"I wish my magic would recharge faster", Willow mumbled to herself as she watched them fight, Xander and Anya at the window left and right of her, trying to see as much as possible; despite the seriousness of the situation, Willow couldn't keep the proud smile off her face as she watched how the demoned out Pat grabbed one of the demons and threw him against the next tree hard enough to impale him on a protruding branch, the creature twitching a few times before he shuddered and died.
"You know, she's very hot when she fights", Anya commented next to the witch, causing both Xander and her to stare at her, the ex-demon shrugging in reply. "What? I was talking about the flames."
"Of course", the redhead muttered in reply, giving Anya another suspicious look before she focused on the fight outside again, gasping when she saw several demons jump Pat and bury her beneath them. To the relief of the witch, they didn't stay in that position for long though; with a growl they could hear all the way up to the first floor, Pat threw them off her as she violently sprang to her feet again, the flames around her increasing when she grabbed the demon nearest to her and broke his neck, taking the time to pick up the axe she had dropped when they had jumped her, swinging it around in a glinting arch of steel and taking off the head of another demon close to her.
Next to her, Buffy wasn't wasting any time as well, using one demon as a shield when another one stormed at her with a spear, the attacker not quick enough to stop himself from killing his companion; before the impaled demon even had fallen down, Buffy had moved in for the killing blow, her sword going all the way through the spear carrier and sending him to die on top of the one he had killed.
Yanking her sword out of the dying demon, the Slayer spun around, just in time to get the punch aimed at her right in the face; Xander, Anya and Willow gasped in perfect unison as she stumbled backwards, then quickly regained her balance and slashed at the demon, to the relief of the three watching friends seemingly unhurt. With a surprisingly long, powerful jump, Pat landed behind another one of the few demons left alive; baring her teeth at him, she swung the axe at him, a kick following when he dodged that first attack, sending him sprawling to the ground, the furry demon on top of him before he could back up and bringing the axe down, finishing the job.
Behind her, Buffy killed off the demon who had had the audacity to punch her in the face, leaving only one of their attackers standing; the demon and the Slayer exchanged a short glance, then both smirked, their smiles surprisingly alike despite the fact that one of them was rather fangy and toothy while the other one looked much more human – then they both moved in on the demon, ignoring that he clearly was scared shitless by now, the fight ending not even a minute later.
"Ha!" Pat cheered as she practically came bouncing into the bedroom where Xander, Anya and Willow where still waiting, Buffy just glancing in briefly to make sure they were okay before she moved on to the attic, eager to get Giles and Dawn.
"Did you see how we kicked their asses?" the demon beamed, all her tiredness clearly gone as she now bounced on the spot, back to her human form, ignoring that her clothes had suffered quite a bit during the fight and due to the fact that her demonic form was much bulkier than her human one.
"Ha!" she repeated, making the witch giggle at how hyper she was, "that was so much fun!"
"You do have a strange idea about fun", came Giles' dry comment from the door, making the demon look over; giving him a bright smile, she shrugged, then almost hopped over to Willow, pulling her into a surprisingly fierce embrace and kissing her deeply, making the rest clear their throat while they politely turned away, giving the couple as much privacy as possible in the by now rather crowded room.
When they finally had pulled apart again, the redhead was quite out of breath, her cheeks flushed; clearing his throat, Giles gained the attention of the group, Willow blushing even brighter for a moment as she realized that they all had seen that special moment – before she shrugged it off and told herself that there was no reason to blush, after all, Pat and she had been dating for quite some time by now and she knew that all her friends were comfortable about the relationship, no matter which doubts they had had when it had started.
"You did quite good with fighting off that assault", the Watcher stated the obvious, "but as you know, this is far from over. We should all focus now on how to stop Amy from gaining more power than she already has."
"She's clearly afraid of us", Buffy added, with a self-satisfied little smirk on her face, said smirk widening when Pat bounced on the spot again, beaming at her.
"Ha! And she better be, after how we just whipped her demons!" the black haired woman cheered, making the rest chuckle about her enthusiasm; then, her stomach growled audibly, and she stopped in mid-bounce, looking down at herself in surprise, the surprise quickly turning into embarrassment as she realized that the grumbling had been loud enough for everyone else to hear it.
"I suggest we talk about our plans during a meal", Xander suggested, making them all nod; together, they moved into the kitchen where they raided the fridge and the cupboards, soon sitting down to eat, the mood still high despite the threat which still hung in the air.
"Willow", Giles started once they all had made themselves comfortable around the dinner table, "how long do you think it will take to recharge your energies for magic?"
"A good night's sleep should be enough", the witch shrugged in reply, "the spell did drain me quite much, but Pat's help made it much easier to cast, so I should recover quickly. Do you have anything in mind?"
"A certain spell", the Watcher gave back, not really surprising anyone – even though he sometimes still expressed worry about Willow's use of magic, no matter how well the witch had herself under control by now, he relied on her magic as much as anyone else in the group when he saw no other way to handle the situation.
"It is similar to the one I used… well, against you, in the Magic Box, to freeze you up, when you were, well, evil", he went on, the witch's gaze darkening at this unpleasant memories, Pat taking a tender hold of her hand and squeezing it reassuringly as she sensed the redhead's dismay, making her look at her briefly, a small smile curling her lips as the loving gaze of her girlfriend forced those dark memories out of her mind easily. "We can use it against her, and keep her in that state of stasis until we figured out how to get the Devil out of her… or if we'll have to kill her."
"Will that be enough to hold her, with the Devil inside her?" Anya demanded to know, sounding doubtful. "It didn't hold Willow for long…"
"It's worth a try", Buffy threw in before anyone else could say something, "and it'd be better than just killing her, no matter what she messed up in the past – she's still human."
"Technically, she's just a human shell now, with the Devil having taken her over", Pat pointed out, shrugging when Buffy threw her a dark look, Anya nodding her agreement to the demon's words, surprising everyone else – just like Willow and Anya, Pat and Anya hardly ever agreed on something.
"We'll try to solve this without killing her first", the Slayer stated, her tone of voice making it clear that she wouldn't accept any discussions about this. "The spell Giles mentioned will win us some time, and if we can't figure out how to get the Devil out of her, well… We'll have to kill her. But that will be our last resort."
"Okay", the rest agreed, to the blonde's relief without any discussion; after another rather hearty bite from her meal, big enough to make Willow worry that she might choke, Pat spoke up once she had gulped it down, her gaze focused on the Slayer opposite of her. "So, we'll go that church, Willow will perform her mojo and put her in stasis, or whatever it was called, and then what? We'll try that exorcism?"
"It's indeed worth a try", Giles was the one to reply, Xander's chest swelling with pride since he had been the one who had suggested the exorcism in the first place, ignoring the fact that it had been a half-hearted and not all too funny joke.
"Of course, to do it, we'd have to get her out of the church, seeing it is her centre of power", the Watcher now added, rising an eyebrow when in response, Pat rolled her eye. "Oh yeah, that'll be an easy thing to do, we'll just stroll in there, put the spell on her and wander back out. I'm sure her army of demons and vampires will just watch us do that in peace."
"No vampires during the day", Buffy shrugged, "and the demons we'll be able to handle, if we do this right. We'll just have to
(hear my call)
make sure that the element of surprise is on our side, and…
(HEAR my CALL)
Willow, are you okay?"
Worried, Buffy looked at the witch, tearing her out of her thoughts; flinching, she appeared distracted for a moment, then nodded, giving her best friend a smile which was just a bit too toothy to be convincing.
"Are you sure?" Xander demanded to know, sounding just as concerned as Buffy had, "you were zoned out
(come to me)
for a moment there."
"I'm fine", Willow reassured her childhood friend, wondering if anyone else had heard that – before she noticed how sweaty Pat's hand had become and glanced at her girlfriend, now feeling concerned as well as she saw that the demon was staring straight ahead, apparently just as zoned out as she had been a minute ago.
"Pat's weird, too", Anya made her realize that she hadn't been the only one to notice this, "look at her, she's all staring-into-space-y."
All at once, Giles removed his glasses, looking alarmed; he started to rise from his chair, but before he even had gotten up fully, Willow's eyes suddenly widened as a blinding bolt of pain rushed through her brain, a strangled cry escaping her; next to her, Pat jerked upright in her seat as if she had been electrocuted, letting out a breathless groan.
"What's going on?" Buffy demanded to know, rising from her seat as well, only to involuntarily take a step back when the demon's eye started to glow brightly red, the Slayer's breath getting caught in her throat as simultaneously, that well-known, deeply feared darkness entered Willow's eyes again.
Together, the couple got up from their chairs, the rest only able to stare in shock how they turned and started to move towards the door without a word; Buffy was the first one to snap out of her paralysis, and she hurried after them, reaching out to grasp the witch's shoulder while she called out her name.
The moment her fingers touched the redhead's shirt, her head whipped around, a snarl turning her face into a monstrous grimace; she flicked her fingers at Buffy, and the blonde got thrown backwards, against the dinner table, groaning in pain when the back of her head connected harshly with the table's edge. Briefly, Willow smiled at her, the demon beside her smirking maliciously as well – before they made their way out the front door and walked off, the rest just staring after them in shocked silence, none of them able to comprehend what just had happened.
"The connection", Giles finally was the first one to speak, running a trembling hand through his hair while Xander and Dawn were fussing over Buffy, making sure she hadn't hurt herself, all three looking up at him when he spoke on. "The connection the priest had to both Willow and Pat, it must still be active, now used by Amy… And she must have used her powers to… to awake their dark sides…"
"So, to put this into simpler words", Xander gave back, "Amy's possessed by the Devil now, and she's made Willow and Pat go evil."
"Yes, afraid so", Giles sighed in reply, silence filling the room again afterwards – before Buffy spoke up, summing the situation up perfectly, using some rather saucy language no one ever had expected from her. "Long story short – we're fucked."
End of Darkness Falls Part I
Author's Note: Yes I know, I'm evil... I promise I won't wait too long with posting the sequel though. ;)