A/N: Hallelujah! The time to cast the spell has come! Hey, I might
actually finish this story, one of these days. After this section, I
expect only one more battle-y type event before calling this complete.
Don't know how long that will take, but the end is in sight.
And if you noticed that gods/goddesses mentioned here are not part of any Earth pantheon, I do know that. It was either them or the Greeks and the Greeks lost the coin toss.
***
Hail, hail. The gang's all here.
Only starlight lit the cemetery, the moon gone, hidden from view, as the Scoobies and Brotherhood gathered to cast the dampening spell. They formed a circle around a small fire, flame burning steadily courtesy of Pyro. The silver, gold, and copper cauldron floated above, a minor levitation spell maintaining its place. Tara had been a little leery about using so much magic, but Anya and Melly had insisted that the more power expended, the stronger their call to greater magic would be heard.
Given the two's larger body of knowledge in spellcasting, Tara had listened to their suggestion. Willow didn't particularly care, one way or another. Her only focus was on getting this spell done, finally. After practically a week's worth of preparation, Willow was ready to do just do it.
Slowly, she added the crushed rose hips, monkshood, and sage to the cauldron. Just add water, her slightly hyper mind bubbled, and your insta- spell will be complete! Willow shook herself, focus. Now was not the time to become HyperBabble Willow.
After taking a deep breathe, Willow started the preliminary chanting. If that was one thing she hated about complex, hugely powerful rituals, it was the amount of chanting that went with them. Blah blah blah, we invoke thee, blah blah blah, we invoke thee three times in a row, blah blah blah, we say that in Latin, blah blah blah...
Tara elbowed her gently - pay attention, honey! Willow blushed guiltily and focused on the chanting again.
Mystra, look upon our task with favor. Helm, look upon our task with favor. Tymora, look upon our task with favor. Sune, look upon our task with favor. We seek to bind. We seek to protect. We seek to preserve.
Mystra, look upon our task with favor ...
***
Magneto watched his cousin begin the spell. He didn't quite understand what it entailed (not that he would admit that) but he did have enough experience to know when there was a problem. And so far, there wasn't.
Feeling fairly certain on that front, he turned to survey the surrounding area. Personally, he didn't understand why they had to cast the spell out in the open the cemetery (something about the laws of magic, no doubt). They were far too vulnerable in this location, for his comfort.
His Brotherhood was prepared to the utmost, he knew. Avalanche wandered about, talking to the air. Hopefully, that was with Marcie. Otherwise, that young man needed psych evaluation. Toad was on the roof of a nearby crypt, serving as a lookout of sorts. Pyro hovered near the witches, helping them for the moment. Mystique was about as well, sulking at the edge of the group.
Magneto made a note to speak with her about the importance of the goal over the individual. That was one of the tenets of the Brotherhood, after all.
It was the 'Scoobies' that concerned him. They all had skills, there was no doubt, but did they have the discipline needed for a fight on this scale? Buffy was their leader, at least in military terms, but she struck him as a wild card fighter, the sort who worked best alone. Giles was intelligent, and possessed a core of ruthlessness that Magneto appreciated, but was still only human. Much the same went to Xander - brave, but lacked the strength to back himself up. Anya made no pretenses toward strength or bravery, but instead stood near the witches, gripping her crossbow tightly while muttering about foolish mortals and death wishes.
And then there were the two demons, Anya's friend Melly and the vampire Spike. When offered a weapon, Melly had simply laughed, "Dearie, do you really think I survived two millennia just because of my pretty face?". She stood next to Anya, chatting gaily about who knows what sort of nonsense, acting like she was at a coffee klatch and not a spellcasting. Spike, on the other hand, was prowling about, every inch the warrior waiting for battle to begin. If Magneto bothered to concentrate, he could sense that infamous chip that supposedly kept Spike from being a threat to humanity. An ingenious invention, really. Though not one he would like put into practice. Well, maybe on his enemies, perhaps.
A branch snapped. Everyone jumped to attention, focusing on the sound. A dog lumbered into view, sniffed a nearby grave stone, did his business on Dearly Departed Hortense, and lumbered away. Everyone relaxed. The chanting continued.
And continued. And continued. In fact, the witches' chanting seemed to drone on a bit. Next to him, Giles muttered, "Now I remember why I want to be late for the ritual. Nothing happens until after they complete the first round invocations."
Melly nodded, "You should never come until the chanting is finished. Magic doesn't start until later."
"You mean that this isn't the actual spell?" Magneto asked, jerking his head to indicate the chanting witches.
"By Poseidon's trident, no. This is just the preliminaries. Placations, invocations, et cetera. We've a ways to go before the real meat of the matter begins."
Magneto felt a strong urge to whine like a little boy when he heard that. They would be standing here doing nothing for how long?
"Don't worry, dearie, the demons will be out soon enough. Power like this calls us, you know."
He felt a little better.
"... She of Magic hear us and grant aid. He of Justice hear us and grant aid. She of Fortune hear us and grant aid. She of Passion hear us and grant aid..."
After what seemed to be an interminable amount of droning on the part of his cousin and her girlfriend, Toad finally called out to them, "Heads up, people. We've got company!"
Assorted creatures appeared from the darkness, slowly and inexorably moving toward them, like moths to a flame. Magneto caught glimpses of the deformed visages of vampires, their yellow eyes gleaming. Beside them were beings he assumed were demons, scaled and clawed, baring rows of teeth in the starlight.
Well. He wanted something to do, didn't he?
With a wave of his hand, Magneto sent knives, conveniently located next to him, on a direct course for the throats of demons in his vicinity. Some cried out and collapsed, others kept moving, despite large gashes that would have been incapacitating in a human.
The battle was joined.
Toad launched himself from the roof, crushing the bodies of the creatures below him. One of the demons recovered, bones snapping back into place. Its claw raked Toad's side as the mutant bounded away, spitting green goo back into its face.
"That's a Mvrok demon!" Anya shouted. "You kill it by twisting its head off, it doesn't need to breathe!"
Toad ignored her, now battling a group of vampires. Buffy tossed him a stake before bringing her axe down to decapitate the Mvrok. As purple ichors spewed over the ground, she bounded over to help Xander fend off a Polgara.
On the other side, the ground shook and undulated, as Avalanche tried to off balance his opponents. Holes emerged, demons fell in, only to be squashed as he closed the ground back up again.
Unfortunately, this seemed to wake up the still-sleeping undead. Fledgling vampires scampered out of their graves and made a bee line toward their attacker. A few feet behind Avalanche, just out of the quake zone, Giles coolly took aim and fired, dusting each one.
One vampire quickly figured that it might be a good idea to take out the man with the crossbow. He crept behind Giles and sprang to bite, then fell away, screaming and on fire. Giles turned in time to see Pyro try his luck on a furred demon. That didn't work as well as it did on vampires, but from the demon's screams, still quite effective.
That end of the fight seemed under control.
Magneto looked for Marcie a moment, but didn't expect to find her. Marcie did her best work in when her enemies gathered in groups, where her actions could more easily go unnoticed. Out in the open, a more discerning attacker could occasionally spot where she should be. He saw that, true to form, little clumps broke apart as they were attacked from within.
Mystique was fighting alongside Spike;. She kicked and snapped necks while he ripped and tore, as hard a fighter as his opponents. Magneto noted that Mystique, however, was not taking the risks she usually did. Instead, she left the more dangerous foes to her vampiric ally.
It was decisions like that which reminded him why she was his right hand woman.
The Brotherhood and the Scoobies steadily overcame their attackers, until vampire dust and demon corpses littered the field of battle.
Melly, who had not yet budged from her spot near the fire, surveyed the scene calmly.
"Not bad for the first wave."
Everyone (except Willow and Tara, who were steadfastly ignoring the outside world) stared at the siren.
"The FIRST wave?" Buffy gasped, waving her hand to indicate the bodies. "You mean this wasn't our big battle?"
"Of course not. Sweetheart, did you really think the cultists would send such a disorganized rabble after you? These are just the bottom feeders who can't resist the fireworks. The cultists should be coming any minute that the expendables are gone." Melly nodded firmly. "Yes, any minute now."
Magneto looked over the troops. They were cut, bruised, and bleeding. Toad had a nasty gash on his side. Avalanche and Pyro had avoided most of the contact fighting but still looked weary. Of the Brotherhood, only Mystique looked ready for another big fight.
The three humans, Giles, Xander, and Anya, sported their own share of injuries (well, perhaps not Anya. She had quite handily avoided the more vicious parts of the battle, hanging back with Melly and shouting advice). Buffy and Spike didn't seem winded, but both had a minor injury or two.
He hoped the witches would finish soon. They might still have to fight the cultists, but at least that would be with some extra fire power.
***
Willow and Tara were vaguely aware of their surroundings as they finished the last preliminary chant. But until they were outright interrupted, they wouldn't stop until the spell was cast. The power they had called filled them and demanded release.
Tara held the focusing crystal over the cauldron and let go. It fell for a moment before hovering only a fraction above the cauldron's contents.
Blood from Willow's vial dripped onto the crystal, turning it scarlet.
Blood of innocence. Sacrifice of innocence. Death of innocence. To thee I call.
***
Out of the corner of her eye, Anya saw Willow pour the blood. The real magic was going to start now.
That's when she also noticed they were surrounded.
Black robed figures formed a circle around the Scoobies and Brotherhood. As Willow and Tara started the incantation, they began to close in.
Anya wished she had taken up Melly's advice and gone to Russia. There were at least a hundred cultists surrounding them.
And every single one was armed to the teeth, sometimes even literally.
Her Xander summed it up best.
"We're dead."
And if you noticed that gods/goddesses mentioned here are not part of any Earth pantheon, I do know that. It was either them or the Greeks and the Greeks lost the coin toss.
***
Hail, hail. The gang's all here.
Only starlight lit the cemetery, the moon gone, hidden from view, as the Scoobies and Brotherhood gathered to cast the dampening spell. They formed a circle around a small fire, flame burning steadily courtesy of Pyro. The silver, gold, and copper cauldron floated above, a minor levitation spell maintaining its place. Tara had been a little leery about using so much magic, but Anya and Melly had insisted that the more power expended, the stronger their call to greater magic would be heard.
Given the two's larger body of knowledge in spellcasting, Tara had listened to their suggestion. Willow didn't particularly care, one way or another. Her only focus was on getting this spell done, finally. After practically a week's worth of preparation, Willow was ready to do just do it.
Slowly, she added the crushed rose hips, monkshood, and sage to the cauldron. Just add water, her slightly hyper mind bubbled, and your insta- spell will be complete! Willow shook herself, focus. Now was not the time to become HyperBabble Willow.
After taking a deep breathe, Willow started the preliminary chanting. If that was one thing she hated about complex, hugely powerful rituals, it was the amount of chanting that went with them. Blah blah blah, we invoke thee, blah blah blah, we invoke thee three times in a row, blah blah blah, we say that in Latin, blah blah blah...
Tara elbowed her gently - pay attention, honey! Willow blushed guiltily and focused on the chanting again.
Mystra, look upon our task with favor. Helm, look upon our task with favor. Tymora, look upon our task with favor. Sune, look upon our task with favor. We seek to bind. We seek to protect. We seek to preserve.
Mystra, look upon our task with favor ...
***
Magneto watched his cousin begin the spell. He didn't quite understand what it entailed (not that he would admit that) but he did have enough experience to know when there was a problem. And so far, there wasn't.
Feeling fairly certain on that front, he turned to survey the surrounding area. Personally, he didn't understand why they had to cast the spell out in the open the cemetery (something about the laws of magic, no doubt). They were far too vulnerable in this location, for his comfort.
His Brotherhood was prepared to the utmost, he knew. Avalanche wandered about, talking to the air. Hopefully, that was with Marcie. Otherwise, that young man needed psych evaluation. Toad was on the roof of a nearby crypt, serving as a lookout of sorts. Pyro hovered near the witches, helping them for the moment. Mystique was about as well, sulking at the edge of the group.
Magneto made a note to speak with her about the importance of the goal over the individual. That was one of the tenets of the Brotherhood, after all.
It was the 'Scoobies' that concerned him. They all had skills, there was no doubt, but did they have the discipline needed for a fight on this scale? Buffy was their leader, at least in military terms, but she struck him as a wild card fighter, the sort who worked best alone. Giles was intelligent, and possessed a core of ruthlessness that Magneto appreciated, but was still only human. Much the same went to Xander - brave, but lacked the strength to back himself up. Anya made no pretenses toward strength or bravery, but instead stood near the witches, gripping her crossbow tightly while muttering about foolish mortals and death wishes.
And then there were the two demons, Anya's friend Melly and the vampire Spike. When offered a weapon, Melly had simply laughed, "Dearie, do you really think I survived two millennia just because of my pretty face?". She stood next to Anya, chatting gaily about who knows what sort of nonsense, acting like she was at a coffee klatch and not a spellcasting. Spike, on the other hand, was prowling about, every inch the warrior waiting for battle to begin. If Magneto bothered to concentrate, he could sense that infamous chip that supposedly kept Spike from being a threat to humanity. An ingenious invention, really. Though not one he would like put into practice. Well, maybe on his enemies, perhaps.
A branch snapped. Everyone jumped to attention, focusing on the sound. A dog lumbered into view, sniffed a nearby grave stone, did his business on Dearly Departed Hortense, and lumbered away. Everyone relaxed. The chanting continued.
And continued. And continued. In fact, the witches' chanting seemed to drone on a bit. Next to him, Giles muttered, "Now I remember why I want to be late for the ritual. Nothing happens until after they complete the first round invocations."
Melly nodded, "You should never come until the chanting is finished. Magic doesn't start until later."
"You mean that this isn't the actual spell?" Magneto asked, jerking his head to indicate the chanting witches.
"By Poseidon's trident, no. This is just the preliminaries. Placations, invocations, et cetera. We've a ways to go before the real meat of the matter begins."
Magneto felt a strong urge to whine like a little boy when he heard that. They would be standing here doing nothing for how long?
"Don't worry, dearie, the demons will be out soon enough. Power like this calls us, you know."
He felt a little better.
"... She of Magic hear us and grant aid. He of Justice hear us and grant aid. She of Fortune hear us and grant aid. She of Passion hear us and grant aid..."
After what seemed to be an interminable amount of droning on the part of his cousin and her girlfriend, Toad finally called out to them, "Heads up, people. We've got company!"
Assorted creatures appeared from the darkness, slowly and inexorably moving toward them, like moths to a flame. Magneto caught glimpses of the deformed visages of vampires, their yellow eyes gleaming. Beside them were beings he assumed were demons, scaled and clawed, baring rows of teeth in the starlight.
Well. He wanted something to do, didn't he?
With a wave of his hand, Magneto sent knives, conveniently located next to him, on a direct course for the throats of demons in his vicinity. Some cried out and collapsed, others kept moving, despite large gashes that would have been incapacitating in a human.
The battle was joined.
Toad launched himself from the roof, crushing the bodies of the creatures below him. One of the demons recovered, bones snapping back into place. Its claw raked Toad's side as the mutant bounded away, spitting green goo back into its face.
"That's a Mvrok demon!" Anya shouted. "You kill it by twisting its head off, it doesn't need to breathe!"
Toad ignored her, now battling a group of vampires. Buffy tossed him a stake before bringing her axe down to decapitate the Mvrok. As purple ichors spewed over the ground, she bounded over to help Xander fend off a Polgara.
On the other side, the ground shook and undulated, as Avalanche tried to off balance his opponents. Holes emerged, demons fell in, only to be squashed as he closed the ground back up again.
Unfortunately, this seemed to wake up the still-sleeping undead. Fledgling vampires scampered out of their graves and made a bee line toward their attacker. A few feet behind Avalanche, just out of the quake zone, Giles coolly took aim and fired, dusting each one.
One vampire quickly figured that it might be a good idea to take out the man with the crossbow. He crept behind Giles and sprang to bite, then fell away, screaming and on fire. Giles turned in time to see Pyro try his luck on a furred demon. That didn't work as well as it did on vampires, but from the demon's screams, still quite effective.
That end of the fight seemed under control.
Magneto looked for Marcie a moment, but didn't expect to find her. Marcie did her best work in when her enemies gathered in groups, where her actions could more easily go unnoticed. Out in the open, a more discerning attacker could occasionally spot where she should be. He saw that, true to form, little clumps broke apart as they were attacked from within.
Mystique was fighting alongside Spike;. She kicked and snapped necks while he ripped and tore, as hard a fighter as his opponents. Magneto noted that Mystique, however, was not taking the risks she usually did. Instead, she left the more dangerous foes to her vampiric ally.
It was decisions like that which reminded him why she was his right hand woman.
The Brotherhood and the Scoobies steadily overcame their attackers, until vampire dust and demon corpses littered the field of battle.
Melly, who had not yet budged from her spot near the fire, surveyed the scene calmly.
"Not bad for the first wave."
Everyone (except Willow and Tara, who were steadfastly ignoring the outside world) stared at the siren.
"The FIRST wave?" Buffy gasped, waving her hand to indicate the bodies. "You mean this wasn't our big battle?"
"Of course not. Sweetheart, did you really think the cultists would send such a disorganized rabble after you? These are just the bottom feeders who can't resist the fireworks. The cultists should be coming any minute that the expendables are gone." Melly nodded firmly. "Yes, any minute now."
Magneto looked over the troops. They were cut, bruised, and bleeding. Toad had a nasty gash on his side. Avalanche and Pyro had avoided most of the contact fighting but still looked weary. Of the Brotherhood, only Mystique looked ready for another big fight.
The three humans, Giles, Xander, and Anya, sported their own share of injuries (well, perhaps not Anya. She had quite handily avoided the more vicious parts of the battle, hanging back with Melly and shouting advice). Buffy and Spike didn't seem winded, but both had a minor injury or two.
He hoped the witches would finish soon. They might still have to fight the cultists, but at least that would be with some extra fire power.
***
Willow and Tara were vaguely aware of their surroundings as they finished the last preliminary chant. But until they were outright interrupted, they wouldn't stop until the spell was cast. The power they had called filled them and demanded release.
Tara held the focusing crystal over the cauldron and let go. It fell for a moment before hovering only a fraction above the cauldron's contents.
Blood from Willow's vial dripped onto the crystal, turning it scarlet.
Blood of innocence. Sacrifice of innocence. Death of innocence. To thee I call.
***
Out of the corner of her eye, Anya saw Willow pour the blood. The real magic was going to start now.
That's when she also noticed they were surrounded.
Black robed figures formed a circle around the Scoobies and Brotherhood. As Willow and Tara started the incantation, they began to close in.
Anya wished she had taken up Melly's advice and gone to Russia. There were at least a hundred cultists surrounding them.
And every single one was armed to the teeth, sometimes even literally.
Her Xander summed it up best.
"We're dead."