Chapter Sixteen:
The Bolinkodagenat Terrorizes People
Oz stared at the twenty-foot creature in front of him, towering over him. It would be hard to see in the night if it wasn't outlined by the fire behind it. Even in his werewolf form Oz didn't think he could do anything to it (he had matured since Sunnydale, so his wolf form had grown a good ten feet taller.
The Bolinkodagenat thrust out one giant claw to grab Oz's leg. Oz leapt over the claw and lashed out with his own, succeeding in penetrating the thing's passing arm's shell, which then poured green blood. Oz didn't see the other claw coming for him because of the lack of light, and it smacked him across the street and into the debris of a recently collapsed building.
Oz howled in pain and got up shakily. The fur under his right armpit was bloody where one of the thing's claws and scraped him. He then roared in pain and leapt up into the sky. He landed on top of the Bolinkodagenat and scratched it continuously until he was batted away and into a surviving building. The thing now had claw marks on its face. Oz hadn't succeeded in penetrating the shell that time.
Again Oz howled in pain. He got up quickly and charged again. He noted as he charged that the part of the shell he had penetrated was then no longer penetrated.
He stopped his charge when he heard a groaning behind him. The Bolinkodagenat was backing away as it stared up and behind Oz.
Leaping to the side Oz still didn't know what was happening. He did when the building he had been knocked into smacked into the ground, creating a miniature earthquake that caused Lorne, Giles, Oz, and the Bolinkodagenat to lose their footing. Oz was up first and on top of the camouflaged creature, slashing and slashing. The Bolinkodagenat screeched and then thrust its head forward. Its pincers punctured Oz's neck and blood poured out. He roared and leapt away from the beast.
The Bolinkodagenat was on its inverted legs a moment later and charging at the wounded Lycanthrope.
Oz knew he was going to be dead. He accepted it as his fur became sticky and wet with the red, oxygen-carrying liquid of life.
Death didn't come, however. The Bolinkodagenat stopped with its left claw still raised. It turned its head slowly to the right. It was sensing a great magical force close by.
It leapt hastily in the direction of the magical force. Over collapses and standing buildings alike it jumped and hurled itself forward. And Oz bled.
Meanwhile…
Willow had her hand pressed against Kennedy's head. She was concentrating on getting Kennedy out of the coma she was in. There were no incantations. No Latin. No fancy ingredients. It was just the magick inside of her working.
Suddenly light and darkness traded places. The shadows behind tables, chairs, people, etcetera where suddenly bright. Light was the weak and darkness was the powerful.
For several long seconds it remained like that as Willow searched the mind of her loved one for any sign of life--Willow was under the impression that Kennedy was dead--and by doing so she sent out a great sense of magick for any demon to notice and be attracted to.
When everything went back to normal, Kennedy was staring up at Willow.
"What happened?" Kennedy asked, her voice monotone and mechanic, like she didn't understand the question and didn't care what the answer was.
"KENNEDY!" Willow shouted in ecstasy and relief. She then hugged Kennedy and kissed her, not knowing that she had performed a spell to bring an already alive person back to life. "I'm so glad you're back. You were gone. I brought you back!" Xander was still muttering in disbelief that he had lost his arm. Soldiers were running around in the background screaming in pain or shouting for one of their friends or family members. Blood was prominent. But, for the moment, all was right for Willow Rosenberg.
"Willow…" Kennedy muttered as if she were seeing this red-headed witch for the first time in a very long time.
"That's right, baby," Willow said and looked into Kennedy's eyes. That's when all of the happiness and relief at having Kennedy back drained. That's when she realized she had made a big mistake.
That's also when the Bolinkodagenat pulled the tent covering off of the mess hall and screeched.
Meanwhile…
"HELP!" Buffy shrieked as she carried Dawn through the streets full of dead or dying soldiers and fire and demolished buildings. Blood was flowing out of Dawn's body and down Buffy's vanilla shirt and black pants. "HELP!" she shouted again. A nearly dead soldier with a gash in his forehead looked at Buffy and had enough time to think "no help" before death took him.
Buffy then thought of Willow and Xander. They could help. They had always been there for Buffy and Dawn. They would help. So Buffy then set off for the mess hall tent, where Willow had told Buffy she, Xander, and Kennedy would be.
Tears crawling down her face, Buffy climbed over rubble and over dead bodies. Dawn was getting heavy and Buffy wasn't sure how long it would be before she had to stop.
Then she saw the tent. Soldiers were surrounding it, bleeding and crying. A couple were crying as they hugged their comrades, who had been alive when the hug had begun but weren't anymore.
Buffy took two steps forward before she stopped.
Very small earthquakes were shaking the ground. The dying soldiers all looked to the side, down the street. A twenty-foot, insect-like monstrous being was headed towards the tent. A few were too weak to run and a few didn't care while many fled as fast as they could in their injured state.
The black creature tore the tent away to expose the tables, food, and people beneath.
It looked at Willow with its intense, red-and-black eyes. It reached for her.
That's when an injured and bleeding werewolf slammed into it and knocked it down. Oz was trying to hang on and fight this thing… to keep it from Willow, his love.
The force of his attack was so surprising that the Bolinkodagenat didn't react for the next few moments.
When it regained its senses it swatted Oz away with an annoyed grunt. This time Oz was too weak to get back up… or to even sustain his wolf form.
The Bolinkodagenat then turned back to Willow, who was staring up at it with wide eyes knowing that nothing could stop it from what it was going to do.
But, luckily for her, something did.
Buffy felt a strong sense of anger from something as the Bolinkodagenat looked up into the sky. Anger and frustration from a higher being. Then she also felt a lot of fear… this more potent and closer. She could only assume it was coming from the hulking insect in front of her.
Then there was no big, black bug in front of her. It had disappeared into thin air. Lorne and Giles then rounded the corner and stared at the form of a dying Oz.
Meanwhile…
Lindsey was sitting on the shoulder of a Venacklondage. So many Jarlkarlones and Venacklondages were standing in front of him along with a very small Zaerintoleran, who had been commended personally by Lindsey for being so successful in his mission to disable one of Angel's team's members. And also for getting the blood of a Slayer.
That's when another creature appeared in the crowd. This one was a few inches taller than the tallest Venacklondage and was shining black. It was the Bolinkodagenat.
"You stupid SHIT!" Lindsey shouted at the creature. It lowered its head in shame. "I told you… ORDERED you to keep yourself disguised. I know you were anxious to get out and stretch your limbs. Frankly I'm surprised you compressed yourself to a third your size to fit inside of a dead body, but that still doesn't justify your actions! I told you to kill Angel! Not ATTEMPT to kill Lorne! And what were you thinking when you went off to find Willow? You were about to KILL THE WEREWOLF! Killing him was more important than scratching the witch's cheek! I know you like to scratch the cheeks of witches, but NOW WAS NOT THE TIME!" The Bolinkodagenat then glared at Lindsey, whose mind had been poisoned by a higher power. Lindsey smiled. "Come here," he ordered. He then motioned with his finger. The creature took a few tentative steps forward. "Closer." Another few steps. "Closer." Another step brought the two face-to-face. Lindsey slapped the Bolinkodagenat and it screeched and retreated a couple steps.
"DUMB ASS!"
Meanwhile…
She opened her eyes. She felt like it had been a very long time since she had done that.
Illyria sat up and looked at the wooden beam protruding from her and sighed. She was bleeding a lot.
Illyria gripped the beam tightly and pulled. She felt it moving inside of her and gritted her teeth to defy a scream of pain and disgust.
Her organs were moved about and her bone fragments punctured her skin and organs. Blood spewed outwards as the beam came fully out.
She smiled. She hadn't felt pain like that in quite some time.
It was the last time she did.
Meanwhile…
"Is anybody alive?" Spike shouted into the street. The wind was screaming and so were soldiers. He heard a big crash. That was another building collapsing. He was still thinking about the death he had been shown less than an hour ago. It had been the death of Illyria. This Death of Your Comrades Act had faded like a dream, however, and he could only recall fragments. He did remember the explosions in the vision and knew what they had been caused by. He also remembered something about a wooden beam.
The air was cold for summer. Spike feared he was too late to save Illyria. That was a pity. He had always been amused by the ex-god.
"Anybody? Anybody at all? Just raise your hand and I'll come to you! Anyone? Shit." Spike continued on, looking for Illyria more than any survivors. He didn't know the soldiers and couldn't care less about them despite his soulified state. He did care for Illyria.
"IS ANYONE ALIVE?" Spike shouted down another dead street. A man across the street who was too devoid of energy to roll over onto his back mumbled into the ground for help in response to the voice. Spike didn't hear him and kept walking.
"SOMONE ANSWER ME!" his voice was getting slightly shrill. He was wondering just how big a chance they had of getting through this considering almost everyone was dead.
"HELLO?" That's when Spike spotted the form of Illyria. He smiled and ran forward two steps when he spotted the wooden beam and the blood. He was too late. He knew it. That was why the vision had faded. Because he didn't need it anymore. Just like the vision of Lorne's death had faded and Spike prayed that Lorne was alright. He had appreciated that green demon's presence.
"Illyria?" Spike asked in a whisper and dropped to his knees next to the body. "Are you alright?" "Spike?" Illyria replied.
"Yes, that's it," Spike said. Illyria turned over onto her back to expose her face and Spike found himself unable to speak.
"Who's Illyria?" Fred Burkle asked.
Hey, MorbidMan here. Hope you enjoyed the sixteenth chapter of this story. Sorry, Imzadi, but Lindsey's gonna go through a lot of stuff in this story, and I don't want to give away if he'll wind up for the better or for the worse. Sorry, also, for spelling his name incorrectly a couple chapters back. I tried it that way because I had read it spelled that way. And, Tariq, this story will get a bit more confusing.
I tried to bring a little humor back into the story with the portion on Lindsey, but I'm not sure if I was too stupid with the "scratching witches on their cheeks" part. It seemed like a funny idea at the time. Give me your angry review saying it was too stupid if you want.
Thanks to all of my reviewers so far… even those who lost interest and aren't continuing to read it (where are you Violet SS?)
See you next chapter.
AND I KEEP FORGETTING THIS! Charles Gunn wasn't an actual Christian in this story, he just had some beliefs that stayed with him even after he stopped being a Christian that annoy him yet won't go away. And Monique doesn't believe in the Hell with Satan like Christians do, and she doesn't believe in the Heaven Christians do, either. She believes in Hell Dimensions, but not THE Hell. I'm realizing that DID come out of left-field, but I hope this clears it up a bit and makes it less ridiculous-sounding.
"Something I've always been curious about, Elle. Just between us girls. What did you say to Pai Mei to make him snatch out your eye?" - Beatrix Kiddo "Kill Bill Vol. 2" (I just got it on DVD! Yippee!)