The Source of Our Power: Chapter 14

"Sue, was it really necessary to employ the most incompetent underlings you could possibly find? Jupiter is only in Scorpio for so long, you know."

"It will stay in Scorpio for almost a year," Sue stated calmly, her eyes following Tammy's manic pacing around the decimated bedroom. It was difficult to tell which of the two of them had done more damage when they had first entered it, but the discovery that Kurt was not the boy they sought had thrown them both into a destructive rage that only smashing fragile and expensive objects could quell.

"It took us thirteen years to find him after the last time," Tammy hissed, whirling around to glare at Sue. "And it wasn't even the right boy. Do you really think we can find the true descendant in a single year? Darn it, Sue, I don't even want to think about enduring another decade of this...this witchcraft. More than one Slayer is just...these girls shouldn't be out killing demons, they should be at home taking care of their families, allowing demonkind to cull the herds as god sees fit."

"Amen," Sue assented solemnly, forcing herself not to inquire about Tammy's own husband and children – or lack thereof – while she herself rose through the ranks of both politics and the dark arts.

"If it will make you feel better, you are of course free to kill any one of the four of them," Sue offered easily. "The warlock in particular has been practically begging someone to rip that smug little face right off his skull."

Tammy hummed thoughtfully, coming to a stop before an antique vanity and straightening her hair in the uncracked portion of the mirror on top of it.

"Perhaps not just yet, but thank you. Didn't you say the decoy has a Slayer? It might be helpful to keep them around in case that becomes a problem."

Sue snorted derisively. "His Slayer is the boy Slayer. I wouldn't worry about that."

"Boy Slayer," Tammy mused. "Yes, I believe I recall that mildly retarded girl you had me rooming with at your school mentioning him. He sounds fascinating."

Sue shook her head. "My theory is that he's a pygmy demon with small, mannish breasts and an inverted vagina. He's less coordinated than a blind house cat, and he can barely hold a stake to save his life. I can assure you, he'll be no problem at all to deal with."

Tammy chuckled. "Oh, Sue. Do you really think I'm concerned about a vampire Slayer? Really."

Sue narrowed her eyes. "The boy is nothing. But my girls are champions, Tammy."

"Mrs. Albertson," Tammy corrected her with a mild smile. "And you sold all of your girls out, if you recall."

"That doesn't mean I'm not proud of them," Sue snapped.

Before Tammy could pair her slight smirk with a verbal response, Tina burst into the room, eyes dark with anger.

"Sue, you can't let Dave do this," she began firmly. "I know he may not be useful for your immediate purposes," she added, side-eyeing Tammy, but the boy is pure Summers. The bloodline isn't tainted, I assure you. Buffy Summers just wasn't the last lone Slayer."

"Well, I fail to see how that makes him important," Tammy responded pleasantly, plucking a nail file from the makeup box she had found on the vanity and beginning in on her pale pink fingertips.

"Even if there is another line they kept hidden from us, Summers is still the most pure and powerful line we know of," Tina explained patiently. "The kid's blood may not be the most precious substance around, but it's a damn close second."

Tammy glanced up from her nails. "Go on."

"The magics we could perform with Summers blood would be astounding. Not to mention how valuable – I'll just bet there are demon overlords out there that would be willing to trade an entire hell dimension for a few ounces of the stuff. And that particular goldmine is about to be drained dry by a very hungry and very horny vampire."

Tammy and Sue exchanged glances.

When the three women returned to the dining room, Quinn and Dave were engaged in a full-on brawl, faces fully vamped as they snarled and lunged at one another. Jesse was hanging back near the doorway, looking nervous and conflicted.

Sue didn't waste a single moment before grabbing Dave by the shoulders and hurling him halfway across the room.

"Slayer strength doesn't fade with age," she said in response to the shocked looks around her. "Just because I'm twenty-nine, it doesn't mean Sue Sylvester isn't still the best." She glanced over to where Dave was springing back to his feet. "If you drain the kid I'll stake you, bloodsucker."

Dave was outraged. "But you said-"

"I think you've been hearing what you want to hear, lumberjill, but this boy is far too valuable to sacrifice at the alter of your arrested psychosexual development. Now get the hell out of my sight."

Kurt looked around him, wondering exactly what he wanted to have happen. Dave wanted to turn him, which he supposed would be the worst outcome possible. Except maybe not. As they talked, it became clear that Tammy wanted to harvest his blood in order to strengthen demonic control of the Mid States through spellwork, while Sue seemed intrigued by the idea of selling him to the ruler of a hell dimension. He wasn't sure precisely what Quinn and Tina were angling for, but they were both looking at him like he was either a sack full of gold or a five-course gourmet meal, and they couldn't decide which they wanted more. Jesse just looked smug.

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Blaine," he whispered, barely conscious that he'd said it.

He was thinking of how much he wanted Blaine to find him, to hold him gently and tend to his wounds with those big, shining eyes that cut right to Kurt's soul.

He wasn't thinking about the fact that vampires have excellent hearing.

Something in the whisper, perhaps the deep yearning in it, appeared to be the straw that finally broke the camel's back.

Dave snapped.

"I've had enough of you people," he roared, moving faster than his bulky frame - even possessing vampire speed - would seem to allow. Before she could entirely register what was happening, Dave picked Sue up and hurled her at Tammy, the two women crashing into an antique chair in the corner of the room and breaking it to splinters. Jesse scampered under the table, muttering an incantation quietly. Before he could manifest whatever spell he seemed to think the occasion called for, Dave dragged him out by his collar, grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face into the dining room table, ignoring his unconscious body as it slumped to the floor. He advanced on Tina and Quinn, who were both blocking his path to Kurt.

"We're not going to let you have him, Dave," Quinn said, her voice awash with chilled calm.

"I don't give a shit what you bitches don't want to let me do," Dave growled. "He's always been mine. He was born to be mine."

Kurt couldn't even look. His eyes were clamped shut and he had to concentrate just to breathe properly.
"Back off," Tina said, a slight edge arriving in her voice.

"Go fuck yourself, you slanty-eyed c-"

Tina punched Dave in the face hard.

And then it was chaos.

Something in Dave's wild desperation seemed to increase his strength, or perhaps it simply allowed him to break through to a level of strength he hadn't discovered yet. Even though Tina and Quinn were holding him back, he was really making them work for it, especially considering that it was two against one. Kurt opened an eye carefully, wondering when Dave had gotten flexible enough to do a high kick and nail Quinn in the throat like that.

Sue had managed to regain her footing, and was wielding a broken shard of wooden chair as a stake. She strode up to Dave from behind, coming within a hair's breadth of staking him before he ducked, Sue continuing her trajectory forward with the stake toward Tina. Tina's eyes widened and she kicked Sue in the chest on instinct, causing Sue to land on top of Quinn.

Dave whirled around and, seeing his opportunity, ran to Kurt and scooped him up in his arms. Dave leapt across the table and ran toward the foyer, locking the dining room door behind him and propping a chair beneath the doorknob to slow the others in their pursuit. He tore down the hall, holding Kurt firmly even as he screamed and writhed, consumed by a blind need to get away, even if it meant being dropped on the floor.

"Don't do this, Dave. You're not going to get away."

"Like hell we're not. I swear, Kurt, you're gonna remember this as the best thing that ever happened to you one day. I swear." Dave smiled down at him as he rounded the hallway into the foyer, moonlight shining through the large stained glass window on the wall making his face seem to glow red.

Kurt felt goosebumps rise up on his flesh.

"You're mine, Kurt. And there's nothing anyone can do to change that."

The words were barely out of his mouth before the colored glass beside them shattered, something small bursting into the house.

Or rather, someone small.

Kurt could barely dare himself to believe it.

"Blaine?"

It was a genuine question; he wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't having some sort of trauma-induced hallucination when his Slayer rolled to the floor and then sprung off his hands, landing neatly before them.

But his eyes...

Kurt had never seen Blaine's eyes look quite like that before. Full of so much rage.

"I can't believe how hard I'm going to kill you," he snarled at Dave.

The sound Dave emitted in response made the hairs stand up on the back of Kurt's neck. The only other time Kurt had heard a noise like that was when Finn had lost control and wolfed out during a waning moon, bearing down on a pockla demon that was threatening Carole. It was nothing less than the deep growl of a wild animal poised to eviscerate its prey.

Blaine advanced on Dave, and he squeezed Kurt so tightly against his chest that Kurt felt himself gasping for air. "One step closer and I'll snap him like a twig, prettyboy," Dave snarled.

"You wouldn't." Blaine's voice was low, disturbingly calm.

"You wanna test me?"

"I'll test you," came a cheerful voice from behind him. Suddenly Dave felt warm hands on his shoulders, and then pressure as a blonde blur used him as a launching pad to flip herself into the air above his head, rotate in a perfect somersault, and land facing him.

"He totally is gonna kill you, you know," Brittany added brightly before kneeing Dave hard in the balls.

Dave staggered forward with a grunt of pain, Brittany taking the opportunity to wrench Kurt from his grasp. She slung Kurt over her shoulder like a sack of flour and scurried out of the way, leaving Dave and Blaine to face one another.

For a moment there was silence save for muffled shouts coming from the dining room. The two men stared at each other.

"You think this changes anything?" Dave asked, his lips twisting into a viscious grin.

They slowly began to circle one another.

"You're a tiny little fairy who can barely hold a stake. You think you can give him what he needs?"

"I think what he needs," Blaine replied evenly, "is to get the fuck away from you."

"Brittany, will you please put me down?" Kurt hissed. "This whole situation is humiliating enough without getting draped across your body like last season's messenger bag."

Brittany put Kurt down and, to his surprise, handed him a stake. "You'll probably need it," she reasoned. "Unless you're too hurt to fight, or you're afraid you're going to flash us if your robe opens up."

Kurt pulled at the robe self-consciously and glanced over at Blaine and Dave as they continued to circle each other, Blaine clutching his stake so hard that his knuckles were turning white, the air thick with tension.

"Brittany," Kurt whispered. "How many are with you?"

"Well, Rachel's in the dining room – Blaine and I were going to go in there, but then Dave ran out with you, but Rachel thought-"

"Okay. So Rachel. She'll probably need some help. Who else?"

"Well, Angel, but he can't come inside. And we called your dad – he should be on his way with some other people too."

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. I think we should let these two have at it, because I doubt there's anything we can do to stop that anyway. You go help Rachel. Watch out for the redhead, she's more dangerous than she looks. And if the smarmy-looking guy wakes up, knock him out again. He'll just get in your way."

Brittany nodded. "But what about you?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"They've been keeping a bunch of college kids in the basement. I think some of them are still alive, and I'm excellent with knots, so I should be able to untie them pretty quickly. I'm going to see if I can get them out of here, so that Angel and I can get them somewhere safe. I want you, Blaine and Rachel to deal with these guys and then get out as fast as possible, okay? Meet us at the crossroads just soutwest of the estate."

Brittany bit her lip. "But Blaine said-"

"Brittany." Kurt's voice was firm but gentle. "I'm Blaine's Watcher. I need you to trust me, all right?"

Brittany nodded. Kurt began moving in the direction of the basement door as quietly as possible, hoping that Dave's current focus on Blaine might keep him from noticing.

It didn't.

Dave lunged for Kurt.

Blaine lunged for Dave.

Blaine caught Dave around the middle, slamming both of them to the floor as Kurt took off down the hallway as fast as he could manage, Brittany hot on his heels. He needed to pass the dining room in order to access the basement, but before Brittany could decide on the best manner in which to burst into the room, there was a loud crash. The door flew off its hinges, Rachel landing heavily on top of it. She jumped to her feet and dusted herself off, and Brittany reached out to grab her hand.

"I'm coming to help you," she said. Rachel beamed at her, and the two women ran into the fray.

Kurt took a deep breath, wrapped the thin robe more tightly around himself, and continued on his way, hoping that everyone (and no one in particular, of course not, because everyone's life is of equal value, of course) would be okay.

Please let him be okay.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to bust up that pretty face of yours, you pathetic little faggot," Dave seethed, kicking Blaine square in the chest. Blaine took the impact, slamming into the wall behind him but recovering quickly and rounding on Dave with a kick to the stomach.

"Pathetic little faggot, huh? So I guess internalized homophobia gets vamped along with the rest of you. Interesting fact."

"What, you think your big fucking words are going to get you into Hummel's pants?" Dave snarled, blocking Blaine from plunging the stake into his chest. "What he needs-" Dave began, punctuating each word with a solid punch to Blaine's face and throat, "is a real fucking man."

Blaine managed to catch Dave's fist in his own hand before it could slam into him once again. He gripped hard and twisted Dave's arm with as much force as he could muster. "Well, then I guess you're shit out of luck, aren't you?" He replied, head-butting Dave hard and causing him to stumble backward several steps. "Have you ever even called yourself gay out loud, you fucking coward?" Blaine hissed.

Dave gave a roar of rage at the word coward, and lunged once again.

The two men met in a clash of limbs, Blaine almost losing his stake in the process. He managed to wrench himself far enough away for a clean shot at Dave's chest, and pulled his arm back to take aim.

Blaine jerked in surprise when he found Sue Sylvester's hand wrapped firmly around his wrist, holding him back.

"Easy there, toy boy," she murmured, her breath hot against his ear. "Now, if you don't want me to let the jolly gay giant here have his way with you, you'll tell me where Mr. Hummel has run off to."

"Fuck you," Blaine gasped, ducking just in time to miss a blow to the head from Dave, and managing to yank his arm free of Sue's grasp.

Within seconds, Sue had been thrown to the ground by Rachel, who had in turn been thrown into a wall by Quinn.

And so it began.

There were only two survivors, and they weren't in particularly good shape. Neither was fully conscious, but both were most definitely alive. Kurt and Angel half-carried them toward the road, discussing what to do next.

Kurt scowled when Angel asked him if he was feeling OK to drive. "I'm not leaving, Angel. Not until I know everyone has made it out of there in one piece."

"Kurt, someone needs to get these guys to a hospital. There's no reason for you to-"

"There's every reason. My Slayer is in there, Angel. And after what they did to me-"

"They're not going to leave you alone. At least this way you'll be safe."

Kurt laughed bitterly. "Safe, Angel? Safe? I'm sorry, but I don't believe I'm familiar with the term. You see, I've spent my entire life having no idea what it could possibly feel like to be safe. This would be an odd time to start, don't you think?"

"I just-"

"I'm not a coward."

Angel sighed. "I know that. I'm not trying to imply that you are. I just-"

"Made a promise to a girl?" Kurt's mouth quirked into a half-smile as he said it. Throughout his life, whenever he felt that Angel was being too protective or that he was treating Kurt like some sort of weakling, Angel had used that very statement to defend himself.

True, the promise had been made well over a hundred years ago. But still. Angel kept his promises.

"Uh. Yeah."

Kurt smirked. "Look, maybe we can convince my father to bring them to the hospital when he gets here."

"He'll insist on taking you with him. You're crazy if you think he'll let you go back in there."

Kurt sighed. "You're probably right. Here." Before he could stop him, Kurt had heaved the weakened girl from his arms into Angel's, and spun around to start back toward the house.

"Kurt, what are you – oh come on, no," Angel groaned, shifting the two students in his arms. "Get back here. You can't – Kurt!"

But Kurt was alread halfway back.

"Watch out!"

Rachel dove for the floor as a bolt of what looked like actual lightening grazed the top of her head. Tammy blew smoke from her fingertips and smiled, holding her palm out and wiggling her fingers in an odd rhythm. Rachel gasped and clutched her throat.

"She...I c-ca...br..." Rachel struggled to speak, gasping fruitlessly for air. Tammy watched her with a pleasant smile, her eyes glowing an unearthly green. Blaine saw what was happening and pulled his attention away from Dave long enough to grab Tammy by the shoulders and slam her into the wall. She blinked and her eyes shifted back into their usual dark green. Rachel took deep, gulping breaths of air interspersed with dry coughs.

"You disgusting little deviant," Tammy snarled. "It ought to be legal to execute you in a public square." She pushed Blaine away with a surprising level of strength and swiped at him, one of her long, pointed false nails catching on his cheek and drawing blood.

Blaine slammed her into the wall once again for good measure, the palm of his hand pressed to her forehead to ensure a hard impact with the back of her skull. Tammy's eyes went slightly unfocused and she slid to the floor (Jesse was lying in a heap beside her. He had woken up long enough to stumble out of the dining room, and Brittany had promptly kicked him in the head, causing him to lose consciousness once again).

Blaine turned back to Dave, only to discover that he was gone.

"He went that way!" Brittany called from the midst of fighting both Tina and Quinn. She motioned toward the front door.

"Shit," Blaine muttered. "Shit, shit, shit, shit!" He managed to slip past Rachel and Sue's confrontation and ran as fast as he could.

When Blaine ran out of the house, the first thing he saw was Kurt walking up the path.

The second thing he saw was Dave running right toward him.

Blaine tackled Dave to the ground, pinning him and drawing his stake back. Dave managed to twist out from under Blaine and wrench the stake out of his hand.

"All right, that's it!" Dave screamed. "I'm fucking done with you, freak, you got it?" He threw himself on top of Blaine, fastening his large hands around Blaine's neck. Blaine gasped for air, clawing at Dave's hands desperately. Without loosening his grip, Dave lifted Blaine's neck and then slammed his head to the ground.

And then Dave's hands were gone, but his face was close. So fucking close.

Blaine knew what was about to happen a split second before it did. It didn't stop him from howling in agony when Dave pulled his head back by the hair and sunk his teeth into Blaine's throat.

"God," Dave groaned, dislodging himself. "They were right about Slayer blood. This is...fuck." He licked at the wound on Blaine's neck and then smiled. "Nice knowing you, sweetheart," he very nearly purred, baring his teeth again. Blaine winced and clamped his eyes shut. He was still struggling, he would never go down without a struggle, but even he knew that-

...that...

Well, that something should be happening, actually. He opened his eyes and looked into Dave's to see them wide and shocked.

"But...I...we were supposed to..."

"You were supposed to leave me the hell alone after high school and never come near me again," Kurt spat from behind him.

As Dave turned to look at him, Kurt drove the stake home, covering Blaine with ashes.

"Well," Tina said, tight-lipped, as she paced the hallway, kicking shards of colored glass out of her path. "They got away. And now we have to get out of here, and we don't even have anything left to eat!"

"This place was depressing me anyway," Sue muttered, cradling her injured arm. "Besides, we know where we can find porcelain and his precious gay blood. Next time we'll be on the offensive. We'll get him back."

"We don't have the kid, we don't have the descendant of the last lone Slayer for the ritual, Jesse might be brain damaged beyond repair from all the blows he took to the head, Dave's been dusted-"

"Dave was a liability," Quinn observed.

"The point is, we're back at less than square one. What could you possibly be happy about?" She peered down at Tammy, who was still sitting on the floor against the wall, a glowing green ball in her palm as she dreamily sucked the last of Blaine's blood from her fingertip. She looked up at Tina.

"Well, I certainly think not having to put up with all those pesky Slayers anymore is something to smile about," she replied.

Tina furrowed her brow. "What the hell are you-"

"This evening couldn't have gone better, honestly," Tammy cut in happily. The other three stared at her in disbelief. Tammy laughed. "Ladies. Don't you see?" She deposited her index finger back into the ball of energy in her hand and watched it race and swirl.

"We found him."