Willow found herself smiling as she watched Spike talking with Suzie. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but... she could certainly see the way they were saying it. She was walking close to him, one hand slid up and around his back while the other gestured into the air as she spoke. She also kept glancing at him while they walked, the sort of glances that mean a girl thinks a guy is cute. As for Spike, he kept looking at her with this sort of amazed look, as if she was the most wonderful girl in the whole world.
"They look sort of cute." She looked over at Charlie as she made her comment, curious how he would feel about a possible relationship between Spike and Suzie.
Charlie looked over, his eyes a dark green in the night. "You think? She's awfully demanding. He might not like having someone that demanding around."
Willow grinned as she thought of Spike's stories of everything he'd done for Drusilla. "I think he can handle a few demands. He might even enjoy them. I just hope... well, he's my friend, and I hope she doesn't break his heart, you know?"
Frowning, she tried to consider the possible reactions to the pair of wizards learning about Spike being a vampire. What if they tried to hurt him? Would she be able to protect him from them? Would that keep them... best just hope that didn't come out until after they tried to deal with the dragon.
She felt something, almost like faint aftershocks in the ground. But there hadn't been an earthquake. "I think we're getting close... the ground's having mini-shakes. As an alternate possibility, there might be an earthquake pretty soon."
Charlie grinned at her. "Which idea are you more worried about?"
"Depends... is it a normal earthquake, a hellmouthy portent of doom earthquake, or the dragon?"
"You actually get enough portents of doom to say that with a straight face?" Charlie sounded somewhere between incredulous and worried.
She gave a slight shrug. "This is the hellmouth. We get at least one or two attempted apocalypses a year. Is that even the proper plural for apocalypse? I suppose it doesn't matter... But yes, lots of evil portent earthquakes. Last time the hellmouth almost got opened. Does anyone smell smoke?"
Spike's voice came back, filled with worry. "Yeah, definitely smoke, and something else, sort of musky. I think we're almost to the dragon."
"Is a dragon better or worse than an earthquake, Willow tree?" Suzie's voice even sounded a bit like Dru. It was rather unsettling.
Attempting to keep from panicking, Willow made a little nervous squeaky giggle. "A dragon is definitely worse than a normal earthquake, but not as bad as a portent of big destruction earthquake. Those are often accompanied by raining frogs, which is really, really gross."
She could hear the fires now, and see them, towering, twisting masses of orange and gold. They roared and crackled, and she could almost follow the plumes of dark smoke that rose from them. There were a few burning cars, one of them seeming to be an overturned police car. The warehouses were in ruins, rubble spilling over the ground and dust making the air even harder to breathe. An assortment of dangerous looking demons were attempting to fight the dragon. Large scaled demons with horns and claws and fangs, the sort of thing that any other day would be terrifying.
They weren't doing very well. In fact, it looked like there were dead demons, ripped in half or scorched, or simply broken among the rubble. Willow felt her stomach clench as she wondered what had happened to the police officer that had driven the burning car. "The dragon... now what?"
"Now we tremble and try not to run away." Suzie's words were almost too quiet to hear, but Willow thought they summed things up rather effectively.
end part 7.
"Much as I can see the reasoning behind those two things, ducks, I don't think that will happen. I'm not very good at wisdom. And Willow doesn't back down from a challenge." Spike's voice was much more subdued than normal.
Glancing towards Willow, he gave a small almost smile. "You were right. She's a lot more frightening than I am."
Willow nodded. "I'm sort of thinking there's a certain logic in running away, but that would leave the dragon on her rampage. So... ummm... how do you deal with an angry dragon?"
Suzie looked over, her eyes taking on an unfocused, thoughtful glaze. "Stunning spells. Spells to slow her down or confuse her. As powerful as you can."
They began their efforts, and soon their determined and nervous shouts in Latin and Greek filled the air. Power hummed as they cast their spells like ropes towards the dragon.
Unfortunately, they weren't having a strong enough impact on Maleficent. Oh, they were doing something, the dragon was moving more slowly, and the roars sounded a bit less focused, but... Maleficent the dragon at half effectiveness would still be more than enough to flatten them if she got close enough. Suzie and Charlie had managed to stick the jaws closed with a locking spell, therefore preventing any gouts of fire until the spell wore off. Didn't do much about the large feet with talons longer than their arms.
With muffled growls and blazing eyes, the dragon charged at them, talons leaving furrows in the ground and cracks and chunks instead of the almost smooth road. Maleficent looked furious, and they had all learned that sometimes, raw fury could make up for quite a lot.
Even half smothered by closed jaws, the roar was enough to send chills down their spines. Spike grabbed Suzie, pulling her out of the exact place that the black scaled toes landed, for a moment holding the woman close to his body. Willow could tell that Suzie was shaking.
Charlie pulled on Willow's arm, breaking her focus on Spike and Suzie as the dragon looked at them, eyes glaring with an unwelcome amount of intelligence. The dragon knew they were causing some of her problems, and it made her mad. She lunged forward, attempting to use her massive scaled nose as a battering ram, and Willow and Charlie flung their selves to the sides, trying to get out of the way.
"Hey you big menace! You're ruining my reputation as the big bad!" Spike's angry shout was accompanied by a chunk of rock hurled right at the dragon's head. It landed just beside her eye, and drew a line of garnet colored blood.
With an angry hiss, the dragon moved towards Spike, everything about the sudden movement snarling danger. With a swift lunge, she tried again to crush one of the annoying small creatures. Unfortunately, it looked like the slowing spells were wearing off.
Suzie was flung to the side, and landed sprawled on the ground, soft whimpers of fear and maybe pain carrying in the ominously quiet smoke laden air. Spike wasn't moving, and the dragon had an oddly triumphant gleam in her eye.
Willow felt like something inside of her had cracked at the sight of Spike. He was far to still, and while he wasn't dust, no sane person would choose to lay flat on the ground in front of an angry dragon if they could try to move. That could only mean that he was hurt, probably very badly. An oddly humming cold feeling began to spread through her body from that cracked place, and as it did, the darkness didn't seem quite so dark anymore. She could almost see the swirls and fading traces of their spells, like afterimages on the inside of her eyelids. Her voice sounded odd when she spoke, almost as if it was echoing through a room before reaching their ears.
"Like something out of a fairy tale...well, Maleficent, there are ways to deal with fairy tales. By the power within me, I place this curse... you shall prick yourself and fall... not dead, but asleep. Asleep until Love's First Kiss shall awaken thee..."
She felt power surge, as if she'd become a channel for something older, darker and not quite human. It felt like a rushing waterfall, powerful and unstoppable... She could feel everything in her body pulsing, thrumming with this fierce and powerful energy. It looked like swirls of deepest blue to her eyes, the power that poured from her hands, wrapping around the dragon in some sort of layer, closing over her body and clinging, like a sort of fog.
With a bellow that echoed and hung in the night air like the smoke, the fire in Maleficent's eyes dimmed, and she swayed once, twice before collapsing into the remnants of a smoldering warehouse. Her lips twitched, showing long sharp teeth. A deep rumble came from her, followed by a loud whine and a gust of almost sulfurous smelling breath.
It seemed Maleficent snored.
Willow had just enough time to smile faintly at the unexpectednesss of it before the world spun. Her muscles were trembling, and her every nerve felt almost raw, as if she'd been scraped bare. "Someone check on Spike."
Her voice sounded as if she'd been screaming for hours. Everything went black, and there was a dull swishy roar in her ears like the ocean, and then... nothing.
Suzie stood looking from the collapsed pale form of Willow, who seemed to have sweat beading her forehead, to William, who had been rather smushed by Maleficent. She then noticed with that there was something caught by the dragon's claw. Edging closer, she looked towards it, and burst into hysterical laughter.
Her wand was splinted and snapped, and had somehow become jammed up under the dragon's claw, having drawn a few droplets of crimson blood. Almost like the spindle in the Sleeping Beauty faery tales had pricked the princess' finger.
end part 8.
"They look sort of cute." She looked over at Charlie as she made her comment, curious how he would feel about a possible relationship between Spike and Suzie.
Charlie looked over, his eyes a dark green in the night. "You think? She's awfully demanding. He might not like having someone that demanding around."
Willow grinned as she thought of Spike's stories of everything he'd done for Drusilla. "I think he can handle a few demands. He might even enjoy them. I just hope... well, he's my friend, and I hope she doesn't break his heart, you know?"
Frowning, she tried to consider the possible reactions to the pair of wizards learning about Spike being a vampire. What if they tried to hurt him? Would she be able to protect him from them? Would that keep them... best just hope that didn't come out until after they tried to deal with the dragon.
She felt something, almost like faint aftershocks in the ground. But there hadn't been an earthquake. "I think we're getting close... the ground's having mini-shakes. As an alternate possibility, there might be an earthquake pretty soon."
Charlie grinned at her. "Which idea are you more worried about?"
"Depends... is it a normal earthquake, a hellmouthy portent of doom earthquake, or the dragon?"
"You actually get enough portents of doom to say that with a straight face?" Charlie sounded somewhere between incredulous and worried.
She gave a slight shrug. "This is the hellmouth. We get at least one or two attempted apocalypses a year. Is that even the proper plural for apocalypse? I suppose it doesn't matter... But yes, lots of evil portent earthquakes. Last time the hellmouth almost got opened. Does anyone smell smoke?"
Spike's voice came back, filled with worry. "Yeah, definitely smoke, and something else, sort of musky. I think we're almost to the dragon."
"Is a dragon better or worse than an earthquake, Willow tree?" Suzie's voice even sounded a bit like Dru. It was rather unsettling.
Attempting to keep from panicking, Willow made a little nervous squeaky giggle. "A dragon is definitely worse than a normal earthquake, but not as bad as a portent of big destruction earthquake. Those are often accompanied by raining frogs, which is really, really gross."
She could hear the fires now, and see them, towering, twisting masses of orange and gold. They roared and crackled, and she could almost follow the plumes of dark smoke that rose from them. There were a few burning cars, one of them seeming to be an overturned police car. The warehouses were in ruins, rubble spilling over the ground and dust making the air even harder to breathe. An assortment of dangerous looking demons were attempting to fight the dragon. Large scaled demons with horns and claws and fangs, the sort of thing that any other day would be terrifying.
They weren't doing very well. In fact, it looked like there were dead demons, ripped in half or scorched, or simply broken among the rubble. Willow felt her stomach clench as she wondered what had happened to the police officer that had driven the burning car. "The dragon... now what?"
"Now we tremble and try not to run away." Suzie's words were almost too quiet to hear, but Willow thought they summed things up rather effectively.
end part 7.
"Much as I can see the reasoning behind those two things, ducks, I don't think that will happen. I'm not very good at wisdom. And Willow doesn't back down from a challenge." Spike's voice was much more subdued than normal.
Glancing towards Willow, he gave a small almost smile. "You were right. She's a lot more frightening than I am."
Willow nodded. "I'm sort of thinking there's a certain logic in running away, but that would leave the dragon on her rampage. So... ummm... how do you deal with an angry dragon?"
Suzie looked over, her eyes taking on an unfocused, thoughtful glaze. "Stunning spells. Spells to slow her down or confuse her. As powerful as you can."
They began their efforts, and soon their determined and nervous shouts in Latin and Greek filled the air. Power hummed as they cast their spells like ropes towards the dragon.
Unfortunately, they weren't having a strong enough impact on Maleficent. Oh, they were doing something, the dragon was moving more slowly, and the roars sounded a bit less focused, but... Maleficent the dragon at half effectiveness would still be more than enough to flatten them if she got close enough. Suzie and Charlie had managed to stick the jaws closed with a locking spell, therefore preventing any gouts of fire until the spell wore off. Didn't do much about the large feet with talons longer than their arms.
With muffled growls and blazing eyes, the dragon charged at them, talons leaving furrows in the ground and cracks and chunks instead of the almost smooth road. Maleficent looked furious, and they had all learned that sometimes, raw fury could make up for quite a lot.
Even half smothered by closed jaws, the roar was enough to send chills down their spines. Spike grabbed Suzie, pulling her out of the exact place that the black scaled toes landed, for a moment holding the woman close to his body. Willow could tell that Suzie was shaking.
Charlie pulled on Willow's arm, breaking her focus on Spike and Suzie as the dragon looked at them, eyes glaring with an unwelcome amount of intelligence. The dragon knew they were causing some of her problems, and it made her mad. She lunged forward, attempting to use her massive scaled nose as a battering ram, and Willow and Charlie flung their selves to the sides, trying to get out of the way.
"Hey you big menace! You're ruining my reputation as the big bad!" Spike's angry shout was accompanied by a chunk of rock hurled right at the dragon's head. It landed just beside her eye, and drew a line of garnet colored blood.
With an angry hiss, the dragon moved towards Spike, everything about the sudden movement snarling danger. With a swift lunge, she tried again to crush one of the annoying small creatures. Unfortunately, it looked like the slowing spells were wearing off.
Suzie was flung to the side, and landed sprawled on the ground, soft whimpers of fear and maybe pain carrying in the ominously quiet smoke laden air. Spike wasn't moving, and the dragon had an oddly triumphant gleam in her eye.
Willow felt like something inside of her had cracked at the sight of Spike. He was far to still, and while he wasn't dust, no sane person would choose to lay flat on the ground in front of an angry dragon if they could try to move. That could only mean that he was hurt, probably very badly. An oddly humming cold feeling began to spread through her body from that cracked place, and as it did, the darkness didn't seem quite so dark anymore. She could almost see the swirls and fading traces of their spells, like afterimages on the inside of her eyelids. Her voice sounded odd when she spoke, almost as if it was echoing through a room before reaching their ears.
"Like something out of a fairy tale...well, Maleficent, there are ways to deal with fairy tales. By the power within me, I place this curse... you shall prick yourself and fall... not dead, but asleep. Asleep until Love's First Kiss shall awaken thee..."
She felt power surge, as if she'd become a channel for something older, darker and not quite human. It felt like a rushing waterfall, powerful and unstoppable... She could feel everything in her body pulsing, thrumming with this fierce and powerful energy. It looked like swirls of deepest blue to her eyes, the power that poured from her hands, wrapping around the dragon in some sort of layer, closing over her body and clinging, like a sort of fog.
With a bellow that echoed and hung in the night air like the smoke, the fire in Maleficent's eyes dimmed, and she swayed once, twice before collapsing into the remnants of a smoldering warehouse. Her lips twitched, showing long sharp teeth. A deep rumble came from her, followed by a loud whine and a gust of almost sulfurous smelling breath.
It seemed Maleficent snored.
Willow had just enough time to smile faintly at the unexpectednesss of it before the world spun. Her muscles were trembling, and her every nerve felt almost raw, as if she'd been scraped bare. "Someone check on Spike."
Her voice sounded as if she'd been screaming for hours. Everything went black, and there was a dull swishy roar in her ears like the ocean, and then... nothing.
Suzie stood looking from the collapsed pale form of Willow, who seemed to have sweat beading her forehead, to William, who had been rather smushed by Maleficent. She then noticed with that there was something caught by the dragon's claw. Edging closer, she looked towards it, and burst into hysterical laughter.
Her wand was splinted and snapped, and had somehow become jammed up under the dragon's claw, having drawn a few droplets of crimson blood. Almost like the spindle in the Sleeping Beauty faery tales had pricked the princess' finger.
end part 8.
