The Dragon Slayer
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lisa had all but two of the ingredients she needed for the first spell. The best chance of finding the missing items lay in the Magic Box. She didn't like the store much. It was full of dark books and strange statues. However it was well stocked and was sure to have the crystal and lizard blood she needed.
When Lisa entered the darkened shop she expected to see the strange English owner or be pounced on by his downright insane female assistant. Instead there was Willow and Tara from Wicca group. The two girls were always holding hands and staring at each other. It was disgusting. Lisa thought they would be better off in the Lesbian Alliance. They were talking to Buffy Summers, big trouble. Lisa knew Buffy from European History. Well, from not being in European History. Buffy seemed to be always cutting class. Her mum was ill this year, but what was her excuse last year. Lisa discretely moved to the back shelves hoping not to be noticed. She found the crystal she needed and went to the counter for the blood. She was surprised when Willow came around to serve.
"You work here?" asked Lisa, now liking this shop even less.
"I'm just helping out." admits Willow. "Hey, don't I know you from Wicca group. Liz isn't it?"
"Lisa." She corrected.
"Lisa, sorry! Can I help you?"
Lisa wanted to say no, and just walk away. She would have if the spell hadn't been so important. But she figured she could brush with a little evil. She was prepared to go into a dark place to make the light. Her spell would soon wipe it all away. Lisa put the crystal on the counter and asked for the lizard blood. This surprised Willow.
"You're doing a spell!" exclaimed the red-head. "You do spells, I didn't know! Tara!"
The blonde came over followed by Buffy. Lisa was uncomfortable. She didn't like the increased audience, it scared her.
"Tara." explained Willow, "Lisa does spells! I'm sorry for the excitement, but Tara and I thought we were the only real witches on campus. This is so cool! What spell ya doing?"
Lisa was rather overcome by this, and rather hurt at being called a witch. Witches were evil, she wasn't a witch.
"I don't think that's any of your business."
"Oh." Said Willow, rather deflated, "Okay." She went to get the lizard's blood.
"Are you doing Teeny Tinkerbelle Lights?" asked Tara, looking at the crystal on the counter. "That's a good spell. My mum taught it to me when I was six."
"Something like that." admitted Lisa, surprisingly responding to the blonde's soft tones. Then she shook herself. She needed to get out of this store as soon as possible.
"Don't use too much Rosewood or it can get away from you very easily." Tara suggested noticing Lisa's unease. "I had one lot of sparks - glowed for weeks."
Lisa didn't respond.
Willow brought over the blood; Lisa paid and left as fast as she could.
"That's odd." said Willow as the door swung shut. "She never seemed the type for witchcraft."
"Too flowery?" offered Buffy.
"She's doing Teeny Tinkerbelle." said Tara.
"Oh well." Said Willow, smiling. "She's a flowery witch. Cool, there's nothing wrong with that."
…
"Well I find it helps to let it all out. Pain just eats and eats inside you. The sooner you let go the better you'll feel."
It was an old line, and well used, but then again it always seemed to work. He could already feel the brunette in his arms relax into his embrace. He was so good at this, it was all so easy. He stroked her shoulder in a tender way he knew she'd respond to. 'Okay what was her name again?'
"Shhh, Penny. It's going to be okay. I'm here." He whispered.
He felt her tears start to fall. He phased out at that point, his hands groping her body as casually as he could in mock comfort. He stared into space. There was an early evening mist beginning to form around them and he could feel the chill in the air; another excuse to pull her closer.
"Tonight's the night." He thought. "The boy has scored again…"
He was so caught up in self-congratulations he almost missed Penny start in his arms.
"What's that?" she whispered.
"What?" he asked annoyed at the distraction. A pungent smell wafted towards them, like the sewers.
"Urg, what is that smell?"
"Listen." said the girl, hushing him.
There was aloud snort from the mist just to their right. Then there was a hammering clatter. It sounded like thunder, and it was loud. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then something impossible charged at them out of the billowing mist. Not believing what he was seeing, he pushed the girl away and ran for his life. Looking back he noticed the creature didn't miss a step as it impaled and tossed the girl's body; sending it spinning in the air. He ran faster.
"Run, run! Come on Parker man, you can't die like this! Not like this!"
…
It was all quiet at the Magic Box. A shocked silence hung over the Scooby meeting. Newspapers were spread over the research table. Bold headlines read, TWELVE MURDERED IN PATH OF HORROR, THE TRAIL OF BLOOD and CORPSE ROAD, SUNNYDALE. Twelve people had been brutally murdered, mutilated and apparently eaten. The killer cut a swath from the U.C. Sunnydale campus to the edge of town. Couples out at night in Sunnydale were never safe, but even by this towns standards it was horrific and it obviously wasn't vampires.
"What could do something like that?" asked a horrified Willow.
"I'm not sure." said Giles, polishing his glasses out of nervous habit. "It's not a demon I'm aware of. I mean most demons kill, but not in this manner. It is so pointless, there is no pattern."
"Could it be a portent? A big evily-evil a-brewing?" asked Buffy, pushing the papers disdainfully away.
"We should research." Said Giles, "Find out what could do this kind of damage. The reports say they were stabbed or skewered."
"It's not Adam?" asked Xander, getting worried, "I mean we dealt with that whole dealio!"
"No not Adam." Said Giles. "He never ate his victims."
"A Polgara demon then?" asked Buffy. "I mean that is where the skewer came from in the first place."
"No." said Giles. "Polgara are pretty much animals. And they are also incredibly timid for demons. A Polgara wouldn't do this, even if it had the speed and strength required for such a massacre."
"So what could do this?" asked Xander, trying hard not to look too hard at the gruesome pictures in newsprint, right under his nose.
"That's what we need to find out." said Giles. He wrinkled his brow and moved to the bookcase.
"Look you guys start on the research." said Buffy, "I'm going to follow this trail. Look for clues, see where it takes me."
"Hooray!" said Xander without enthusiasm. "Let's crack some books and find this week's monster!"
"I promised Tara I'd meet her at the cafeteria for breakfast." piped up Willow, looking at her watch.
"Don't panic, I'll send her back here." said Buffy as she got up to leave. "We could use her help with the research."
"Thanks." said Willow, even though it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear. "Good luck."
"You too." called Buffy. The bell over the door jangled behind her and she was gone.
…
Tara was having serious second thoughts. She was alone in a mist shrouded wood while a vicious killer was on the loose. When she had read the paper that morning she figured that Willow and the Scoobies would be hot on the trail of this new deadly menace. She had hurried to the end of the trail hoping to catch them up. Only there was no sign of anybody. Not a living breathing soul for miles. Tara felt scared and incredibly stupid coming here alone.
"You seem a little lost." said a soulless voice behind her.
Tara swallowed and turned slowly towards the sound.
…
There was no sign of Tara at the cafeteria, so Buffy headed off to the crime scene. Willow's girlfriend had probably already seen the papers and was at the Magic Box right now. When she got to Lowell House the morning mist hung heavy in the air. Buffy noticed a familiar broad shouldered figure hovering by the police tape.
"Hey Riley!" she called with a smile, wrapping her arms around his muscular torso.
"Thought I'd find you here." replied the ex-commando, giving her a kiss.
"Yeah." said Buffy, matter of factly. "You know me! I'm grisly trails of death girl. It isn't big bloody death without Buffy!"
"So?" asked Riley.
"So let's look for clues and find this thing before it strikes again."
They creep past the police tape and circle the area.
"Two bodies were found here." said Buffy, pacing the road trying not to look too hard at the blood stained tarmac.
"Yeah." confirmed Riley, flipping through a small note book. "Penny Brookes was found here." He pointed to bushes a few meters to the right of the road, a splatter trail of blood following the path of his arm. "She was skewered or staked in the shoulder. She was tossed here and bled to death."
"Uh-hum." said Buffy trying to desensitise herself to the gruesome details, only it wasn't really working.
"And Parker Adams was found a few meters this way." said Riley pointing up the road into the hazy mist.
"Parker!" gasped Buffy. She remembered Parker, a suave creep with soulful eyes. He'd used her and back then she wished he was dead. Now he was. It was horrible when death wasn't faceless, it was somebody you knew.
"Yes, Parker." said Riley. "He was stabbed, mauled and partially eaten."
"How partially?"
"Mostly the softer parts." replied Riley, checking his pad. "They found the remains of his left arm another ten meters that way." He pointed up the street.
"Oh God!" exclaimed Buffy. She took a breath and then looked up at her boyfriend. "How come you know all this anyway?"
"I still have connections." said the ex-Intiative soldier. "I thought you'd want all the facts."
The two lover smiled at each other across the blood stained street.
"Okay." said Buffy, getting back on track. "Now the thing came from that direction." She paced the path. The mist parted and she came nose to brick with a pastel painted wall. It stretched out into the haze at either side.
"Fine," she said, stumbling to a halt, "It came from a brick wall and headed that way." She pointed directly down the street. As she was pacing back along the road she turned back to stare at the wall. It was clouded in the mist and she couldn't make it out. Buffy felt a niggle of recognition for a moment, and then it was gone. She turned back to the trail of death.
…
"Why do all monsters equal books." sighed Xander, picking up the heavy brown tome placed before him.
"We could always try a summoning." said Anya.
"A summoning?" asked Xander, glad of the distraction.
"Yes, you summon a demon from the fires of hell, confine him, bind him and demand answers. They have to obey you, and then you banish them away when you're done."
"That sounds simple." said Xander, with a grin. He looked across at Willow. "Don't you think?"
"It sounds dangerous." muttered the red-head.
"Oh piffle." said Xander, "Getting severe eyestrain from all this reading is dangerous. I think we should give it a go."
"Rcnidjbi is a good one to call; knows all the inside scoop." suggested Anya. "All we need is to get his attention."
"And how do we do that?" asked an eager Xander.
"Well a good way is to roast a succession of live cats for four days. The screaming is quite indescribable."
"Oh God!"
"But that's not going to work. Not only is there the time limit, but we've only got the one cat."
"You can't roast Miss Kitty!" protested Willow horrified.
"Well maybe if we just roast her very slowly, she could last four days."
"Anya," snapped Willow. "That is not going to happen!"
"I'm only trying to help." sighed Anya. "I didn't think you'd want to perform an orgy of supplication. The cats are a more humane means of summoning him."
"Orgy?" asked Xander, is interest peaked.
"Look." interrupts Giles. "I'm sure we all agree summoning Rcnidjbi is out of the question; or any other demon for that matter. We are all just going to have to keep researching."
"Aw." moaned a disappointed Xander.
"Xander!" gasped Willow
"What?" he cried. "You know I hate all the reading."
"And there was me thinking you wanted all the sex." said Anya with a smirk.
Willow sighed and looked heavenward for a moment, trying to swallow her dislike of the ex-demon for Xander's sake. Then she turned back to the book before her, scanning the page for a stake wielding, flesh eating, super-fast demon.
…
The murderous trail led Buffy and Riley down a main street, through a few back alleys, out to the woods on the outskirts. The wood was silent and cool; the mist still hanging in the moist morning air.
"The last victim was found here." said Riley, "Mr Robert Patterson, 50, retiree. He was walking his dog." He pointed up to a nearby tree.
"I think I beginning to see the pattern." said Buffy, looking up at the high branches.
"Well you took your bloody time getting here." snapped an irritated voice.
They turned to see a familiar blonde demon coming towards them, clinging to the shadows.
"Spike." exclaimed Buffy. "What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd help with your monster hunt." said the vampire with a shrug." We've been poking around looking for clues, waiting for the slayer to show up. And if I might add you're rather tardy."
"We?" asked Buffy.
Tara emerged from the mist and gave a nervous wave.
"Um. I think you might want to see this." She mumbled.
Buffy and Riley joined her. Spike was strutting beside them.
"I found it." he said hoping to impress.
Buffy just ignored him and concentrated on what Tara had to show her. The blonde witch was standing by a trail of rounded impressions in the mud.
"Hoof prints." said Riley, kneeling to get a closer look.
"What?" asked Buffy. "You mean cloven hoofed devil-demon type prints?"
"I think it looks more like a-a horse." said Tara with a shy smile.
"A bloody big horse." said Spike.
"A Hell-horse?" asked the slayer. "Or-or the demon was riding. You know chasing it's victims down on horseback. It would certainly give it the speed to get all the way across town in a few minutes."
"And the stabbings… that could be a lance or something." said Riley standing and examining their surroundings. "That sounds plausible. The trail continues in that direction." He said pointing to the left. "It seems to have slowed down when it got to the woods."
"So let's track it." said Spike taking the lead. They followed reluctantly.
"Are you alright?" asked Buffy, hanging back slightly to talk to Tara.
"I feel a bit foolish." She admitted. "I thought you'd all be out here."
"And Spike behaved himself?"
"He was fine." said the witch. "A perfect gentleman." Buffy eyed her doubtfully.
"Well compared to most of the men I've known, he was a gentleman." admitted Tara.
There was an awkward silence, as Buffy recalled her encounter with the men in Tara's family. The peace was broken by an unearthly screaming squeal that echoed round the group. They all froze.
"That didn't sound like any horse I know." muttered Riley, cautiously scanning the trees.
"Oh what is that?" gasped Buffy gagging as a revolting stench engulfed the clearing.
The scream sounded again, accompanied by the soft drumming of galloping hooves.
"What is it?" cried Buffy looking in every direction for the source of the noise.
Buffy glance back to see an amazing sight burst into the haze; a golden white and shimmering best glowing in the dappled sunlight. Buffy paused dumbfounded by the beauty of the creature, almost falling over her feet. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She wasn't the only one, Tara and Riley were also mesmerised by the unicorn charging at them from out of the mist…