The Gift of a Family Ch18. Fighting The Dragon.
As always thanks to Sulien for being my beta reader she is excellent! (all is well) Thank you! Also thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it.
"I am not, nor will I ever be your Childe," Buffy growled and leapt toward him. Their swords crashed together and a light sparked between them. The battle had only just begun.
The Dragon's sword flashed in a blur towards her throat and Buffy parried causing it to pass harmlessly through the air at her side. She thrust her own blade towards his chest, looking to wound him with what would have been a fatal blow for a human. The Dragon, however, was expecting this and slipped easily away from her riposte.
Buffy lost sight of The Dragon, momentarily, but turned to try and catch him as she was certain that he was about to attack her from the side.
Jack's frightened cry was Buffy's only warning as a hand with a steely grip enclosed the wrist of her sword arm while The Dragon's sword slipped with ease up next to her neck, holding her deathly still. She couldn't believe that he had already beaten her this easily, as she felt the soft caress of his lips nestle her neck from behind her.
"You are not applying your full abilities against me, Miss Summers. Don't disappoint me, I was so looking forward to fighting the great slayer who had defeated so many of my line. I thought you were going to try and kill me. I was given to understand that you beat Angelus with a sword. Show me your fire Childe."
The sword was withdrawn from her neck, but before she could react, she was thrown across the cave to crash against one of the now empty pillars of obsidian stone, breaking it.
Pain flared through her body as Buffy rolled over and shook her head, unsteadily trying to get to her feet. She saw Wesley dust a vampire and Daniel was working to free another soldier in her peripheral vision. She could see that the soldier was bleeding as well and realized that another vampire had taken up the job of bleeding the remaining soldiers. There was nothing she could do to stop it, however, as The Dragon pulled her to her feet and thrust her away from her fallen sword.
He had discarded his sword as well at this point and had donned his bagh nakh instead. The Tigers Claw weapon was red enamel with gold but its claws gleamed silver and had dried black blood at it's tips. The Dragon thrust Buffy forward across the center of the seal. She nearly slipped on the slick rock of the bloody seal but turned to attack regardless. "Apply yourself girl this is the last battle of your life. Show me your fire." He stated.
"Oh, I'll apply myself, but this sure as hell isn't my last battle. I defeated a Hell God, you honestly think you can win against me? I'm gonna kick your ass to Timbuktu!" Buffy stated with confidence she didn't really feel. Taking a deep breath, she charged the Dragon with a stake in hand.
The Dragon slashed out at her as soon as she was within range. Buffy pivoted feeling the air brush her skin from the closeness of his attack. Spinning closer to him, she lashed out, punching him in the throat. It would have crushed the windpipe of a normal human, but hardly phased the master vampire who had no use for breath. Buffy knocked his other arm away before he could scratch her and hit him with an uppercut to his jaw. The Dragon staggered back with a mild case of whiplash and that is when the slayer went to town. She virtually erupted in spinning kicks and punches that kept him staggering back and wouldn't let him regain his equilibrium. Finally, she finished in a roundhouse kick to his chest that sent him flying across the room.
Buffy blinked to hear Jack cheering her on from where he was still chained to the rock. "How do you like my fire now?" Buffy growled to the Dragon as she rushed to get to him before he could regain his feet.
She was too late, however. The Dragon flipped to his feet in a move faster than the eye could follow. "Much better. You have much to learn, but you will make an excellent Childe," he stated cooly and with a flash of something in his eyes that looked almost like approval.
Buffy was about to hiss an appropriate reply, but a pained cry caught her attention. Daniel and Wesley had managed to get the second soldier loose Daniel was quickly binding his wounds, but that wasn't the problem. Another vampire had taken up the fancy long knife the first vampire was using to bleed the soldiers and was currently hurrying to cut them all so the ritual could continue.
Pulling a stake from her waistband, Buffy threw it, at the same time Jack cried out to her. The vampire collapsed into dust once again, leaving the knife to fall to the floor of the cavern. Buffy barely registered that her throw hit it's target or that Wesley rushed forward and collected the knife, because she was blinded by a searing pain across her hip and up her back. The claws of The Dragons' bagh nakh cut through her flesh like butter. She cried out, but ground her teeth and hissed in pain as she tried to force the it aside and turned back to face The Dragon.
"You disappoint me, Buffy. Surely Spike or even your Watcher trained you to never take your eyes off of the enemy. Allowing yourself to be distracted in a battle is an amateurs mistake and not worthy of one of the greatest slayers who have ever lived."
Buffy blinked, not certain if that had been a complement or an insult, as it seemed to be both and she wasn't sure how to take it. "You think I'm one of the greatest slayers who have ever lived?" she asked, feeling a little flattered in spite of the situation.
"Buffy, that's hardly the point. Stake him already!" Jack called out, not wanting her to get distracted.
"Yes, Buffy, I think it's time we moved past the preliminaries and get down to it. I look forward to drinking your blood. It is really a very intimate relationship that I plan to initiate you into. The only thing more intimate and a Sire and his Childe are life-mates. An honor I am sure Spike will be more than willing to share with you once you are one of us." The Dragon leered at her with an evil smirk on his face. "I look forward to initiating you to our ways," he stated leaving no question as to his intent.
"Eew! No thank you!" She stated clearly grossed out. "But it was a nice try, thanks for playing. You do win one of our lovely consolation prizes, though, a stake through the heart." Buffy growled at him just as she leaped forward and attacked with incredible speed, power and focus. She was enraged and not holding anything back.
Jack watched in shock and awe as his daughter interrupted the ritual in a flurry of fighting and dust. She was like poetry in motion, kicking, punching and dusting every vampire she came across. He could hardly believe the power and abilities his daughter commanded and barely noticed Daniel and Wesley as they slipped out and started freeing the other soldiers. His daughter was his main point of focus though, especially when she started fighting The Dragon. Jack called out in warning and started desperately trying to get free from the iron manacles that held him to the stone when he saw The Dragon slip in behind her and hold his sword to her throat.
Jack's wrists were bleeding by the time he saw Buffy thrown across the room crashing into a stone pillar, and winced in shared pain as he watched the pillar break and his daughter fall to the ground. His heart was in his throat, she had to have broken her back on that pillar. He watched in amazement as she started to pull herself up, trying to get to her feet.
"Buffy!" He called out, seeing The Dragon come up behind her with his Tiger's Claws on his hands. The Dragon pulled her to her feet and threw her toward the center of the seal, where she nearly slipped on the blood. Jack remembered the Dragon's threats to give him a front row seat while he turned Buffy and continued his futile struggles with his bonds as they bantered and fought beyond anything he had ever seen.
Jack hissed in anger at the Dragon's comments to his daughter, and he noticed that even Daniel stopped his work freeing the fourth soldier to turn and glare at the vampire in anger. Wesley and the other soldiers working where he left off.
Together, Daniel and Jack watched as Buffy and The Dragon took their fight to a whole new level. If she was poetry in motion before, she was beyond words now. Buffy held nothing back as she fought like an avenging angel. The Dragon, however, also stepped up the level of his fighting. He fought like the Devil himself with speed, skill and cunning, and with a leering smile on his face the whole time.
Jack found himself hating The Dragon worse than any Goa'uld, worse than Anubis and even Baal, who had tortured him to death repeatedly. No one looks at his daughter like that and continued living! Giving another futile tug at his bonds, he was about to shout to Daniel to get over to him and get him free when Buffy tripped backwards, falling onto her back on the seal with The Dragon following her down and knocking the stake from her hand. They were right in front of Jack, just as the Dragon had promised.
A fierce hand tangled itself in Buffy's golden hair and forced her head to the side to give The Dragon access to her neck.
"Welcome to the family, Buffy," The Dragon stated just before he sunk his fangs into her neck and began to drink her rich and powerful blood. Buffy desperately tried to push him off, but he had her well and truly pinned down. Tears filled her eyes as she realized her nightmare was about to become reality. The Dragon was going to turn her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.
Buffy suddenly felt the added pressure of another body throwing itself on top of The Dragon, then The Dragon was gone and a warm body fell through the dust onto her. Buffy blinked as the dust cleared and a pair of gorgeous blue eyes looked down on her in worry.
"Buffy are you alright?" Daniel asked gently in concern and worry as his thumb gently caressed her cheek, drawing a tendril of hair from her face.
"Daniel." She whispered in awe. "You saved me." She wasn't feeling very strong at the moment. In fact, she felt as weak as a kitten and tears filled her eyes as she embraced him. She didn't even realize that she was shaking in shock and fear.
"It's ok, Buffy he's nothing but dust now." He stated to reassure the shaking Slayer in his arms. He couldn't believe how this woman who seemed larger than life and who wielded power like an extension of her very being, was in his arms shaking like a leaf. It didn't seem right to see her like this and he desperately wanted to reassure the woman he was holding. Without hesitation he pulled her in for a gentle and feeling kiss. Buffy immediately responded to him and the kiss deepened into something far more passionate.
Daniel's kiss filled her with a strength and fire, and Buffy found herself again and could feel her power and confidence coming back to her. His kiss filled her with life and made her feel alive as she hadn't felt in a long time.
Jack watched in shock as his best friend kissed his daughter after saving her from a vampire. It was as if the world had turned upside down in that one instant and he wondered if it would ever go back to being normal again. For a moment, he felt as if he had lost his daughter before he could even get to know her. Pulling himself together, he did the only thing he could under the circumstances.
"Daniel!" Jacks voice yelled at his best friend, "Get your lips off of my daughter!"
A.N.(Ok so he finally spilled the beans, not as he planned but he can't have everything. Please review and don't be too angry I plan to update again soon.)