CHAPTER 36
Leaping up and kicking off of the wall, his black leather jacket billowing behind him like a cape, Spike spun his body around, his foot connecting squarely with the larger demons head. The unsuspecting kick causing the Hemlock to stumble to the side, his red beaty eyes scrunching together as a lightening sharp pain erupted throughout his skull. With the demons eyes closed, Spike kicked out his leg once more, connecting with the Hemlock's left calf. With the unsuspecting blow to his leg, Calavito sank to the floor, an ungodly howl leaving his throat as the pain from his shattered fibula ripping through his yellow flesh overstimulated his senses.
Smirking, Spike lunged at the opportunity to kill his opponent. Stalking closer, positioning himself behind the demon, Spike wrapped the thick chain binding him to the wall around the Hemlocks meaty neck. Bringing his arms together, Spike crossed his wrists, pulling them tight to his chest. Realizing his predicament, Calavito let go of his shattered leg in order to reach for the shackle slowly suffocating him, scrapping his own flesh as he attempted to wiggle his thick fingers under the chain. As Calavito's movements became sluggish, the light rapidly dimming from his eyes, he made one more drastic attempt to free himself. Pulling his hands free from the thick metal chain, Calavito swung his arms aimlessly behind him, occasionally connecting with the vampire's body.
Clenching his teeth, Spike steadied himself as the Hemlock swatted at his torso and legs in a last ditch effort, the blows rattling him to the bones. After a minute, the demon stopped flailing, his arms coming to lie limp at his sides. Holding on to the chains, Spike tugged tighter for added precaution, the thick metal chaffing the Hemlocks throat as it indented. With a heavy sigh, Spike dropped the chain, swinging one arm over the deceased demons head to free himself as the body dropped to the floor face first.
Just as Spike was about to gloat in his victory over the much larger demon, he felt a bolt of electricity coursing through his body, his limbs instantly going weak. Flopping to the ground, his knees barely touching the floor as he landed hard on his stomach, Spike slowly shifted his head to the side, his neck twisting as he looked up at the figure hovering over him. Puffing air through his nostrils in annoyance, Spike looked at the vampire in a pristine blue uniform, a taser clenched in his hand.
"Thing about us newfound vampires," snickered Lambert as she sneered down at Spike's immobilized body, the taser still sparking blue current. "We come with nifty technology."
"Bloody hell," grumbled Spike seconds before the taser pressed up against his back once more.
**
Moving away from the redheaded vampire, Tara rushed back to the makeshift ladder, briskly climbing the junk to resume clawing at the plywood. Scrapping her hands against the thick sheet of wood, her finger nails started to pull backwards and bleed from the frantic movement. With her attempts futile, Tara looked back out at the room behind her, noticing Spike and Willow both occupied with fighting off demons while Xander laid crumpled on the floor, a puddle of blood pooling out around him.
With her heart pounding frantically in her chest, Tara decided to act on the thought that crossed her mind minutes before the vampires broke into the basement. Closing her eyes to concentrate on the spell she had come across in her mother's spell book years ago, Tara began chanting softly, trying to annunciate the foreign words as best she could. As the final words trailed out of her mouth, Tara's eyes shot open, a bolt of energy ripping through her body and escaping through the tips of her fingers.
Exchanging blows with the dark haired vampire, Willow suddenly stopped her onslaught of punches as a weird sensation shot through her body, causing her to unnecessarily take in a large inhalation of air. Willow felt a sudden rush of electricity surging through her body, radiating from the soles of her feet clear up to the crown of her head: a sudden flash of bluish-green light exploding behind her eyes, forcing her to close them against the brightness. As her eyelids slid open, her iris's momentarily flashed white before returning to demonic yellow. Then, as quickly as the sensation hit her, it was gone. Shaking her head to clear the fog clouding her thoughts, Willow blinked absently at the long deceased Slayer in front of her, an overwhelming odder of magic emanating from her own body. Stepping back, Elizabeth watched the sudden change in the young vampire, a recognizable stench of magic assaulting her senses. With the young vampire dazed, Elizabeth landed an uppercut, connecting squarely with the redheads jaw, dropping her quickly to the ground. With the redhead out of commission, Elizabeth slowly craned her neck to look at where Tara was standing, magic washing off of her in waves.
The sight of the blonde haired woman, her fingertips crackling with white light, caused a newfound rage to erupt inside of Elizabeth. "Witch," she snarled out as she focused in on the still breathing woman. Rushing forward, Elizabeth kicked at the air conditioner holding up the pallets, sending it soaring out from under the pile of junk. As the blonde toppled to the ground, Elizabeth let loose with a right hook, connecting with the blonde's cranium. Sprawled out on the floor, her head ringing from the force of the blow, Tara looked up as the vampire stood over her, Elizabeth's feet coming to straddle her midsection. "I'd like to see you try to escape now," Elizabeth snarled.
Coming back to wakefulness, Willow scanned the room for her attacker, locating the older vampire to her right, hovering over the blonde witch. Hopping to her feet, Willow frantically tugged at her chains some more, all the while looking over her shoulder, yelling "Let me go!"
Hefting the blonde off of the floor by her lapels, Elizabeth gleefully smiled at the injured woman, watching delightedly as her head lolled backwards. Ignoring the shouts of the redhead behind her, her full attention at the moment focused solely on inflicting as much pain as possible on the blonde, Elizabeth threw the woman at the adjacent wall. Smacking the cement wall, Tara crumpled to the floor, her back staying in contact with the wall as she slid down.
Through blurry, double vision eyes, Tara watched as the dark haired, uniformed vampire walked towards her. With a final burst of energy, Tara pointed her hands at the chained up vampire behind her attacker, uttering the word release before collapsing to the ground unconscious. As the chains fell to the ground, Willow rubbed her chafed wrists, a menacing smile etching across her face as she took in the sight of the demon on the other side of the room.
"My turn," Willow said in a singsong manner as she leisurely approached Elizabeth.
Looking over her shoulders, Elizabeth let out a disapproving snarl as she watched the chains fall from the redhead's limbs. Twisting around, Elizabeth steadied herself for the redheaded vampires attack.
As Willow got closer to her target, she stutter-stepped, discombobulating the older vampire before leaping at Elizabeth with one foot raised, kicking her squarely in the chest. Propelling backwards, Elizabeth's feet shuffled haphazardly underneath her for a few steps until she was able to regain her balance, her arms clutching around her midsection in pain. Stalking closer to the bent over woman, Willow gripped a fistful of raven colored hair, propelling the woman's head down as she simultaneously raised a knee into the other vampire's face, breaking her nose.
Collapsing to her knees, tears blurred Elizabeth's eyes as blood steadily gushed out of her nose past her lips and down her chin, soiling her once pristine uniform. With a spinning kick, the side of Willow's chunky leather boot connected with Elizabeth's temple, sending the much older vampire to the ground. Looking up at the redhead from her position on the floor, confusion washed over Elizabeth's beautiful features at having been bested by a youngling. Before she could regain her composure, Willow kicked her twice more in the face, blood smearing across her lips and cheeks as her head snapped backwards, her vision instantly going black as her body slumped unconscious.
As Willow reached down to continue her beating on the woman assigned to sacrifice her to Master Shantou, the rafters started to shake as the sound of feet pounded on the floor above. Shifting her attention to the left, Willow watched as another large Hemlock demon immerged through the broken door at the top of the stairs, his bulky frame taking up the whole doorway. Stepping away from Elizabeth, Willow rolled her shoulders backwards, cracking the bones in her back as she prepared to take on the much larger monster.
"Willow, go!" growled out Spike as he stepped towards the newly arrived Hemlock, "I got this, get out of here."
Hesitatingly, Willow looked back and forth between her Sire and the boarded up windows. Casting one last glance at her Sire, the platinum haired vamp now in the midst of a battle with the new Hemlock demon and Lambert; Willow rushed towards the window, bounding up on the pallets in a single leap. Reaching up, she gripped the plywood and yanked back, forcefully removing the sheet of wood from the windowsill.
With a clenched fist, Willow smashed the glass confining her to the basement. Opening her hand, she used her palm to break away the jagged pieces of glass still attached to the windowpane. Hefting herself up, Willow raised her body to the open window, catching sight of the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Undisturbed, Willow pulled herself through the window, her body falling a few inches to the grass, before she bounded to her feet and started to run.
Just as she was about to reach the street, an overwhelming and unfamiliar feeling of guilt washed over her, stopping her in her tracks. Scrunching up her face, Willow jostled her head as she internally fought with herself. Turning on the heels of her feet, Willow rushed back to the opened window. Sliding through, feet first, Willow dropped back inside of the basement. Landing heavily on her feet, one arm coming down to the floor to brace her weight, Willow made eye contact with her Sire who was struggling to get the upper hand on the two demons.
"I told you to get the bloody hell out of here," shouted Spike as he scissor kicked the Hemlock, sending the demon toppling backwards into Lambert.
With an aggravated snarl, Willow didn't respond to her Sire as she rushed forward, grabbing a hold of the still unconscious blonde. Dragging her limpless body by the collar of the leather jacket to the open window, Willow tossed her up none to gently on what was left of the makeshift ladder. Hopping up herself, Willow once again disappeared through the window.
Once outside, Willow scanned the side yard for any signs of a threat. Satisfied that she was alone, Willow crawled back through the window, her palms and exposed stomach slicing on the shattered glass as she held her weight steady. With half of her body through the window, dangling down in the basement, Willow reached for the collar of the leather jacket once more, pulling the slightly larger woman upwards. As she shimmied backwards on her stomach, Willow roughly pulled the blonde through the narrow window; a few cuts emerging on the other woman's exposed skin as she slid passed jagged pieces of glass.
Dropping the blonde carelessly on the grass, Willow looked up at the night sky, taking in the position of the moon. Realizing there was only a few hours left before the sun would start to rise, Willow lent down and heft the blonde into the air, settling the woman on her right shoulder unceremoniously. Positioning the woman into a more comfortable position, evenly distributing her weight, Willow started to walk towards the street once more.