On her way to the room where Buffy and she first had encountered Willow, Pat ran into two more of the robed men, and dealt with both of them swiftly and mercilessly; thanks to the robe she had put on, they didn't realize that she wasn't one of them until she was close enough to act, taking them down as she had the guard outside, and storing their bodies in the nearest empty rooms she found.
Still remembering well where what she had dubbed the "fight room" was located, she made her way there after dealing with the second of the robed guys; already from afar, she could hear voices talking behind the door leading to it, her heart speeding up in her chest when she immediately recognized one of them as Willow's.
"Not much longer now", the witch was saying, making her wonder whom she was talking to and about what, "then we can start the ritual. I just need to grow a bit stronger first."
"We have time", another, unknown voice replied, "even if your… friends… show up here again, we'll just deal with them and then continue. Do make sure though that you don't use up too much of your power handling them."
Stopping in front of the door, Pat leaned closer to it to listen, eager to find out what this all was about; she frowned as Willow spoke up again in response to the stranger, not liking the cold sound of her partner's voice at all.
"Of course. With the Staff, I can deal with them easily without magic, and the more I use it, the easier our task becomes", the redhead was explaining, "so after they come back here and I kicked their asses, we can probably get started."
Waiting for the other speaker to reply, Pat asked herself if she should charge in now or wait to see if she could find out more; and that was when the door was blown outwards and slammed into her, driving her back and against the wall, a mixture of grunt and groan escaping her as she hit the wall and ended up pinned between the door and the stone behind her, the wooden panel held up by Willow's magic as she smiled at her cruelly through the now empty frame.
"Eavesdropping not a nice thing to do, Sweetie", the redhead stated, putting so much venom into the last word that it sounded more like an insult than a pet name, "didn't anyone ever teach you that?"
Slowly, she walked over to where the taller woman was still struggling against the door holding her against the wall; and when it dropped away all at once, she nearly stumbled, losing her balance at the unexpected lack of restrain.
Stepping forward much faster now, Willow reached out with one hand and grabbed her at the throat, making her yelp as she was jerked closer, then lifted off her feet; holding her in the air for a few moments, the witch glared up at her with her still blackened eyes, then tossed her aside if she was some sort of ragdoll, sending her flying into the very room she had been in, crashing to the ground close to the one she had been talking to, a shockingly large demon looking vaguely like a praying mantis.
"She came alone?" said demon wanted to know, stalking closer to her on thin, but obviously strong legs, "that's rather dumb."
"I bet the Slayer's out of commission", Willow gave back, "she looked pretty banged up after that crash. Pat here would be in the same state if she couldn't heal. Right, honey?"
She smiled as she walked over to the black haired woman, going down into a crouch next to her, using a short gesture to flip her over on her back; smiling at her, she reached down and ran one hand down the taller woman's cheek, a hint of regret in her voice when she spoke on.
"You know", she told the demon, holding her gaze, letting her see the darkness in her eyes, "when you first came here, I wanted to keep you alive, if only to have someone for my… more carnal pleasures. And maybe to feed from your magic so I'd gain my full strength faster. But now that I'm almost there, I don't really have need for you anymore…"
She let out an almost regretful sigh, then glanced up at the mantis demon, her words making Pat's eye widen, magic keeping her from doing anything else though, keeping her immobile while Willow spoke to her demonic companion.
"It's been a while since you fed, no?" she wanted to know, gesturing at the captured black haired woman, "so go ahead. Rid me of her."
"My pleasure", Deira replied with a greedy glint in his eyes; Pat still had time to let out a horrified "Willow", then the mantis demon had moved up to her, grabbed her with shockingly strong forelegs, the thorn-like claws he had used on the car roof not all too long ago digging into her back as he lifted her off the ground – and then his triangular head shot down and he bit down on the soft flesh between shoulder and throat, the taller woman finding herself unable to hold back a scream as he tore a chunk of it out and devoured it noisily.
"I so love this", he sighed after swallowing, blood dripping from his mandibles, "the taste of fresh flesh and blood, and the screams…"
Next to him, Willow just nodded, keeping her gaze fixed on the demon as Deira lowered his head and bit down again; trembling in his grasp, Pat grit her teeth as her fists flamed up and she brought them down hard on his head, but he only tightened his grip on her in response, his claws digging in even deeper, his skin too hard to let her do much damage to him, resembling the chitin of the insect he looked like so much.
"Willow", the demon brought out again, her gaze moving from the creature feasting on her to her partner, another shudder running through her as she felt his jaws move and tear out more of her flesh, "please… Don't let him do this, you know you don't want this to happen, please…"
Her pain and desperation were clearly audible in her voice as she realized that Willow wouldn't help her and that there was nothing she could do against this demon, not as long as he held her in his grasp like this, where she couldn't access the softer, unshielded parts of his body; desperately, she tried to kick him in a last attempt to free herself, and then his jaws bit down on the side of her neck and she screamed again, finding herself unable to bring out another word as the pain was everything her world was made of.
And just like it had back at the car crash site, something in the witch's eyes changed as she watched her lover's struggle and agony, watched her writhe in the demon's grasp, tears streaming freely down her cheeks as Deira bit down again, on her other shoulder this time, tearing yet another chunk of flesh out; he gulped it down noisily, the blood which was dripping from his mouth mixing with the puddles forming on the floor from the deep wounds he had inflicted on his prey, the sight touching something deep within Willow, bringing memories and thoughts the torc and the dark magic had buried as deep as possible back to the surface.
Swallowing heavily, she found herself thinking of all the times the demon had saved her life and had nearly lost hers in the process; how she had been stabbed and shot and beaten to protect her, how she had felt when she had thought that the taller woman had died, and how happy and relieved she'd been when she'd found out that she was alive and well.
Slowly, not even fully realizing that she was doing it, she moved closer to Deira, the mantis demon not paying attention on her the slightest; she took another look at her partner, thought of all the times they had kissed and all the times the black haired woman had held her when she had needed it, and suddenly the black was gone from her eyes, the torc burning hot around her throat as it tried to regain control over the dark magic within her, but she wouldn't let it, instead bringing up her hand and mumbling a few words under her breath, a sharp gesture at the mantis following the last one – and suddenly his grasp on Pat vanished as he shrunk rapidly, letting out a shriek of disbelief which quickly faded along with his size, the black haired woman slumping to the ground in a lifeless heap, bleeding from numerous fresh wounds.
"Oh God", Willow brought out as she fully realized what she had done, what kind of horrible pain she had allowed to be inflicted on her partner; without wasting another look at the now properly mantis-sized Deira, she rushed to where her lover laid, falling down on her knees next to her, her heart and mind racing as she tried to figure out if she had acted too late after all or if there still was a chance for her, if she had saved her in time and would have the chance to make up for all the horrible things she had done under the torc's dark influence.