They all rushed them at once, not making the mistake of coming at them one after the other, fangs bared and fists raised; the first one to reach Pat was met with a flaming fist straight into the face, howling in pain as he stumbled back, clutching at his burned face, then falling over his own feet and landing on the ground, making yet another vampire who'd been charging the demon trip and nearly fall, as well. Before she could regain her balance, she was grabbed at the front of her dress, the beautiful gown they had buried her in; it caught fire, but before she could worry about that and about how much she might get hurt, she was flung to the right, crashing into two more vampires who had been inches from attacking the Slayer.
Giving her best to ignore the shouts and growls the fighting vampires were letting out, Willow quickly snatched the small leather pouch she'd been carrying on her belt; between two blows, Buffy saw how she loosened the string keeping it closed and poured some of the powder it contained on her palm, a smirk forming on her face as she realized what the witch was about to do, only to be wiped off seconds later when one of the vampires snatched her from behind and sunk his teeth deep into her neck.
"Willow!" she cried out in shock, in perfect unison with Pat; as if in slow motion, she saw the demon start moving as well, then the taller woman was tackled from two more vampires and teeth flashed up, followed by sucking and gulping sounds.
"No!" Buffy shouted, bringing up the stake that suddenly was in her hand, but before she could take more than two steps, all the remaining vampires jumped her, burying her beneath them, and then their teeth were everywhere, biting into her flesh, drinking her blood, ignoring her struggles, and soon they grew weaker as the blood loss became too big to ignore, the world darkening around her as she realized with horror that she would die… From the corner of her eye, she saw someone standing close to her, watching her with a small smile curling the green and scaly lips, then the darkness took over and all thoughts were gone.
"Buffy! Dammit Buffy, wake up!" Groaning, Buffy forced herself to open her eyes, asking herself what exactly just had happened when she found herself looking up at both Willow and Pat, the couple looking awfully concerned; the last thing she remembered was how the vampires had taken her down, how they had bitten both her friends before that…
"Are you okay?" Willow demanded to know, the Slayer only now realizing that she was grasping her hand, "you can hear me, right? Are you okay?"
"I can hear you", the blonde made herself answer after just staring at her friend in stunned silence for a while, trying to figure out why there were no bite marks anywhere on her; carefully, she tried to sit up, wincing when sharp pain ran through her throat moments later.
"Don't sit up yet", Willow advised her at once, "that vampire got you pretty bad, I'm so glad you woke up again, we already thought we'll have to take you to the hospital, that bitch really got you good…"
"Which one of them?" Buffy groaned, only to frown when moments later, Willow and Pat exchanged confused looks, the demon sounding that way, too, when she answered. "What do you mean, which one of them? There was just one."
"No", the Slayer protested at once, trying to sit up again and succeeding this time, even though sharp pain ran through her neck again at the movement, "there were much more, ten or eleven, and they got you both…"
"No there weren't", Willow replied, exchanging another look with Pat, now a concerned one, "there was just this one vampire, she got you and drank pretty much of you and you passed out."
"Maybe you had a dream while you were knocked out", Pat hazarded, shrugging when this resulted in both Buffy and Willow looking at her curiously. "What? It's the only thing I can come up with."
"And it does make sense", the Slayer admitted after a moment, "it must have been a dream then… Well, better said, a nightmare. I didn't know you can have nightmares when you're knocked unconscious."
"Apparently, you can", the demon shrugged, putting an arm around the blonde's waist and helping her to her feet, "and now, we better get you home so you can get some rest and have some more pleasant dreams than vampires eating Willow and me. Not that I think they would eat me, by the way, I doubt they'd like demon blood."
"Isn't your blood kinda normal?" Willow wanted to know, moving to the Slayer's other side to help supporting her as well, "at least it looks normal whenever you bleed."
"Doesn't taste normal though", Pat smirked at her as the three of them slowly started to walk towards the cemetery's exit, making sure Buffy could keep up despite how wobbly her legs still felt, "vampire bit me once, decades ago, and spat it right back out. Said it tasted rotten. Must have been because of my age."
"Or demon blood just tastes bad", Buffy muttered, "but I still don't get it, it seemed so real, I could feel them biting me and everything… I heard the noises they made when they were drinking from the two of you…"
"Nightmares can be that way", Willow wisely let her know, "I had one too the other night and it was horribly realistic."
"I hope there won't be a repeat performance", Buffy grumbled in reply; both Willow and Pat just smirked at her as an answer, then the witch recommended some warm milk with honey as a nightmare retardant, giggling at the way Buffy shuddered in response to her words.
"Warm milk with honey, ugh", the blonde then also voiced her dismay about that idea, "that's gross. Who drinks that stuff?"
"I do", Willow shrugged at once, "or else I wouldn't have recommended it. Trust me, it really helps!"
"But it's gross", Buffy whined, momentarily feeling absurdly like a child – before Pat decided to add her two cents as well, with a recommendation much more fit for an adult. "Try a shot of whiskey then, that helps, too."
"That's more like it", the Slayer smiled, shrugging at the mortified look the witch gave her in reply, her voice incredulous when she spoke up again. "If you drink a shot of whiskey after losing that much blood, you'll probably be drunk right away. Are you sure this is smart?"
"Oh, right", the demon realized before Buffy could reply anything, "I forgot about the blood loss. Scratch the whiskey then, go for the milk."
"I'll just go to sleep", the Slayer decided, "and can we please stop talking about milk now?"
"Fine with me", Willow smirked, giggling at the relieved look Buffy gave her in reply; then, the blonde asked if they could walk a bit faster, reassuring them both that she was capable of it when she received sceptic looks.
"If we keep this pace up, it'll take you an hour to walk me home", she argued, "and I doubt you'd like that. I'm feeling much better already, anyway. Slayer bonuses, you know?"
"Alright", the redhead agreed after a moment, knowing that arguing with Buffy when she was having that certain tone in her voice didn't lead anywhere, anyway, "but the moment you feel dizzy or something, you tell us, alright?"
"Yes, Mom", Buffy smiled, making the witch laugh once more; she shook her head slightly, then sped up her pace, prompting the Slayer and the demon to do the same, the three of them continuing their banter as they walked to the Summers house, the brief horrifying moments of the patrol forgotten by the time they arrived there.
The moment the couple had arrived at their own home, Willow made her way into bedroom, only taking the time to get out of her shoes and jacket; after doing the same, Pat followed her, smirking as she watched how Willow immediately changed into her pyjama and let herself fall into bed, a content sigh escaping her.
"Even though we just encountered one vamp, it was an awfully tiring evening", she told her partner after just lying there for a while and watching how the demon changed into what she normally wore for sleep, namely loosely fitting pyjama pants and an oversized shirt of one of the bands she liked, "what with Buffy getting bitten and being knocked out for so long afterwards."
"It wasn't that long", Pat gave back, joining her partner in bed and earning a frown when she lit up a cigarette after making herself comfortable, "just a few minutes, ten at the most. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you're smoking in the bedroom and the window's not open, plus, you might fall asleep and burn the place down", Willow reprimanded, smiling slightly again when her partner sighed, got up and moved to the window, opening it and remaining right next to it, making sure to hold her cigarette outside.
"I never fall asleep while smoking", she found it necessary to point out anyway, "and even if I did and the place would start to burn, you seem to be forgetting that I'm fireproof. I'm like asbestos."
"But I'm not", Willow reminded her of her vulnerability to fire, "and searching for a new place would be stressful, not to mention all the stuff that would get burnt. Like your beloved band t-shirts. Who names a band Haggard anyway?"
"Don't ask me", the demon shrugged, "asked the guy who named them. I didn't buy it for the band name anyway…"
"But for the gruesome picture?" the redhead teased, eying said picture, some sort of dramatic scene with a guy lying in the arms of a woman, fire and dark clouds in the background; smirking, Pat shook her head, then let her know that she had bought it because she liked the album it had been made for, the witch accepting this without teasing her any further about the gruesome motive.
"Finish that cigarette", she said instead, "and come back to bed, I wanna cuddle some more before going to sleep."
"Your wish is my command", Pat smirked at once, taking one final, long drag of the cancer stick before she threw it out the window; she took the time to close it, then moved back into the bed, smiling when immediately, Willow snuggled up to her.
"That's the way I like it", the witch sighed out once she had made herself comfortable again, the demon's arms around her, one hand lazily caressing her waist, "I always sleep so good when you hold me like that…"
"Let's hope that'll work tonight as well, then", Pat smirked, "I wouldn't want you to have any more nightmares. It's enough that you had one yesterday."
"And then poor Buffy had one too while she was knocked out", Willow mumbled, close to drifting off into sleep; if she had been feeling more awake, she might have asked herself if there was a connection between her nightmare and the one the Slayer had had, but thanks to her tiredness, that thought didn't come up, not even in the back of her mind.
"Yup, poor Buffy", the demon agreed, moving one hand to caress her partner's hair; Willow smiled slightly as an answer, then let out another yawn, closing her eyes afterwards and making an agreeing noise when her partner told her to sleep well.
"You too", she brought out after a moment, not even bothering to open her eyes again; smiling at how cute her partner was when she was tired, Pat went on with caressing her hair until she had fallen asleep, only ceasing when the long, slow breaths of the smaller woman made it obvious that she had drifted off into dreamland, following her there a few minutes later.