Chapter 46.
The Ropen wanted to infiltrate the manor house as subtly as possible. So, he slithered completely on his belly across the Halliwell's front lawn. But, no sooner had his upper torso reached the driveway, than it happened. A midnight-black Escalade, with tinted windows, came racing into the driveway and ran right over him!
"Did we get him, Vlad?" asked Drusilla.
"Only one way to tell for sure, my love," replied Dracula.
He telekinetically put the steering lever into reverse and backed the 4-wheel drive Cadillac up. As soon as he had done that, however, the Ropen reared up (like the giant cobra he resembled), and used his clawed left hand to smash the front windshield! Drusilla screamed in panic, instantly diving to the floor of the Escalade's rear seat to avoid the shaft of sunlight that came beaming in. But, Dracula had a little more solar-tolerance. And, he made effective use of it by turning into black mist. . .and billowing himself right into the Ropen's open mouth.
The latter immediately snapped his jaws shut. It was too late, though! The self-proclaimed Lord of Vampires had already gone straight down his throat and into his digestive system. There, he changed back to his more corporeal form. . .and subsequently burst forth from the Ropen's chest.
"Unh!" he winced, as he returned to the shelter of the back seat: "That seemed so much easier when Sigourney Weaver's alien did it!"
Unfortunately, for him and Drusilla, the Ropen was also more regenerative than a cinematic xenomorph. A fact verified when the latter reared upward, once again.
Buffy, unable to help with the reading of the first incantation over the Book of Shadows, was trying to think of other things while guarding the top of the attic stairs. She was, thus, once again unprepared for the intense pain that coursed through her head as she received another precognitive vision! A vision of her mother lying on the front seat of Dracula's Escalade. And, of the Ropen reassuming his draconic form. . .
. . .just before engulfing both the vehicle and its occupants in flame.
It was at this moment that the others stopped the incantation. Buffy looked at the group, and vice-versa.
"We are enjoined," she said (in a strangely distorted, yet still distinct voice): "And you know what I must do."
The group surrounding the Book of Shadow nodded as one.
Even as Dracula used telekinesis to reassemble the shattered front window, the Ropen was preparing to transform. His concentration was broken, however, by a sudden spasm of pain that traveled upward from just above the tip of his snake-like tail!
It was Buffy.
On her way down from the Halliwell attic, she had exited through the kitchen. Allowing her to take up a small arsenal of four butcher knives, two meat cleavers, and a sterling silver serving tray, before barging through the back door. She had then used the first of the knives to impale the Ropen's tail, before leaping upward and implanting the second one in the small of his humanoid back!
The enraged Setite roared with pain and anger. Swaying back and forth in a frenetic attempt to dislodge the Slayer. To no avail, though. So, he resorted to "cracking the whip." Sending ripples down his back and along the upper portion of his tail, with ever increasing speed, until Buffy ultimately flew off his back and landed flat on her own! The Ropen then took the offensive. Curving around and lunging down to impale the Slayer with his venomous fangs. But, Buffy was way ahead of him. She whipped the serving tray out, from within the left inner lining of her leather jacket. . .
. . .and used it as a shield.
Once more, the Ropen screamed with pain. This time, from catching his teeth in the metal of the tray! Buffy did not stop there, however. Rolling over to her left, she used the tray as a lever. Breaking each fang in half, as a result!
The Ropen instinctively covered is mouth with both of his clawed hands, allowing Buffy to back-flip back on to her feet. She then leaped upward and forward. Using her momentum to crash both her and the Ropen on to the roof of the Escalade. This, of course, caused to indent inward. Much to the startlement of the yelping Drusilla! Yet, Buffy did not stop there. Withdrawing each of the meat cleavers, she used them to both sides of his cobra-like hood to the roof!
After which, she used the two remaining butcher knives. . .to impale him through each eye. Stabbing downward, over and over and over, until the semi-reptilian nerves of the old Setite had finally gotten the message. Namely; to stop twitching as he had met his Final Death.
Confirming that for herself, by watching the corpse turn to ash, the Slayer's next move was a gymnastic cart-wheel off the Escalade's roof, and on to the ground. Right next to the left rear passenger door. And, with a sickening "scrunch," she tore that door off its hinges with only her right hand. With her left hand, she gestured at the back seat. . .and telekinetically drew Dracula into its vice-like grip!
"ARRRRRGH!" screamed the latter as she held him up in the direction of the sun.
"Your insatiable craving for power ends here and now," she told him (in that same multiple-sounding voice): "It cost you your childer, Marcus and Phillipe. It cost me the life of my mother. . ."
"No! !" he rasped: "We- - -have not- - -harmed her. Her- - -weak half- - -lies. . ."
". . .dead on your front seat. The victim of an undiagnosed brain aneurysm just suffered by her stronger half in Sunnydale! And relayed here via their neuro-empathic link. The Ferrula Geminiarum is useless to me, now. Which means. . .so are you and your psychotic little paramour."
Dracula's screams reached an ear-splitting crescendo as he reached the limit of his solar-tolerance and became just as big a pile of ash as the Ropen. And when Buffy locked semi-glassy eyes with her, all Drusilla could do. . .was whimper.
PRESIDENTIAL SUITE,
S. F. AIRPORT HILTON
MICK ST. JOHN'S P.O.V.
I staggered a little, as if I were dizzy. And, for a second, I thought it might be past my feeding time. But, then I looked at Sonny, Angel, and Giles. All three of them looked as confused as I felt! So, I asked:
"Did we just experience some kind of micro-tremor?"
Giles just shook his head.
"I. . .I believe. . .we have just felt. . .one of the ripple effects. . .of the enjoining spell. All. . .of San Francisco. . .is now linked. . .to one extent or another. . ."
"With me," said a new voice.
We all looked towards the window smashed during Buffy's fight with Glordelia. And, not only were it and the other broken window miraculously intact, once more. Buffy, herself, was standing in front of it. . .as if she were the one who had put them both back together!
"Good Lord!" muttered Giles: "How on Earth. . .?"
"The enjoining has temporarily given me Leo Wyatt's orb-traveling power," she replied (in this weird-sounding tone): "As well as the accumulated knowledge of Magga, last of the Guardians. By both means, I was able to obtain this for you, Angel."
She tossed something in Angel's direction that he had no difficulty catching between the palms of his hand. And his eyebrows arched in surprise when he looked at it.
"The Ring of Amara?!"
She nodded: "It will protect you from disintegration by daylight long enough for us to do what must be done."
Whereupon, she turned into a veritable cloud of white orbs of light; blanketed Angel with them; and, then, just vanished!
Next: the final showdown with Glordelia.