Time seemed to slow down as she waited for the flames to reach her and burn her, her heartbeat as loud as a drum in her own ears; she wondered if this was how it felt to be close to dying, as if it was the first time she was experiencing this. As if in slow-motion, the fire the creature was spewing at her came closer and closer; she knew that in reality, not even the split of a second had passed, asking herself if it was shock that made time slow down like that, or if she subconsciously had cast some spell which slowed down time to let her escape – when all at once, a dark shape came from the left, tackling her, covering her, strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her upwards against a familiar body.
As if this had been a cue, time returned to its normal speed, the flames washing over the one holding her; she could feel their heat and automatically squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, the fire not reaching her though, the heat not harming as much as a single hair on her head. She heard how the creature let out another shriek, now sounding annoyed; slowly, she dared to open her eyes again, craning her neck so she could look at the one holding her, her breath getting stuck in her throat when she saw who it was.
"Pat…?" she brought out, not able to believe her eyes, her gaze meeting the clear and calm one of her lover; briefly, Pat smiled at her and nodded, then let go of her and straightened back up without another word, turning to face the man who had been responsible for the eight days she had spent in the darkness of insanity.
"You know what, pal?" she spoke up casually, the man just staring at her with wide eyes, obviously not able to believe what just had happened. "Sending a fire demon to deal with someone whose girlfriend is a fire demon as well… Bad idea. Pissing off said fire demon by trying to burn her girlfriend to a crisp? Worst idea ever."
And with those words, she burst into flames, not just her hands as she usually let it happen when she was helping on patrol, but all of her body; feeling the heat of the flames as well as the anger which was filling her loved one, Willow crawled a few steps backwards, still staring in disbelief, her heart hammering up to her throat again with excitement as she fully realized what just had happened. She saw that monster hurting me and it made her come back… She came back to me…
Before she could ponder this further though, the creature the man had summoned threw itself forward, towards her loved one; without hesitation, Pat grabbed it and used the momentum it still had due to its jump to throw it against the nearest wall, rushing after it a second later, Willow holding her breath when her loved one and the creature started to exchange blows, flames falling from both their bodies and hissing away to nothingness on the wet to concrete.
Another cry escaped the witch when the monster landed a rather painful looking blow, hard enough to send her girlfriend flying and crashing into the trashcans standing on the opposite sidewalk; unfazed by this though, Pat quickly came to her feet again, snarling as she pulled back her fist, then punched forward, a brightly burning ball of fire exploding from her fist and rushing towards the creature, too fast to let it dodge, hitting it with full force and sending it into the wall again.
"Enough playtime", she then snarled, clenching her fists as she hurried over to the creature again; without hesitation, she grabbed it at the jaw and the back of the head, the snap of the monster's neck breaking when she twisted brutally echoing through the night and causing the man who had sent this after the two to let out a startled cry. Dusting off her hands as if she had been dirtied by this, the demon turned around to face the man who was responsible for all of this; she still was engulfed in brightly burning flames, making Willow wonder briefly if this meant that she'd demon out any second now, wicked glee filling her at the thought of what she might do to that guy then.
"Guess you'll need a new pet to light your fires", the black haired woman now commented dryly, taking a step towards the guy, smirking when he immediately took one backwards in response, visibly scared now. "Usually, my girlfriend doesn't approve of it if I kill humans, and makes me sleep on the couch", the demon went on, now sounding casual, as if she was talking about the weather to some random guest at a cocktail party. "But somehow, I think she'll be fine with it this time…"
"Go ahead", Willow muttered behind her, coming to her feet again; briefly, the guy looked at her, then focused on Pat again, a smirk forming on his face, a sight the demon didn't like at all.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed", he stated, giving the black haired woman an amused glance. "Usually, people… or demons… don't come out of insanity so easily. I'd love to stay a bit longer and chat about how the experience has been for you, but I really have to go now… I won't be rude though, I'll leave you some entertainment."
And with those words, he whistled again, then turned off and ran; before Pat had a chance to follow him though, yet another creature came bounding out of a side alley, the demon's eyes going wide at the sight of it – before she twirled around, grabbed Willow and started to run, dragging the shocked redhead along with her.
"What's going on?" Willow panted out, glancing back over her shoulder, horrified at the speed with which the creature was following them. "What is this thing?"
"It's fast", Pat gave back, speeding up her run and forcing the witch to do the same, her breath soon turning into panting, "and it's immune to my fire… I can't fight it, not without weapons! Run!"
Figuring that her loved one probably knew what she was talking about, the redhead sped up, telling herself that there would be time to celebrate Pat's return to sanity later on, once they'd be safe; behind her, she heard the creature the man had summoned come closer and closer, her breath burning in her lungs as she forced herself to keep running, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep this speed up much longer.
"We can't outrun it", Pat panted out after they had just been hurrying through dark side alleys and across empty streets through a while, the demon always close behind them; next to her, Willow merely nodded in agreement, by now gasping too hard to talk properly, well aware of the fact that her legs felt as if they'd buckle beneath her any second.
"Over there", the demon next to her now gained her attention, gesturing at a parked motorcycle with her free hand, already rushing over to the vehicle while she continued speaking. "You can start this thing up with magic, right?"
Trying to catch her breath, Willow nodded again, concentrating hard while Pat hurriedly hopped on the motorcycle; quickly, the witch climbed on the vehicle behind her, taking in another deep breath before she commanded "Start", the engine roaring to life a second later.
"Hold on tight", Pat advised her, making her nod before she threw a nervous glance at the advancing demon; a few more steps, and it would have reached them to do God knew what to them, but before it had that chance, the engine roared up again and the motorcycle almost shot out of the parking spot, causing Willow to let out a surprised yelp, her grip around Pat's waist tightening.
Under different circumstances, she would have enjoyed it to be so close to her girlfriend, especially now, with the demon having regained her sanity; right now though, she was too terrified of the monster still chasing them as Pat drove the motorbike down the quiet street, glancing into the rear view mirror every now and then, frowning when she saw that the demon was still after them, obviously not planning to give up any time soon. With the tires screeching, she rounded a corner, the way the motorcycle tilted causing Willow to squeeze her eyes shut again; before they could fall over though, the demon put one foot down on the street, keeping them from crashing and bringing the bike into an upright position again, the engine roaring once more as she increased the speed of the vehicle.
"Where are we going?" the redhead demanded to know as soon as she could be sure she had regained enough of her breath to talk properly; the answer didn't really surprise her, as she figured that it was obvious and that she should have seen it, as well.
"Buffy's place", the demon shouted to be heard over the noisy engine, "she has more weapons in that dorm room than the whole gang can use at once… Do you trust me?"
The question came so unexpected that for a moment, Willow could only blink; then, she regained her sense, her voice fierce as she replied. "Of course I do! Why are you asking?"
"Just keep holding on tight", the demon gave back in reply, the witch not able to see the smirk which had formed on her face as she spoke on. "I'll put a wall between that nasty little bugger and ourselves…"
"How do you want to…" the redhead started, only to fall silent in shock as she saw where Pat was driving the motorcycle – up against a trash container at the end of the blind alley across the street, several broad planks had been leaned, the witch's heart hammering up to her throat again as she realized what her loved one intended to do.
"Oh jeez", she brought out, then squeezed her eyes shut again; twenty seconds later, she felt the motorbike tilt as it drove up the planks, then the ground vanished beneath them, Willow holding her breath as the bike jumped the wall behind the trash container, the tires screeching loudly again when they settled back on the street.
Quickly, Pat rounded the next corner before the demon could climb the wall as well, making sure they'd be out of the monster's sight; still grinning to herself, obviously enjoying this greatly, she spoke up again, the redhead barely able to hear her due to the hammering of her own heart. "That should win us some time, enough to get to Buffy and to wake her up… Oh, and you can hold on less tight now, you're cutting off my flow of air."
"Sorry", Willow muttered, forcing herself to loosen her grip around the demon's waist a bit; to her relief, Pat pulled off no more stunts like the one she just had made the witch go through, but merely kept driving – with rather high speed, no less – until they arrived at the campus and at the building where Buffy's room was located.