(A/N: Hey, great job to everyone before me, this is Buffyfan32578 from
neopets and this is my second run on the fic, so here's chappie ten!)
Anya screamed and swung her fists wildly, hoping to connect with something,
anything. She cried triumphantly when the arms released her and she turned to
face them, arms raised in preparation to 'kick-butt'.
"Okay, evil..." Her whippy remark failed her when she took in the sight
before her.
Fifty or so beasts stood before her. The beasts resembled hunched over men
with hairy faces and three-inch incisors that protruded from their upper
lip. Their nails - which once may have been human, were long and
yellowed, ragged to an edge. They slashed at the air in a menacing way
and snapped their teeth. They snarled in a way that a man might impersonate a
wolf - childishly and without real dedication to the act. However displayed,
though, Anya cringed back, grasping Connor and Dawn by the shoulders and
shoving them in front of her.
"Let's just work this out like grown-ups." she said in a tiny voice. She then
leaned into Dawn who was observing their small group of four."What now,
Dawn?" Anya asked, impatiently.
But Dawn ignored her remark and looked uneasily at Connor."Wait a minute,
where's Oz?" A short snap and a growl answered her, and a scraggly werewolf
snarled at her."Oh, crap."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"This is bloody great, it is. Abso-bloody-lutly lovely. All daisies
and...flowers, it is." Spike complained of their 'predicament' under his
breath, dragging deeply on his cigarette before letting the smoke billow out
in a faint cloud above his head.
"Y'know, Spike, this is an enclosed area, and I don't look forward to
developing cancer from second-hand smoke, really." Buffy complained, as
irked at their situation as he was. She shuffled her feet a bit, wincing when
it met something solid. Leaning down in the dark, she felt around her foot
area and her fingers brushed a polished surface. She picked up the large
stone and hefted it at the door without a seconds pause. The others, too,
watched while contemplating their own escape theories, and a few cringed
when the stone stopped mid-air in a blue spiderweb of hexes guarding the
doorway and the stone was demolished.
"Why didn't it do that when Spike tried to walk through it?" Angel muttered,
and Buffy gave him a scolding look, but she was thinking the same thing. How
was the force-field getting stronger?
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"So....any ideas? Anybody?" Willow pouted and ran her hands around the door
that had closed behind them. There was no sign of hinges or a knob, but with
Willow's, Tara's, and Faith's strength against it, it still held strong.
"Some light might be good. I can't see to my nose, although no surprise that
my vision is bad, what with no left eye but you don't see me complaining..."
Xander sighed, and Willow muttered a word under her breath, and the air
above them was busy with a thousand humming lights that wiggled in the air.
"Fireflies."Tara smiled and squeezed Willow's hand. "How romantic
"Or, ya know, not. They're fireflies cousins, though. They're Lurvies - the
regurgitated part of a firefly when eaten by a mystical creature."
"Oh, okay." Tara ducked her head, but held her hand still.
"So, what now?" Giles interrupted, waking from his thoughtful silence.
"We could, y'know, try to get through the other door that just appeared over
there." Faith pointed to the opposite wall.
Willow turned and followed Faith's vision line. Sure enough, the wall had
shifted to reveal a rounded doorway with carvings in it's old wood. Willow
touched the runes and examined the wood. Scorch marks marred its otherwise
nice finish, as if it had been partially burnt. A bronzed doorknob beckoned
her. Pulling away from the fascinating attraction she had for it, she faced
the group, her brows knitted.
"The wood. It's from an Elder tree, and I don't need to interpret the runes
to know that we probably don't want to go through that door." She motioned
for Giles to examine the burnt wood."'Elder be the Lady's tree, Burn it not
or cursed ye'll be.'" She recited and turned to Giles. Grimly, he nodded and
motioned for the others.
"Come on, it's the only way out."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Buffy put a hand to her head to ward off the increasing headache. Looking
around, Wesley and Gunn were doing the same and even Angel and Spike were
wincing slightly. A thought struck her and she examined the criss-crossing
web across the door. Every moment her headache increased, the web glowed more
brightly, and with more power. Wesley, too, seemed to have noticed this.
"It's seeping our strength."He muttered, "Every moment more we're in here we
grow weaker and it grows stronger."
"So what do we do? We can't break through and we can't stay in here long,
either."Angel spoke up, now firmly pressing his palm to his temple.
"I don't know, but we'd better figure somethin' out, fast!"Gunn shouted
over the unbearable pain in his head.
"Bugger."Spike roared as he was hit by a fit of pain. Pulling his palm away
from his own temple, he realized that he was closest to the door and the
spasms hit him quickest and longest.
Also, his peroxide bleached hair had caught fire from the pulsing web, and
it didn't smell too peachy, either.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Connor winced when the first werewolf attacked him, sinking it's fangs into
his arm. Cursing loudly, he flung it away with a powerful thrust of his
arm. He shoved Dawn and Anya behind him and called Illyria forwards.
"Come on, ya gotta help us out!"He shouted at the fallen entity. She frowned,
considering him for a moment before nodding and tossing a powerful blow at a
pair of attacking were-wolves.
"Don't kill Oz!" Dawn warned as the very scraggly werewolf latched his fangs
around Connors' arm. Connor glared back at her, but eased his blow to Oz
anyway.
Anya screamed again and again as werewolves launched themselves at the
small front, and Connor was sure that the headache they were giving him
would kill him before the werewolves had the chance.
(A/N: The italicized piece up there is from the witches rede - one of my
friends is Wiccan, so I thought I would use that bit.)