Once Willow had reassured herself of the fact that her girlfriend's hand hadn't been broken, and that thus, Pat wouldn't need her healing abilities for herself, she quickly pulled the demon to where the wounded girl still laid on the ground; to the relief of all of them, the girl was still alive, even though her breaths were coming in short, pained gasps by now and she looked as if she might pass out any second.
"Don't worry", Willow soothingly told her while Pat knelt down next to her and grasped her hand, "you'll be as good as new in a few minutes…"
They both were so focused on the hurt girl that they didn't even notice how the rest of the Wicca group joined them in the living room again, now that the danger was over; huddling close together, the girls watched in silence how Willow started mumbling the spell, all of them wondering what was going on and if it wouldn't be smarter to call an ambulance – and all of them letting out amusingly identical gasps of surprise when Pat's free hand flamed up after Willow had stopped talking, the girls watching in astonishment how the wound their friend had taken slowly started to close.
"Wow", Jackie whispered, grabbing the arm of the girl closest to her for support, "am I imagining that, or is it really happening?"
"It is", Buffy reassured her, "that spell has saved our hides a few times already by now."
"Why is her hand on fire?" Gabby whispered, without taking her eyes off the three for a single second; smirking, the Slayer told her that she'd explain that later, making the younger girl nod, her eyes still wide and fascinated as she watched how the wound healed completely and the flames which had been flickering on Pat's free hand died down, the demon letting go of the girl the moment she could be sure the healing was done.
"No, don't", Willow stopped the girl when she tried to sit up right away, "you still lost quite a bit of blood, take it easy."
"That was amazing", the girl brought out in reply, staring up at the couple with something close to reverence in her eyes, "I thought I'd die…! How did you do that…?"
"Long story short, Pat's a demon with an exceptionally high healing factor, and she just borrowed that to you", Willow explained as an answer, smiling slightly when the girl gave the demon a startled, even slightly scared look, prompting Pat to raise an eyebrow.
"I'm not evil though", she then found it necessary to reassure the girl; behind her, Jackie took a step closer to the small group of three, looking as if she wasn't sure what to think when she spoke up. "You're not bullshitting us? You're a demon? I thought that only exists in comic books and horror movies!"
"Just like witches, huh?" Pat shot back, smirking when the girl had no reply to that and only could stare at her; coming to her feet again, she grimaced at the pain in her by now noticeable swollen hand, nodding when Buffy asked her if she wanted an ice pack for that. While the blonde went off to get that, Willow asked Gabby to tell them anything they remembered about the attack; to their dismay, it wasn't much, the younger girl letting her know that she had woken up to the sound of the door opening and that she had seen the man enter, and then it all had turned into chaos when he had attacked poor Kate and had wounded her.
"That guy knew a few pretty mean spells, didn't he", Jackie threw in, still looking at Pat as if she expected her to jump up and try to eat her any second, "and it was so creepy that he was quiet all the time! He never said a word!"
"That was weird, yeah", Pat agreed, ignoring the way all the girls except for Gabby were staring at her by now, "he didn't even make a sound when my lovely girlfriend decided to fry his ass."
"That was so unsettling", Willow grimaced, "I thought he'd at least groan or something. For a moment, I wasn't even sure if I hurt him, but then he luckily let go of you…"
"Yeah, luckily he did so instead of breaking my hand", Pat muttered, her good eye lighting up when Buffy returned with the ice pack and handed it to her.
"We'll need some strategy for fighting this guy", the Slayer stated as soon as the ice pack had been given to the demon and she was holding it against her hand, "obviously, raw strength isn't enough."
"Maybe we can help", Gabby threw in, "if Willow teaches us more spells, combat magic…"
"Knowing them won't be enough though", Buffy let her know, "it won't help much if you know them, but then don't use them, and instead just stand there and stare when he attacks again."
"And that isn't as easy as it may look", Willow added, "it actually takes a lot of willpower to use spells for hurting someone, especially if it's a human, like that guy."
"He hurt me", the girl who had been wounded by the killer spoke up, sounding a bit stronger already, "so I'll have no qualms to hurt him, even though you said I have no potential for magic. Give me a knife and I'll be good to go."
"So he can disarm you and use it on you?" Pat demanded to know, giving her a sceptical look, "you know, using a knife successfully takes skill too, it's not just hack and slay and you're all done."
"Whatever", the girl muttered in reply, coming to her feet again at last; realizing that it was still in the middle of the night, Willow decided to end this talk about violence and offense magic by telling the girls that they'd talk more about this tomorrow and that they all should get some rest now, glad when they all agreed at once.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after this scare", one of the girls which had ran off to hide muttered, even though she looked quite tired; Buffy reassured her that it would be okay, then told the girls to shout in case something should happen again before she made her way back upstairs with both Willow and Pat, all three of theme ager to get some sleep now that the danger had been fought off for the night.
In the next morning, Buffy once more prepared breakfast for all the girls, with the help of both Willow and Pat; once the girls started waking up, they helped as much as they could as well, something which was made considerably harder by the fact that, once they all had gotten up, the kitchen was getting quite crowded. To the Slayer's relief, the girls retreated one by one again though as soon as the breakfast was done and they had helped themselves to food and coffee; and soon, it was just Buffy, Willow and Pat who remained there, sitting down at the table with their own portions of breakfast and coffee cups.
"So", Buffy spoke up after a while, "are you gonna teach those girls some combat magic?"
"Yeah, I will", Willow gave back, to the obvious surprise of the Slayer, "I'll go get some stuff from the Magic Box first and then I'll teach them some small, but hopefully useful spells…"
"Nothing which requires good aim, please", Buffy sighed, "I don't want wayward lightning bolts flying around in here."
"I'll keep that in mind", Willow smiled, then looked at her partner and asked if she'd come along to the shop; immediately, Pat nodded, then grunted something about crazy killers out there into her coffee cup, her inability to speak properly making both Buffy and Willow smirk.
"Take care when you go there", the Slayer unnecessarily advised, "we know nothing about this guy yet, so…"
"We'll be fine", Willow reassured her, "at least we know he doesn't like that lightning spell, and I can use that quite often before I get drained, it's an easy one…"
"An easy one you will not teach to those girls", Buffy reminded her of her fear of lightning, making the witch nod once more; then, they all finished their breakfast, Willow and Pat moving back to the bedroom afterwards to change into clothing suitable for going to the store.
"Let's hope that guy won't come here while we're gone", the demon showed that by now, after breakfast, she was capable of coherent speech; grimacing, Willow nodded, momentarily even considering blowing off the trip to the shop, then telling herself that this was silly and that they couldn't all hole themselves up in the house now, just sitting there and waiting for the guy to come back.
"We better hurry", she still said, making the demon nod; they quickly finished changing, then made their way back downstairs, calling out to Buffy that they'd leave now and that they'd be back soon, the Slayer calling back to them that it was okay and that they should hurry. "We will!" Willow reassured her, then stepped outside with the demon; automatically, they both looked left and right, then exchanged a brief, but relieved look when they couldn't spot the man who had attacked them the night before.
As always when they were going somewhere together, Willow grasped her partner's hand, making the taller woman give her a brief smile; the couple took the time to share a brief kiss, then they started walking, the demon lighting up a cigarette after just a few steps and taking a deep drag from it.
"I'm not smoking enough at that house", she explained at the amused look Willow gave her, the witch giggling in reply and shaking her head before she reminded her girlfriend of the fact that technically, Buffy had declared her house as a non-smoking zone and that thus, each cigarette she smoked there was one too much anyway, no matter how much of them she enjoyed in that place.
"She must have noticed by now that I smoked and didn't reprimand me", Pat shrugged that quite good point off, "so I guess it's okay."
"She doesn't reprimand you because she knows it wouldn't help", Willow smirked, "she knows you well enough by now, you know."
"That is so not true", Pat protested, "if she'd tell me to stop, I would! I'm not that—" She fell silent when Willow grabbed her arm, the witch's eyes widening; a second later, the demon's good eye did the same as she saw who had been waiting for them in the middle of the street behind the corner they just had rounded, the man smiling cheerfully at them and raising his hand to give them a mocking little wave.
Without taking her gaze away from the man for the blink of an eye, Pat dropped her cigarette and stepped on it to put it out; she clenched her fists, fighting down the urge to flame up, knowing that this was too dangerous in bright daylight, in the middle of the street. Still smiling, the man dropped his hand and started moving towards them; automatically, Pat stepped in front of her girlfriend, starting to growl lowly in the back of her throat as she watched the man advance, determined to let him make the first move with the plan to dodge it and thus put him off-balance.
With his smile widening slightly, the man moved one hand into the pocket of his jacket; not sure what to expect, the demon tensed up, her gaze flickering back and forth between his face and his hand while behind her, Willow gave her best to fight down the fear that wanted to blank out her mind, well aware of the fact that she might have to use her magic any moment now.
In front of her, Pat raised her fists a bit further, getting ready to fight off any move he might make; and then, he suddenly sped up, his hand coming out of his pocket holding a transparent glass bottle, the demon just having time to notice that his smile was widening – before he moved the bottle upwards roughly, splashing the content into her face.
The blink of an eye later, searing pain rushed through her, a kind of pain she never had felt before; thanks to her nature, she had no idea what it felt like to get burned, unaware of the fact that burning her was exactly what the holy water the man had thrown into her face was doing. With her screams turning into pained groans, the demon went down on her knees, clutching at her face; by now, the man had a wide grin on his face, this being the last thing Pat saw before he brought the bottle up again and poured the rest of its content down on her, the pain increasing momentarily before the world went dark around her.