Part 5
The group screamed in terror as the blue demon ran for them; they ran toward the stairs.
Buffy and Angel brought up the rear, and Angel tripped and fell on his way up.
The demon charged for him and when he got near, Angel kicked out his leg and hit the demon in the stomach; he stood up on his feet and made an attempt to run up the stairs where the others were. The demon reeled back a couple of feet after Angel kicked him, but recovered quickly, letting out a roar and running for Angel. It turned him around and shoved its huge, blue fist in his face. Buffy yelled and ran to the fight.
"Hey!" she screamed to the demon. She high kicked it in the face, "Stay. Away. From. Liam." She punctuated each word with a hit. Angel instinctively joined in when Buffy got smacked in the face. Eventually, Buffy reached up and snapped its neck as Angel restrained it from behind.
Angel let go of it and let it tumble to the floor.
"Whoa!" Gunn exclaimed from the group's perch on the steps.
They slowly came down them toward Buffy and Angel and the dead demon.
"Yo dawg," Fred said, "Did you see that? That shit was tight yo!"
They all turned to her like she grew a second head.
"Don't say that," Gunn shook his head.
"Fo sho." Fred responded, still talking in slang.
Gunn gave her a look that said, "What did I just say?" Fred put her hands behind her back and looked down sheepishly.
"What did you guys do?" Willow questioned, staring at the blue body that was twice the size of the girl who killed it.
"I don't know..." Buffy also stared at the body in amazement, she looked up at the group and smiled, "But it was cool!"
Everybody smiled back at her except for Cordelia who just raised her eyebrow.
"Me and Liam, we're like super-heroes or something!"
"Maybe we're getting paid for this. Some kind of psyche test that the government is throwing at us," Xander suggested, nudging the demon with his foot. Everybody gasped when it melted into blue goo and evaporated.
"My hair!" Cordelia felt for the first time how short her hair was, not caring about other matters. It felt very different from what the picture looked liked in the yearbook, "The government gave me bad hair!" She started to cry.
"No," Xander disagreed with her, smoothing her hair out with his fingertips reassuringly, "It's nice."
She sniffed, "Are you sure?"
He smiled, "Positive."
Xander didn't know why, but he was attracted to her. He felt that normally, a girl that was the way she acting, wasn't his type. Other than the fact that she was pretty, there was something else.
Wesley walked around the lobby, observing his surroundings and the people in it. He moved his eyes to the floor and gasped, noticing for the first time the symbol and magical supplies scattered about. Throughout the whole chaos they hadn't noticed the unusual setting.
"Of course! Our first clue! Magic!" he turned to the confused people around him.
"Aw come on," Xander dismissed, "Magic is just a bunch of hoo-ha controlled by invisible wires."
"Then explain this," Wesley waved to the symbol.
Everybody gaped at the symbol and Xander replied, sounding unsure, "Maybe it's artwork of some kind. Weird, but hey art is weird."
Cordelia moved over by the counter and sat on top if it. She looked over her shoulder and then jumped off with a yelp.
"Ok! What the hell is that?!" she screeched, pointing at the unconscious Lorne.
Everyone scrambled over to where Cordelia was pointing and gasped.
"Another one?!" Gunn yelled, overwhelmed. Xander nudged Lorne with his foot to see if he would melt and evaporate like the other one did. When nothing happened, they all frowned and looked at each other for answers.
*~*~
LORNE AT THE NIGHT CLUB: "I gotta say," Lorne chuckled and then sipped his bitter liquid that was like water to him before he continued, "This group is a bunch of monkeys in a barrel; such a hoot. Yeah, you wouldn't believe how much fun I had in their next activity!"
*~*~
Wesley wrapped duct tape around a still knocked out cold Lorne to the settee while Cordelia, Gunn, and Xander watched.
"I say we cut its head off," Gunn bluntly suggested.
"He may have information we need. When he wakes up-"
"When he wakes up, we don't even know if this tape is gonna hold him," Gunn cut Wesley off, "I say we cut his damn head off!"
"Thank you very much Marie Antoinette," the British man said sarcastically.
"What'd you call me?" Gunn was insulted because he had no idea who Marie Antoinette was.
"Hey. Hey, you two want to stop the Homo-erotic buddy cop session long enough to explain this," Cordelia interrupted "Big blue demon, another one with bad skin and horns and a HORRIBLE fashion sense. Also Joan and Liam with their superhuman fighting skills; things just keep getting weirder."
Wesley moved to point a finger in the air when he got an idea. Swords suddenly popped out of his sleeves and he screamed out in surprise; Willow and Fred joining him.
"They really are," Willow agreed, her and Fred expecting the weapons cabinet. Willow stared at Fred strangely as she shot her arms out like Spiderman, and then did some karate moves, "Do you have any weed?" Willow asked Fred cautiously, thinking she probably smoked something since she was acting so weird.
Fred ceased her movements, inspecting her sleeves and pouted, "I didn't get one."
"No one got one except for Mr. Tea and Crumpets over here," Buffy raised an eyebrow at the rugged looking Englishman.
Wesley started wailing about when he lost control over the swords on his arms. He finally gained control and popped them back into his sleeves and cleared his throat in embarrassment.
"As I was going to say, I have a theory." Wesley smiled tightly, folding his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels.
"And that would be..." Xander prodded on, waving his hand to signal to get to the point.
"This must be a test," they stare at Wesley blankly, except for Xander who pointed out that he already said that. Wesley ignored him and continued, "Someone must've stuck us in here with demons with no memory to test our abilities and strength. So they locked us in here with a deadly, let's say vampire or some other, and you have to kill him before he kills you."
They look around at each other, not sure on what to do.
"So you think, if we kill this vampire, they take off the spell whammy and we can go back to being ourselves?" Willow questioned.
"And never see each other again?" Cordelia asked hopefully. These people were cramping her style. Well, all except for Liam; maybe Alexander, he DID compliment her hair.
"I believe we can all just go about our business," Wesley confirmed.
"And never see each other again?" she repeated.
"We split up. Look around and see if the demon in question is around," Wesley suggested, "Willow, you're with Charles, Winifred, you're with me, Alex and Cordelia, you're together, and since Joan and Liam work so well together, you two are together." The two smiled at each other and intertwined their hands.
"Grab a weapon, and Alexander and Cordelia, Joan and Liam check upstairs, the rest, we're down here," he instructed.
Gunn grabbed an axe and handed Fred a small dagger. Wesley picked up a crossbow and handed a smaller one to Willow. Cordelia took a stake and Xander chose Angel's hurling axe. Buffy found another stake, gripping it, thinking it was a weapon that fit her well. Angel slid out a sword from the cabinet.
Once they were all situated, they nodded at each other and went their ways for a little vamp hunting.
*~*~
