To their relief, they made it outside and to the car without being spotted by anyone, the men who had been with Willow when they had found her clearly not having bothered to put up some sort of guard, believing in the strength of the witch; and after crudely tying the redhead up with the demon's belt and a piece of rope Buffy had found in the trunk of Giles' car, they put her on the backseat before they drove off, both of them hoping that she wouldn't wake up and cause trouble on their way to the Watcher.
"I hope Giles will have a solution for this", Buffy sighed after the demon just had driven on in silence for a while, turning in the passenger seat so she could glance at her best friend's unconscious form, "it'd be just too wonderfully easy if removing that thing around her throat would be all we have to do to bring her back to normal."
"Don't jinx it", Pat grumbled, briefly glancing at her before she focused on the road again, "it'd be nice if things would just go well for once."
"Indeed", Buffy agreed, and as if that had been some sort of signal, a low, but still surprisingly loud whirring sound approached the car so fast that none of the two had time to react, followed by a heavy thump as whatever had caused the sound landed on the roof of the car, prompting the demon to curse viciously while Buffy merely flinched, then rolled her eyes, sounding annoyed when she commented on how she obviously had jinxed it already.
"Obviously!" Pat gave back, only to jump in her seat moments later as, with the metal crumbling like paper, the creature which had landed on the car rammed one foreleg through the roof, using the sharp, vaguely thorn-like and hardened part at the end of said leg, only the demon's fast reflexes keeping her from ending up with said thorn in her head as she ducked at the very last moment.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she cursed without really noticing that she was doing it as the claw was pulled back, then rammed through the roof again, trying to get Buffy this time, the Slayer managing to avoid the attack by throwing herself against the car door; they heard a strange, high-pitched chitter from the roof – and then the loud shriek of metal followed as whatever had taken residence up there started to work on removing the roof from the rest of the vehicle, prompting the demon to unleash another string of dirty words.
"Language", a well-known, but unusually cold and uncaring voice whispered into her ear from behind, and just as her good eye went wide, the belt they had used to tie Willow's hands behind her back was slung around her throat from behind and the redhead pulled, jerking her back against the driver's seat and cutting off her flow of air.
"Stop the car", Willow hissed as she pulled the loop she had formed even tighter, smiling maliciously at the choking sounds the taller woman was starting to let out yet again, "now!"
"Stop!" Buffy snapped in reply, leaning over as far as she dared to in her seat and giving her best to make the witch do just that; the resulting scuffle, along with the fact that she still was being choked, made it increasingly difficult for the demon to focus on her driving, her sight blurring as the lack of oxygen started to become an issue.
The fact that, on the roof, the creature was still working hard to tear the car open, didn't make driving exactly easier for her; and thus, it didn't come as a surprise when the vehicle started to swerve all over the street, causing the scuffle between Buffy and Willow to become even rougher and more uncontrolled than it had been seconds earlier.
Dimly, she heard Willow snarl at Buffy to let go of her, followed by the sound of a fist meeting flesh, and then the Slayer crashed against her, the impact having enough force to finally cause the complete loss of control over the car, the vehicle crashing into a tree at the side of the road moments later in an ear-shattering cacophony of shattering glass and screeching metal.
For a while, there was silence afterwards, only broken every now and then by random hissing noises from the car's ruined engine, steam and smoke rising from the smashed hood; and then, the creature, still clinging to the roof, shook itself before it let go of the vehicle and hopped down more or less elegantly, looking mildly curious as it peered inside, almost smiling when immediately, the back door of the car was pushed open and Willow climbed out, running one hand through her tousled hair, the few cuts she had taken during the crash healing so fast that they were gone by the time she spoke up.
"Deira", she greeted the demon, looking up at him, now rather unimpressed by his size and appearance, "took you long enough."
"Well, sorry", the demon replied, irritated, "they had to realize first that you were gone, then had to wake me up and then I had to find you. I think I was rather fast, considering all this."
"Whatever", the redhead shrugged off his words, then looked at the front of the car, a smirk curling her lips again when she saw Pat slumped over the steering wheel, blood trickling down her cheek, and Buffy hanging in the passenger seat, the window cracked where her head had been dashed against it during the crash, both of them still breathing, but out cold.
"Should we kill them?" Deira asked as he watched the witch study the two women, "to make sure they won't interfere again?"
"No", Willow decided after a moment, looking at him again, an evil glint in her darkened eyes, "let them try again. It is so amusing to beat them down, especially the looks their get on their faces when I kick their asses. Especially the demon, she's soooo in love with me."
"What a disgrace", Deira shook his triangular head, glaring at the unconscious Pat, "for all of our kind. Shame."
In response, Willow just shrugged, then nodded when the demon asked her if she was ready to go back to their place; she took one last look at the unconscious figures in the car, and briefly, just for the split of a second, her facial expression softened – before the cold and uncaring look slipped back and she turned away, walking off with Deira by her side a moment later, without looking back.
"Come on, wake up", a concerned, vaguely familiar voice reached her ears, "please? Come on!"
Groaning in response, hoping that this would shut the speaker up – and, perhaps, as she only noticed now, make him stop patting her cheeks – Pat forced her good eye open even though it felt as if the eyelid weighed a ton; and moments later, she found herself looking at Xander, the young man peering back at her highly concerned, looking slightly relieved when he noticed that she had finally done what he had told her to and had woken up.
"Pat's awake!" he now called out, talking to someone behind him the demon couldn't see, "see? And you said hitting her cheeks won't help!"
"Yes, I did", she heard Giles sigh, but before she could try to look around for him, Xander was focusing on her again, asking her if she could hear him.
"Yeah", she grumbled in reply, giving her best to ignore the ache all over her body while slowly, her memories of what had happened were coming back to her, the creature attacking them in the car, Willow choking her from behind and the crash…
"Willow", she thus brought out, trying to sit up so fast that it made her head spin, reminding her of the fact that she had been thrown against the steering wheel rather harshly when the car had crashed into the tree, "and Buffy… are they…?"
"Willow's gone", Xander told her regretfully, feeling bad for her when she slumped back down in response, "and Buffy's a bit banged up, but she'll be fine, Giles says."
"Yes, she will be", Buffy herself confirmed, appearing in the taller woman's field of vision moments later, blood drying on her face, and despite the confidence in her voice, the demon could see that she was in quite a bit of pain, "but I won't be in a state to fight for a while, I think I broke my arm in the crash…"
"Crap", Pat gave back, glancing at said arm and having to admit that Buffy was probably right, the way it hung down her side rather limply making it obvious that it wasn't the way it should be, "how long does your Slayer healing need to deal with this?"
"Longer than we have", Giles answered for the blonde, looking at the taller woman in dismay, "from what Buffy told me about Willow's behaviour, we have to act fast."
"Do you know what that thing around her throat is?" Pat wanted to know while she held on to Xander to come to her feet, making the Watcher nod, a hint of concern in his voice when he answered her question.
"Yes, I do", he confirmed verbally as well, "it's yet another artefact, used to increase the magical abilities of the one wearing it. It must have been tampered with to bring out the dark magic within her… If what I deduced from Buffy's description is right and I identified it correctly."
"Afraid you are", Pat grumbled, then asked them all to step back; knowing what she was about to do, they did so, the Watcher speaking on rather unperturbed by the fact that she changed into a hairy and burning beast right in front of them – by now, they all had seen this transformation often enough to not be impressed by it any longer, even having gotten used to the fleshy noises which came up as the demon's wounds started to heal.
"Removing the torc will most likely allow Willow to take control over the dark magic again", he told the small group while the flames flickering all over Pat's now rather bulky body threw dancing shadows on the street, "but only if we manage to do so fast enough. If she's under the influence of the torc and the magic for too long, it might be irreversible…"
"And removing it won't harm her?" the demon grumbled in response, "cause the last thing we need now is that I go there to fight and then end up hurting her when I take this thing off her."
"It shouldn't harm her", Giles let her know, then raised an eyebrow as she went down on all fours, "and, judging from your position, I assume you'll rush off there right now to find out if I'm right."
"Yes", the taller woman confirmed, "and you guys won't tag along. I need to get her alone to remove this thing from her, so I'll have to take out her robed cronies first, and I can't do that if you are trailing along behind me."
"Do be careful", Giles sighed in reply, not even trying to make her change her mind – being with Willow had mellowed her considerably and had brought out her human side more than anything else might have had, but whenever someone made the mistake of threatening or even harming her partner, all bets were off.
"What Giles said", Buffy added, giving her a concerned look, knowing about the damage she had taken during the last few hours, "and don't let anyone kill you."
"Won't happen", Pat rumbled, making the Slayer nod, regretful about the fact that she couldn't come along, but knowing that she'd only be in a burden in her current state; and thus, she just watched how the demon took off, moving surprisingly fast on all fours, perhaps not looking all too dignified, but at the same time making sure that, to the civilian random onlooker, she'd appear as an extraordinarily large, shaggy dog, and before they'd get a second, closer look and realize that this wasn't exactly what she was, she'd be too far away already to be sure.
Still ignoring the various aches, she kept making her way through the quiet outer skirts of Sunnydale; as always after healing, she could still feel the various injuries all over, knowing it would remain that way for a while longer, but not letting this slow her down; and even though she wasn't as fast as the car had been, not even on all fours, she made quite the good speed, the abandoned factory appearing up ahead not all too long after she had left the crash site.
Slowing down, and making sure that no flames were burning anywhere on her body, she straightened up, using the shadows provided by the trees close to the factory to stay out of sight; she remembered her glowing red eye in the last moment and toned that down, as well, making sure to not make a single sound as she studied the factory, figuring that now, they would be smarter and would have put up guards, surely expecting the witch's friends to come and get her yet again.
It didn't take long until her assumption was proven to be correct; whistling softly, a man in a black robe rounded the corner, then stopped and looked around before he leaned against the wall and lit up a cigarette, the demon rolling her good eye in annoyance – if this man was supposed to guard the entrance, he wasn't doing so very professionally, and the fact that he was doing it alone only made it even more obvious that they had no idea what they were doing.
One would think they'd do whatever they want to do with better preparation, Pat thought to herself as she changed back to her human form, momentarily glad that her clothes had survived the process – before she started moving through the shadows, making sure to keep the sound of her footsteps down to a minimum as she snuck closer to the building, only to freeze when the man dropped his cigarette to the ground and started walking again, moving away from the door, unknowingly turning his back on her.
That's almost too easy, she thought as she watched him, a smirk curling her lips; speeding up slightly, she still made sure to move quietly, in case there was some second guy around somewhere; and the one in front of her had no idea that she was there until it was way too late, a small, muffled gurgle coming from him as she slung one arm around his throat from behind, cutting off his flow of air before he could call out.
Moving one hand to his jaw and the other to the back of his head before he could figure out what was happening, she gave a powerful jerk and broke his neck, the crack sounding awfully loud in the quiet area; not wanting to make even more noise, she gingerly lowered him down on the ground, smirking to herself as she bent over him and removed his robe, glad that he was her size as she put it on and pulled the hood as deep into her face as it would go without obstructing her already limited view, then entered the factory, hoping and praying that she wouldn't be too late and that she'd manage to remove the torc from Willow before its influence on her would grow too big and she'd be lost to the dark magic within her.