, wondering if they sensed something. He knew cats could sense stuff like earthquakes, and demon cats were probably even more sensitive.
Valkyrie growled, and then a white smoke began to swirl around her and Seraphim. The cats hissed and batted at the smoke, claws extended. Before Bel could get up from the couch, they vanished. "What the hell?" he said.
"What the hell what?" asked Anders, a smudge of chocolate frosting on his nose as he emerged from the kitchen looking quizzical. "You know, I'm never gonna get these done for you if you keep -- hey. Didn't I just hear the cats meowing at each other out here a second ago?"
"They're gone," Bel said, staring at the place the cats had been.
"They do kind of run off sometime." Anders eyed him, his expression shifting from curiosity to apprehension. "That's not what you meant, though, is it? They'll come back, right? Right? They have to, right?"
Bel got to his feet and walked over to where the cats had disappeared. He could sense lingering demonic energies, and he knew what that kind of smoke usually meant. "Summoning spell," he growled. "Someone pulled them back to the Underworld."
Anders stared at the spot where Bel was standing, then stared up at Bel. "Dude, Phoebe's gonna freak if they don't come back."
"Yeah," Bel said. "I'm gonna go get them. She'll be devastated if she loses them."
"Going down to the Underworld?" repeated Anders. "By yourself? Like hell you are."
Frosting on his nose or not, he looked unmistakably stubborn right about then.
"No way in hell are you going," Bel snapped. He didn't really want to go himself, but no way was he dragging Anders there.
"After what we went through to get you out of there last time?" Anders snapped back -- which, well, the Wastelands were different, but for the sake of the argument at the moment he was going with it. "No frakking way I let you go alone."
"I'll be fast," Bel insisted. "In and out. But I'm not gonna risk you down there. It's too dangerous."
Anders threw his hands up and growled in irritation. "So what? I'm supposed to just sit around here and worry until you get back? If something happens to you down there, how do you think me and Phoebe are going to feel? Huh?"
"I'll be okay," Bel said. "I know how to handle myself down there. You don't."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Anders, stung.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Bel said. "You don't wanna know what they'd do to you down there if they got their hands on you." Then again, Anders probably knew all too well, having been a plaything of the Source.
The implication wasn't lost on Anders, who froze and turned slightly pale. "I've got a pretty good idea, maybe, yeah. Fine," he said with a sigh. "Just . . . be careful, okay?"
He moved closer and wrapped one arm around Bel's neck, kissing him hard. "Don't make me have to come down after you again."
Bel returned the kiss and nodded. "Trust me, I don't want to stay down there any longer than I have to," he said. "I'll be back soon."
"You better." Anders stared intently into Bel's eyes to emphasize the words. "I mean it."
He kissed Bel one more time, roughly, then let go of him and fell back a step.
Bel nodded and started to shimmer out of the room.
But Anders hadn't spent years in intensive athletic training for nothing.
He shot a hand out and grabbed hold of Bel's arm.
Which of course meant that Bel was now taking Anders along for the ride. When they reappeared in a cavern of reddish stone, Bel glared at his unwelcomed passenger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" Anders retorted. "I'm coming with you, dumbass."
"I'm taking you back right now," Bel said.
"Like hell you are." Anders braced his feet and glared at Bel. "You're stuck with me now, whether you like it or not, because I'm not going to just wait around for you to get back and feel helpless the whole time."
"I'm not gonna let you get killed down here!" Bel snapped. "It's not safe for you!"
"Considering who you are now," hissed Anders, "it's not exactly a cakewalk for you either, is it? You're so worried about me? Fine, let's get what we came here for and go the hell home. Safer than standing here arguing about it."
The speed with which he'd jumped right into using 'we' made it pretty damn apparent that he had no intention of getting sent home to twiddle his thumbs.
"Fine," Bel growled. "You stick close to me and do exactly what I say."
He closed his eyes and tried to sense the cats. He had no idea why they were summoned or who had done it, but he knew he had to find them and fast. Not enough time to take Anders back. It was difficult to get a feel for where the cats were with all the other demons around, but he thought he knew where they were. "This way," he said.
Anders wanted to snap at him for being bossy, but he knew Bel was just worried about him, and that he didn't exactly want to be here either.
He nodded and let his fingers brush Bel's for the briefest moment then followed after him, doing his best to look nonchalant, and like he had every reason in the world to be down in the Underworld.
Bel lead the way in silence, hoping to avoid any other demons. They hadn't gone far, however, when a demon shimmered in front of them. "Belthazor," he said, looking at Bel suspiciously. "I thought you were dead."
"I got better," Bel said coldly.
"But you're not the Source anymore, are you?" the demon said, sizing Bel up. He looked like he was itching for a fight. Glancing at Anders, he asked, "Who's he?"
Bel reached over and grabbed Anders by the neck and jerked him against him. "He's mine," he growled.
It took a surprising amount of self-control to keep Anders from freaking out. It's Bel, he reminded himself. Not the Source.
For now, even though it made him feel slightly sick, he nodded, stayed silent, and kept his eyes down, playing the good subservient toy.
"Gone from witches to humans now, Belthazor?" the demon said, still checking Anders out. "You should let me borrow him for awhile. I'll show him what a real demon's like."
"Since when have I shared?" Bel snarled. "Keep your hands to yourself."
The demon shrugged and laughed. "Better keep him on a tight leash then," he said. "Pretty face like that is going to attract attention."
Anders couldn't keep back a shudder this time, and he pressed himself back against Bel. Dammit, I should've listened. Should've stayed home.
"Anyone who touches him answers to me," Bel snarled. He stroked Anders's hair with one hand, making his possession clear.
The demon gave Bel a decidedly "whatever" look. "See you around, Belthazor," he said, shimmering away.
Anders exhaled slowly once the two of them were alone again, and glanced over his shoulder at Bel. "C'mon, let's make this quick," he said, his expression clearly indicating how little fun that encounter had been.
"He's going to report he saw me," Bel said. "We don't have much time now."
"Lead the way," Anders told him, fingers brushing against his arm again. "Let's get this done and get the hell home before Phoebe kicks our asses."
"I should take you back," Bel said, hesitating, glancing to where the demon had stood.
"And I love you for trying," Anders said under his breath, "but quit wasting time already. Let's just go find them."
"Just hope we don't run into anybody else," Bel said. He tried to zero in on the cats again. "They're close," he said. "This way."
Anders nodded and followed him as silently as possible -- which, to his surprise, he didn't botch up half as badly as he'd expected to.
They'd gone about fifty feet when a soft scraping sound came from somewhere off to the left, in front of them.
"Bel," he said in a low voice. "D'you . . . ?"
Bel froze, nodding. He pressed himself against the wall, pulling Anders against it beside him.
Anders flattened himself against that wall like his life depended on it (it very well could have) and listened carefully, forcing his breathing not to quicken.
That part, unfortunately, was harder than he'd hoped, and he could feel the sweat trickling down the back of his neck.
Bel pressed one arm against Anders's chest and stared down the corridor, tense and waiting to see if the source of the noise was approaching them.
Anders glanced in the other direction, no idea of what he was looking for and no idea why he'd thought it would be a good plan to tag along on this adventure in the first place.
"Stupid," he mouthed silently, berating himself. "Stick to rooting from the sidelines where you belong next time, why don't you, Sammy-boy . . ."
After a few moments, Bel relaxed. "I think it's safe to keep going," he said.
"So let's move, then," Anders said, glancing at him. He pushed himself away from the wall, wincing as he felt the few places where rough surfaces had left gouges in his flesh.
Bel continued to lead Anders through the dimly lit corridors of the Underworld. They finally reached an open cavern, at the far end of which was a cage containing two cats, one white, one black. It was surrounded by arcing beams of white energy, like the crystal prison used to entrap the Source.
Pausing and looking around warily for a trap, Bel nodded at Anders and moved toward the cats. When he reached for one of the crystals that created the prison around the cats, light flared and knocked him back. Ouch.
Anders took a step forward, one hand outstretched. "Let me give it a try."
"Wait!" Bel started to say, expecting the same thing to happen. He was going to be dreadfully embarrassed when it would soon be proved that the field only repelled demons, not humans or Cylons.
Anders, remembering (though he kind of wished he didn't) the crystal cage from the night he'd watched Phoebe and her sisters vanquish the Source, nudged the nearest crystal with one finger and knocked it just barely out of alignment.
And then he jumped back, expecting some kind of energy bolt to lash out at him.
The energy faded when Anders moved the crystal out of alignment and did not lash out at him. Bel made a grumpy face at Anders.
Anders quirked an eyebrow and shrugged at him. "Sorry? But hey, they're out now, right? So we can go home, and maybe Phoebe won't kill us too hard?"
"Right," Bel said. The cats blinked sleepily at them, and Bel reached to pick up Seraphim. "Get Valkyrie and we'll shimmer out of here," he said.
"Yes sir," Anders said dryly, and bent to scoop up Valkyrie. "That was pretty easy."
Ah, famous last words.
Seraphim growled and hissed and squirmed out of Bel's arms. Before he could even wonder why the cat was reacting that way, an energy ball struck him in the back, slamming him hard against the cavern wall. He slid to the ground, unconscious.
A demon stood in the entrance to the cavern. "Alec," he said coolly, "what are you doing with that traitor?"
Anders froze, confused for a moment.
Alec. That had been the name of his Darklighter doppelganger, hadn't it? Right. Denying that would be a bad, bad thing right now.
Anders forced himself to remember as much as he could of that weekend, and moreover forced himself to remember certain details about the Source, and how he had behaved.
He twisted one side of his face into a lazy smirk and shrugged as casually as he could. "Don't be so hard on him," he drawled. "He has his uses."
"He had his uses for me once," the demon sneered. "Then he decided to fall for a witch. I always knew his human half made him weak." He moved closer and prodded Bel's still body with his foot.
It would be a very bad idea for Anders to just haul off and punch him, no matter how much he wanted to.
It would be a very bad idea to say, "Don't frakking talk about my boyfriend like that, you jerk, and for frak's sake, learn to shave."
Instead, he snorted and knelt, grabbing Bel by the back of the collar and, mirroring Bel's earlier move with him, ran a possessive hand over his hair. "And don't think I'm not taking advantage of that for all I can get. The mighty Belthazor, a Darklighter's toy? How could I pass that up?"
Lords, Bel, please don't kick my ass for this later, okay?
"How did you manage to snare him?" the demon said, impressed. "To think he had the mantle of the Source and let it be taken from him. He's more of a disgrace than I ever dreamed. I would've killed him long ago if Raynor had let me, but I did put him in his place. My toy, as you say."
Valkyrie had jumped from Anders's arms and was now by Seraphim, both growling at the demon. He gave them a puzzled look. "And what are these cats doing here?"
Hearing the demon talk about using Bel as his toy made Anders remember even more vividly the time he'd spent as the Source's plaything, and thinking about Bel going through something similar . . . the urge to just lash out and hurt this guy got even stronger.
Only if he did it now, he knew, he'd never have a chance. You didn't take a shot on goal through heavy traffic if your defenders weren't off-balance, and this demon was definitely not off-balance. Like it or not, he was going to have to settle down and just play the game, get a good read on the court. Except this time . . . he really had no objection to playing dirty.
"Belong to his witch. Had to bait him somehow, didn't I?" he asked coolly.
"And now that you've brought him home, what are we to do with him?" the demon said. "Killing him once and for all would be wise, but first we will pry what he knows about the Charmed Ones out of his head so we can destroy them as well." His lips curled into a smirk. "And there are certain benefits to letting him live awhile longer aside from that. So many ways to make the mighty Belthazor suffer. He needs to learn his place again." His tone made it clear that he was staking his own claim on Bel and challenging "Alec" to defy him.
Oh, hell no. There was no way Anders was going to let this guy touch Phoebe or her sisters, either. He would have given anything for the real Alec's touch of death right now, because with as much as he hated this demon right now, he could have killed him with a flick of one finger.
But he didn't have Alec's Darklighter powers, and for that matter he didn't really know a whole lot about Darklighter powers, or Darklighters' role in the demonic world other than what Bel had told him about their usual tasks, and that they didn't seem to be too far up the demonic hierarchy.
Time. He needed time. Stalling seemed to be the order of business right now.
"He's mine for now," snarled Anders, ignoring the insane way his heart was beating. "Belthazor brought down by a Darklighter? I think that works in everyone's favor, don't you?"
"You'll be amply rewarded for your efforts," the demon said. "But he belongs to me now."
Bel stirred, groaning as his eyelids flickered and opened. He tensed when he saw the demon standing over him. "Vornac," he growled.
"Stay down," growled Anders through clenched teeth, banking on the fact that Bel would be able to tell that this was an act. He darted a quick but comprehensive glance around the cave, the way he usually would to read the defense setup and his teammates' positions on the court, and caught sight of a rock a couple dozen feet or so behind Vornac and to the left.
This being a cave there were rocks everywhere, of course, but this particular rock was heavy, had a couple of promisingly pointed protrusions, and was about the size of a grapefruit. In other words, about the size of a Pyramid ball.
Okay -- now he felt more in his element. Anders kept his eyes moving, kept scanning the area, not giving away the position of his target just yet although he had it fixed firmly in his mind. Shifting his weight subtly to the balls of his feet, he tensed, let go of Bel, and turned to the left . . .
. . . then exploded into a full-out run to the right, with every intention of cutting around Vornac.
Vornac gave Anders a confused look at he darted past him. "Stupid Darklighter," he laughed, thinking "Alec" had chosen to flee rather than fight over ownership of Belthazor. He looked down at the demon in question. "I've waited for this moment for a long time, Belthazor. I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place again. Even your Darklighter would-be master has abandoned you now." He turned to see if Alec had fled completely yet.
He would be wrong.
Anders didn't know if he was just lucky, or if most demons just had to be stupid enough to give speeches to their victims, but he wasn't arguing with the few seconds it bought him.
He dove into a roll and came up with the rock; it would be too heavy to throw from this distance, but he knew he had speed. Tucking the rock under his arm, he sprinted several paces closer to Vornac just as the demon turned around.
"The hell he belongs to you, motherfrakker," he snarled, and let the rock fly with all his strength, aiming for Vornac's face. It might not have been a CPL-regulation ball, but he knew the feel of a good shot when he took it.
Vornac reeled backwards as the rock struck him. "How dare you!" he howled, summoning an energy ball and throwing it in Anders's direction, but the blood streaming from his nose and forehead blinded him.
He dodged the energy ball easily -- later on, he'd sweat over how close it came, but that was all the opportunity Anders needed to close the distance between them and throw a vicious punch at Vornac's jaw.
"I've got every frakking reason to dare," he hissed. "You have no right to claim him. He'll never belong to you."
The punch struck its target. Vornac staggered and toppled and lay still.
Bel tried to push himself up, but he was still dazed and barely conscious, though the scrapes that resulted from his introduction to the wall and the burns from the energy ball had healed. "What. . . ?" he managed to say.
Anders sprinted over and grabbed hold of Bel's arm, hauling him to his feet. "No time. Let's get the cats and get the frak out of here. Can you shimmer okay?"
"I think so?" Bel said, letting Anders help him up. Seraphim and Valkyrie padded over to be picked up. Then Bel's eyes fell on the prone Vornac and he stiffened, his expression darkening.
Anders bent down and scooped up the cats, handing Seraphim over to Bel and wrapping his arm around Bel's waist. "It's okay," he said, as the reality of the past several minutes set in and he started shaking violently despite his assurances. "No way was I letting him lay a hand on you . . . but he's only out cold, I think. We've gotta get out of here, now."
Bel hesitated, torn between wanting to finish Vornac off and getting to safety. Rationality won out over revenge. He nodded and took Seraphim, made sure Anders had Valkyrie and a secure grip, and shimmered them back to Fandom.
[Preplayed with futurebucs_star. Contents of post are NFB due to distance, but IC comments are okay for broadcast. OOC comments are, of course, teh love.]
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Valkyrie and Seraphim acting strangely. They were mewing at each other and looking around the room. "Hey, guys, what's wrong?" Bel called over to them, wondering if they sensed something. He knew cats could sense stuff like earthquakes, and demon cats were probably even more sensitive.
Valkyrie growled, and then a white smoke began to swirl around her and Seraphim. The cats hissed and batted at the smoke, claws extended. Before Bel could get up from the couch, they vanished. "What the hell?" he said.
"What the hell what?" asked Anders, a smudge of chocolate frosting on his nose as he emerged from the kitchen looking quizzical. "You know, I'm never gonna get these done for you if you keep -- hey. Didn't I just hear the cats meowing at each other out here a second ago?"
"They're gone," Bel said, staring at the place the cats had been.
"They do kind of run off sometime." Anders eyed him, his expression shifting from curiosity to apprehension. "That's not what you meant, though, is it? They'll come back, right? Right? They have to, right?"
Bel got to his feet and walked over to where the cats had disappeared. He could sense lingering demonic energies, and he knew what that kind of smoke usually meant. "Summoning spell," he growled. "Someone pulled them back to the Underworld."
Anders stared at the spot where Bel was standing, then stared up at Bel. "Dude, Phoebe's gonna freak if they don't come back."
"Yeah," Bel said. "I'm gonna go get them. She'll be devastated if she loses them."
"Going down to the Underworld?" repeated Anders. "By yourself? Like hell you are."
Frosting on his nose or not, he looked unmistakably stubborn right about then.
"No way in hell are you going," Bel snapped. He didn't really want to go himself, but no way was he dragging Anders there.
"After what we went through to get you out of there last time?" Anders snapped back -- which, well, the Wastelands were different, but for the sake of the argument at the moment he was going with it. "No frakking way I let you go alone."
"I'll be fast," Bel insisted. "In and out. But I'm not gonna risk you down there. It's too dangerous."
Anders threw his hands up and growled in irritation. "So what? I'm supposed to just sit around here and worry until you get back? If something happens to you down there, how do you think me and Phoebe are going to feel? Huh?"
"I'll be okay," Bel said. "I know how to handle myself down there. You don't."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," muttered Anders, stung.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Bel said. "You don't wanna know what they'd do to you down there if they got their hands on you." Then again, Anders probably knew all too well, having been a plaything of the Source.
The implication wasn't lost on Anders, who froze and turned slightly pale. "I've got a pretty good idea, maybe, yeah. Fine," he said with a sigh. "Just . . . be careful, okay?"
He moved closer and wrapped one arm around Bel's neck, kissing him hard. "Don't make me have to come down after you again."
Bel returned the kiss and nodded. "Trust me, I don't want to stay down there any longer than I have to," he said. "I'll be back soon."
"You better." Anders stared intently into Bel's eyes to emphasize the words. "I mean it."
He kissed Bel one more time, roughly, then let go of him and fell back a step.
Bel nodded and started to shimmer out of the room.
But Anders hadn't spent years in intensive athletic training for nothing.
He shot a hand out and grabbed hold of Bel's arm.
Which of course meant that Bel was now taking Anders along for the ride. When they reappeared in a cavern of reddish stone, Bel glared at his unwelcomed passenger. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" Anders retorted. "I'm coming with you, dumbass."
"I'm taking you back right now," Bel said.
"Like hell you are." Anders braced his feet and glared at Bel. "You're stuck with me now, whether you like it or not, because I'm not going to just wait around for you to get back and feel helpless the whole time."
"I'm not gonna let you get killed down here!" Bel snapped. "It's not safe for you!"
"Considering who you are now," hissed Anders, "it's not exactly a cakewalk for you either, is it? You're so worried about me? Fine, let's get what we came here for and go the hell home. Safer than standing here arguing about it."
The speed with which he'd jumped right into using 'we' made it pretty damn apparent that he had no intention of getting sent home to twiddle his thumbs.
"Fine," Bel growled. "You stick close to me and do exactly what I say."
He closed his eyes and tried to sense the cats. He had no idea why they were summoned or who had done it, but he knew he had to find them and fast. Not enough time to take Anders back. It was difficult to get a feel for where the cats were with all the other demons around, but he thought he knew where they were. "This way," he said.
Anders wanted to snap at him for being bossy, but he knew Bel was just worried about him, and that he didn't exactly want to be here either.
He nodded and let his fingers brush Bel's for the briefest moment then followed after him, doing his best to look nonchalant, and like he had every reason in the world to be down in the Underworld.
Bel lead the way in silence, hoping to avoid any other demons. They hadn't gone far, however, when a demon shimmered in front of them. "Belthazor," he said, looking at Bel suspiciously. "I thought you were dead."
"I got better," Bel said coldly.
"But you're not the Source anymore, are you?" the demon said, sizing Bel up. He looked like he was itching for a fight. Glancing at Anders, he asked, "Who's he?"
Bel reached over and grabbed Anders by the neck and jerked him against him. "He's mine," he growled.
It took a surprising amount of self-control to keep Anders from freaking out. It's Bel, he reminded himself. Not the Source.
For now, even though it made him feel slightly sick, he nodded, stayed silent, and kept his eyes down, playing the good subservient toy.
"Gone from witches to humans now, Belthazor?" the demon said, still checking Anders out. "You should let me borrow him for awhile. I'll show him what a real demon's like."
"Since when have I shared?" Bel snarled. "Keep your hands to yourself."
The demon shrugged and laughed. "Better keep him on a tight leash then," he said. "Pretty face like that is going to attract attention."
Anders couldn't keep back a shudder this time, and he pressed himself back against Bel. Dammit, I should've listened. Should've stayed home.
"Anyone who touches him answers to me," Bel snarled. He stroked Anders's hair with one hand, making his possession clear.
The demon gave Bel a decidedly "whatever" look. "See you around, Belthazor," he said, shimmering away.
Anders exhaled slowly once the two of them were alone again, and glanced over his shoulder at Bel. "C'mon, let's make this quick," he said, his expression clearly indicating how little fun that encounter had been.
"He's going to report he saw me," Bel said. "We don't have much time now."
"Lead the way," Anders told him, fingers brushing against his arm again. "Let's get this done and get the hell home before Phoebe kicks our asses."
"I should take you back," Bel said, hesitating, glancing to where the demon had stood.
"And I love you for trying," Anders said under his breath, "but quit wasting time already. Let's just go find them."
"Just hope we don't run into anybody else," Bel said. He tried to zero in on the cats again. "They're close," he said. "This way."
Anders nodded and followed him as silently as possible -- which, to his surprise, he didn't botch up half as badly as he'd expected to.
They'd gone about fifty feet when a soft scraping sound came from somewhere off to the left, in front of them.
"Bel," he said in a low voice. "D'you . . . ?"
Bel froze, nodding. He pressed himself against the wall, pulling Anders against it beside him.
Anders flattened himself against that wall like his life depended on it (it very well could have) and listened carefully, forcing his breathing not to quicken.
That part, unfortunately, was harder than he'd hoped, and he could feel the sweat trickling down the back of his neck.
Bel pressed one arm against Anders's chest and stared down the corridor, tense and waiting to see if the source of the noise was approaching them.
Anders glanced in the other direction, no idea of what he was looking for and no idea why he'd thought it would be a good plan to tag along on this adventure in the first place.
"Stupid," he mouthed silently, berating himself. "Stick to rooting from the sidelines where you belong next time, why don't you, Sammy-boy . . ."
After a few moments, Bel relaxed. "I think it's safe to keep going," he said.
"So let's move, then," Anders said, glancing at him. He pushed himself away from the wall, wincing as he felt the few places where rough surfaces had left gouges in his flesh.
Bel continued to lead Anders through the dimly lit corridors of the Underworld. They finally reached an open cavern, at the far end of which was a cage containing two cats, one white, one black. It was surrounded by arcing beams of white energy, like the crystal prison used to entrap the Source.
Pausing and looking around warily for a trap, Bel nodded at Anders and moved toward the cats. When he reached for one of the crystals that created the prison around the cats, light flared and knocked him back. Ouch.
Anders took a step forward, one hand outstretched. "Let me give it a try."
"Wait!" Bel started to say, expecting the same thing to happen. He was going to be dreadfully embarrassed when it would soon be proved that the field only repelled demons, not humans or Cylons.
Anders, remembering (though he kind of wished he didn't) the crystal cage from the night he'd watched Phoebe and her sisters vanquish the Source, nudged the nearest crystal with one finger and knocked it just barely out of alignment.
And then he jumped back, expecting some kind of energy bolt to lash out at him.
The energy faded when Anders moved the crystal out of alignment and did not lash out at him. Bel made a grumpy face at Anders.
Anders quirked an eyebrow and shrugged at him. "Sorry? But hey, they're out now, right? So we can go home, and maybe Phoebe won't kill us too hard?"
"Right," Bel said. The cats blinked sleepily at them, and Bel reached to pick up Seraphim. "Get Valkyrie and we'll shimmer out of here," he said.
"Yes sir," Anders said dryly, and bent to scoop up Valkyrie. "That was pretty easy."
Ah, famous last words.
Seraphim growled and hissed and squirmed out of Bel's arms. Before he could even wonder why the cat was reacting that way, an energy ball struck him in the back, slamming him hard against the cavern wall. He slid to the ground, unconscious.
A demon stood in the entrance to the cavern. "Alec," he said coolly, "what are you doing with that traitor?"
Anders froze, confused for a moment.
Alec. That had been the name of his Darklighter doppelganger, hadn't it? Right. Denying that would be a bad, bad thing right now.
Anders forced himself to remember as much as he could of that weekend, and moreover forced himself to remember certain details about the Source, and how he had behaved.
He twisted one side of his face into a lazy smirk and shrugged as casually as he could. "Don't be so hard on him," he drawled. "He has his uses."
"He had his uses for me once," the demon sneered. "Then he decided to fall for a witch. I always knew his human half made him weak." He moved closer and prodded Bel's still body with his foot.
It would be a very bad idea for Anders to just haul off and punch him, no matter how much he wanted to.
It would be a very bad idea to say, "Don't frakking talk about my boyfriend like that, you jerk, and for frak's sake, learn to shave."
Instead, he snorted and knelt, grabbing Bel by the back of the collar and, mirroring Bel's earlier move with him, ran a possessive hand over his hair. "And don't think I'm not taking advantage of that for all I can get. The mighty Belthazor, a Darklighter's toy? How could I pass that up?"
Lords, Bel, please don't kick my ass for this later, okay?
"How did you manage to snare him?" the demon said, impressed. "To think he had the mantle of the Source and let it be taken from him. He's more of a disgrace than I ever dreamed. I would've killed him long ago if Raynor had let me, but I did put him in his place. My toy, as you say."
Valkyrie had jumped from Anders's arms and was now by Seraphim, both growling at the demon. He gave them a puzzled look. "And what are these cats doing here?"
Hearing the demon talk about using Bel as his toy made Anders remember even more vividly the time he'd spent as the Source's plaything, and thinking about Bel going through something similar . . . the urge to just lash out and hurt this guy got even stronger.
Only if he did it now, he knew, he'd never have a chance. You didn't take a shot on goal through heavy traffic if your defenders weren't off-balance, and this demon was definitely not off-balance. Like it or not, he was going to have to settle down and just play the game, get a good read on the court. Except this time . . . he really had no objection to playing dirty.
"Belong to his witch. Had to bait him somehow, didn't I?" he asked coolly.
"And now that you've brought him home, what are we to do with him?" the demon said. "Killing him once and for all would be wise, but first we will pry what he knows about the Charmed Ones out of his head so we can destroy them as well." His lips curled into a smirk. "And there are certain benefits to letting him live awhile longer aside from that. So many ways to make the mighty Belthazor suffer. He needs to learn his place again." His tone made it clear that he was staking his own claim on Bel and challenging "Alec" to defy him.
Oh, hell no. There was no way Anders was going to let this guy touch Phoebe or her sisters, either. He would have given anything for the real Alec's touch of death right now, because with as much as he hated this demon right now, he could have killed him with a flick of one finger.
But he didn't have Alec's Darklighter powers, and for that matter he didn't really know a whole lot about Darklighter powers, or Darklighters' role in the demonic world other than what Bel had told him about their usual tasks, and that they didn't seem to be too far up the demonic hierarchy.
Time. He needed time. Stalling seemed to be the order of business right now.
"He's mine for now," snarled Anders, ignoring the insane way his heart was beating. "Belthazor brought down by a Darklighter? I think that works in everyone's favor, don't you?"
"You'll be amply rewarded for your efforts," the demon said. "But he belongs to me now."
Bel stirred, groaning as his eyelids flickered and opened. He tensed when he saw the demon standing over him. "Vornac," he growled.
"Stay down," growled Anders through clenched teeth, banking on the fact that Bel would be able to tell that this was an act. He darted a quick but comprehensive glance around the cave, the way he usually would to read the defense setup and his teammates' positions on the court, and caught sight of a rock a couple dozen feet or so behind Vornac and to the left.
This being a cave there were rocks everywhere, of course, but this particular rock was heavy, had a couple of promisingly pointed protrusions, and was about the size of a grapefruit. In other words, about the size of a Pyramid ball.
Okay -- now he felt more in his element. Anders kept his eyes moving, kept scanning the area, not giving away the position of his target just yet although he had it fixed firmly in his mind. Shifting his weight subtly to the balls of his feet, he tensed, let go of Bel, and turned to the left . . .
. . . then exploded into a full-out run to the right, with every intention of cutting around Vornac.
Vornac gave Anders a confused look at he darted past him. "Stupid Darklighter," he laughed, thinking "Alec" had chosen to flee rather than fight over ownership of Belthazor. He looked down at the demon in question. "I've waited for this moment for a long time, Belthazor. I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place again. Even your Darklighter would-be master has abandoned you now." He turned to see if Alec had fled completely yet.
He would be wrong.
Anders didn't know if he was just lucky, or if most demons just had to be stupid enough to give speeches to their victims, but he wasn't arguing with the few seconds it bought him.
He dove into a roll and came up with the rock; it would be too heavy to throw from this distance, but he knew he had speed. Tucking the rock under his arm, he sprinted several paces closer to Vornac just as the demon turned around.
"The hell he belongs to you, motherfrakker," he snarled, and let the rock fly with all his strength, aiming for Vornac's face. It might not have been a CPL-regulation ball, but he knew the feel of a good shot when he took it.
Vornac reeled backwards as the rock struck him. "How dare you!" he howled, summoning an energy ball and throwing it in Anders's direction, but the blood streaming from his nose and forehead blinded him.
He dodged the energy ball easily -- later on, he'd sweat over how close it came, but that was all the opportunity Anders needed to close the distance between them and throw a vicious punch at Vornac's jaw.
"I've got every frakking reason to dare," he hissed. "You have no right to claim him. He'll never belong to you."
The punch struck its target. Vornac staggered and toppled and lay still.
Bel tried to push himself up, but he was still dazed and barely conscious, though the scrapes that resulted from his introduction to the wall and the burns from the energy ball had healed. "What. . . ?" he managed to say.
Anders sprinted over and grabbed hold of Bel's arm, hauling him to his feet. "No time. Let's get the cats and get the frak out of here. Can you shimmer okay?"
"I think so?" Bel said, letting Anders help him up. Seraphim and Valkyrie padded over to be picked up. Then Bel's eyes fell on the prone Vornac and he stiffened, his expression darkening.
Anders bent down and scooped up the cats, handing Seraphim over to Bel and wrapping his arm around Bel's waist. "It's okay," he said, as the reality of the past several minutes set in and he started shaking violently despite his assurances. "No way was I letting him lay a hand on you . . . but he's only out cold, I think. We've gotta get out of here, now."
Bel hesitated, torn between wanting to finish Vornac off and getting to safety. Rationality won out over revenge. He nodded and took Seraphim, made sure Anders had Valkyrie and a secure grip, and shimmered them back to Fandom.
[Preplayed with futurebucs_star. Contents of post are NFB due to distance, but IC comments are okay for broadcast. OOC comments are, of course, teh love.]