Chapter Nine
That Ol' Black Magick
Darry let her chin rest on her chest, tired of holding it up and watching Melissa do nothing at all but move around in front of her table and gather things. She realized that no one had the first idea where she was or even that she was in trouble; she stood a nothing chance of getting found by anyone.
She was less worried about her and was more worried about what would happen once Melissa became 'her old self', whatever that was. Lifting her head again, Darry watched Melissa pick up a clay bowl that had strange designs carved into the clay. She also reached onto the table and picked up a knife with jagged sides, Melissa gripped onto a bone handle.
Darry jerked slightly, sucking in a breath without realizing it. "Don't worry, Darry, the time hasn't come yet." Melissa said and ran her finger tip along the blade of the knife. She held the knife up to Darry's heart but was careful not to press too hard. "But when the time comes I will enjoy plunging this into your heart and ripping it out." Melissa hissed.
Buffy loaded another bolt into the last crossbow in the weapon's chest and handed it to Kellie. "There are some more arrows in the chest, a quiver; if you need me to..." Buffy began but Kellie cut her off.
"I know how to work and load a crossbow." Kellie said with a smile and held the crossbow up. "Let's just find Darry and get this over with." Kellie said.
Spike lifted his own crossbow and put a bolt into it. "Yeah, do you have a bloody plan Slayer?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, get Darry, fight if we have to. Try not to make this an apcolypic thing okay." Buffy said with a grin.
"Well, I don't wanna fight, I wanna go home and have more sex. Xander and I were about to have sex when you called." Anya moaned.
"Now, Aun, honey, Buffy and the others don't want to hear about that." Xander said with a shaky voice and put his hand on Anya's shoulder.
Buffy raised an eyebrow but didn't give them any more of her attention. "Alright, let's go." Buffy said.
"Are we sure we need all these weapons? I mean, Darry might not even be there are all." Dawn muttered.
"No, she's there I can tell." Oz said, speaking up for the first time since Spike, Anya and Xander had arrived. "And she's afraid." He added.
"Let's go." Buffy said and unsheathed her sword. "It's been a long time since I've had a good fight." She added.
"Yeah, a whole day." Willow muttered with a smile.
In apartment B6, Riley began to notice something very wrong as soon as the sun set. He was in the kitchen when he heard a strange rumbling noise; looking up, he found he was no longer looking into his living room. Instead, his apartment (or what he thought was his apartment) had become a vast hallway. He walked out of the 'kitchen' and to where the door still stood against the smooth rock like wall that had become part of the hallway. Riley opened the door and peered outside; the hallway had undergone the same transformation his apartment had. The hallway was like a large cavern with smaller tunnels appearing and disappearing all along the cavern.
Riley felt his eyes go wide as he shut the door and turned around. "This is not good." He muttered and looked around.
All through the apartment complex, people were finding that they were no longer in their own apartments. Some got out, able to get their bearings; others were eaten by things that had taken residence in the cavern that the apartment complex had become.
From her place on the crudely made 'alter', Darry could hear people screaming from pain, fear and confusion. She knew that what ever Melissa had in mind had already begun to take place.
Buffy looked up at the apartment complex that Riley lived in and tried to figure out if they had the right place. The apartment complex no longer looked like a building at all; it was more like a large mountain with windows and sometimes the windows shifted and Buffy caught sight of a person or a door.
"Okay, I don't think this is a building." Anya said and pointed her crossbow at the building. "Darry's not in there; let's go home and have sex." Anya said to Xander.
"Anya, honey, later." Xander said, blushing slightly at the behavior of the ex-demon. "It's not right, at the moment, to like sex so much." He added, muttering the words to her.
"See, this is exactly what Halfrek said you'd do, always correct me and say you're better then me." Anya exclaimed, waving the crossbow around.
"Anya, honey, that's not what I was-" Xander began but Buffy cut them off.
"Can you guys do this later? That mountain this is not normal so I'm betting this is our place." Buffy said.
"What are we waiting for?" Oz asked and tightened his fingers around the Quartering Staff in his hands. He couldn't help but remember that this was the weapon that Darry had used when they went into battle with Eric, her father.
"Yeah, what are we waiting for? Let's charge in there like sodding soldiers and get our arses blown to hell and back, that's a bloody good plan." Spike said, looking at Oz and Buffy. "Has it occurred to either of you that we are obviously dealing with a very powerful witch if you can turn a whole building into a mountain." Spike asked.
Buffy seemed to think about Spike's words, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of her sword. Oz, however, had had enough with talking and turned to Spike. "Look, I don't care what you think okay, Darry's in the mountain with that witch and-" Oz began but Spike cut him off.
"Look, I know that your girlfriend's inside but you're not gonna help her by charging in there and getting killed." Spike said, attempting to be calm and rational and supportive.
"Oz, as much as I hate to admit it, Spike is right; the only way to go about this is sensible and what the hell am I saying, I've never been sensible before. Let's go, there is no way to be sensible to go about this." Buffy said and raised her sword in the air like Braveheart. "Okay, let's go." She agreed.
Inside the apartment complex looked as though it never had been an apartment complex. However, there were still pieces of furniture pressed against stone walls; it gave the place a totally surreal look.
"Okay, this is going to be so not fun I can't even begin to tell you how not fun this will be." Kellie said, talking in circles and tightening her grip on the butt of her crossbow.
"How are we going to find Darry in a place like this?" Xander asked, looking around. Tunnels/ halls moved around and switched spots at the blink of an eye, as though someone was moving cards around.
"Great." Buffy muttered. "I'd say we should split up but I'm sure that's not a good idea." She added.
"Darry's doomed." Anya said and begin to pull at Xander's shirt. "Let's have sex anyway." She said and leaned up to kiss him.
Xander pushed her away. "Look, Anya, even if you don't like Darry, she's still a friend of mine. As much as I'd like to, I am not going to have sex with you now." He told her.
"Fine!" Anya yelled. "That's just fine with me." She growled and pulled off her engagement ring. "Take that!" She yelled and threw it at him. She took off running down one of the halls, which closed up behind her.
"Anya!" Xander yelled and rushed at the wall. "Damn it!" He yelled when he couldn't get through. "Damn it, Buffy, do something!" Xander yelled.
The building began to rumbled. "Xander, just calm down, alright; we have to think this through." Buffy said.
The floor beneath them began to crack and Buffy nearly lost her footing. "This is not going to be good." Buffy muttered.
Melissa looked around and grinned as the building began to shake; bottles and glasses fell onto the floor and shattered, spilling their contents. "It has begun, it is time." Melissa said and pulled the jagged blade knife out of her pocket.
Darry tried to jerk back again and attempted to pull away from Melissa's advances. Melissa reached up and slapped Darry across the face. "There's nothing you can do to get away." Melissa hissed and grabbed Darry's head tightly in her hand.
Darry attempted to snap at Melissa put Melissa gripped her jaw too tightly for her to even move her mouth.
"Where should I cut you first?" Melissa asked, clearing enjoying what she was about to do. She lifted the knife and slid the blade along Darry's cheek, cutting deeply. "Here?" She asked and grinned when Darry's face contorted in pain.
Melissa let go of Darry and pulled the knife away from Darry's cheek. "Enough play; I have an essence to get back." Melissa said. She picked up the clay bowl and grinned. "Now, darling, do you think you can survive while I fill this bowl? I hope you do so I can have the pleasure of seeing the look on your face when I rip your beating heart from your body." Melissa grinned.
Darry didn't give Melissa the satisfaction of seeing her wince or even see the fear in her eyes. "Then do it, but the only look you'll see on my face is vexation." Darry spat.
The hall that Anya had run into was long, dark and not full of friendly things, Anya discovered as she wandered down the tunnel, wishing she hadn't run away from Xander. Xander wasn't second guessing her or tell her that she was wrong, he was right about Darry; Darry was her friend too and she should try to rescue her. Even if it meant that she would have to wait to be with Xander.
Before Anya could think, the floor opened up under her and she fell into another room; as Anya blinked her eyes she realized it was like being in a fun house, with trick hall ways and trap doors.
The room she was in now was small and had no way out, like a small box; however, Anya could sense that there was something else in the room with her, something not good. Something that she figured would kill her and all she had was a crossbow.
Lurking in the corner of the room was a large spotted cat that Anya thought she had seen in a book before. The cat paced back and forth, looking at her through yellow eyes. Watching the cat, Anya remembered where she had seen it; when she was cleaning out some of Giles's out books there was one entitled: "Magickal animals of South America". The jaguar, or something like that, was said to mean dark power and shape-shifting; this cat must be a jaguar, in the book the jaguar had spots. Anya saw this cat had stops too so it must be the same thing.
Could you kill a jaguar with a crossbow? Anya thought to herself and looked down at the bolt in her crossbow and then back up at the cat, which was getting closer to her. The jaguar was baring its teeth and growled at her, flexing its claws.
"Oh Xander." Anya whined and watched as the jaguar flicked its tail at her, growling.
"We have to find Anya." Xander said, looking over at Buffy.
"And Darry." Buffy said. "And Melissa." She added.
"What about Riley? What happened to Riley?" Willow asked, looking over at her friend.
"Is Riley evil?" Buffy asked, looking over at Kellie without even realizing what she was doing.
"I don't think so." Kellie answered.
"Well, Riley is probably in the apartment, so if he's there he might be able to help us." Buffy said.
"How are we going to get to the apartment in first place?" Spike asked.
"Well, as much as I hate to say this, but I think we might have to split up. I'll go with Oz to try and find Riley and Melissa's apartment; Xander, you and Willow try and find Anya; Kellie and Spike can try and make sense of this place." Buffy said.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Kellie asked but before anyone had a chance to say anything else, the room changed and a wall erected itself between Kellie, Spike and the rest of the group, leaving Buffy, Oz, Dawn, Willow and Xander apart from them.
"Great." Buffy muttered. "Let's hope they can make sense of something." She added.
"What am I going to do Buffy? You forgot about me." Dawn said, glaring at her sister.
"You can come with us, Dawnyie." Willow said and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. "You can help us find Anya." Willow added.
"Where are we supposed to start looking?" Xander asked, fingering the ring that he held between his fingers.
"The same place we're going to start looking for Darry, wherever you feel like." Buffy answered.
To their left, a tunnel appeared in the wall, as though telling one of the groups to enter it.
"Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is as good a place to start as any." Willow said and motioned to the tunnel.
Xander, Willow and Dawn went into the tunnel; Buffy watched them disappear and was surprised when the tunnel didn't close after them.
"Buffy, do you have any idea what we're going to do when we find Darry? And Melissa, who is powerful just like Spike said." Oz asked.
"Kick her ass, just like always. No biggie." Buffy said and lifted her sword. "We have to find 'em first." She added.
"I don't mean to put a damper on your butt kicking attitude but, if Melissa can do all this, what else do you think she can do?" Oz asked, looking at Buffy.
"It's just that ol' black magick, I can handle it Oz." Buffy said with a smile. "At least I hope." She said. "Don't worry, we'll find Darry and she'll be alright." Buffy put her hand on Oz's shoulder.
Melissa jabbed the knife into Darry's side and pulled it along her side, ripping the flesh. Darry jerked her head to the side and bit her lip until it bleed, not giving Melissa the pleasure of seeing the tears in her eyes; she kept herself from crying out, it was impossible to do so.
Melissa nearly ripped the knife from one end of Darry's belly to the other but stopped as she reached the girl's gut. She pulled the knife out and let the blood drip onto her skin; Melissa seemed to spark with power as she wiped the blood along her hands and arms.
She took the clay bowl and held it under Darry's wound, making sure that most of the blood dripped into the bowl. Darry felt as though her whole body had been thrown into a fire, every part of her body was alive with pain. Darry looked down at her stomach and the sight of Melissa collecting her blood in a clay bowl would stay with her for the rest of her life. At the moment, Darry didn't know how long her life would be.
It look Riley a long time to find the chest in which the remainder of his weapons, guns mostly, were kept. He opened the trunk and pulled out a rifle, not his choice of weapon but he didn't really have a choice. He loaded a clip into it and shut the weapons trunk.
He walked over to where the door of the apartment still stood on the wall and opened it; he peered into the 'hall' and was surprised to see two figures wandering around.
"Hello, who's down there?" Riley called and wasn't sure if he should aim his gun or wait until he saw who was down there. If it was some person wandering around for help, it wouldn't do any good to shove his gun in their face.
One of the figures turned to regard him and brandished what looked like a sword; Riley lifted his gun as well. The other figured looked at the one with the sword and said something, Riley could barely hear the words.
"Riley?" One of the figures called and got closer. Once both figures were closer, Riley recongized them: Buffy and Oz and it was Buffy who had the sword. He should of know.
"Buffy, what are you doing here?" Riley asked, lowering his weapon as Buffy came to stand nearly in front of him.
"My job, your wife has got Darry and she's the one doing this; Melissa, not Darry." Buffy told him.
"That's crazy." Riley snapped, though at the moment it wasn't really.
"Where's your apartment?" Oz asked, looking around.
Riley motioned behind him, to the door in the wall. "I don't know why my apartment hasn't moved or anything." Riley muttered.
"Because that's where Melissa is." Buffy snapped, giving Riley a 'duh' face.
"Why would Melissa have Darry?" Riley asked, looking at Buffy and then over at Oz.
"She needs Darry's blood for a spell." Oz answered, not looking at Riley when he said the words.
"Yep, just that ol' black magick at work again." Buffy muttered, looking at the door to Riley's apartment. "We'd better go in before the door disappears or something." She added.
Riley turned around and pointed his weapon at the door for no reason. "Let's go." He muttered.
When the bowl was nearly full, Melissa moved it away from Darry's stomach, staring at it like it where lost jewels. Darry lifted her head, slowly, to look at Melissa; Darry still felt like her body was on fire but now she couldn't think enough to register that fact.
Melissa took the bowl back to her table and set the knife down. "Now I will become what I used to be." Melissa said without looking at Darry.
"Oh, and what's that?" Darry asked, barely finding the voice.
"I hoped you would ask before I killed you." Melissa said and turned back to Darry with a smile on her face.
"You see, I am older then I look, in fact I am older then any of you could even guess; I am older then this world itself. When I was myself, my true self, I was the most feared 'person' in the, well there wasn't one but, world. I had to go and blow it all on losing my temper; I used to be a Goddess, if you haven't guess, Darry, but not a very good one. I had more power then Zeus, himself, could even hope to have; I would have done it, I would have destroyed the world had there been one. But, I was condemned to this horrible body; for eight thousand years I've been stuck a human, if I die, I just get another body. However, I finally found the spell that would reverse the effects of that curse; after waiting a thousand years I have finally found the most important ingredient: you." Melissa said, getting a semi-dreamy look on her face.
"Now, I will become what I was before: the Goddess Belzeiac." Melissa said and with that put the clay bowl to her lips and tipped it. Almost instantly she began to surge with power. The clay bowl fell from her hands and shattered on the floor but Melissa, or what had been Melissa, didn't pay attention.
She no longer looked like the same girl, or even looked like a person anymore; Melissa/Belzeiac seemed to shimmer with white light. Her hair grew long and fell down to her ankles; her veins seemed to pump with power and her eyes narrowed and became a ghastly red.
Belzeiac fixed her eyes on Darry. "And now you will be the first to die." She said, her voice seeming to echo in Darry's head.
Belzeiac raised her ghastly hands and sent a wave of magick, unlike any magick Darry had ever seen, at her; Darry felt the magick hit her body and she screamed with the pain of it, no longer caring if Melissa heard her or not.
Inside what used to be Riley's apartment, the sound of Darry's screams reached Buffy, Riley and Oz's ears. "That's Darry." Oz whispered, looking over at Darry.
Buffy tightened her grip on her sword and looked over at Riley. "Still need proof that Melissa is not the best of people?" Buffy asked, nearly spitting the words out.
Riley led the way as they tried to follow the sound of Darry's voice; they came to a ripple in one of the stone walls that looked out of place, even in the 'mountain'.
"I'm betting she's in there." Riley muttered.
Buffy didn't wait for another second and charged through the rippled in the wall, holding her sword high. Oz went in after her, followed by Riley.
Buffy looked around the room they were in, it was just how Kellie described it when Oz and Darry had left the house the night before. Buffy saw a ghost like, yet solid, figure standing toward the far wall of the room. Electricity seemed to came from the figure's fingers.
"Okay, didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with electricity 'cause you'll just get a big shock out of it?" Buffy asked, trying to make her voice sound as casual as possible.
The ghost figure turned around and it was then that Buffy saw Darry hanging from the crude hook, bleeding from a large gash in her stomach. It was her friend that Belzeiac had been 'firing' the electricity at.
"Darry." Oz whispered at her side and slightly took a step forward.
Belzeiac frowned as she saw Buffy, Oz and Riley. "I didn't call for visitors." She hissed.
Buffy guessed that the figure was really Melissa and the spell had already taken place, due to the gash in Darry's stomach.
Darry lifted her head, and Buffy could tell that it took her a lot of effort just to look at them. "Oz." Darry said, though she wasn't sure if she was mouthing the words or if they had just come out of her mouth.
"You got what you wanted, let her go." Oz commanded, looking at Melissa/ Belzeiac without the slightest trace of fear on his face.
Belzeiac laughed, a sound that sent chills through Buffy; Belzeiac reached to her side and picked up the blood coated knife from off the table. She reached up and cut Darry free of her thorn-vine binds and held Darry in a choke hold, holding Darry against her body.
"You can have her back, but I wasn't 'joking' when I said she would the first to die." Melissa said and locked eyes with Oz. Without blinking, Melissa took the knife and plunged it into Darry's chest. To Buffy, Oz and Riley, it looked like Melissa had just stabbed Darry in the heart; if they had looked closer, Melissa had plunged the knife into Darry's right shoulder bone, shattering the bone and nearly breaking it in half. Melissa didn't realize her own mistake until she had pulled the knife free of Darry's body; either way, Darry had fallen into a pain induced stupor and was limp in Melissa's arms.
Melissa threw Darry to ground like she was nothing more then a soiled sheet of paper. Oz lifted the Quartering Staff and charged at Melissa; without much trouble, like she was flicking a fly away, Melissa threw Oz away from her with a burst of magick.
Oz was knocked to the ground beside Darry, it felt as though the wind had been knocked out of his body; he dropped the Quartering Staff when he landed. Oz looked up to see Buffy and Riley charging Melissa at the same time, hoping to keep her from striking at them.
Oz looked over at Darry's body and instantly felt tears from in his eyes; it couldn't be, she couldn't die again, not after he had just gotten her back. He got to his knees and cradled her body, just as he had done when her father killed her barely a month ago.
He barely felt the tears fall down his cheeks; he closed his eyes and shut out the sounds of the battle around him. Oz didn't feel the shaking fingers brush his tears off his cheek but he did feel Darry move in his arms.
Oz opened his eyes and looked down to see Darry looking at him, attempting to get into a sitting position and hurting herself doing it. When she saw that he was looking at her, Darry attempted to smile. "Oh Oz, so serous." Darry whispered and wiped his tears away.
"Darry, I thought...you're not..." Oz said, unable to finish his sentences.
Darry opened her mouth to speak but Buffy let out a cry of shock and pain and both Oz and Darry turned to face her direction. It was when she turned her head that Darry realized that she had no feeling in her right arm; looking down, she saw her shoulder torn open and could tell that her shoulder bone was nearly broken all the way through.
Buffy was flung against a wall the second she hit Melissa with her sword; Riley took Buffy's place and opened fire on who used to be his wife. "Fools, you can't kill me." Melissa laughed.
"There has to be some way to kill her." Oz whispered.
"She said that she had been imprisoned by a curse, I wish there was some way to imprison her again." Darry muttered.
"Maybe there is." Oz muttered. "Does she have a spell book or anything like that?" Oz asked.
"I have no clue." Darry answered.
Buffy leapt at Melissa again and drove the sword into her body, into her stomach; close to her sword point was a glowing orb like object.
"Wait a second, maybe she gets her power from somewhere." Darry muttered. "That orb thing, maybe that's the center of her power." Darry said, looking up at Oz.
"Buffy!" Oz yelled, causing all three of the battlers to look over at him. "That orb thing is the center of her power!" He told her.
"Well, I wasn't sure, I was just thinking out loud." Darry muttered but Buffy swung her sword at the 'orb' in Melissa's stomach.
The witch screamed as the sword hit the orb and shattered it; Melissa disappeared in a flash of light but Darry doubted that she was gone for ever. After all, the witch had lived for over eight thousand years, Darry doubted that Melissa would give up that easily.
Once Melissa was gone, the building began to shake a crumble. "We really have to get out of here." Buffy muttered and nearly dropped her sword.
Oz stood up and slowly helped Darry to her feet; the four of them exited the room, a little slowly then they would have liked because Darry wasn't exactly in the best condition.
"Where is everyone else?" Darry asked, looking over at Buffy.
Anya blinked as the jaguar disappeared and she appeared back in the front office; she was even more surprised to see Xander, Willow and Dawn there as well. Kellie and Spike were on the floor, and Spike was in the process of taking off his shirt while Kellie kissed him. When everyone else appeared in the room, Kellie quickly pulled away and looked at them.
Willow looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Kellie flushed. "You see, it was...we were just...we thought the world was going to end and..." Kellie paused when the building began to fall apart, chunks of the ceiling fell to the ground. "Let's get out of here." Kellie snapped and jumped to her feet.
Spike, Kellie, Willow, Xander, Anya and Dawn looked around to see that the apartment complex looked like an apartment complex again. It was easy to find the front door and make an undignified exit.
It was also easy for Buffy, Riley, Oz and Darry to find their way out of the builing as well; the four joined the other memembers of the Scooby Gang outside the apartment complex. Kellie gushed over Darry, and how she was still alive; the Scooby Gang and Riley watched the apartment complex collaspe in front of them.
"Well, I must say that I've never knocked a whole building down before." Buffy muttered.
"What about that time we blew up the school?" Xander asked. Buffy ignored him and turned. "Let's just go home, shall we?" Buffy suggested. "Have I told you how much I hate Sunnydale?" She muttered to no one as they walked away.
Fin.
That Ol' Black Magick
Darry let her chin rest on her chest, tired of holding it up and watching Melissa do nothing at all but move around in front of her table and gather things. She realized that no one had the first idea where she was or even that she was in trouble; she stood a nothing chance of getting found by anyone.
She was less worried about her and was more worried about what would happen once Melissa became 'her old self', whatever that was. Lifting her head again, Darry watched Melissa pick up a clay bowl that had strange designs carved into the clay. She also reached onto the table and picked up a knife with jagged sides, Melissa gripped onto a bone handle.
Darry jerked slightly, sucking in a breath without realizing it. "Don't worry, Darry, the time hasn't come yet." Melissa said and ran her finger tip along the blade of the knife. She held the knife up to Darry's heart but was careful not to press too hard. "But when the time comes I will enjoy plunging this into your heart and ripping it out." Melissa hissed.
Buffy loaded another bolt into the last crossbow in the weapon's chest and handed it to Kellie. "There are some more arrows in the chest, a quiver; if you need me to..." Buffy began but Kellie cut her off.
"I know how to work and load a crossbow." Kellie said with a smile and held the crossbow up. "Let's just find Darry and get this over with." Kellie said.
Spike lifted his own crossbow and put a bolt into it. "Yeah, do you have a bloody plan Slayer?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, get Darry, fight if we have to. Try not to make this an apcolypic thing okay." Buffy said with a grin.
"Well, I don't wanna fight, I wanna go home and have more sex. Xander and I were about to have sex when you called." Anya moaned.
"Now, Aun, honey, Buffy and the others don't want to hear about that." Xander said with a shaky voice and put his hand on Anya's shoulder.
Buffy raised an eyebrow but didn't give them any more of her attention. "Alright, let's go." Buffy said.
"Are we sure we need all these weapons? I mean, Darry might not even be there are all." Dawn muttered.
"No, she's there I can tell." Oz said, speaking up for the first time since Spike, Anya and Xander had arrived. "And she's afraid." He added.
"Let's go." Buffy said and unsheathed her sword. "It's been a long time since I've had a good fight." She added.
"Yeah, a whole day." Willow muttered with a smile.
In apartment B6, Riley began to notice something very wrong as soon as the sun set. He was in the kitchen when he heard a strange rumbling noise; looking up, he found he was no longer looking into his living room. Instead, his apartment (or what he thought was his apartment) had become a vast hallway. He walked out of the 'kitchen' and to where the door still stood against the smooth rock like wall that had become part of the hallway. Riley opened the door and peered outside; the hallway had undergone the same transformation his apartment had. The hallway was like a large cavern with smaller tunnels appearing and disappearing all along the cavern.
Riley felt his eyes go wide as he shut the door and turned around. "This is not good." He muttered and looked around.
All through the apartment complex, people were finding that they were no longer in their own apartments. Some got out, able to get their bearings; others were eaten by things that had taken residence in the cavern that the apartment complex had become.
From her place on the crudely made 'alter', Darry could hear people screaming from pain, fear and confusion. She knew that what ever Melissa had in mind had already begun to take place.
Buffy looked up at the apartment complex that Riley lived in and tried to figure out if they had the right place. The apartment complex no longer looked like a building at all; it was more like a large mountain with windows and sometimes the windows shifted and Buffy caught sight of a person or a door.
"Okay, I don't think this is a building." Anya said and pointed her crossbow at the building. "Darry's not in there; let's go home and have sex." Anya said to Xander.
"Anya, honey, later." Xander said, blushing slightly at the behavior of the ex-demon. "It's not right, at the moment, to like sex so much." He added, muttering the words to her.
"See, this is exactly what Halfrek said you'd do, always correct me and say you're better then me." Anya exclaimed, waving the crossbow around.
"Anya, honey, that's not what I was-" Xander began but Buffy cut them off.
"Can you guys do this later? That mountain this is not normal so I'm betting this is our place." Buffy said.
"What are we waiting for?" Oz asked and tightened his fingers around the Quartering Staff in his hands. He couldn't help but remember that this was the weapon that Darry had used when they went into battle with Eric, her father.
"Yeah, what are we waiting for? Let's charge in there like sodding soldiers and get our arses blown to hell and back, that's a bloody good plan." Spike said, looking at Oz and Buffy. "Has it occurred to either of you that we are obviously dealing with a very powerful witch if you can turn a whole building into a mountain." Spike asked.
Buffy seemed to think about Spike's words, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of her sword. Oz, however, had had enough with talking and turned to Spike. "Look, I don't care what you think okay, Darry's in the mountain with that witch and-" Oz began but Spike cut him off.
"Look, I know that your girlfriend's inside but you're not gonna help her by charging in there and getting killed." Spike said, attempting to be calm and rational and supportive.
"Oz, as much as I hate to admit it, Spike is right; the only way to go about this is sensible and what the hell am I saying, I've never been sensible before. Let's go, there is no way to be sensible to go about this." Buffy said and raised her sword in the air like Braveheart. "Okay, let's go." She agreed.
Inside the apartment complex looked as though it never had been an apartment complex. However, there were still pieces of furniture pressed against stone walls; it gave the place a totally surreal look.
"Okay, this is going to be so not fun I can't even begin to tell you how not fun this will be." Kellie said, talking in circles and tightening her grip on the butt of her crossbow.
"How are we going to find Darry in a place like this?" Xander asked, looking around. Tunnels/ halls moved around and switched spots at the blink of an eye, as though someone was moving cards around.
"Great." Buffy muttered. "I'd say we should split up but I'm sure that's not a good idea." She added.
"Darry's doomed." Anya said and begin to pull at Xander's shirt. "Let's have sex anyway." She said and leaned up to kiss him.
Xander pushed her away. "Look, Anya, even if you don't like Darry, she's still a friend of mine. As much as I'd like to, I am not going to have sex with you now." He told her.
"Fine!" Anya yelled. "That's just fine with me." She growled and pulled off her engagement ring. "Take that!" She yelled and threw it at him. She took off running down one of the halls, which closed up behind her.
"Anya!" Xander yelled and rushed at the wall. "Damn it!" He yelled when he couldn't get through. "Damn it, Buffy, do something!" Xander yelled.
The building began to rumbled. "Xander, just calm down, alright; we have to think this through." Buffy said.
The floor beneath them began to crack and Buffy nearly lost her footing. "This is not going to be good." Buffy muttered.
Melissa looked around and grinned as the building began to shake; bottles and glasses fell onto the floor and shattered, spilling their contents. "It has begun, it is time." Melissa said and pulled the jagged blade knife out of her pocket.
Darry tried to jerk back again and attempted to pull away from Melissa's advances. Melissa reached up and slapped Darry across the face. "There's nothing you can do to get away." Melissa hissed and grabbed Darry's head tightly in her hand.
Darry attempted to snap at Melissa put Melissa gripped her jaw too tightly for her to even move her mouth.
"Where should I cut you first?" Melissa asked, clearing enjoying what she was about to do. She lifted the knife and slid the blade along Darry's cheek, cutting deeply. "Here?" She asked and grinned when Darry's face contorted in pain.
Melissa let go of Darry and pulled the knife away from Darry's cheek. "Enough play; I have an essence to get back." Melissa said. She picked up the clay bowl and grinned. "Now, darling, do you think you can survive while I fill this bowl? I hope you do so I can have the pleasure of seeing the look on your face when I rip your beating heart from your body." Melissa grinned.
Darry didn't give Melissa the satisfaction of seeing her wince or even see the fear in her eyes. "Then do it, but the only look you'll see on my face is vexation." Darry spat.
The hall that Anya had run into was long, dark and not full of friendly things, Anya discovered as she wandered down the tunnel, wishing she hadn't run away from Xander. Xander wasn't second guessing her or tell her that she was wrong, he was right about Darry; Darry was her friend too and she should try to rescue her. Even if it meant that she would have to wait to be with Xander.
Before Anya could think, the floor opened up under her and she fell into another room; as Anya blinked her eyes she realized it was like being in a fun house, with trick hall ways and trap doors.
The room she was in now was small and had no way out, like a small box; however, Anya could sense that there was something else in the room with her, something not good. Something that she figured would kill her and all she had was a crossbow.
Lurking in the corner of the room was a large spotted cat that Anya thought she had seen in a book before. The cat paced back and forth, looking at her through yellow eyes. Watching the cat, Anya remembered where she had seen it; when she was cleaning out some of Giles's out books there was one entitled: "Magickal animals of South America". The jaguar, or something like that, was said to mean dark power and shape-shifting; this cat must be a jaguar, in the book the jaguar had spots. Anya saw this cat had stops too so it must be the same thing.
Could you kill a jaguar with a crossbow? Anya thought to herself and looked down at the bolt in her crossbow and then back up at the cat, which was getting closer to her. The jaguar was baring its teeth and growled at her, flexing its claws.
"Oh Xander." Anya whined and watched as the jaguar flicked its tail at her, growling.
"We have to find Anya." Xander said, looking over at Buffy.
"And Darry." Buffy said. "And Melissa." She added.
"What about Riley? What happened to Riley?" Willow asked, looking over at her friend.
"Is Riley evil?" Buffy asked, looking over at Kellie without even realizing what she was doing.
"I don't think so." Kellie answered.
"Well, Riley is probably in the apartment, so if he's there he might be able to help us." Buffy said.
"How are we going to get to the apartment in first place?" Spike asked.
"Well, as much as I hate to say this, but I think we might have to split up. I'll go with Oz to try and find Riley and Melissa's apartment; Xander, you and Willow try and find Anya; Kellie and Spike can try and make sense of this place." Buffy said.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Kellie asked but before anyone had a chance to say anything else, the room changed and a wall erected itself between Kellie, Spike and the rest of the group, leaving Buffy, Oz, Dawn, Willow and Xander apart from them.
"Great." Buffy muttered. "Let's hope they can make sense of something." She added.
"What am I going to do Buffy? You forgot about me." Dawn said, glaring at her sister.
"You can come with us, Dawnyie." Willow said and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. "You can help us find Anya." Willow added.
"Where are we supposed to start looking?" Xander asked, fingering the ring that he held between his fingers.
"The same place we're going to start looking for Darry, wherever you feel like." Buffy answered.
To their left, a tunnel appeared in the wall, as though telling one of the groups to enter it.
"Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is as good a place to start as any." Willow said and motioned to the tunnel.
Xander, Willow and Dawn went into the tunnel; Buffy watched them disappear and was surprised when the tunnel didn't close after them.
"Buffy, do you have any idea what we're going to do when we find Darry? And Melissa, who is powerful just like Spike said." Oz asked.
"Kick her ass, just like always. No biggie." Buffy said and lifted her sword. "We have to find 'em first." She added.
"I don't mean to put a damper on your butt kicking attitude but, if Melissa can do all this, what else do you think she can do?" Oz asked, looking at Buffy.
"It's just that ol' black magick, I can handle it Oz." Buffy said with a smile. "At least I hope." She said. "Don't worry, we'll find Darry and she'll be alright." Buffy put her hand on Oz's shoulder.
Melissa jabbed the knife into Darry's side and pulled it along her side, ripping the flesh. Darry jerked her head to the side and bit her lip until it bleed, not giving Melissa the pleasure of seeing the tears in her eyes; she kept herself from crying out, it was impossible to do so.
Melissa nearly ripped the knife from one end of Darry's belly to the other but stopped as she reached the girl's gut. She pulled the knife out and let the blood drip onto her skin; Melissa seemed to spark with power as she wiped the blood along her hands and arms.
She took the clay bowl and held it under Darry's wound, making sure that most of the blood dripped into the bowl. Darry felt as though her whole body had been thrown into a fire, every part of her body was alive with pain. Darry looked down at her stomach and the sight of Melissa collecting her blood in a clay bowl would stay with her for the rest of her life. At the moment, Darry didn't know how long her life would be.
It look Riley a long time to find the chest in which the remainder of his weapons, guns mostly, were kept. He opened the trunk and pulled out a rifle, not his choice of weapon but he didn't really have a choice. He loaded a clip into it and shut the weapons trunk.
He walked over to where the door of the apartment still stood on the wall and opened it; he peered into the 'hall' and was surprised to see two figures wandering around.
"Hello, who's down there?" Riley called and wasn't sure if he should aim his gun or wait until he saw who was down there. If it was some person wandering around for help, it wouldn't do any good to shove his gun in their face.
One of the figures turned to regard him and brandished what looked like a sword; Riley lifted his gun as well. The other figured looked at the one with the sword and said something, Riley could barely hear the words.
"Riley?" One of the figures called and got closer. Once both figures were closer, Riley recongized them: Buffy and Oz and it was Buffy who had the sword. He should of know.
"Buffy, what are you doing here?" Riley asked, lowering his weapon as Buffy came to stand nearly in front of him.
"My job, your wife has got Darry and she's the one doing this; Melissa, not Darry." Buffy told him.
"That's crazy." Riley snapped, though at the moment it wasn't really.
"Where's your apartment?" Oz asked, looking around.
Riley motioned behind him, to the door in the wall. "I don't know why my apartment hasn't moved or anything." Riley muttered.
"Because that's where Melissa is." Buffy snapped, giving Riley a 'duh' face.
"Why would Melissa have Darry?" Riley asked, looking at Buffy and then over at Oz.
"She needs Darry's blood for a spell." Oz answered, not looking at Riley when he said the words.
"Yep, just that ol' black magick at work again." Buffy muttered, looking at the door to Riley's apartment. "We'd better go in before the door disappears or something." She added.
Riley turned around and pointed his weapon at the door for no reason. "Let's go." He muttered.
When the bowl was nearly full, Melissa moved it away from Darry's stomach, staring at it like it where lost jewels. Darry lifted her head, slowly, to look at Melissa; Darry still felt like her body was on fire but now she couldn't think enough to register that fact.
Melissa took the bowl back to her table and set the knife down. "Now I will become what I used to be." Melissa said without looking at Darry.
"Oh, and what's that?" Darry asked, barely finding the voice.
"I hoped you would ask before I killed you." Melissa said and turned back to Darry with a smile on her face.
"You see, I am older then I look, in fact I am older then any of you could even guess; I am older then this world itself. When I was myself, my true self, I was the most feared 'person' in the, well there wasn't one but, world. I had to go and blow it all on losing my temper; I used to be a Goddess, if you haven't guess, Darry, but not a very good one. I had more power then Zeus, himself, could even hope to have; I would have done it, I would have destroyed the world had there been one. But, I was condemned to this horrible body; for eight thousand years I've been stuck a human, if I die, I just get another body. However, I finally found the spell that would reverse the effects of that curse; after waiting a thousand years I have finally found the most important ingredient: you." Melissa said, getting a semi-dreamy look on her face.
"Now, I will become what I was before: the Goddess Belzeiac." Melissa said and with that put the clay bowl to her lips and tipped it. Almost instantly she began to surge with power. The clay bowl fell from her hands and shattered on the floor but Melissa, or what had been Melissa, didn't pay attention.
She no longer looked like the same girl, or even looked like a person anymore; Melissa/Belzeiac seemed to shimmer with white light. Her hair grew long and fell down to her ankles; her veins seemed to pump with power and her eyes narrowed and became a ghastly red.
Belzeiac fixed her eyes on Darry. "And now you will be the first to die." She said, her voice seeming to echo in Darry's head.
Belzeiac raised her ghastly hands and sent a wave of magick, unlike any magick Darry had ever seen, at her; Darry felt the magick hit her body and she screamed with the pain of it, no longer caring if Melissa heard her or not.
Inside what used to be Riley's apartment, the sound of Darry's screams reached Buffy, Riley and Oz's ears. "That's Darry." Oz whispered, looking over at Darry.
Buffy tightened her grip on her sword and looked over at Riley. "Still need proof that Melissa is not the best of people?" Buffy asked, nearly spitting the words out.
Riley led the way as they tried to follow the sound of Darry's voice; they came to a ripple in one of the stone walls that looked out of place, even in the 'mountain'.
"I'm betting she's in there." Riley muttered.
Buffy didn't wait for another second and charged through the rippled in the wall, holding her sword high. Oz went in after her, followed by Riley.
Buffy looked around the room they were in, it was just how Kellie described it when Oz and Darry had left the house the night before. Buffy saw a ghost like, yet solid, figure standing toward the far wall of the room. Electricity seemed to came from the figure's fingers.
"Okay, didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with electricity 'cause you'll just get a big shock out of it?" Buffy asked, trying to make her voice sound as casual as possible.
The ghost figure turned around and it was then that Buffy saw Darry hanging from the crude hook, bleeding from a large gash in her stomach. It was her friend that Belzeiac had been 'firing' the electricity at.
"Darry." Oz whispered at her side and slightly took a step forward.
Belzeiac frowned as she saw Buffy, Oz and Riley. "I didn't call for visitors." She hissed.
Buffy guessed that the figure was really Melissa and the spell had already taken place, due to the gash in Darry's stomach.
Darry lifted her head, and Buffy could tell that it took her a lot of effort just to look at them. "Oz." Darry said, though she wasn't sure if she was mouthing the words or if they had just come out of her mouth.
"You got what you wanted, let her go." Oz commanded, looking at Melissa/ Belzeiac without the slightest trace of fear on his face.
Belzeiac laughed, a sound that sent chills through Buffy; Belzeiac reached to her side and picked up the blood coated knife from off the table. She reached up and cut Darry free of her thorn-vine binds and held Darry in a choke hold, holding Darry against her body.
"You can have her back, but I wasn't 'joking' when I said she would the first to die." Melissa said and locked eyes with Oz. Without blinking, Melissa took the knife and plunged it into Darry's chest. To Buffy, Oz and Riley, it looked like Melissa had just stabbed Darry in the heart; if they had looked closer, Melissa had plunged the knife into Darry's right shoulder bone, shattering the bone and nearly breaking it in half. Melissa didn't realize her own mistake until she had pulled the knife free of Darry's body; either way, Darry had fallen into a pain induced stupor and was limp in Melissa's arms.
Melissa threw Darry to ground like she was nothing more then a soiled sheet of paper. Oz lifted the Quartering Staff and charged at Melissa; without much trouble, like she was flicking a fly away, Melissa threw Oz away from her with a burst of magick.
Oz was knocked to the ground beside Darry, it felt as though the wind had been knocked out of his body; he dropped the Quartering Staff when he landed. Oz looked up to see Buffy and Riley charging Melissa at the same time, hoping to keep her from striking at them.
Oz looked over at Darry's body and instantly felt tears from in his eyes; it couldn't be, she couldn't die again, not after he had just gotten her back. He got to his knees and cradled her body, just as he had done when her father killed her barely a month ago.
He barely felt the tears fall down his cheeks; he closed his eyes and shut out the sounds of the battle around him. Oz didn't feel the shaking fingers brush his tears off his cheek but he did feel Darry move in his arms.
Oz opened his eyes and looked down to see Darry looking at him, attempting to get into a sitting position and hurting herself doing it. When she saw that he was looking at her, Darry attempted to smile. "Oh Oz, so serous." Darry whispered and wiped his tears away.
"Darry, I thought...you're not..." Oz said, unable to finish his sentences.
Darry opened her mouth to speak but Buffy let out a cry of shock and pain and both Oz and Darry turned to face her direction. It was when she turned her head that Darry realized that she had no feeling in her right arm; looking down, she saw her shoulder torn open and could tell that her shoulder bone was nearly broken all the way through.
Buffy was flung against a wall the second she hit Melissa with her sword; Riley took Buffy's place and opened fire on who used to be his wife. "Fools, you can't kill me." Melissa laughed.
"There has to be some way to kill her." Oz whispered.
"She said that she had been imprisoned by a curse, I wish there was some way to imprison her again." Darry muttered.
"Maybe there is." Oz muttered. "Does she have a spell book or anything like that?" Oz asked.
"I have no clue." Darry answered.
Buffy leapt at Melissa again and drove the sword into her body, into her stomach; close to her sword point was a glowing orb like object.
"Wait a second, maybe she gets her power from somewhere." Darry muttered. "That orb thing, maybe that's the center of her power." Darry said, looking up at Oz.
"Buffy!" Oz yelled, causing all three of the battlers to look over at him. "That orb thing is the center of her power!" He told her.
"Well, I wasn't sure, I was just thinking out loud." Darry muttered but Buffy swung her sword at the 'orb' in Melissa's stomach.
The witch screamed as the sword hit the orb and shattered it; Melissa disappeared in a flash of light but Darry doubted that she was gone for ever. After all, the witch had lived for over eight thousand years, Darry doubted that Melissa would give up that easily.
Once Melissa was gone, the building began to shake a crumble. "We really have to get out of here." Buffy muttered and nearly dropped her sword.
Oz stood up and slowly helped Darry to her feet; the four of them exited the room, a little slowly then they would have liked because Darry wasn't exactly in the best condition.
"Where is everyone else?" Darry asked, looking over at Buffy.
Anya blinked as the jaguar disappeared and she appeared back in the front office; she was even more surprised to see Xander, Willow and Dawn there as well. Kellie and Spike were on the floor, and Spike was in the process of taking off his shirt while Kellie kissed him. When everyone else appeared in the room, Kellie quickly pulled away and looked at them.
Willow looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Kellie flushed. "You see, it was...we were just...we thought the world was going to end and..." Kellie paused when the building began to fall apart, chunks of the ceiling fell to the ground. "Let's get out of here." Kellie snapped and jumped to her feet.
Spike, Kellie, Willow, Xander, Anya and Dawn looked around to see that the apartment complex looked like an apartment complex again. It was easy to find the front door and make an undignified exit.
It was also easy for Buffy, Riley, Oz and Darry to find their way out of the builing as well; the four joined the other memembers of the Scooby Gang outside the apartment complex. Kellie gushed over Darry, and how she was still alive; the Scooby Gang and Riley watched the apartment complex collaspe in front of them.
"Well, I must say that I've never knocked a whole building down before." Buffy muttered.
"What about that time we blew up the school?" Xander asked. Buffy ignored him and turned. "Let's just go home, shall we?" Buffy suggested. "Have I told you how much I hate Sunnydale?" She muttered to no one as they walked away.
Fin.