Adult-FanFiction.org : Buffy

Blacklust: Demon Hunter	By : BurneHazard Category: -Buffy the Vampire Slayer > Slash - Male/Male Views: 3260 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Fiction Title:
Blacklust: Demon Hunter

Rating: PG-13

Fandom: Buffy; The Vampire Slayer

Pairings: Guess...this is a Marty
Stue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of
these characters but for myself, aka Raven and parents...and the Knight maybe
one or two others you won't see in the shows, so I am only borrowing the
rest. No stealing/borrowing/kidnapping
me for any reason without forewarning and request of my permission,
understood? I am having non-profit fun
is all...or attempting to. Oh, and this
Spike has no bloody chip in his head.
That whole thing and loving Buffy made me loose all interest in the
shows in the first place. Bloody wankers.

Note: Help! I really am along for the ride
just like you guys reading. Also, be
ready for a bit more confusion here toward the end...and damn are things mixed
up! And again I bow down to Scribe for
her help in betaing!
Oh, and the final part may be a while in coming as I've run off the
interstate into the back roads as far as inspiration/plot/thoughts go.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Blacklust: Demon Hunter

A Gathering of Gargoyles

or

The Trio
of Tricksters

While the Scoobies and Elders had been speaking Raven had been
watching Mordred and Meleagant. It was true that Meleagant
would have been his first choice as a Champion but he barely remembered
anything about the knight before Mordred. Clearly the man had chosen to follow
another. Raven still blamed Merlin's
meddling for that. It no longer mattered
of course, but Mordred was different. Mordred, Prince and
rightful regent of Camelot was his.

He was
pretty sure that his full history with the boy was known only to he and the
prince. Raven had carefully harnessed
him while Morgan was carrying the boy, training him gradually in subtle ways no
one had suspected. The training had
strengthened ever since Morpheus had agreed to help
Raven out. That effort was paying off as
Excalibur caught a particularly hard stroke, ringing as the sword slid along
the black blade so that the tip barely missed Meleagant's
visor. The Black Knight spun away,
breaking back only to attack again.

People said
one could learn nothing from dreams.
Raven grinned, proud of the way Mordred was
holding himself back, letting Meleagant wear himself
out, expending power. Neither had managed
to land an actual blow. Kyo was watching the Knight he manipulated closely, not
blinking. Something about the whole
thing felt off balance, but Raven was unable to focus on the sensation while
helping Mordred.

Raven was
feeding his Champion a steady thread of power, yet Mordred
was only using some of it, just enough to counter attacks. Both men were evenly matched, even if it had
been a few centuries since he had last released Mordred
from that cursed limbo inside the ring.
He did feel bad about the captivity but ever since he had grabbed the
boy out of Death's grasp, he had been forced to keep the prince in that jeweled
cell to hide him from those who would take him away.

A surge of
power from outside the battle drew Raven's attention away from Kyo and the two combatants.
Glancing to the only others that had entered this Ground, he tensed upon
seeing a skinny body clad in colored hides, topped with an all-too-familiar
head of blond hair. His surprise sent a
surge of power to Mordred. Thunder clapped just as he looked back in
time to duck as a flying black sword struck the stone pillar he had been
leaning against.

"Shit!"

"Sorry,
Father."

Wincing,
Raven groaned. That was the other reason
Mordred had remained locked away. He was too free with his tongue even after
centuries of time had passed. Still,
nothing to be done now. Meleagant was down, Mordred
standing with Excalibur's tip at the mail of the knight's throat. The scene was eerily reminiscent of the time Meleagant stood over Arthur himself at their first meeting,
halted from the kill by a spell from Merlin.

Raven
stayed in his place however and just looked at the scene. Kyo was sneering
darkly, teeth very close to fangs.
"FATHER?!"

Despite
himself, Raven smirked. So the secret
had indeed been kept better than he had hoped.
Moving forward onto the field, he came up beside the golden armored
knight. Looking at Meleagant,
he sighed before lifting his gaze to Kyo. One pale hand moved to rest upon an armored
shoulder as he gave silent recognition of Mordred's
victory.

"Yes,
Father. You see, Coyot�,
despite your meddling in my plans so long ago, I meddled in those tangled webs
myself. Oh, Arthur did lie with
Morgan. But it was my son she carried. She simply never remembered the night the
raven came to her bedchamber and left a special gift. Arthur was unable to have offspring."

Shock
washed over Kyo's face as he stared at the two. Raven reached down with his free hand to
grasp Mordred's gauntlets where he held Arthur's
sword and gently drew his arms back.
Though the point of the sword left Meleagant's
throat, the Black Knight remained where he had fallen. Mordred lowered his
blade and stood proudly, facing Coyot� with both
arrogance and challenge before his free hand rose to unlock and lift the
helmet's visor.

It was true
that golden ringlets of hair framed the young man's clean face but the
resemblance to the dark-haired young man beside him was unmistakable. Even the cool, crafty green eyes spoke of
intelligence and spirit. Raven's smirk
was almost as arrogant as the knight's stance.
Still, he looked back to Kyo and the beaten Meleagant. By that
time, everything but the icy wind had gone still and even it seemed to be
milling around, waiting.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Morpheus and Grandmother Spider looked toward the
momentarily finished battle with an air of expectation. Loki was grinning like a maniac, eyes eager
even if he was trying to hide it. But as
the seconds moved on without anything further transpiring, the Norse God
deflated slightly and frowned. His frown
grew when Raven stepped forward to offer Meleagant a
hand up. The knight hesitated, then
accepted and was pulled up to his feet.

Raven
released the man and turned to place everyone in his field of vision. Now that things had settled, he could speak
up. Even if preoccupied, the two knights
and Tricksters had always kept tabs on the things discussed, since any
"family reunion" usually had things come up that were considered
material for future schemes.

"I'm
afraid, Grandmother, that Loki would be unaware of that particular
explanation. Shall I offer it? My cousin is also in the dark, or I'm certain
he would gladly volunteer."

Kyo sent a glare at Raven but wisely held his tongue. Winking at the devious spirit, Raven looked
to the two Elders, who both nodded smoothly for him to continue.

"Before
the time of King Arthur, Loki, Coyot� and myself were
the three largest-standing rivals. Now, Coyot� and I reached an agreement, a treaty if you
will. We would divide up the lands
supporting the mortal population, be they humans or other creatures, into
Hunting Grounds. Following Tribal
Tradition, we would hunt for Chosen in that area for a set maximum time of six
months before moving on. We could spend
less, of course, if we desired. My
cousin, you see, was having a few of his... tricks... come back to literally
bite him in the ass."

Loki
snickered at that, grinning. Apparently
he recalled those tricks. The fact that
a few of the problems the old dog had were caused by mere children only stung
the wounded pride. Once Loki settled
down however, Raven continued.

"Rather
soon after our treaty was settled, I came upon England and shortly after, the
people called Celts. Their ways
interested me and I delved into them. As
powerful as I was, I often took on the form of what you would call one of the
Fair Folk, a Dark Elf. During that time,
I wore black armor, rode upon a giant black charger, and was one of the more
feared forces in the land. The stories
about the Black Knight were spawned by me.
It was my tree upon which the bloody shields of those I defeated were
hung and it was my bridge of swords that kept intruders out of my castle by the
Sacred Spring."

Now Meleagant was slowly hanging his head as if ashamed at
being caught. Only Mordred,
Morpheus and Grandmother Spider were unsurprised by
what was being revealed, the former carefully checking Excalibur's blade for
any damage.

"As Uthur, Arthur's father, had already come into the world and
begun to change it, I withdrew to the sidelines to teach a certain boy named Meleagant the ways of battle and swordplay. However, he soon turned on me, betraying me
and joining another Trickster as I later discovered. At that time, I chose to remain unseen. Meleagant managed a
firm foothold in legends where I left off, guided by the Trickster I could not
identify. He managed to become Arthur's
First Knight of the Round Table through a cleverly played game. My plans had been meddled in, but hardly
undone. I managed to trick him into
betraying Arthur by stealing away his woman.
The whole 'Lancelot goes to save her' story ensued, she was rescued and Meleagant was left alive at her request."

"Then
Father came across Morgan," muttered the golden knight with no love in his
cold tone. "He saw she was Arthur's
half sister, that she hated him. He
arranged for the two to bed... then visited the witch that same night,
disguised as Arthur again coming to her, so she maintained her act. Later, I was born. She tried to raise me, but Father also came
into the picture, though I barely recall many of those times. I just know that it wasn't her arms that held
me when I needed it, or her guidance that helped me out of all my
scrapes."

Raven
leered, almost swaying forward to begin idly strolling around and through the
group. His presence caused Morpheus and Grandmother Spider to shift their positions,
though most eyes remained on Raven as he resumed speaking.

"I let
Morgan play her game and remove Merlin, then followed Mordred
into battle against Arthur. By that
time, I had managed to look into the entire problem with the unknown Trickster
meddling in my plans. You might say I
almost had him trapped. Then somehow
Arthur learned Mordred had been named King of Camelot
in his absence. He brought his armies
back from the fight against Lancelot--which was a smooth little trick on
someone's part--to face Mordred. It came down to the Father-Son face-off as
Arthur was wounded, and had only one knight remaining by his side."

Here, Mordred again picked up the story. "Gawain pointed me out to Arthur, and he
took Excalibur in his hand. I merely had
a spear which Morgan had... let's say, contrived to get for me. We charged one another, but there was a cloud
of smoke that blocked us from view of one another for a second. Suddenly, I saw a man in black armor, with a
shield bearing a crest I had only seen a few times in dreams, appear before
me--with another man at his side. The
Black Knight grabbed me and shoved the other man in armor matching mine forward
into the smoke."

Raven was
still circling, ignoring Loki and Kyo as both fellow
Tricksters followed him, eyes narrowed sharply.
Neither one of them liked where this was heading, and they had both been
in the business long enough to be able to sense something coming: something
that would mean no good for them.

"I
kidnapped Mordred, leaving in his place another
knight who desired some form of atonement.
Oh, the knight matched Mordred to a T, I made
certain of that. So Arthur and the
knight killed one another, and you know what happened, correct?"

It was
Giles who spoke up. "Arthur told
his remaining knight to take Excalibur and throw it in the nearest lake. When he succeeded, after two failed attempts
of not being able to follow the order, the sword was captured by the Lady of
the Lake and taken into the waters, never to be seen again. Well, at least not until King Arthur returned
to the land to take it up once more, according to legend."

Applauding,
Raven drew to a stop between Loki and Kyo. By now, Giles, Xander
and Willow had noticed the positions that the two Elders had taken in relation
to Mordred.
The three in question were standing in a triangle about the Tricksters
and Meleagant.
None of them said a thing however as if for some strange reason, they
had been carried along to bear witness, not much more.

"Yes,
that is how the story was told. But
while Arthur lay mortally wounded, the glamour wore off the knight. I appeared with Mordred
at my side. Arthur realized what had
happened, as always happens to any spell cast by a Trickster when the victim is
near death's door. He gave the sword to Mordred, who already held the scabbard that kept him from
receiving any mortal wounds. I convinced
the knight Gawain to tell a proper story to protect the truth. But in cheating Death, I had inadvertently
cursed Mordred, my own son. I had to keep him near, locked within a
prison of blood and aged vines... this ring.
As such, he was to be my Champion for all time."

Mordred shrugged as the Scoobies
looked at him with mixed feelings.
"Hey, it isn't all that bad really.
Anyway, I got another chance to know my Father... really know him."

Loki
frowned, shaking his head. "So how
does this fit in with the bookworm's question, Raven? Or is it that you're leading us in random
circles?"

One brow
rose in silent, mocking question before the dark-haired young man moved in a
smooth glide out from between the two Tricksters. Giles tensed slightly as Buffy took a slow
breath and the others actually drew back as a blast of frigid wind whipped
around them. Reaching the fourth point
to the circle, Raven slowly turned back to face his son and the two in the
middle of the formation.

"Loki,
tell me... when did your Chosen disappear?"

The god frowned,
thinking. "A week or so before
Arthur's death. Why?"

"Coyot�, when did the Lady Guinevere, your Chosen, begin to
waste away?"

Even if Kyo frowned, the answer was already there, and he spoke
slowly. "A few days after Arthur's
death... and she died not a week after that."

Raven's
smile became dark, black lips twisting into something sinister as he bowed his
head forward. Those blazing green eyes
flared before dissolving in a twist of power.
The wind was suddenly there, spinning in a circle about the two
Tricksters and Meleagant, racing past the four
standing like the pillars around them.
Humanity melting away, Grandmother Spider, Morpheus
and Raven all began to change their appearances into the very ones seen by the
humans in the library.

"Did
you really think I wouldn't have known?
Did you think I was so naive as to miss what was happening around
me?"

Raven's
tone fell from the moving black beak, whipped upward on the wind that made his
feathers ripple and whipped the long mane of hair about his head and
shoulders. Morpheus
was chanting, his thundering voice rising to blend with Raven's as Grandmother
Spider's gentle, hypnotic tones rose as well.
It was Mordred who seemed unchanged at first
glance. Then one would see the heated
golden glow rising from the armor he wore, as if it reflected the sun's rays or
fire's light.

"Loki...
Lancelot did not vanish... he took Mordred's place on
the battlefield under Excalibur. Coyot�, Guinevere did not waste away... she died the same
day as Lancelot, only her body faded away."

For a split
second, both Kyo and Loki stood rooted to the spot as
things began to click into place. They
were, unfortunately, too late to escape now as the Circle was closing in upon
them. And it was not just a Circle but a
blending of Line as well. Mordred lifted his own voice to the three already spinning
through the air, his power rising through a chant in Latin to mix with the
languages of Greek, English and Celtic tongue.
The four combined into a chaotic melody that was older than time.

With a
great crash of Wind pouring into the circle to meet with the Earth, the storm
that had brewed in seconds overhead released a blazing golden bolt of lightning
down to strike the heart of the Circle, momentarily illuminating the unseen
barrier divided into four sections by a Cross of Lines meeting at the
heart. Shadow mingled, pushing up from
below as sound and silence both swept out in a pounding wash of force.

By the time
the Scoobies' brief blindness faded, Loki and Kyo were gone. It
took them a moment to notice that Meleagant was
standing across from Mordred, with serrated sword in
hand and a shield upon his arm. The
black armor was devouring any light that dared draw near. Buffy frowned, kicking up to her feet as the
Black Knight turned to fix blazing green eyes upon her. William, however, was up and grabbed her arms
enough to hold her back.

"Spike! You're asking for it."

"Calm
down, Slayer. Look at the chap
closely."

Xander was the first to realize the change in the armor. "Hey, isn't that the crest that was on
Raven's book?"

Sure
enough. Where Meleagant
had previously worn unmarked black armor, a familiar crest was emblazoned upon
the shield which rested upon his armored arm.
A crimson stripe shown horizontally at the top, separated from the lower
area by a braided gold line. Below it
was a back field with a horizontally stretched diamond of cobalt blue
highlighting a single black feather at a diagonal tilt through its heart. Green vines with full leaves rested around
the edge of the black shield, their roots at the center area of the top, their
tips meeting at the bottom point.

"Very
sharp eyes, Xander." It was Raven's voice, yet it came from the
Black Knight. Then, one clawed gauntlet
rose to unlock the helmet's faceplate and slide the visor up so that it rested
in the tri-colored plume. Raven wore the
armor, yet somehow seemed older, more complete.
Mordred approached slowly, eyes searching the
face framed in a few tendrils of straight black hair. Then, grinning, he embraced his Father.

"Excuse
me? Some of us are still lost
here!" came a reminder from a very exasperated-looking Cordelia.

Laughing,
Raven shook his head and Mordred joined in with a low
chuckle.

"Well,
since it no longer matters what you know, I don't see any harm in telling the
rest of the story to you." Raven
glanced to the Elders, both again appearing human. At their nods, he took a breath.

"The
thing is, after Meleagant was corrupted by Loki to
kidnap Kyo's Chosen so that Lancelot, one of Loki's own, could save her and thus rise in power...
Lancelot defeated him and did kill him.
Guinevere never asked for his life to be spared. Meleagant was
marked as mine, and it weakened me when he died, even though he had turned
away. I had a run-in with Loki. In the resulting fight, he managed a lucky
blow and succeeded in actually splitting me into two. Trust me, it's not pleasant."

While the
Trickster spoke, Grandmother Spider and Morpheus drew
in close to the two armored forms. They
listened silently despite the still-wailing wind washing through the stone
circle and making the structures sing.

"Most
of myself managed to stay together as Raven, but a part of myself reformed into
the very embodiment of evil and darkness that I often restrained as much as
possible. The creature it became called
itself Meleagant, none the wiser that it was not the
real knight himself. Kyo
and Loki were puzzled by that, but said nothing, and neither were the
wiser. Even I didn't know until
Grandmother Spider looked into it personally.
All that ranting about me stealing something from him was partially
true...I stole the better half and power.
And I never knew better than to run from the threat since I technically
was the same as a godling."

"Even
we were at first skeptical when Raven begged for help. After all, it sounded like another
trick. But when Grandmother Spider came
to me with the truth of the matter as well as information that it would likely
get worse, I chose to help. Raven is bad
enough when whole, but without him in the world, the rest of the pack would be
nearly impossible to control."

Looking
offended at Morpheus' words, Raven snorted before
grinning and moving toward Spike... or William as
he was now called. The blond vampire
watched a bit warily, but every bit as hungrily as when the demon had ruled
him. Circling him slowly, Raven's eyes
sharpened into a hard hazel once more.

"And
only when things were coming to a head in Sunnyhell
did I begin actually remembering everything that happened back then, sorta like getting bits and pieces in dreams, then having other stuff falling into place. Of course, since all Lines and Circles are
thrown into chaos there, it's not really that surprising it happened."

Giles
reached up to straighten his glasses a bit before taking a more business-like
stance. "Very well, then am I to
assume this would be the end of these matters?"

"Hold
on a minute," Xander spoke up, frowning as he
held Grandmother Spider's coat closer.
"Now, I get the whole Chosen thing, and that I am one of Raven's
Chosen. I understand that Loki and Coyot� were ruining Raven's plans in the Dark Ages, and
that Mordred is Raven's son because of it. I even understand the whole split-people deal
between Raven and the person we believed to be Meleagant. But what I don't understand is..." Trailing off, he frowned, trying to recall
the question.

Raven
cocked his head to one side before stepping away to give a sharp whistle. An implosion of shadow came to the field and
a giant black stallion outfitted in armor came trotting up toward the armored
form. A flash of golden light in the air
signaled the arrival of a golden palomino with flowing white mane and tail
tinged in black. Crimson luster danced
along the gold hide. Raven and Mordred moved toward their respective mounts, the stallions
snorting in gentle greeting as the knights mounted.

Lifting one
hand, Raven looked over to his son with an apologetic half-smile. Mordred just
shrugged and grinned while reaching up to pull his helmet's visor back
down. "Just don't let it be for
another century, Father." In an
angry cloud of black and red, Mordred and his mount
vanished. The ring visible about the
black-armored finger drew the cloud in until there was nothing left but a
glowing red stone pulsing with the beat of a heart before that died down and
the light faded.

Allowing
his gauntlet to fall to his side, Raven removed the shield and affixed it to
the proper place on the saddle near the stallion's left hindquarter. Leaning forward, he crossed his arms over the
pommel of the saddle and regarded the group.
Buffy was still silent and looked like she was going to get a headache
from thinking too much. Xander was staring at him with a heated look in his
eyes. Willow was trying to explain Arthurian
legend to Cordelia.
If the exasperation on the brunette's features was any indication, she
was failing miserably.

"So,
Rave... um, will anything... like that happen again... ya know?"

Smirking
toward Xander, Raven only winked, causing the young
man to flush. At an unseen signal, the
stallion slowly ambled forward one solid step at a time. "Alright. Now you all know the true stories about
certain events in Arthurian legend. I
would like to thank you all for bearing witness to it as well as lending your
power to us to send Kyo and Loki to a proper place
for punishment."

"Why
do I sense a 'but' coming up?" asked Xander.

This time
the smirk was a bit saddened as Raven looked them all over. He nodded once to his Chosen and sighed. "But... I'm afraid we cannot permit any
of you to tell of these events. I'm
sorry. I hope you'll all
understand."

Giles' head
snapped toward Morpheus, who was closest, and Buffy's
attention joined his not an instant later.
Willow, Cordelia and Xander
turned toward Grandmother Spider. Raven
turned his head slowly to find himself meeting William's gaze. Hazel eyes slowly shifted into deep
blue-green pools, rich and crystal clear before the helmet's visor fell forward
and down, locking into place. Drawing
that wicked sword, Raven took the stallion's reins in one hand and spurred the
charger forward.

Morpheus and Grandmother Spider withdrew, having provided
the distraction. By the time any of the
group realized what was happening, the barbed tip of the Black Knight's sword
drove through Buffy's chest, skewering her heart and shredding flesh as it
went. A hard jerk back and she was flung
off the sword. The bloodied blade came
around to bite into Giles' throat, smoothly severing his head from his
shoulders. The sword changed hands in
the blink of an eye.

Willow had
managed to cast a spell but it was struck aside by the Knight without even a
single moment of hesitation. The sword
found her heart as it had caught Buffy's, running her through as the war
horse's head lowered and the sharp horn upon the faceplate of the armor caught Cordelia through her throat. Jerking the black blade free of the falling
red head, the Knight twisted to look at Xander as the
horse finished off the brunette girl.

Xander looked up into those blazing green eyes, shocked and
scared yet, he had no real fear just complete and total disbelief. The Knight's eyes shifted from green toward
gold and then... Xander found himself staring into
the burning yellow gaze he had seen in the mirror. The burning pain as the weapon impaled him
was hardly even noticed as he stared into Raven's eyes. His world blackened, even as he saw the sword
stained with his blood and that of his friends withdraw.

The Knight
turned to the last human standing.
William had watched, heart stopping, or at least making him feel that
way. As he looked up toward the Black
Knight bearing down on him, he thought to scream yet could not move. He barely registered the two Elders moving
behind the charging stallion as his mind took in the sword arm extended out to
one side, ready to be used. Then the
Knight was upon him and he felt a blow strike his chest hard enough to pop a
few ribs, and his world went black.
- 8
- 9
- 10
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Blacklust: Demon Hunter