Chapter 17 Big Mojo
Our mobile force met up a half block from the Stake. Our ill-defined plan was for Spike to take a small group of the largest demons through the tunnels to the sub-basements of the empty club. They could get the jump on Giles' hatchetmen from beneath, while Buffy's band of vampires would do a full-on assault on the front. That left Anyanka free to come in, if needed, for the hit. I was supposed to bring up at the rear and keep an eye on Dawn. Baby-sitting detail. Real hero stuff.
It started out like clockwork. I've never seen anything like watching The Slayer in battle, and it made me glad I was on her side. I wish I was a poet, so I could describe just what she looked like. She was beautiful and terrifying, all at once. Her long sword swirling, moving like an invisible scythe, mowing down the demon resistance. Her long blonde hair flew behind her like a samurai's pennant, and her eyes were full of the joy of battle. Buffy's adversaries fell in showers of dust and ooze as her forces advanced inexorably toward the club entrance.
The Slayer's leather-clad vampires were snarling and ripping like a pack of wolves, maneuvering around the flanks of two enormous shambling creatures, pulling them both down swiftly and moving on to the next poor goons. It didn't take long for the opposition to crumble. The few that survived, took it on the lam. Who could blame them?
We met up with the remnants of Spike's team in the foyer near the ballroom. There were fewer than half-a-dozen survivors. They staggered up the staircase, drenched in gore and other, less identifiable ichor.
Spike had lost his sword and his duster was mangled and ripped to shreds. He was breathing like he'd run a marathon and grinning from ear to ear, bouncing with joy at the devastation and carnage he'd wreaked. He smirked braodly, Ain't that a kick in the head!
She smiled back at him, leaning a bit on her bloodied sword. Then, she turned to me. Wait here with Dawn. Don't let her out of your sight, even for a second. She detailed a couple of the bigger mugs with swords to keep me company and headed toward the frosted glass doors that led to the ballroom.
Through the doors we could see dark figures moving in a flickering light. Buffy strode toward it, but was repulsed by some kind of barrier spell. We all came closer and peered inside. We could see Willow and Giles inside a huge chalk circle etched with dozens of arcane synbols and a several smaller circles. Tables and chairs had been piled haphazardly into makeshift barriers in front of the entrances to the ballroom. Enormous braziers piled full of something brushy blazed on five points inside the circle, provided the illuminated and a god-awful stench of corruption seeped beneath the doors.
The two of them were naked under the open black robes as they busily moved around the circle, tidying piles of unidentifiable objects and herby looking stuff. Giles placed a large glass vessel into the center of the largest rune and stepped away. Willow's white arms were bathed in blood and the bodies of a dozen black roosters lay inside the circle. Giles grabbed Willow up and pulled her to him in a passionate embrace. She wrapped her long white legs around his waist and hoisted herself up higher, running her hands under the velvet robes. I could she her licking the blood-stained column of his throat. He howled lustily and whirled her around in a hideous parody of a dance. I wished I was blind.
Anyanka grabbed my arm and hissed, It's begun. We're too late to stop the ritual.
What?! We've got to stop it, Anyanka. The Hellmouth's gonna open. Andrew said they were doing something wrong, I whispered back.
It's the blood sacrifice, she breathed, So far, it's only animal blood, but if...
Just about then, Buffy stood up and got real still. I followed her gaze. In the shadows of the piled up tables lay two struggling figures wrapped in chains: A dark, beautiful girl around Dawn's age and a handsome human boy. Willow began a low chanting, gesturing with a long gore-spattered bone. I guess we knew where Andrew's magic bone was.
Giles dragged the poor kids into the circle, his clawed feet striking sparks, his red tongue lolling in pleasure. He looked to Willow, then stood over the terrified youth. The girl's eyes went wide and a horrible bubbling shriek penetrated the sorcerous barrier. Before we could react, Giles had ripped the boy's still beating heart from his chest. He held it dripping, over the gaping maw of his mouth and drank the blood down like wine.
Oh god, oh god... Buffy moaned, her hands tightening around the hilt of her sword. Spike was at her side in an instant, all humor gone. He grasped her around the waist and supported her sagging figure. Her eyes welled over with tears. No, please god, no... I saw Giles in that instant reach into the dark girl's chest and wrench out her heart. A silver-fine powder of dust rained down inside empty chains. A vampire. The blood of the innocent and the the blood of the impure.
Anyanka spoke in my ear again. Andrew was right. This is a mistake. They think they are calling the Opener of the Way. I won't have to destroy him. She will. She shook her waves of hair back in disgust at the foolish humans.
Buffy and Spike were still staring in horror at the scene of bloody carnage. Giles and WIllow were continuing with the ritual, naked bodies writhing in the mess on the floor. I grabbed Anyanka and shook her.
Listen sweetheart, we need you. Work your mojo or sling your curse--- whatever you're gonna do so we can stop this stuff.
The others shook themselves out of their lethargy. Buffy was calm and fierce, wearing her ice queen's face; Spike, at her left hand, growled into game-face. The rest of us were as ready as we'd ever be.
A gritty noise, like lightning striking sand, followed by a deep rumble of rolling thunder shook the building to its foundation. The walls trembled and buckled as a moaning wind, cold as a glacier, blew through the darkened hallways. A tremendous charge of fiery yellow electricity momentarily blinded the lot of us as we stumbled through the downed barriers and broken glass into the the room.
tbc
AN: Music for this chapter is Voodoo People Prodigy (Chemical Brothers Remix)