[Reviews - 44]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2071 times

- Text Size +




Author's Chapter Notes:
A/N: Just a quick note to say that Spike does not appear in this chapter, but the reason for his disappearance will become clear in the next chapter!
CHAPTER EIGHT

“You mean you can’t tell me what’s going on?” Jenny Calendar shouted at the oldest person in the room.

Giles paid little attention to her frustration; he was struggling against her to go outside to help Buffy.
“There is nothing whatsoever going on!” the Watcher exclaimed.

Although she held him back, his hand was outstretched in the direction of the library’s doors. “Kindly let me pass!” he ordered.

“Not until you tell me why you’re acting this way, Rupert!” Jenny said, forcing herself to be calm.

It was obvious to her that Giles and Xander were under some sort of demonic mojo. The computer teacher’s mind was trying every possible scenario she knew and mentally running through a list of all the magically enhanced beings she remembered, and she was trying to keep her list small.

**But why are they all after Buffy?** She wondered. **Did someone cast a spell to disarm her because they know she’s the Slayer? Angelus…?
Spike…?**

Meanwhile, Xander decided he would stay put. Buffy would come back eventually, and he would be waiting to bury himself in her arms. He crossed his legs and propped them up on the desk. Oz sat beside him, but glanced toward the entrance to the library. He smelled Buffy outside and sighed softly.

Beside Oz, Willow asked in a timid voice, “Oz?”

“Yeah?” the currently red headed musician asked.

“Wh-what’s going on?” she wanted to know.

“Nothing,” Oz said. He didn’t spare a glance at his girlfriend.

“But if nothing’s going on, why do you want Buffy so much?” Willow asked. “I-is it a spell? Or is it just me…?”

“It’s not you,” Oz said. “You’re a great girl, Willow, but Buffy…she’s EVERYTHING.”

In his typical fashion of saying as little as possible, the werewolf revealed nothing more. Willow felt herself tearing.

His magically enhanced ardor for Buffy providing extra strength, Giles was beginning to break free of Jenny’s hold. “Xander? Oz? A little help?” the computer teacher prompted. Xander was the first to come over to her.

“Sure, I’ll hold back the old guy,” the dark brown haired boy said.

“You try anything and they’ll be picking your teeth up from the floor!” Giles threatened.

“Anytime you want a rematch, just say it!” Xander thundered, his eyes deadly.

Before the Watcher could retort, Willow fought back another sniffle as she pulled herself together. “Now, guys stop it!” she shouted. “This isn’t helping! And it isn’t helping Buffy! She’s out there, fighting Lord-knows what Angel or anything else has cooked up for her, and we’re in here! Seems to me that we should work together rather than going on about how we feel!”

Giles settled down, as did Xander. Oz’s expression was, as always, unreadable. He turned back around from facing the door and regarded the other two guys.

The Watcher said, “You’re right, Willow, of course,”. “We shall pool our resources, as it were, and after Angelus and his minions are defeated, then we will make her choose!”

Jenny picked up some books off the floor. She smiled as she guessed what was making them so worked up over Buffy.

“Willow, could you do me a favor?” she asked the red head. “Could you get on the computer and look up everything you can on love spells, and who in town might be capable of casting them?”

Willow looked at Miss Calendar, then, glad that she had something to do to take her mind off of Oz and her friends, the girl opened her knapsack and withdrew her laptop.

XXXXXXXXXXX

While her best friend was researching in the library, Buffy threw her first punch at Angelus. Drusilla punched her in the lower back which, had Buffy not moved slightly, could have severely incapacitated the Slayer.

Angelus gestured with his fingers while he taunted, “C’mon, Buff! You don’t want Dru, now do you? You want me!”

Buffy aimed a well-placed kick at the elder vamp’s private parts, but Angelus sidestepped her. When she tried to put her leg down, Drusilla grabbed it, flinging Buffy off. The Chosen One landed on her butt, but quickly got up.

“On my way here,” Angelus was saying between punches, “I saw several guys headed toward you. Seems they were panting for you.” He punched Buffy in her chest. The Slayer winced, but didn’t say anything.

“Can’t see why, though,” Angelus told her matter-of-factly. “Take it from one who knows, you’re not that good, sex wise!”

He kicked her in the side. Buffy went down as her former boyfriend went on. Drusilla grinned evilly, watching her sire pummel the Slayer with his usual finesse.

“But I’m guessing that you tried some sort of spell on them, or someone else did, and it isn’t affecting me,” he said coldly, fixing her with a derisive stare as she struggled to rise. “’Cause Buff, I really can’t see the male population of Sunnydale being interested in a stupid cow like you!”

As she rose, the Slayer felt an all consuming rage. “If that makes me a ‘stupid cow’ Angel,” she said in a low voice, “what does that make you for trying me in the first place?”

Angel frowned; Buffy punched him in the face. His lip started bleeding. When he raised his hand to his mouth to wipe it, the girl kicked him between his legs. Angel went down, moaning.

“Daddy!!” Drusilla said, going over to him.

She helped him stand, but then grabbed Buffy from behind with lightning speed before the Slayer could pull out a weapon. The raven haired vampiress tightened her embrace. Buffy gasped with pain.
She felt herself weakening suddenly, still tired out from having fought Spike earlier and from the two master vampires attacking her at the same time.

Buffy went slack in Drusilla’s arms. The female vampire let her drop like a sack of wheat, then she kicked the Slayer. Buffy moaned, trying to crawl away. She knew her only chance lay in going back to the school and finding something stronger to deal with both vampires.

Before she could go far, Angelus put a booted foot on her back. Buffy struggled to rise. The male vampire pressed his heel further into her body. Drusilla went toward her sire but then found herself jerked to the ground by a purple shadow.

“The Slayerr is ourrss…” a voice hissed from the darkness.

Angelus whipped around, still trying to restrain Buffy anyway that he could. Another purple hued demon threw him to the ground. Recognizing a Ra’sha’hoo demon, Angel stayed down, an inward fit of rage showing only in his eyes, but with seemingly humble surrender outwardly. Drusilla, however, was starting to get up. The insane vampiress felt a burning sensation on her left arm.

She screamed, moaning, “Angel! The acid burns!”

A lavender hued demon said in a deadly voice, “So shall you burn for hurting the one intended to be oursss! The Slayer has been marked with my brother’s tongue as his mate.”

Dru’s healing ability was working as she felt the burning subsiding but she still clutched her arm protectively as Buffy saw her chance to get away. The demons followed Buffy toward the location the Slayer was heading to. Both Angelus and Drusilla started chasing them, albeit slowly.

When Buffy reached the school she heard gunshots firing, followed by three thuds. The girl looked over her shoulder out and saw the demons falling. The Slayer climbed into the window leading to the gym.

The gunman fired a second time hitting Angelus and Drusilla. By that time, Buffy was staring in front of her, training her eyes to see whether or not the gym had any occupants. The Slayer confirmed that the gym was deserted and turned on the light.

**Great!** She thought. **Bad enough to deal with the acid throwers and my ex with his crazed daughter; now, I’ve got a shooter, too! When I get out of this, I am SO gonna take a vacation!**

XXXXXXXXX

Outside the school, the rifleman followed the girl, cocking the gun and smiling as his eyes danced with anticipation. He spared no glance at the two vampires painfully writhing on the ground. Only his target mattered. After checking the demons and confirming that they were deceased, the rifleman stepped over them and headed for the gym.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside, Buffy dialed Jenny Calendar’s number.

“Yes?” the computer teacher’s voice asked a little harshly. “What is it?”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Heading for the locker room, Buffy asked, “Miss Calendar? I’m inside the gym. I couldn’t stop Angelus or Drusilla. There are also some demons outside, too...or at least there were. I think they’re dead.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jenny’s voice sounded agitated. “Both Angelus and Drusilla are on their way here?” she repeated. On her laptop, typing furiously, Willow shuddered. She kept on breaking through security locks until she found something and peered at the screen.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

“They were, but they’re down for the moment. We don’t have much time. I can’t explain everything right now,” Buffy said hurriedly. She looked around the locker room, but only saw towels and some discarded uniforms. Going back into the gym, the Chosen One spied something suddenly that had her lips twitching in a grin.

“Get everyone out as fast as you can! I’ll try to draw them after me,” she told the teacher. She picked up a hockey stick and swung it until she developed a rhythm.

XXXXXXXXXXXX
“Right!” Jenny said. She saw Willow frowning just as she hung up.

“We’ve gotta get out,” the dark haired older woman told everyone. “Oz, you, Xander, and Giles get to work.”

“Count on it,” Oz said, leading the others out until only Willow and Jenny were still inside the library. The pair started to pack up their things and had finished a few minutes later when the sound of a fire alarm was heard.

“Great!” Jenny said. “Just what we need right now: a fire!” Willow went outside first, sniffing to see if she could spot its location. She came back inside the library, confused.

“There’s no fire...at least, not one that I can smell,” she reported to Miss Calendar. The computer teacher was putting the books about vampires and Angelus under the desk as sprinklers started bursting and raining their water all over the library a second later.

**That should protect them!** The older woman decided.

Jenny spotted a soaked Oz in the hallway as she and Willow made their way toward the exit. She had a sneaking suspicion about who had started the fire alarm.

“You didn’t...?” she asked Oz. A slight grin crossed his face. Jenny decided that he would get a reprimand later.

“It was the only way to get everyone out at the same time,” Oz said.

They all went toward the exit doors, peering outside the tiny glass windows to see if anyone or anything evil was lurking outside.

“Looks clear,” Miss Calendar told the students. “I hope Buffy will be all right.”

“She’s the Slayer. She can deal,” Oz said with admiration.

Willow felt a pang of jealousy just then. She knew that he couldn’t help the way the spell was making him feel, but when she took the time to examine herself, she sometimes realized that she had always been slightly envious of Buffy, particularly the way she looked.

The redhead would kill to have Buffy’s figure, her blonde hair, and half of the guys including the boy she had known since she had been in footies following her around. She even wondered at times what it was like to be a Slayer, to have all the strength and power to help people by killing vampires and demons.

Buffy’s titian haired best friend knew, though, that she had no business thinking those thoughts. Willow had her place in the world, and she did help Buffy out a lot. At least Buffy was nice to her and wasn’t stuck up like Harmony or Cordelia.

**Besides, I wouldn’t pay to be where Buffy is right now,** Willow thought as she joined Miss Calendar, Giles, Oz, and Xander inside Giles’s car. The Watcher got out some holy water and set about dousing his car with it, and then all inside waited for the Chosen One to come out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Buffy finished swinging the hockey stick and waited for Angelus and Drusilla. She knew that, acidic demons or no acidic demons, it would not take long for her enemies to surface. She slid the metal lock across the front door to keep the other students out and shook the drops out of her now wet hair.

The fire, if there was one, might keep Angel and Dru out of the front entrance since they would be afraid of being burned, but it wouldn’t keep them out of the side entrances or the back. Her determined look in place, Buffy decided she would be ready for any eventuality. She also checked to see if she could disarm whoever had the rifle and was shooting it. If not, she would dive beneath the benches the students used whenever there was a game going on. It was a small comfort, she supposed, that she couldn't sense Spike, at least not nearby.

The Slayer did a search, but she didn’t see anyone or anything inside the room. She wasn’t surprised; it was just like her enemies to try to confuse her, and although she could sense vampires occassionally, she still had a lot to learn.

A side door opened just then. The Slayer jerked the hockey stick in front of her. When she didn’t see any other movements, she spun around, looking warily as she turned. She heard the jingle of keys. A man in a janitor’s uniform entered the room, looking as though he wanted to speak, but was not able to.

“Get out!” Buffy barked. When he didn’t move, she crossed over to him, asking in a louder voice, “did you hear me?!”

It was then that the man fell forward. She turned his head around and saw thick scratch marks littering the right side of his neck.

“Drusilla,” Buffy murmured. In a louder voice, she said, “all right! Playtime’s over! I know you’ve found me; just step out where I can see you!”

The Slayer was tackled to the ground just then. She struggled to throw off her attacker. As she looked up, Buffy saw Angelus standing over her, sporting a vicious grin.

“Surprise...” he said.





You must login (register) to review.