New Witch Old Flame
Part 22
Willow burst through the door, with Meg close on her heels. Inside the Magic Box, chaos reigned. Five large green-scaled demons with six-inch claws for hands were trashing the merchandise. Buffy reached for one and thrust her fist into its midsection. Stunned momentarily, the demon took two steps back and found itself impaled on a sword held by Xander. Spike had another demon by the neck, and gave a vicious twist. A loud snap indicated that he had broken the demon's neck. Buffy turned on a third demon, but he signaled to his to compatriots and they ran from the shop.
"Well, I guess we weren't needed," said Willow, "What the heck are those things." She pointed to the dead bodies on the floor. "I still think they should go poof, like vampires do. Clean up is such a drag."
"Well, I think this is one time when magic can be used," laughed Meg. "But before we do, we need to identify the demons and try and figure out what they wanted." As she spoke, the bell over the door jingled and Giles, Dawn and Tara walked in; their arms loaded with bags of Chinese take out.
"Good Lord," said Giles. "What in the world happened here?"
"That's a good question," said Anya as she pulled down a large reference book and began to leaf through it. "I've never seen them before."
"Their Brogadash demons," said Dawn, as every head whipped around to stare at her. "Are you sure Dawn?" asked Giles. "How do you know that?"
"Well, geez, I had to do something while I sat here and you guys did your Scooby stuff. I read the books."
"She's right," said Anya. "Here's a picture, and it's a perfect, if ugly match. It says that Brogadash demons are a higher level being, meaning they can think and reason. They also live in groups or ten or more, so that means there are more where these guys came from."
"Well, we know who they are, so I think we can dispose of these carcasses," said Meg. "Willow, Tara, Anya, Dawn, come here please. I believe this is a good opportunity for a practical lesson." The five women made a small circle around the remains of the first demon. "I want you to focus on the demon, and imagine its body disintegrating into a pile of dust, much like a vampire, and repeat after me, ashentaria evaporatia."
The girls focused and repeated the phrase, and the corpse began to smolder and catch fire. Meg quickly stepped forward and waved her hand over the demon's body and extinguished the flames. "ashetaria evaporatia" she intoned and the body disappeared into a pile of dust. She stepped over the dust and repeated the incantation over the second body and it disappeared as well. "That was an excellent first attempt ladies. There is a lot to be said for being able to perform magic as a solitary, but there is nothing more powerful than magic worked between friends. In time, you will learn to harness this power."
"That was cool," whispered Dawn. "That was really cool."
"Yeah, it was cool, but while you guys are having fun making bodies go poof, Xander, Spike and I are doing all the manual clean up," said Buffy walking over to the small group. Dawn and the others laughed and began to help pick up the scattered merchandise. Meg pulled Dawn aside and whispered a few words into her ear. Dawn shut her eyes tightly and focused all her will on the book of demons that Anya had been looking through. It floated up into the air, hovered for a minute and slammed back down onto the counter.
"I did it, I did it, did you see that," shouted Dawn to the others.
"Yeah you did Niblet, I'm sorry I doubted you," said Spike.
"Hey, that was pretty cool Dawnster, I could use you on the construction site," laughed Xander.
"Yeah, it was cool," said Dawn in a sudden fit of maturity, "But it isn't getting this place cleaned up, and we still have to figure out what green claw guy wanted here." She reached down and grabbed a box of candles that had spilled on the floor and began to sort them by color. Buffy looked at her sister, and then at Meg and Giles and smiled. "Yeah, and besides, I think I smell Moo Goo Gai Pan, and I'm hungry."
Willow and Tara began to gather up the amulets that had been spilled on the floor. "You ok Sweetie?" asked Tara to her girlfriend.
"Yeah, I think I will be. I wasn't to sure about Meg, I kind of thought she was too good to be true, coming in and solving all our problems, kind of like a Pollyanna, but I think I was wrong. I think she has a lot to offer all of us. She said I have to go back to the beginning, and start studying, but that might be good."
"It could be fun Will," said Tara. "I mean, you are like so totally powerful and all, but,"
"I'm missing the foundations," continued Willow. "That's what Meg said anyhow. Like you had your mom to teach you all that stuff, my mom never taught me anything, except for stuff about gender typical biases and stuff. Nothing useful." The two girls laughed together as they continued to clean. Tara reached down and picked up an amulet with a blue stone in it. "What's this?" she asked. "I've never seen it before." Willow reached out and took the talisman from the other girl.
"I don't know, I've never seen it before either. Ask Anya, she should know."
Tara took the talisman over to Anya, but she was unable to identify it either. Neither could Giles or Meg. Spike came over and looked at it and whistled.
"That's the Barakarian talisman. It's very powerful. Legend says that it grants the wearer ultimate power."
"That's impossible," said Giles. "The Barakarian talisman is a legend, it's never been proven to exist."
Spike reached over and grabbed it and waved it in front of Giles. "Oh look, I just proved it," he said.
"Now now, boys," quipped Xander. "If you can't play nice, Spikey's going to have to go home."
"What do you mean ultimate power?" asked Buffy.
"Well, the legend says that if you have the talisman, and perform a special ritual, any and all power that you have ever desired will be yours."
"So like if I wanted to fly, I'd be able to?" asked Anya. "Well that sounds pretty cool."
"Yes, but I'm guessing that the type of person who generally is searching for this thing wants a little bit more than the ability to fly," said Giles as he rubbed his glasses. "What I think we need to figure out is how it got here, and who wants it and why?"
"Ah, we also need to figure out where the rest of it is," said Spike.