“Well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten me into!” Buffy hissed through clenched teeth as she tested the shackles that held her wrists and ankles fastened to the cold stone floor.

“What? What did I do?” Faith asked in annoyance from beside Buffy. She was restrained with identical shackles next to her sister Slayer.

“It was your turn to listen to Giles. I was busy painting my nails.” Buffy tested the shackles again. “This is so humiliating that you can look under ‘humiliation’ in any encyclopaedia and find this pictured there.” Then it occurred to her. “No, wait...”

“Damn, I’m gonna be the first one to order that volume,” Faith chuckled. “Didn’t know they made them X-rated.”

“How can you possibly joke about this?” Buffy asked incredulously. “We are about to be...”

She was interrupted by a static noise from her headset which was lying nearby, still miraculously operational. She felt a wave of relief; it was truly a miracle it was able to pick up a signal this deep underground. ‘Thank you, Willow!’ she sent a short prayer to the Wicca.

“Buffy, come in!” Giles’ urgent voice echoed from the headphones.

“Giles!” Buffy shouted. “You have to...”

“Buffy, be quiet and listen. This is urgent. You and Faith need to get out of there immediately! I made a terrible mistake in the translation. These Dark Gnomes don’t need to kill two Slayers to complete the ritual.”

“Well, that’s a relief...”

“It appears they need to, erm... mate with them.”

Buffy’s scream of horror never made it to Giles’ ear as just as she was opening her mouth, the headset was crushed under a small boot.

---===---

Araushnee observed the two naked humans on all fours in front of him and kicked the remains of the irritating voice box out of view. Both were fastened by their wrists to the shrine floor so that their forearms rested flat on the ground. Their ankles were equally fastened so that their behinds pointed up in the air with their legs spread slightly apart. Perfect position for the ritual. He looked at the two of them appraisingly. Both of them were Slayers, chosen by the Powers, so they represented the best of humanity. They were the strongest and most fit to help bring about the kin’s next generation.

The blonde one started screaming at him, so he took one of the sacred ball-gags from his ceremonial pouch and fastened it around her head. He looked at the dark one with the other gag held in his hand.

“I’ll be good,” Faith assured quickly. Araushnee nodded and put the gag back into the pouch.

He started circling the Slayers slowly, observing them from all angles. When he got behind them to check their vulvas, he frowned.

“Vhaeraun!” he shouted in irritation.

Soon the sound of soft, running feet were heard from one of the tunnels leading to the shrine. Araushnee tapped his foot impatiently.

“Yes, Sire?” the newly-arrived Gnome gasped, out-of-breath.

“Why haven’t you groomed them yet?”

Vhaeraun bowed deeply. “My apologies. The Holy Razor of Lolth is still being sharpened.”

“Well, get on with it, then,” Araushnee snapped and pointed. “I want to see those two nice and smooth without delay.”

“Yes, Sire,” Vhaeraun bowed again and withdrew quickly.

When he was again alone with the two humans, Araushnee continued his inspection. The blonde Slayer was still mewling something incomprehensible through the gag in her mouth. She was also trying to clench her admittedly nicely-shaped lower cheeks and thighs in order to hide her sacred passage from view. Well, let her if it helped her retain an illusion of control. He gave one of her bottom cheeks an appreciative slap which elicited a muffled shriek from her.

With a satisfied smile he went next to the dark Slayer. She had stayed mostly quiet throughout their ordeal and now seemed almost relaxed, at least when compared to her blonde counterpart. There was also something else... Yes, his sensitive nose could pick up the faint scent coming from her. He looked closer and nodded. There were already hints of the Hallowed Dew evident in the corners of the Slayer’s vulva. She would be blessed beyond measure for her dedication to ensure his kin’s future. He wanted to slide his finger through the moisture but it wasn’t the time yet. So, he gently caressed the still somewhat stubbly skin next to it and moved to face the Slayers once again. This time he bowed to them deeply.

“Greetings, Chosen Ones. I’m Araushnee, Low King of the Ilythïr. It’s been almost 800 of your human years since there last were two Slayers at the same time. Unfortunately, back then the one whom the Line had passed died before we were able to ensure her safe passage to our realm. As a consequence, we lost our only chance to truly renew our blood for another 800 years – until now. It’s now been 2150 years since the last time the mating cycle was successfully completed and our kin saw a real increase in their numbers. You have truly been chosen by the Powers for this task and I’m sure you can understand the magnificent duty which you are being prepared for. The fact that you both found your way here on your own only attests to this. If you behave as befits a chosen sacrifice, you will be rewarded beyond your imagining.”

He turned his dark, slanted eyes to Buffy who was scowling at him with impotent fury. “Your mate has already accepted her part in the ritual. On your word to act dignified, I will remove the gag from your mouth. If you break your word, next time it won’t be just your mouth which will be stoppered. So, what’ll it be?”

---===---

“What did he mean by ‘accepted’?” Buffy asked Faith once her mouth was once again free of obstacles and they were alone. “We are about to be gang-raped and you have just ‘accepted’ it?”

“Well, what would you have had me do, B? Panic? Lots of good that did to you. Besides, these Gnomes, especially that Araushnee fellow... None of them did exactly get beaten by the ugly stick from what I could see. They are a bit short, sure, but it’s not always the size that matters.”

Lately there had been a series of weird attacks on the Junior Slayers around almost all of their US field offices and their Cleveland HQ. The Slayers had reported having being assaulted by small groups of approximately 4’ tall, black-skinned, elf-like creatures. The Slayers had fought them but the creatures had just held back in defence almost like evaluating their performance. Then, at some point, a poisoned dart or something similar had paralyzed them and, while they lay on the ground helpless, their adversaries had checked them briefly and then just turned around and left – as if disappointed.

Giles, Andrew and Dawn had immersed themselves into research and come up with an ancient prophecy. The text – unfortunately mistranslated – foretold the sacrifice of two Slayers in the hands of “The Lords of the Deep”. More research ensued and finally the trio was able to pinpoint where the entrance to their underground realm was located. Buffy and Faith had assigned the operation to themselves and the next day flew from Cleveland-Hopkins to Redding Municipal Airport. From there they rented a car and drove to the foot of Mount Shasta.

Long story short; they were able to locate the entrance to the underground caverns, found the tribe of Dark Gnomes living there, got paralyzed, were fastened to the floor of the tribe’s shrine and were now waiting there – naked and helpless – on all fours, with their legs spread and their asses pointing shamelessly in the air.

“How... how many do you think there are?” Buffy asked in a shaky voice.

Faith did a mental recollection of the scene before they were hit by the paralyzing darts. “I counted about fifty.”

“Fifty!” Buffy almost shrieked again but then remembered Araushnee’s threat and managed to keep her voice at a reasonable level. “Are you saying we are going to be fucked by these... little bastards twenty-five times, each? And I don’t even drive stick anymore.” The last she muttered almost inaudibly.

“It’s like riding a bicycle, B. Once you’ve learned it...,” Faith chuckled and turned her head around to look at Buffy. The sight of her sister Slayer on all fours with her perky boobs swaying gently from side-to-side and her ass so deliciously open and wide (this she had to imagine from her position by Buffy’s side) did nothing to cool down her already raging libido. “I’m sure Sushi will be very understanding.”

“Her name’s Satsu, Faith! How many times do I have to tell you not to call her that?” Then she blanched and her eyes welled-up with tears. “Oh, my God. She will never want to look at me again. I’ll be... damaged goods.”

“No, you won’t,” Faith replied in an uncommonly gentle tone.

“I will, I will,” Buffy sobbed.

“You will always look nothing but beautiful and desirable to me,” Faith continued quietly. She had flirted with Buffy for ages, hiding her unrequited crush behind flippant comments, but now there was no hint of flippancy in her tone to hide behind.

“Faith, what...?” Buffy asked in astonishment.

“We are in this together, B. We will see each other through this together. And if anyone dares to question your honor afterwards, I will smash their face through the back of their fucking head. And… you will always have me.”

Before Buffy could answer to this heart-felt declaration, they heard the echo of soft steps approaching them in the distance. When the owner of the steps came within the area lit by the torches, they could see he was the same Gnome who had earlier come running to Araushnee’s command. Vhaeraun they recalled the King calling him. The next thing they saw was the gleaming straight razor in his hand.