Walking the Shadow Road

Book 2 of the Walking Series

By Bill Gopher and Iceflame55

Disclaimers – The characters of Buffy and company are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Characters and places of the Middle-Earth are owned by the Tolkien estate. We're just borrowing them all for some fun, we promise to put them back when we're finished :D.

thoughts

Chapter Two

Buffy had just finished her sweep of Restfield Cemetery, it had been almost completely empty and was on her way out when she felt her 'demon radar' go off just as an older looking man stepped out of the shadows ahead of her. Cautiously Buffy kept walking, stopping when the 'old man' was only 10 feet away. "Who are you?"

"My name is Annatar. I've been watching you for a while now Slayer and it seems that you're having a bit of trouble..."

"Oh?" Buffy said suspiciously. "Well what do you know about it?" Buffy asked as she carefully kept her distance between them.

"Quite a bit, you've been getting your 'head handed to you' I believe is the phrase, by that ADAM demon, who by the way also murdered those little children and that you don't know how to tap into your full potential. Add to that that you and your friends are desperately looking for a way to destroy the demon and you have a world of problems now don't you?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed in anger, "Oh yeah? And why exactly are you here? To give me a laundry list of my failures to beat Adam, well, gee...thanks much for that. Now go home to whatever rock you crawled out of before I decide Sunnydale would be much better off minus one old and stupid Demon." Buffy snarled.

Holding his hands up, "Oh now don't go being mean to poor Annatar. I'm not here to berate you Slayer, instead I'm here to offer my help to you." Annatar saw the Slayer's face had not altered in the slightest. "Oh I can't fight the ADAM demon, but there is something else I can offer. I am old, very very old by your standards now and I've learned quite a bit in my time. Now this ADAM is a threat to me and he needs to be removed, which is why I'm here. You see I know of a spell that might aid you greatly..."

Frowning further, "Oh really? And you're just going to help me out of the goodness of your heart, right?" Buffy asked very sarcastically. "Uh huh...Do I look stupid to you 'Annatar'? I may be blonde but that doesn't mean I'm stupid thank you."

"Please Slayer...patience with old Annatar. Now as I've said ADAM's a threat to me if he succeeds in his insane plan to have Human-Demons rule the world. I'm not looking for anything from you either, but I've heard stories of your losing battles with the ADAM Demon and I have knowledge of a spell that could give you the edge you are looking for when you confront him. Have you or your Watcher thought of an Enjoining Spell?" Annatar didn't see the Slayer reply and so he continued, "It's way of combining the abilities and skills of three people into a fourth person, the Vessel. That fourth person will have all the skills, powers and knowledge of the other three in addition to their own." Annatar paused not wanting to push this too hard and fast on the Slayer.

"And the side-effects? Who gets turned into a giant mutant slug afterwards?" Buffy asked still frowning, but slightly curious.

"No one. The spell only lasts a for 5 or 10 of your minutes at most. Is this something that might interest you?"

"And who'd be casting the spell exactly...you?" Buffy asked, her suspicion back in full force.

Shaking his head, "No Slayer. The spell would be cast by the three offering to share their abilities with you, I would have nothing to do with it and that is something that is for the best. I can give you a copy of the spell to have your Witch and Watcher research it so that you know I am speaking the truth to you. I truly do not want you to come to any harm, nor do I want the ADAM Demon to succeed in its goals and threaten me either."

Buffy had to admit if the spell worked as advertised then they could easily defeat ADAM, the problem was that 'if it worked', then there was the old demon who was just handing her this spell on a silver platter. Mentally Buffy reviewed her options and came up with the same ones she had before, "Fine. Leave the spell there on the ground and go."

Annatar hid the smile he felt, instead bowing deeply as he pulled the paper the spell was written on out of his jacket pocked and placed it onto the ground. "I thank you Slayer." Gliding back into the darkness Annatar disappeared from the Slayers sight.

Buffy waited until she could no longer feel the Demon's presence anywhere before walking over and picking up the folded piece of paper. "Well, who knows, maybe this'll turn out to help us. There is always a first time and I know that Willow will leap at the idea of researching a new spell, something Giles'll insist on knowing every last detail, word and ingredient before he even considers using it. But that's fine with me, carefullness equals a longer living Buffy." With that Buffy headed home to tell Giles about what happened tonight...

The Demon's story had been met by Giles with a healthy amount of skepticism, not that she'd blame him since she had her own doubts on the subject of this spell. But this was also, if it worked, the only way to defeat ADAM.

It took another week before Giles got back to Buffy as he'd been researching every last detail about this spell with Willow, but he was now convinced that the spell held no hidden side-effects on either the casters or the recipient. Now that they knew that they could use the spell Giles knew it was time to call Buffy to let her know...

Looking out over the Scoobies, "As you all know we have been searching for a way to defeat ADAM and with little success..."

"Yeah, G-Man. So what's up then? You guys find a magick weapon of demon destroying?" Xander asked.

"No, not quite. But we did find something else, an Enjoining spell." Giles started to explain.

"A in-whatie?" Xander asked, feeling utterly confused.

Patiently Giles repeated himself, "An Enjoining spell Xander, not an in-whatie. It will allow Buffy to tap the abilities of three other people and merge them into a fourth..."

"So then if you and Willow do this spell Buffy'd gain your knowledge of ancient languages and spells and Willow's magickal abilities.." Tara said, understanding the spell. "But isn't it dangerous?"

Nodding, "Yes, technically it can be, but it will only be for a limited time span so that will lessen any potential side-effects on anyone." Giles answered.

"Who would be your third p-person?" Tara asked, knowing this spell required no less than or more than 3 people to cast it.

"I'd like to ask you to be the third person, Tara." Giles asked after getting a nod from Willow.

"W-Why me?" Tara asked as her nervous stutter came rushing back.

"Because the spell calls for a greater amount of power to be called up in order to empower the Slayer as we call upon the First Slayer and Willow has told me that you are a powerful Witch in your own. I am aware that you do not know us that well and it is a good deal of us to ask you..."

"Willow?" Tara asked, nervously. "D-Do you..."

Willow moved next to Tara, "Yes I do, but if you don't feel comfortable than don't worry about it."

"N-No. I'll do it, Buffy's your friend and without me she might die..." Tara said while thinking, And so might you...

Willow pulled Tara into a hug before kissing Tara, "Thank you Tara, this means so much to me..."

Sauron sat back, feeling quite satisfied with himself. The spell he'd given the Slayer was a masterpiece of spellcrafting, oh it would work as he said it would, but unless they were to take the spell apart syllable by syllable and held a depth of knowledge as deep as his own they'd never see what he'd done. Because by tapping the Slayer line directly to give Buffy the boost in power, they'd also be unwittingly boost Faith's power level as well since she too was an active Slayer. Rubbing his hands together Sauron watched the events as they continued to unfold exactly as he'd planned...

End Chapter Two