FOOLS FOR LIFE:
CHAPTER 23:
"So, you feel it too, right?"
"Yes..I mean, I can sense Hallie, in that almost-but-not-quite-sort of way, and I feel something else...warmth....."
"An entrance." Spike finished. They both stood in the middle of what they referred to now as 'dark alley number 23' of the evening.
"Yes," Anya confirmed as she held up her hand in the air and felt the shimmering waves that betrayed the door to Rack's place. "Interesting. So only demons and sorcerers can feel it?"
"Yeah," he thought for a second and looked at her. "Pretty helpful you're a demon again. Gotta tell you, I wondered why you felt so ...sturdy. You know." He added hesitantly. "Earlier..."
She smiled. "Thank you! I *am* pretty sturdy. Makes sex with super-strong demons a lot easier." She nodded happily. "Oh, and you too. I mean, you have a nice, tendon-y firmness to you."
Spike raised an eyebrow. "....thanks."
"And kudos on the performance after all that whiskey, I mean......"
"Yeah, uhm, thanks again." Spike interrupted her. "Let's get on with...." he pointed at the air I front of them.
"Oh, right. Right." Anya said. "So, we just walk into it?"
"That's the idea," Spike answered. "Never actually been here myself. Guy's got quite a rep though. Up there on the power scale."
"So you said. And he's for hire?"
"Yeah, people needing magic stuff, protection, help against enemies. Most of his regulars though are more like...well, needing their magic 'fix'. Like Red when she was......"
"Bad?" Anya said.
"Yeah, something like that. Well, let's go," and he moved forward.
"Wait a minute. What exactly are we going to do? I mean, if this guy is such a powerful sorcerer......It's not like either of us can do much against that. I'm pretty strong now, and I can teleport but that's basically it! And all vampires can do is bite and punch people. And in your case, if he's human, not even that!"
"Don't you vengeance types have your own magic mojo?"
"Yes and I'm sure this 'Rack' person will be nice enough to wait while I go find someone who hates him and is willing to make a wish that's useful to us!"
"Oh...... like that, is it." Spike mused for a moment. "Alright. We go in easy. Play nice. See what the score is first. If she just paid him, I'm sure hasn't got much of a personal stake in this. Besides we may not even need her to leave this place. Just to lift the curse. She can do that from anywhere, right?"
Anya nodded. "But I really don't know why she hasn't already. Maybe something's wrong."
"Too many maybes." Spike frowned. "We need to know. Let's go in, nice and slow."
With that they both stepped forward and disappeared into thin air that waved like water around their shapes.
The next moment they found themselves in a dark and dirty space that obviously was some kind of waiting room. For a moment they absorbed their surroundings. Several people and demons were sitting on scruffy couches and chairs, looking at the two of them with suspicion, complete disinterest or fear. Some of them were shifty and impatient. Some of them rather sad and skinny looking. Some shaking and no less than desperate and pathetic.
A few really stood out. Like a well groomed middle aged man in a very expensive suit. He was sweating and clamping his briefcase. His eyes shifted all around, checking out each person around him. When Spike and Anya walked in, he'd practically jumped.
Spike bent to Anya's ear and said "Corporate type. Probably got greedy and made the wrong deals or pissed off the wrong people" He grinned. "Always fun to watch them on the run once they know playing with fire gets you burned."
"So you think he wants protection from Rack?" Anya whispered.
"Yeah, probably get some amulet or something. Lots of folks go for that stuff." Spike looked around. "Anyway, since we're playing nice, let's wait our turn."
'For now' he thought. If this took too long, while Buffy was lying there slowly turning into...well, him, he was going to start busting heads. Humans, demons, wizards and chips be damned!
They walked forward, finding an empty bit of couch in a dark corner. As Spike stood in front of the couch, he was close enough to see the figure sitting at the end of it.
It was a very large, horned demon. Anya recognized it as a Shybarii.
It looked at Spike and growled. "So, leech...we meet again."
Spike frowned and looked closer. "Wait a minute.....don't I know you, mate? You look familiar."
The demon's nostrils flared...
** **
"Alright. Ready?"
"As much as I can." Willow sighed and visibly shuddered. Tara just wasn't sure if it was fear, worry or..anticipation.
They had managed to set up a ritual that might give Buffy awareness of the changes she had undergone. Unfortunately, Tara alone couldn't do it. It had to be two people at least. Both magically inclined.
Any doubts about Willow's feelings about it went unspoken. Time would tell how this affected her so far successful attempt to kick her magical habit.
They both sat at opposite ends of a large circle, drawn on the floor in a powder trail with some unreadable symbols at four points around it. Several candles were burning around them and a strong and strange kind of incense was in the air. Buffy was lying in the middle of the circle still snoring a bit.
Some symbols had been painted on her forehead and on a crystal around her head were three of her hairs, and blood drops from all three of them.
Both Willow and Tara closed their eyes and began to chant in an unknown language. The air seemed to swirl strangely and the crystal started to glow. Buffy stirred a bit and frowned, but went on sleeping, even as her hair began to get static and raise up.
"Garan'the shibola kawamtu seh barambtoa," the girls chanted in unison. One of the good things about getting a little further in the magic arts was that once you were in the ritual, it was like you didn't even need to rationally remember the words. Once you managed to get through the first lines it was like something else took over. As long as your concentration and mental focus was good, things....flowed.
"Kija, Ramma, Kija Vramma, Kija Culthas.... MONGORTH!!" The last word was said in such force that downstairs, a swallow of soda went down a startled Xander's wind pipe and he got into a coughing fit.
Upstairs, both girls' eyes were completely open now and they both stretched out their arms towards the middle of the circle while continuing their chant. Buffy's body slowly floated into the air, if only a few inches up, her hands and heels still touching the ground.
A glow surrounded her as the girls repeated their last chant. "Kija, Ramma, Kija Vramma, Kija Culthas."
Then the energies floating about all spiraled into a vortex right over Buffy's head, the lower tip of it becoming so thin it wasn't clear where it went. Then it swirled in the opposite direction, faster and faster, higher and higher towards the ceiling, wider and vaguer as it spread until it dissipated with a soft sound.
The glow disappeared, the crystal turned black, Buffy's hairs were gone and her body slumped back on the ground. Both Willow and Tara caught their breath. This had been intense.
They looked at each other and then at Buffy. The moved towards her as she started to stir.
"Buffy? Can you hear me? It's Willow. Are you okay?"
Buffy raised a hand to her head. "Not so loud......" she moaned.
She looked up at them through squinted eyes. "Don't feel so good.....Got a bloody headache....."
Tara looked at Willow. Well, the accent was still there, but then they hadn't really expected it not to be. The real question was if she would notice now.
Buffy rubbed her pained head and opened her eyes again. Then she looked at her hands.
"Why are my nails black??" she asked.
** **
TBC!
R&R!
CHAPTER 23:
"So, you feel it too, right?"
"Yes..I mean, I can sense Hallie, in that almost-but-not-quite-sort of way, and I feel something else...warmth....."
"An entrance." Spike finished. They both stood in the middle of what they referred to now as 'dark alley number 23' of the evening.
"Yes," Anya confirmed as she held up her hand in the air and felt the shimmering waves that betrayed the door to Rack's place. "Interesting. So only demons and sorcerers can feel it?"
"Yeah," he thought for a second and looked at her. "Pretty helpful you're a demon again. Gotta tell you, I wondered why you felt so ...sturdy. You know." He added hesitantly. "Earlier..."
She smiled. "Thank you! I *am* pretty sturdy. Makes sex with super-strong demons a lot easier." She nodded happily. "Oh, and you too. I mean, you have a nice, tendon-y firmness to you."
Spike raised an eyebrow. "....thanks."
"And kudos on the performance after all that whiskey, I mean......"
"Yeah, uhm, thanks again." Spike interrupted her. "Let's get on with...." he pointed at the air I front of them.
"Oh, right. Right." Anya said. "So, we just walk into it?"
"That's the idea," Spike answered. "Never actually been here myself. Guy's got quite a rep though. Up there on the power scale."
"So you said. And he's for hire?"
"Yeah, people needing magic stuff, protection, help against enemies. Most of his regulars though are more like...well, needing their magic 'fix'. Like Red when she was......"
"Bad?" Anya said.
"Yeah, something like that. Well, let's go," and he moved forward.
"Wait a minute. What exactly are we going to do? I mean, if this guy is such a powerful sorcerer......It's not like either of us can do much against that. I'm pretty strong now, and I can teleport but that's basically it! And all vampires can do is bite and punch people. And in your case, if he's human, not even that!"
"Don't you vengeance types have your own magic mojo?"
"Yes and I'm sure this 'Rack' person will be nice enough to wait while I go find someone who hates him and is willing to make a wish that's useful to us!"
"Oh...... like that, is it." Spike mused for a moment. "Alright. We go in easy. Play nice. See what the score is first. If she just paid him, I'm sure hasn't got much of a personal stake in this. Besides we may not even need her to leave this place. Just to lift the curse. She can do that from anywhere, right?"
Anya nodded. "But I really don't know why she hasn't already. Maybe something's wrong."
"Too many maybes." Spike frowned. "We need to know. Let's go in, nice and slow."
With that they both stepped forward and disappeared into thin air that waved like water around their shapes.
The next moment they found themselves in a dark and dirty space that obviously was some kind of waiting room. For a moment they absorbed their surroundings. Several people and demons were sitting on scruffy couches and chairs, looking at the two of them with suspicion, complete disinterest or fear. Some of them were shifty and impatient. Some of them rather sad and skinny looking. Some shaking and no less than desperate and pathetic.
A few really stood out. Like a well groomed middle aged man in a very expensive suit. He was sweating and clamping his briefcase. His eyes shifted all around, checking out each person around him. When Spike and Anya walked in, he'd practically jumped.
Spike bent to Anya's ear and said "Corporate type. Probably got greedy and made the wrong deals or pissed off the wrong people" He grinned. "Always fun to watch them on the run once they know playing with fire gets you burned."
"So you think he wants protection from Rack?" Anya whispered.
"Yeah, probably get some amulet or something. Lots of folks go for that stuff." Spike looked around. "Anyway, since we're playing nice, let's wait our turn."
'For now' he thought. If this took too long, while Buffy was lying there slowly turning into...well, him, he was going to start busting heads. Humans, demons, wizards and chips be damned!
They walked forward, finding an empty bit of couch in a dark corner. As Spike stood in front of the couch, he was close enough to see the figure sitting at the end of it.
It was a very large, horned demon. Anya recognized it as a Shybarii.
It looked at Spike and growled. "So, leech...we meet again."
Spike frowned and looked closer. "Wait a minute.....don't I know you, mate? You look familiar."
The demon's nostrils flared...
** **
"Alright. Ready?"
"As much as I can." Willow sighed and visibly shuddered. Tara just wasn't sure if it was fear, worry or..anticipation.
They had managed to set up a ritual that might give Buffy awareness of the changes she had undergone. Unfortunately, Tara alone couldn't do it. It had to be two people at least. Both magically inclined.
Any doubts about Willow's feelings about it went unspoken. Time would tell how this affected her so far successful attempt to kick her magical habit.
They both sat at opposite ends of a large circle, drawn on the floor in a powder trail with some unreadable symbols at four points around it. Several candles were burning around them and a strong and strange kind of incense was in the air. Buffy was lying in the middle of the circle still snoring a bit.
Some symbols had been painted on her forehead and on a crystal around her head were three of her hairs, and blood drops from all three of them.
Both Willow and Tara closed their eyes and began to chant in an unknown language. The air seemed to swirl strangely and the crystal started to glow. Buffy stirred a bit and frowned, but went on sleeping, even as her hair began to get static and raise up.
"Garan'the shibola kawamtu seh barambtoa," the girls chanted in unison. One of the good things about getting a little further in the magic arts was that once you were in the ritual, it was like you didn't even need to rationally remember the words. Once you managed to get through the first lines it was like something else took over. As long as your concentration and mental focus was good, things....flowed.
"Kija, Ramma, Kija Vramma, Kija Culthas.... MONGORTH!!" The last word was said in such force that downstairs, a swallow of soda went down a startled Xander's wind pipe and he got into a coughing fit.
Upstairs, both girls' eyes were completely open now and they both stretched out their arms towards the middle of the circle while continuing their chant. Buffy's body slowly floated into the air, if only a few inches up, her hands and heels still touching the ground.
A glow surrounded her as the girls repeated their last chant. "Kija, Ramma, Kija Vramma, Kija Culthas."
Then the energies floating about all spiraled into a vortex right over Buffy's head, the lower tip of it becoming so thin it wasn't clear where it went. Then it swirled in the opposite direction, faster and faster, higher and higher towards the ceiling, wider and vaguer as it spread until it dissipated with a soft sound.
The glow disappeared, the crystal turned black, Buffy's hairs were gone and her body slumped back on the ground. Both Willow and Tara caught their breath. This had been intense.
They looked at each other and then at Buffy. The moved towards her as she started to stir.
"Buffy? Can you hear me? It's Willow. Are you okay?"
Buffy raised a hand to her head. "Not so loud......" she moaned.
She looked up at them through squinted eyes. "Don't feel so good.....Got a bloody headache....."
Tara looked at Willow. Well, the accent was still there, but then they hadn't really expected it not to be. The real question was if she would notice now.
Buffy rubbed her pained head and opened her eyes again. Then she looked at her hands.
"Why are my nails black??" she asked.
** **
TBC!
R&R!
