Buffy & The Exiled Ch. 06

"Foolish whelp! You know not what you ask. I will teach you humility with a glad heart." He gestured toward the defiant girl and his energy lanced toward her. She caught it with one hand and let it leap back at him from her other.

"This yours?" she smiled as he yelped when it struck his chest. Instantly, he let it cease and narrowed his eyes with a burning hatred.

"So, witch. You have power within you. That makes this more of a challenge. I will tear your soul from you and swallow it to add to my collection!"

"Sticks and stones," she chided. "And speaking of stone..."

Using two fingers to draw a horizontal line in the air before her, as she silently mouthed a prayer to Hecate. Quickly, she turned both palms upward and then slapped them together.

A shattering crunch deafened the large chamber as two huge slabs of stone flooring on either side of the demon leapt upward to crush him between them. He was just quick enough to raise a shield of solid air around himself and they smashed themselves to powder on it as he stood unharmed.

With a grin, the demon turned the floor beneath Willow to sand. Before she could react, a swarm of black scarab beetles surged up her legs and she disappeared beneath the seething, biting mass.

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"Put him down this instant, you big dumb ox!" Anya said cheerfully, as if she were scolding a mischievous child. Both Xander and the demon turned to see her standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a tray of hot drinks in her hands.

"Er... Ahn, Honey, kinda got my throat stuck in the big nasties' claws, here. Please don't make him mad."

"Oh, don't worry, Xander. M'chulok won't hurt you."

"Huh?" he wheezed around the ivory talons. "You know this... um... guy?"

The Muglok demon turned its face to Anya as she set the tray with the drinks down on the coffee table.

"Do I know you, sweetmeat?"

"Oh, come now," she said, a little indignantly. "It's only been a hundred and seventy three years and you've forgotten me already?"

"What are you drivelling on about, human?"

"Human?" She looked puzzled for a moment and then nodded as she remembered, "Ah. You only saw me in my true form, didn't you?” Her flesh rippled and suddenly her beautiful face transformed into a mass of repulsive scars. "Does this help?"

"Anyanka!" His pure white eyes swivelled around to glare accusingly at Lilah as she stood behind the three Gorgi demons. "Your firm does not pay me enough to be stupid. They never mentioned you were being held by a Vengeance demon!"

"What difference does that make? Kill her and then we'll haggle about a pay rise." Her confidence faded into a frown, "And what's a Vengeance demon, anyway?"

"If you knew what one was, you would be more afraid of it than you are of your Senior Partners." The beast slowly, carefully, released Xander and then brushed his T-shirt to remove the wrinkles it had made. "My apologies, human," it hissed and with a nod toward Anya, turned and left the house.

"Well, that doesn't change a thing," blustered Lilah. "She is still outnumbered three to one."

The Gorgi demons stepped stealthily forward with their claws out.

"Actually, you're wrong there," grinned Xander. "It's your pets who are outnumbered one to three."

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Angelus ducked a slashing claw and pummelled the demon's chest with both fists, driving it backward. With a fast, graceful spin kick, he caught the pit fiend on the side of its head and the force of his blow caved in its skull. Before that creature had hit the floor, another charged into him and they both crashed backward through a large stained glass window into the darkness outside.

Tumbling down a grassy slope, the vampire managed to twist from beneath the demon so that when they came to a halt he was knelt on its chest. Raining punches down on its snout, he kept hitting it until it lay still. Grasping its head in both hands, he yanked hard until he heard the bones of its neck snap.

Snarling, he got to his feet and started back up the hill so that he could return to the fight. After a couple of paces, his features morphed back into that of the handsome Irishman and he shook his head with a smile.

"Another time, I think," he promised as he turned and disappeared into the night.

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"Protect Dawn," Oz told Veruca as he turned and ran into the throng of demons, his body changing as he went. Naked and still a little weak from the spell to force her to revert to human, Ru nodded as she took hold of the teenager and steered her to a corner of the room.

Just as Willow had told her to, Tara was walking slowly toward Buffy. She flinched when a demon ran toward her, but it ignored her and flung itself at Oz as he completed his transformation. She sighed with relief that the glamour she had cast was making the servants think she was one of them.

Giles rolled over and crawled on his hands and knees across to the Chosen One.

"Are you okay, Buffy?" he asked with a concerned look in his eyes.

"I'm fine," she replied as she tenderly cupped her chin and worked it back and forth. "If by that you take fine to mean 'feels like half my face is dented in', of course." She quickly flipped to her feet as a demon appeared from out of the crowd. Just before her mule kick struck it, it shimmered and turned into Tara.

"Willow sent me with a message. She says that you are going to have to use his own swords to slay Mobadon. His power is growing and now nothing forged in this dimension can kill him."

"Where's Dawn?"

"Veruca's protecting her."

"Wonderful. Isn't that a bit like burning down your house to stop it catching fire?"

Before Tara could reply, Buffy flung herself to intercept another servant. Its claws slashed at her as she ducked low and used two stiff arms to thrust it backward enough to give her room to fight. It hissed and bared its fangs in hatred.

"Listen, I don't have time for this. How about you lie down, play dead, an' we just say I stomped you already?"

Her forearm blocked its swipe, "No? Didn't think so, but hey, worth a shot."

An uppercut slammed into its snout as she shattered its knee with her heel. Using a grab and twist, she rolled it over her back to fling it into its brethren. The next demon to confront her was hit from the side by a flying kick before Buffy could react.

"Hey Bee! No fair you startin' without me."

A feeling of warmth spread through her when she realised that her girlfriend was okay. It chilled a little when she saw the beating she had taken. "You okay, Faith?"

"Five by five," she answered while delivering a jaw breaking punch to the luckless beast.

Smiling as they both fought, Buffy ducked a slash and called over her shoulder, "Someday you're gonna tell me what that means!"

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Mobadon laughed as the scarabs swarmed over the witch. It died on his lips when the insects exploded away from her and he saw her eyes had been replaced by a deep blackness that worried him. She gave a rueful smile and wagged a finger his way, "Okay. You want to play rough? I can do that."

A gesture from her lifted him off his feet and smashed him into the wall hard enough to snap some of his ribs.

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Wesley dropped to his knee to avoid a slashing talon and slammed the stiff side of his palm into its throat, crusing its windpipe. It slumped backward as another took its place.

"Look out!" called Cordelia from behind him.

"I saw it, thank you," he replied as he lashed out at the beast, but it danced out of reach. When it shot back, it snagged hold of his wrist and issued a taunting hiss. As Wes looked up into its descending jaws, he saw a huge hairy claw rear up from behind the servant and engulf its head in a death grip. The demon let go of the Watcher with a frightened shriek as the huge claws squeezed inward and crushed its skull like an eggshell.

The lifeless body was tossed aside and the Englishman now looked up into the fearsome face of a large black and grey werewolf. The beast's lips drew back in a snarl as drool hung in sticky ropes from razor sharp teeth.

"Er... Much obliged old chap," he managed in a small voice.

Another servant was stupid enough to slash its way across the wolf's back. The beast spun around and tore it into several small pieces. Covered in dripping ichor, the lycanthrope emitted an ear-splitting howl and launched itself back into the crowd of demons. They swarmed over it, trying to accomplish by sheer numbers what they could not alone. Their shrieks of agony as it gleefully slaughtered them were testament to how outclassed they were.

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An explosion of yellow light blew the demon Lord back against the wall. He roared in pain and lashed back with a bolt of fire. Magical energies seethed and boiled around the two combating forms as Willow stood her ground and returned like for like.

"You are mighty indeed, witch!" he said with awe.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Spock ears," she grimaced as her hand snared a stream of fire and deflected it away. She would never let him know just how much it hurt her to do it.

"You cannot win, you know. My legion has already arrived on the other side of the gate and countless thousands are already following. Bow to the inevitable and I will spare your life."

Glancing sideways at the rift, she could see that more and more servants were scuttling through to join the fight. He was right. Soon they would be so hopelessly outnumbered that nothing would change the outcome. She had to close the portal now.

Even as she hurled back a bolt of mystic green flame, she sent her thoughts to the two Slayers. "Buffy. Faith. I have to close the rift. I can no longer keep Mobadon busy, so you will have to stop him by yourselves. I am sorry."

Turning to stand before the monster spewing darkness, she lifted a hand and a purple bolt of coiling energy sprang to fasten onto one side of the gap. Looking over her shoulder at the demon Lord, she shot him a final grin, "Have fun and good luck. You're gonna need it."

With that, she made a snatching gesture and swept her free arm across toward the two advancing Chosen. Mobadon cursed and damned her as both his mystic blades leapt from their scabbard and flew into the hands of the Slayers.

Then she settled back to the task of stopping the fiend's army. With the same gesture she had made at the left hand side of the portal, she threw a bolt of magic at the other. Swirling black and purple energy coiled from each hand and surrounded the dimensional rift. A servant scuttled out of the blackness and burst into purple flame as it fell back into the void.

"Get back, puppy," she hissed as all her concentration came to bear on the task at hand. Slowly, the edges began to squeeze inward as the witch exerted her will.

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Opening his hand, the demon Lord summoned his blades back to him. The two young women held them in a grip to tight for them to free themselves, and after a moment they stopped responding to his call.

"Ready for a game of slice and dice, Bee?"

Buffy looked at her lover and nodded, "Oh yeah. Payback time."

Mobadon sneered and threw a lance of fire at the advancing pair. It seared a melted black spot onto the ground behind them as they leapt aside. Faith rolled forward to come up by his side and swept the blade around her head with the grace of a samurai. It cut through the flesh and bone of his right wrist with surprising ease, causing his severed claw to drop to the floor.

Roaring in agony, he fought back with a burst of magic that erupted like a fireball around the kneeling brunette. She cried out in pain as the force blew her backward. It saved her life, because if she had stayed within the eldritch flames, they would have consumed her.

"You know, you'd think that by now the word would have gotten around that Sunnydale is mine and I'm not one for sharing," complained Buffy as she danced beneath his swinging talon to lay a slice across his belly.

Again the ebony giant bellowed in pain and this time, it affected the focus of his magic more than he could control. Instead of the unavoidable crushing sphere of force that he tried to summon, a disc of shimmering air appeared and flew like a Frisbee at the Slayer. It was deadly enough though, and would have decapitated her if she had not been quick enough to cartwheel sideways.

As she did so, her hand slipped in the spewing blood from his severed wrist and she crashed down in a heap before him. Uttering a command, the demon Lord brought the stone floor to life and it curved up over her arms to hold her down.

Anger and pain burned in his eyes as he loomed over her, "You are going to die, you little bitch!"

Faith landed on his back, one hand grasping his hair for support as she lifted her blade high and plunged it down through his shoulder until it was buried to the hilt in his body.

"Not gonna happen, creep!"

His buck of pain threw her away as he flung his arms wide in agony. Buffy flexed her muscles and cracked the stone that had held her down. It was no longer under the control of his magic and so was easy for her to shatter. Rising before the large demon, she gave him a sly smile, "Guess you were not as all powerful as you liked to think you were. You guys never are."

Her blade danced in silver flashes as she went to work and hacked his wounded arm off at the shoulder. Her next slice opened a three inch deep furrow down his entire chest before she stabbed the whole blade into his face to end things.

As he gurgled and died, Mobadon began to dissolve. His flesh melted into a thick fatty sludge, and surprisingly, so did his swords and belongings.

Faith clasped an arm around Buffy's shoulder, "Damn! I coulda made a fortune fencing some of that jewellery!"

From out of the seething crowd, servant barrelled into the pair. They quickly made it regret it and then started to really take the fight to the demons.

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Veruca hissed in pain as a claw dug deep into her stomach and tore a handful of flesh loose. Yelping, she brought her knee up into the fiend's groin in several hard hits. The creature just slammed into her and drove her backward. Dawn gasped as the two flattened her against the wall, but the demon still could not reach her. Ru saw to that. Regardless of the pain as it sliced at her, she kept her body between the servant and the teenager, fighting back like a spitting Hellcat.

Suddenly, a gritty powder blinded her. Blinking it away, she was shocked to see the demon staggering backward as its face decayed. Tara slipped to her side, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," the She-wolf answered as she cupped her bleeding chest.

"Dawnie?"

"I'm fine. Is Buffy okay?"

Tara flashed her amazingly beautiful smile, "She's working out a little bit of anger. Call it physical therapy."

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The Shepherd narrowed his eyes when he saw what Willow was doing. The coiling energies that she wielded to control the rift snapped and whirled around her whole body, incinerating any demon that tried to get close.

The old man cursed the meddling red-haired Wiccan; the bitch would ruin everything if she closed the gate! An evil little smile danced across his lips when he realised what he could do about that. Settling himself, he chanted a dark prayer and extended his hand toward the portal, making very distinctive gestures.

"Oh, Goddess, no!" whispered Tara when she saw what he was doing. Mouthing a silent prayer to Thespia for luck, she quickly cast her eyes over her clothing. A sigh of relief burst from her when she found what she was looking for. Stuck to her cardigan was a single red hair. Carefully, she plucked it off and began to twist it into the shape of a rune, knotting one end and blowing a long slow breath over it.

"My life to your life, my soul to your soul. Your pain to my pain, your flesh to my flesh!"

"What are you doing!" cried Dawn, picking up on the blonde witch's panic.

"The only thing I can! She has to keep focused until she has closed the rift. If anything disrupts her sealing spell the mystical forces will invert and she will be sucked into the Hell dimension! Without her to stop them, the demons will be able to cross over unhindered."

With a quick glance toward the portal and her girlfriend, Tara turned to Dawn with eyes filled with sorrow and fear.

"Sweetie, promise me you'll tell her that I loved her with all my heart."

"But Tara...!"

"Shh. I have to do it for her. Close your eyes, Dawnie. I don't want you to see this."

Before Willow, a spiral of air swept upward and its unnatural coldness formed ice crystals into a dancing cloud of razor-sharp fragments. At a gesture from the Shepherd, they gusted at the concentrating redhead and blasted her with a deadly force. The smile faded from the old sorcerer's face when he saw it had no affect upon the witch. She stood untouched in the centre of the maelstrom and continued to guide the surging purple energies from the palms of her hand as she narrowed the dimensional gateway.

Across the chamber, Tara shrieked as she was buffeted by an intangible wind and bloody cuts began to appear all over her body, shredding skin and clothing alike. Her squeal rose to screams of agony as hundreds of shallow cuts carved their way through her flesh. Staggering backward, she collapsed down onto her butt as she raised her hands in a vain attempt to protect her face. Slashes and slices streaked in gory stripes all over her as she took her lover's place as the victim of the Shepherd's malevolent spell.

Dawn flinched when she was spattered with warm droplets and stared in horror as the young blonde quickly became almost unrecognisable beneath a sticky coating of her own blood. It matted her hair and poured through the slashed and torn holes in her clothing to turn her into a crimson shape that bucked and writhed with agony. Even as she watched, jagged furrows ripped their way across the brave witch.

"Buffy!" shrieked the horrified teenager. "The Shepherd! Stop the Shepherd!"

The Slayer reacted immediately and unquestioningly to the terror in her sister's voice. Somersaulting over the head of the demon she was fighting, she ran straight at the cultist. Not breaking stride, she ducked one claw and hopped over another before she crashed into him with a tackle that a professional football player would have been proud of. The force of the impact slammed the evil sorcerer into the wall so hard that his breath blasted out and he dropped to a wheezing heap at her feet.

Instantly, the swirling winds around Willow faded to nothing and the ice slivers dropped harmlessly to the floor.

Dawn knelt beside Tara who was curled into a groaning ball on the floor in the middle of a spreading crimson pool. Now that the spell had ended, no more cuts appeared, but she was in a very bad way and had lost a vast amount of blood in such a short time. With tears dripping from her face, the teenager lifted Tara's head onto her lap, cradling it as the witch trembled and coughed bubbles of sticky red fluid.

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A servant leapt upon Faith and they both crashed to the floor. Her Slayer reflexes were fast enough for her to twist beneath it. Before it realised what was happening, she curled her body, planted both feet in its chest and kicked out to send it hurtling away. Its luck got worse when it crashed into a seven foot tall ball of fur that was intent on shredding everything in arms reach.

Willow shuddered with the effort, but finally, she brought the two edges of the portal together. When they met, there was a deafening bang and a bright light traced its way along the length of the rift before it shrank to nothingness. The portal was gone.

Exhaustion made the witch drop to her knees. Gasping for breath, she blinked her eyes back to normal and looked around. Oz was proving to the demons that there was something far more savage than they. His fur was matted with dozens of wounds from their claws and teeth, but he did not even seem to notice as he tore his attackers apart.