September News

Due to the holiday and the iffy fate of this site, this week's Friday's Fanfic is not being published this week. Maybe this week if all goes well.

Friday Fanfic

"The Final Meeting"

(A story inspired by an alternative version of Season 5. This may or may not be the last story posted on this site, depending on what changes get made on this site without my knowledge.)

It began with a knock on the bedroom window pane.

It started so softly that Xander had been certain that it was part of a dream. Then it grew louder to the point that he could no longer ignore it.

So he went to the bedroom window and pulled the curtain aside, only to see --

"Buffy!"

It was his old friend Buffy Summers and she looked so lost and all alone. She wore a big black coat and a red scarf that she had never worn before.

"Let me in, Xander," she said. "Please let me in."

"Let you in?" asked Xander. "Let you in? I can't let you in. What would Anya say?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, really, Xander? Do you really think I care what Anya thinks at a time like this? Besides, she's not here right now. So go ahead and open the window and let me in."

"Anya's not here right now?" asked Xander.

Then he looked around and realized that Buffy was right. Anya was not in the bedroom sleeping besides him like she normally would be. In fact, she seemed to be nowhere around as far as he could tell. But how did Buffy know that?

"Come on, Xander," said Buffy. "I thought we were friends. In fact, the two of us were friends long before Anya came along. So why don't you just let me in for old times' sake?"

"I got a better idea," said Xander. "Why don't you come to my front door and I'll let you in that way. It would look less suspicious."

"Okay," said Buffy, rolling her eyes again. "If you say so."

A few minutes later, Xander was opening the front door of his apartment and greeting Buffy face to face. But then Buffy seemed reluctant to come in.

"You need to invite me in," said Buffy, looking more than a bit embarrassed. "It's not going to work if you don't invite me in."

"Why do I need to invite you in?" asked Xander. "You and Riley have been here dozens of times."

"Oh, please don't mention Riley right now," said Buffy. "Just let me in."

"Okay, Buffy," said Xander, sensing something serious going on. "Come on in."

"Thank you, Xander," said Buffy.

And with that, she ran into the apartment and embraced Xander as if he were a long-lost relative, an embrace that was only marred by the fact that it felt just a tad colder than one of Anya's hugs.

"Whoa, Buffster!" cried Xander. "It's only me. You've never hugged me like this before. What's wrong?"

"Everything," said Buffy. "Everything's wrong."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Xander.

"I broke up with Riley today," said Buffy, still hugging Xander. "We had a fight. He accused me of all sorts of stuff. He even tried to hit me. Tried, anyway."

"He tried to hit you?" asked Xander.

"Yes," said Buffy. "But don't worry. He'll never do that again."

"Who's worried?" asked Xander. "If I ever see him again, he should be the one who should be worried. All this time I thought he was a stand-up guy and then he goes and tries to hit my best friend. I don't care how long he's been in the military. There's no way he's getting away with that."

"It's okay, Xander," said Buffy. "It's been handled. I handled it. Riley will never hurt anyone else again. I swear."

"But still..." Xander started to say.

But Buffy just smiled and put a finger to his lips. "It's okay, Xander. I know what you're trying to say. And I've been thinking the same thing. Ever since I last saw Dracula."

"Wait a minute," said Xander. "You saw Dracula again?"

"Of course," said Buffy. "That's what the fight was about. Riley found out I was seeing Dracula again and he got angry about it. Apparently he didn't trust me to handle myself around him. Well, I showed him."

"Er, okay," said Xander. "By 'showed him,' do you mean --"

"Does it matter, Xander?" asked Buffy. "Does it really matter? Look, I know you consider the two of us to be friends but we both know that you in particular always wanted us to be more than friends. And now that's Riley's out of the picture, now's your chance."

"My chance?" asked Xander, wanting to be smarter right then but not quite managing it.

Then he thought of something. "Hey, what about Anya?"

"What about her?" asked Buffy.

"Well, I'm with her now," said Xander. "And after what I went through with Cordelia and Willow, why, I can't turn my back on her too!"

"Oh, it's so sweet that you can talk like you really believe that," said Buffy. "But we both know whom you really love and anything Anya has done during the last year is not likely to have changed that."

"You're wrong, Buffy," said Xander. "I love Anya. I really do. Maybe not as much as you loved Angel but --"

"Please don't bring up Angel right now, Xander," said Buffy. "If I wanted to see Angel, I'd be on my way to LA right now. But I'm not. I'm here. To see you."

"To see me?" asked Xander. "Why?"

"Really, Xander?" asked Buffy, rolling her eyes again. "Do I really have to keep repeating myself? Perhaps I should put it this way: Xander? Did I ever thank you... for saving my life?"

"Oh," said Xander. "This again. Er, oh, no, Buffy. You didn't."

Buffy smiled again. "Don't you wish I would?"

"Well, that boat sailed a long time ago, Buffy," Xander replied. "So if you don't mind..."

"Oh, stop making such a fuss, Xander," said Buffy. "Tonight's the night I finally pay you back for saving me from the Master. You should appreciate it."

"I should appreciate -- " Xander started to say.

Then a thought occured to him. "Hey, wait a minute! Why tonight in particular? What happened tonight that suddenly made paying me back so important? Surely your breakup with Riley was not that bad, was it?"

"Oh, Xander," said Buffy in an increasingly gruff voice. "Willow was right. Sometimes you really don't know when to shut up."

And then as Xander watched in horror, Buffy's face suddenly transformed into the face of a killer vampire.

Only to immediately dissolve into dust upon being pierced from behind by a crossbow bolt.

And of course, when the dust that used to be Buffy Summers cleared, Xander could see his girlfriend Anya standing in the doorway with a crossbow in her hand.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, Xander," said Anya. "I always suspected something would happen some day. I just didn't expect it to be tonight. But fortunately, I had all the right ingredients for an invisibility spell and of course, I do know something about crossbows though I must admit I'm a bit out of practice... Hey, why are you looking at me like that? I just saved your life. I realize that you might be feeling a little odd right now but if it weren't for me, Buffy would have ripped your throat out just now. And I believe the correct response to me preventing that is 'Thank you!'"

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Nineteen-Beta

Buffy worked in a daze the next few hours, trying to extinguish the flames that beset the inn. And even once she was done, she was still obsessed with looking for yet more flames.

Eventually Laurel came down and saw Buffy sitting on the front steps of the inn.

"Whatcha's doing?" asked Laurel.

"Waiting for Lady Isabel," said Buffy.

"Oh, really?" asked Laurel. "Why?"

"Because apparently she's the new dragon slayer," said Buffy.

"Oh, I see," said Laurel.

Then Laurel thought a moment and said, "Wait a minute! Does that mean --"

"Yes, it does," said Buffy. "Apparently I'm retired now."

"Oh," said Laurel. "But didn't you want to be retired? Weren't you always complaining about having to go out and fight dragons and such? More importantly, doesn't this mean you never have to worry again about dying in flames on a rainy night?"

"You're right about all that, Laurel," said Buffy. "And yet-- I wish things had ended a different way."

"Well, maybe they will," said Laurel. "I've been talking to Sir Roderick about what were to happen if you ever got sick of dragon-slaying and he hears that there's been some talk about training Slayers to go after vampires instead."

"Well,that's very nice of him to say that but I don't really see that happening," said Buffy. "And even if it did, can you imagine how fast a war like that would last? Those poor vampires wouldn't stand a chance."

"But still," said Laurel. "You never know."

"True," said Buffy. "But realistically speaking, we're talking about training young girls who are accustomed to killing giant fire-breathing reptiles to go after mere human-sized bloodsuckers. I don't see that war lasting more than, say, a week. If that long."

The end?

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Nineteen-Alpha

It was done, thought Sister Lilith.

The treacherous Spider-Eve was finally dead. She had to be. She was on Sister Lilith's back when Sister Lilith crashed into the ground. So she had to be --

"Hey, what's up, Miss Dragon?" asked the familiar voice of Spider-Eve. "Did you crash into the ground deliberately or did you just get mixed up?"

No, Sister Lilith thought. It can't be. She can't be alive. Not after all this time...

Sister Lilith slowly raised her head and opened her eyes. There she saw Spider-Eve standing in front of her.

Sister Lilith smiled. Summoned up a huge burst of flame. Started to breathe out.

Then a bolt of lightning hit her and next thing Sister Lilith knew, she was no longer a dragon. Just an exhausted lady barren of all covering save for her own hair.

Sister Lilith glanced over at the Violent Moon and saw three women staring at her with an expression that seemed like pity. One of them -- a blonde maid -- started to offer her a dress to cover herself with but the last thing Sister Lilith wanted at this point was pity from one of the women she had so eagerly meant to kill.

Instead she ran off and screamed.

As she ran, the blonde maid turned toward her redheaded companion and asked, "Should we follow her?"

The redhead shrugged. "Would it matter?"

xxx

Buffy couldn't believe it. The witches and the innkeeper managed to keep the Violet Moon from burning down in her absence -- save for the one room where her clothing was being stored. Fortunately, one of the hotel maids -- Tierra --had a dress Buffy could borrow but still it seemed a darn shame to have lost all her clothing in the fire after sacrificing so much to defeat the dragon.

But the most important part was that it was over now. The dragon was defeated, the village was spared and soon Buffy and her companions would be moving on to another village. Buffy was not sure if she'd ever be able to make it up this way again but at least she would be forever remembered as the brave young maiden who saved the village from a vicious fire-breathing dragon.

Or so, she thought, until she heard the mysterious minstrel Aus playing a joyful little ditty in the village square as she rode off with Laurel, Tierra, Jamie and Sir Roderick.

A ditty that went:

"Spider-Eve, Spider-Eve.
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Eve!
Smoke and flame she's ignored
Action is her reward..."

The end?

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eighteen-Beta

Buffy grabbed Querida's arm in time to keep her from stabbing her with the crossbow bolt -- but not in time to enable her to save Lady Isabel.

Which is just as well since Lady Isabel had already summoned her flames against her two female attackers and there was no way Buffy could interfere without getting burned herself.

Nevertheless, Querida kept trying to stab her with the crossbow bolt, only to stop when Buffy finally broke her arm.

Then Querida tried to use her other hand to stab Buffy with a crossbow bolt.

"Please stop this," Buffy said. "I don't want to kill you, Querida."

"But I want to kill you," said Querida.

Buffy sighed and broke Querida's other arm, only to note that Querida was now crawling in her direction and attempting to bite her feet.

At the same time, Buffy heard the sounds of someone running up behind her. She turned in time to see Warden Meers running at her with a drawn dagger -- and out of instinct, she hit him. Hard.

As Warden collapsed, Querida again tried to bite Buffy on the foot. But this time Buffy just sighed and stomped on Querida's head until she finally ceased to move.

When she turned to check on Lady Isabel, Buffy noticed that the two women Warden had sicced on her were now aflame and no longer in a position to harm anyone. Unfortunately, much of the inn was on fire too. Buffy reached for a loose towel and started trying to smother the fire.

But before she could get too far, two people -- an one-armed man and a dark-haired woman -- entered the inn and aimed yet another crossbow in her direction.

"Give it up, Slayer!" cried the woman. "As of now, you are being permanently terminated."

"Funny that you'd say that," said Lady Isabel. "I was about to say the same thing."

And before the two newcomers could say anything more, Lady Isabel unleashed yet another wave of flame in their direction.

xxx

"You killed them!" cried Buffy.

"Of course I did," said Lady Isabel. "I had no choice. Now if you excuse me, I need to go kill that dragon."

"Wait," said Buffy. "You're going to kill the dragon?"

"Yes, of course," said Lady Isabel. "You don't honestly think I went through all that for nothing, did you? Besides, someone needs to stop this fire and since I tend to be better at starting fires than stopping fires --"

"No, wait," said Buffy. "I thought I was supposed to kill the dragon."

"Well, maybe next time you could," said Lady Isabel. "But tonight's it's my turn. If you want, you can consider yourself to be -- oh, what's the word I'm looking for -- oh, yes, retired!"

And with that, Lady Isabel ran off into the darkness, leaving behind a very puzzled dragon slayer...

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eighteen-Alpha

As the thin dark-haired man with the face of a fox aimed his crossbow in Buffy's direction, his one-armed companion cried out," Wait a minute! You just said dragons are almost indestructible. What good is a crossbow going to do?"

"Grab her attention for one thing," said the dark-haired man. "Anyway, I need to get her within range of me in order to reverse the transformation spell that has been placed on her and there's no way I can do that without getting her attention first. And that means using a crossbow."

"But suppose she attacks you?" asked the one-armed man.

"By the time she's close enough, I'll have reversed the spell and she won't be a dragon anymore," said the dark-haired man.

"But won't she fall if she turns back into a human while she's still in the air?" asked the one-armed man.

The dark-haired man smiled. "What do you think?"

"I think your plan is foolish," said a voice behind the two men. "Buffy may be young and inexperienced but I sincerely doubt she'll go out of her way to attack a mere human when there are far more important things she could be dealing with. After all, she is a hero, don't you know?"

The dark-haired man turned and saw Sir Roderick standing behind him and the one-armed man with a crossbow that was even larger than his own.

At that point, the dark-haired man sneered and said, "Stay out of this, Sir Roderick! You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Nor do you, Erastus," said Sir Roderick. "Now please put down the crossbow before someone gets hurt."

"Fat chance, Sir Roderick," said Erastus. "Now turn away now if you don't wish to see your precious Slayer get hurt."

"Oh, it's not her that I'm worried about," said Sir Roderick. "After all, she is a hero."

"So?" asked Erastus.

"And I -- unfortunately for you -- am not," said Sir Roderick.

And with that, Sir Roderick fired a crossbow bolt into Erastus Rayne's back.

xxx

The one-armed man just looked at Sir Roderick in shock for a few minutes.

Then he cried, "You idiot! You have no idea what you've done. By the time my employers are done with you, you will be in for a world of trouble."

Sir Roderick just smiled and said, "Somehow I doubt the good people of this village will be too displeased to find out that I just killed someone who was trying to murder a dragon slayer. Nor will the king."

"You idiot!" cried the one-armed man. "Do you really think it's going to stop there? After all, this whole dragon fight isn't about right or wrong. It's about power! And if you weren't such a clueless imbecile, Sir Roderick, you'd real -- Wait a minute! Why are you aiming that crossbow at me?"

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Seventeen-Beta

"I should ask you the same question," said Lady Isabel.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Warden Meers.

"Do you have any last requests?" asked Lady Isabel. "Because if you sic your creations on any more people, you're not going to be long for this world yourself."

Warden Meers took one look at Lady Isabel's glowing hands and said, "Stand down, girls."

"But, Warden --" said Mina.

"I said, 'Stand down!'" Warden exclaimed.

"We can take her, Master," said Salome.

"I said, 'Stand down!'" Warden exclaimed again.

"But, Warden..." said Salome.

Oddly enough, the two girls looked like they were going to cry. And yet Buffy could not find it in her heart to feel sorry for him.

Instead she turned towards Warden and said, "Okay, Warden. Why are you here?"

Warden shrugged. "I'm here because me and the girls were hired to be here. Nothing personal."

"Nothing personal?" asked Buffy. "You were just about to have them kill me before Lady Isabel stepped in. And before that, they killed at least three other people in this room."

"So?" asked Warden.

"So?" asked Buffy. "If I were as coldblooded as you, I'd ask Lady Isabel to burn you right now. But right now I don't trust myself so I'll leave it to her to decide your punishment."

Lady Isabel just looked at Warden Meers silently for a long while and then said, "I don't have time to deal with this right now. Come with me to the village jail, Warden, and we'll decide your fate in the morning. In the meantime, we have a dragon to kill."

Warden nodded, bowed his head and held out his arms.

As Lady Isabel walked over to chain him, Warden just smiled and said, "Okay, girls. You know what to do. Kill Lady Isabel."

And as the two girls sprang into action, Buffy cried, "No!"

Then tried to run forward, only to realize that something was grabbing her leg.

That's when she looked down and saw that it was Querida. She was conscious again and she had a crossbow bolt in her hand. A bolt that Querida was thrusting upward in the direction of Buffy's chest.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Seventeen-Alpha

Sister Lilith could not understand it. She had tried five times to throw off the perky little creature who claimed to be a friend of Buffy the Dragon Slayer and each time she failed. It was almost as if the mysterious creature who called herself Spider-Eve was glued to her back.

"Get off my back now or I'll kill you!" Sister Lilith cried.

Spider-Eve simply laughed. "Oh, please! If it is in your power to kill me, you would have done it already. You and I are destined to be together for a good long time."

"Now if I can help it!" exclaimed Sister Lilith.

She flew straight up but Spider-Eve still clung onto her.

Okay, thought Sister Lilith. Let's try the other direction.

And with that, she aimed herself directly at the ground in front of the Violet Moon.

xxx

Buffy could not believe it. After all her problems, her plan was actually working.

She did not even need to show the giant caterpillars what to do about the big dragon. They just started spinning webs around it as soon as they saw it -- almost as if they were born to do it.

The big dragon roared and growled and breathed out huge gusts of flame but in the end, it failed to break out of the mighty web the two caterpillars have woven around it. Instead, it fell over and roared helplessly as the two caterpillars started to pull it into the wilderness.

Buffy was so excited she did not even notice the thin, dark-haired man with a foxlike face who was on the ground gazing up at her.

But he noticed her.

And he showed no hesitation in his decision to raise up his crossbow and aim it in her direction.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Sixteen-Beta

This is starting to get old, thought Buffy as she once again raced across the room to keep Reilly from using the Meggido glove on someone.

However, this time she was too late.The brunette herself grabbed hold of Reilly's arm and redirected the glove in a harmless direction, all the while grasping the arm in a way that looked downright painful even by a dragon slayer's jaded standards. Then the brunette grabbed hold of Reilly's neck and twisted it with a sudden motion that made such a loud cracking sound that it was no great shock to see Reilly slump to the ground the minute the brunette let go.

"You killed him!" cried Buffy.

"Of course I did," said the brunette. "I have orders to kill anyone who tries to kill me. And so does Mina."

"Who's Mina?" asked Buffy.

The brunette pointed to the blonde in the white dress. "That's Mina. Now you can answer a question for me: which one of you is the real Dragon Slayer?"

Fae pointed in Buffy's direction and eagerly cried, "She is!"

"I thought as much," said the brunette. And with that, she struck Fae in the stomach so hard that she instantly collapsed.

Buffy just stood there with her mouth open. "I don't get it," she finally said. "I'm the real dragon slayer. So why did you hit her?"

"Oh, I didn't hit her, silly," said the brunette. "I killed her per my master's orders. You really didn't expect us to trust such an obvious liar, did you?"

"But she wasn't a dragon slayer," said Buffy. "She was -- Wait a minute. Who the heck is your master?"

"I am," said a dark-haired man who just then entered the inn. "Warden Mears is the name. Killing Slayers is my game -- one of them, at least. By the way, nice work so far, Mina and Salome. But since the real dragon slayer has revealed her true identity, you two know what else you need to do."

"Of course, Warden," said the blonde and the brunette.

Then they turned toward Buffy and said, "Any last requests, Slayer?"

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Sixteen-Alpha

Sister Lilith had circled the village three times that night and yet still she had seen no trace of the Slayer. One would think that a flying dragon -- even one as small as the Slayer -- would be hard to miss but apparently that was not so. Apparently the only flying dragon that Sister Lilith could see in the sky right then was herself, and that did her no good.

No matter. Sister Lilith still had a few tricks up her sleeve, so to speak. Perhaps she could take another crack at killing that witch. After all, watching the witch stare up at her with sheer fright in her eyes was a moment that Sister Lilith would treasure for all her days. If only that other witch had not interfered...

But that was okay. That other witch would get hers eventually. Heck, all of the Slayer's would-be supporters would get theirs by the time the night was over.

Speaking of which...

The Violet Moon was dead ahead. All of the witches were safely inside but for how long, Sister Lilith wondered.

Perhaps they needed an incentive to come outside.

So Sister Lilith decided to give them one.

She breathed fire upon the Violet Moon's roof and smiled a draconic smile as the flames spread out over the top of the inn.

She landed upon a nearby roof and watched in glee as the human residents of the inn came running out into the street.

It would be easy to kill them right now, she thought.

Almost too easy.

Perhaps she was better off taking one more shot at tracking down the Slayer and then coming back to kill the residents of the Violet Moon. Sure there was a good chance that they'd put the fire out by then with the bucket brigade they seemed to be forming. But if she had to, she could always set fire to the roof again. And she could keep doing so until she achieved the ideal result.

What were they going to do? Throw a sword at her?

There was only one person who could stop her right then and that person was going to be a dead woman the minute Sister Lilith caught up with her.

Or considering the fact she was now a dragon, she was going to be a dead something.

Speaking of which...

It was time to take off and make her rounds again.

With any luck, she'd bag the Slayer this time. Or else she would die trying.

xxx

The first thing Buffy learned about giant caterpillars was that it was extremely difficult to make two of them go in the same direction for any considerable length of time. Heck, it seemed as if Buffy would have had far less trouble herding cats.

Fortunately, Spider-Eve was able to help but even she was sometimes more of a problem than a solution. She was very good at swinging from branch to branch and at leaping back and forth between Buffy and the caterpillars -- but she was not always as attentive as she should be. Buffy constantly feared that Spider-Eve was going to fall or run into something but she evidently had some guardian angel looking after her because she never did.

Buffy soon discovered that if she flew low enough to get the caterpillars' attention, she could make them follow her. But she had to fly slow enough for them to see her -- and fast enough to avoid their attempts to snare her in their webbing -- or their cocoon threads, as Spider-Eve had insisted on calling them. And that got old very quickly.

Fortunately, the edge of the woods was not far away and Buffy soon saw the lights of the village shining in front of her.

She also saw something else -- a small dragon roughly her size flying toward her.

"Oh, look!" said Spider-Eve as she crouched on Buffy's back. "Another dragon is coming to help you."

"That's funny," said Buffy. "I don't remember Jamie mentioning anything about creating another dragon."

"Oh, really?" asked Spider-Eve. "In that case, I better go check it out."

And just like that, Spider-Eve was gone from Buffy's back -- and swinging herself into mid-air just above the oncoming dragon. Buffy held her breath till she saw Spider-Eve drop upon the dragon's back. Then she breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps things will go out for me, after all, Buffy thought. I just hope Spider-Eve stays safe in the meantime...

xxx

Sister Lilith smiled. The Slayer was dead ahead and she seemed to have no clue that Sister Lilith was a thing to be feared. Good. That would make killing her all the easier.

Once the Slayer was dead, Sister Lilith could go back and kill the two witches and their friends. Then she could join up with Brother Linden again, have Erasmus Rayne turn her back into a human and go home with a clear conscience.

Then Sister Lilith felt a heavy weight land upon her shoulders and a feminine voice said, "Hi, I'm Spider-Eve. Are you here to help Buffy and me kill the big dragon?"

Sister Lilith tried to resist the impulse to smirk and said, "Why, of course, I am."

Then Sister Lilith turned herself upside-down and felt the weight upon her back ease up as her would-be passenger fell off. She waited until she heard the scream of a young girl, then turned herself right-side-up again.

One ally of the Slayer down, she thought. At least three more to go.

Then Sister Lilith felt something attach itself to her belly.

After that, she felt a quick yank as if she was attached to a rope that someone was tugging on.

After that, she felt another weight land upon her back.

Then the same voice she had heard before said, "Hey, that was fun, Miss Dragon. Let's do it again!"

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Fifteen-Beta

One moment, Buffy was looking at Sir Reilly as he quietly aimed the Meggido glove in her direction. The next, she was leaping to the side in order to avoid the blast that Sir Reilly fired in her direction.

The blast, of course, missed her but it took out the side of the inn Buffy had been standing in front of. Moreover, it provoked Lady Sherwood to start shouting, "Stand down, Sir Reilly! Stand down!"

Sir Reilly ignored her, of course, and instead turned to aim the glove in her direction. Buffy took advantage of this by leaping on Sir Reilly's back and again aiming his glove upwards.

"Get off of me, Slayer!" cried Sir Reilly.

"Slayer!" cried a blonde woman in a white dress who had just entered the inn. "Did someone mention a Slayer?"

"Yes," cried Fae Lahane, pointing to Magdalena Walsh. "She's a Slayer!"

The blonde woman smiled and then ran across the inn with incredible speed, surprising Magdalena Walsh before she could even say a word.

Not that it mattered. Soon after that, the blonde woman repeatedly stabbed Magdalena Walsh with a pointed stake until it became obvious to everyone in the room that she was dead.

Buffy's jaw dropped. If not for Fae's obvious untruth, that could have been her. And while Buffy had had little reason to like Magdalena Walsh while she was alive, she could not help feeling that even Miss Walsh deserved a better death.

Then a second woman entered the inn. This woman was a brunette dressed in a harem outfit.

She looked around the inn and said, "I'm looking for a dragon slayer."

"It's okay," said the blonde. "I already killed her."

The brunette smiled. "In that case, our mission has been accomplished."

"No, it isn't, you bloody maniacs!" cried Sir Reilly. "I don't know who sent you here but your partner over there killed the wrong woman."

"Oh, really?" asked the brunette. "Do you happen to know where the dragon slayer is?"

Sir Reilly smiled a cold smile. "Sure, I do. But first I'm sending you two to the Promised Land."

And with that, he took advantage of Buffy's lack of attention to again raise the Meggido glove, this time aiming it in the direction of the brunette.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Fifteen-Alpha

Laurel glanced at Tierra and asked, "You're a witch?"

"Yes," said Tierra.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Laurel.

"What?" asked Tierra. "Me? Confess to being a witch? To a representative of the same Watchers Council that executed Jamie's mother? Are you crazy? More importantly, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Well, you saved Jamie so I'm grateful for that," said Laurel. "And don't worry. I'll keep your secret. Of course, if I had known that Jamie was your girlfriend --"

"She's not my girlfriend, Laurel," said Tierra. "That's just an expression."

"Oh," said Laurel.

"Come on, Tierra," said Jamie, brushing the dust off her dress. "Let's go inside and get you fully dressed before you catch your death."

"Well, if I had stopped to get fully dressed before I came out here," said Tierra, "I would not have had time to cast the protection spell that saved your life, Jamie."

"And I'm grateful for that, but still," said Jamie.

xxx

Meanwhile, down the street, Erasmus Rayne and Brother Linden were observing the women outside the Violet Moon.

"So we apparently have two witches to get rid of," said Brother Linden. "I suppose we might as well get rid of the redhead too while we're at it."

"All in good time," said Erasmus. "All in good time."

xxx

"So how long does it take to get out of these woods?" asked Buffy. "I could swear we passed the same tree three times in a row."

"We'll get there," said the mysterious damsel who called herself Eve as she swung from branch to branch. "We just have to keep going in our present direction."

"And what's with all the stuff that comes out of those things on your wrists?" asked Buffy. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was spider webbing."

"It is spider webbing," said Eve.

"Don't be silly," said Buffy. "You're human. How could you be producing spider webbing?"

"Easy," said Eve. "When I was living in London, I got bit by a witch-cursed spider."

"A witch-cursed spider?" asked Buffy.

"Yes," said Eve. "And it transformed me into the being that I am today: the Amazing Spider-Eve."

"Spider-Eve?" asked Buffy.

"Well, I could use my last name and call myself Spider-Vi but Spider-Eve sounds better to my ears," said Eve.

"Why not call yourself Spider-Girl?" asked Buffy.

"Well, that would be silly," said Eve. "Plus, um, I didn't think of it."

"Well, Spider-Eve, what made you come here from London?" asked Buffy.

"My master died," said Eve.

"Your master?" asked Buffy. "You were a slave?"

"No," said Eve. "A servant. My master rescued me from a group of corrupt high sheriffs and let me stay at his residence rent-free."

"Sounds like a nice man," said Buffy.

"Oh, he was," said Eve. "They say a lot of bad things about Master A but that's because they never knew him like I did."

"Master A?" asked Buffy.

"A for Anarchy," said Eve. "He was the man who helped take down Baron Alan Susan when he tried to take over the government."

"I'm not sure I've heard of him, but then I've been on the road a lot and I don't always have time to follow local politics," said Buffy.

"Oh, you would have heard of Master A," said Eve. "He scared the bejibbers out of a lot of people. Usually nogoodniks like the Dark Brotherhood of Rossum and the Dark Brotherhood of the Wolf, the Ram and the Stag. Plus private individuals like Baron William Fisk and that doctor from Latveria who fancies himself a philosopher-king."

"So what made you come here?" asked Buffy.

"I got tired of the city and for some reason, it seemed more fitting for me to come here and play the part of a jungle girl than to go anywhere else," said Eve.

"But this isn't really a jungle," said Buffy.

"It's close enough," said Eve.

"Still..." said Buffy.

Buffy started to say more but she found herself covered in some type of white webbing. She managed to get out of it but then another strand was sprayed right at her.

Buffy hurriedly flew away and turned toward Eve.

"Hey, what's with all the webbing?" asked Buffy. "I didn't do anything to you."

"Oh, it's not me doing it," said Eve. "It's two giant caterpillars down there on the forest floor. Apparently they don't like dragons."

"Well, they need to stop doing it," said Buffy. "After all, if I wasn't so small and fast, I'd be in big trouble."

And then Buffy paused a moment and got an idea.

Now I know how I'm going to defeat the big dragon, she thought.

Then Buffy turned again to Eve. "Oh, Eve..." she said.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Fourteen-Gamma

As Messalina walked away from the fallen dragon and down the middle of the street, she noticed Buffy standing in her path. The rain was still falling and the Slayer's hair was obviously wet yet she stood there in front of Messalina nonetheless.

"Oh, my, Buffy,"said Messalina. "You really should go back inside before you catch your death. All this dampness can't be good for your lungs."

"Don't talk to me like that, Messalina," said Buffy, an angry look on her face. "I saw what you did to Faith."

"What I did?" asked Messalina. "Hey, I made her a hero. If I had done nothing, she might have killed you and earned herself quite a bad reputation but instead she ended up saving the whole village and dying a hero."

"She didn't choose to die a hero," said Buffy. "You pushed her into it. Just like you were going to push me into making a suicide attack on the big dragon just before Faith came along."

"What makes you say that?" asked Messalina.

"Oh, Messalina," said Buffy, "Please don't talk to me as if I were an idiot. Like I said before, I saw what you did to Faith."

"And what exactly did I do to Faith that was so bad?" asked Messalina. "Before I intervened, she was all set to kill you, Buffy. Hey, she even tried to kill me. Should I feel bad because I supposedly killed someone who would have been quite happy killing me? I mean, you were all prepared to kill her yourself. Why do you get to feel morally good while I have to feel morally bad?"

"Well, you did not defeat her in an honorable way," said Buffy.

Messalina snorted. "Faith wasn't interested in being honorable. So why should I play by rules that Faith was quite happy to ignore?"

"Well, then answer me this," said Buffy. "Why were you so nice to me this evening? Was it all a trick?"

"Hey, I allegedly killed someone who was trying to kill you," said Messalina. "Does that say 'trick' to you? Or would you rather I had done nothing?"

"So why were you so nice to me?" asked Buffy.

"Why do you keep asking me that question?" asked Messalina.

"Why won't you give me an honest answer?" asked Buffy.

"Do you consider yourself that unlikable, Buffy?" asked Messalina.

"Answer the question, Messalina," said Buffy. "Please."

"Okay," said Messalina. "I could say 'because you amused me' but that would only annoy you and besides, it's not quite true. The truth is... you confuse me. I thought I knew what Slayers were like before you came along. But after tonight... you confuse me."

"I confuse you?" asked Buffy.

"Pardon me," said Messalina. "Did I stutter? Yes, you confuse me, Buffy. I have every reason in the world to hate Slayers -- but you... you confuse me."

"Is that your way of saying that you like me?" asked Buffy.

At this point, Messalina looked at Buffy and smiled.

Then she giggled.

Then she began to laugh. A lot. Almost continuously.

After a few minutes of listening to Messalina laugh, Buffy realized that she was never going to get a proper answer to her question. Unless she considered the laughter itself to be a proper answer. So she turned around and walked off.

When Buffy got to the front door of the Violet Moon, she turned around and looked back at Messalina to see if anything has changed. But nothing was different. Messalina was still standing in the middle of the street. And of course, she was still laughing like crazy.

The end?

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Fourteen-Beta

The minute Buffy saw the flames on Lady Isabel's hands, she cried, "Laurel! Go upstairs and fetch me my weapons."

"But, Buffy..." said Laurel.

"Do it -- now!" cried Buffy.

Laurel shrugged and ran upstairs. As she did, Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Not that she believed that Laurel was likely to return in time to be of any help but at least for now she was out of harm's way.

Speaking of which...

"Lady Isabel," said Buffy. "Surely there's a way to settle this."

"I'm sure there is," said Lady Isabel. "But I gave them their opportunity to do that and they just laughed in my face. So now I'm forced to do things the hard way."

"Oh, no, you don't, you freak," said Querida.

Buffy saw Querida start to squeeze the trigger on her crossbow and instantly grabbed her arm so that the crossbow bolt was fired over Lady Isabel's head.

"Geez, Querida," said Buffy. "Are you trying to commit suicide?"

"You idiot," said Querida. "That was my big chance."

"Well, here's another," said Buffy.

And with that, she knocked Querida unconscious with her fist.

Buffy started to say, "I hated to do that but I had to --"

Then she broke off when she noticed Sir Reilly staring at her. And then aiming the Meggido glove in her direction.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Fourteen-Alpha

When Buffy first opened her eyes, she was a bit surprised to realize she was still alive. She ached all over but she was still alive.

And she was still a dragon. Okay.

And there was an upside-down woman staring at her. A woman who was roughly her age but wore a mask and two odd things on her wrists that looked like bracelets or something. The woman was hanging from a tree branch and staring at Buffy in the oddest way. Though considering the way she was dressed, it would have been quite hard for her to stare at Buffy in a normal way.

"Where am I?" asked Buffy, seeing nothing around her except for trees and bushes.

"It talks," said the upside-down woman.

"Of course, I talk," said Buffy. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you're a dragon, silly," said the woman.

"No, I'm not," said Buffy. "I'm -- Oh, right. I am a dragon. But only temporarily."

"Sure, sure," said the woman. "What brings you here, Miss Dragon?"

"My name is not Miss Dragon," said Buffy. "It's Buffy."

"Buffy's a weird name for a dragon," said the woman.

"I'm not really a drag -- Hey, what's your name?" asked Buffy.

"Eve!" exclaimed the woman.

"Okay," said Buffy. "How did you get here?"

"Easy," said Eve. "I live here."

"Why are you living in the woods?" asked Buffy.

"Why shouldn't I live in the woods?" asked Eve.

"Well, it just seems a bit unusual," said Buffy,

"Says the talking dragon," said Eve.

"Okay, I deserve that," said Buffy. "Anyway, I need to get out of here. Is there any chance you can show me the way out of these woods?"

"I suppose so," said Eve. "But why the hurry?"

"I have to go rescue a village from a great big dragon," said Buffy.

"Isn't that kind of a weird thing for a dragon to do?" asked Eve.

"I'm not really a dragon," said Buffy. "I'm really a dragon slayer. But some witch turned me into a dragon so that I could fight a bigger dragon."

"I get the feeling that plan did not work out all that well,"said Eve.

"That's a good way to put it," said Buffy. "Now can you help me?"

xxx

Laurel had no idea how long she had been sleeping but she suddenly found herself waking up in the middle of the evening in a strange bedroom. Judging from the figure lying beside her, it was Tierra's bedroom and they had apparently done far more than gather up lost towels.

No matter. One thought kept racing through her mind and it had nothing to do with Tierra: What about Jamie?

Laurel had promised Buffy that she would look after Jamie and here she was, literally sleeping on the job. Granted, you don't meet a girl like Tierra every day and if things had been less serious, Laurel liked to think that Buffy would understand.

But, no, Laurel had to check on Jamie. Now. If it was not too late.

Then she heard the sound of a dragon's roar outside the window of the room -- and Laurel realized that it might already be too late.

"Please let Jamie be okay," she chanted as she hurriedly dressed. "Please let Jamie be okay."

Just then Tierra woke up. "Jamie!" she exclaimed.

Before Laurel could say anything, Tierra was already running out of her bedroom and heading for the stairs.

Laurel just shrugged and followed, hoping against hope that it was not too late to help Jamie.

When she walked out the front door of the Violet Moon, she saw Jamie standing out in the street, staring at the sky with a frozen expression. Laurel turned to see what Jamie was looking at and noticed a small dragon flying toward them at ever-increasing speed. A dragon that looked like Buffy -- but obviously wasn't Buffy. Buffy's dragon skin was not that color and her wings were not that large and -- Oh, Great Goddess! It looked like this dragon was going to kill Jamie!

Laurel immediately leaped upon Jamie and brought her down to the ground just as the dragon let loose a torrent of flame in Jamie's direction. Laurel closed her eyes and prayed to every entity she could think of.

Buffy, she thought, I know I fucked up. But I did try my best to save Jamie. It's not my fault I failed.

Then Laurel realized that neither she nor Jamie was on fire. That they both had somehow been spared from the flames and that right then the dragon who had attacked them was flying off to seek new prey.

"Get off of me, Laurel," said Jamie, and Laurel hurriedly got off Jamie, still wondering how the heck they got spared from death.

Then she heard Tierra's voice speak from behind her, "I'm flattered that you trust me to always have your back, Jamie, but Good Goddess, girlfriend! You really do like to cut things close!"

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Thirteen-Gamma

Faith Rappaccini stepped outside the front entrance of the Violet Moon and exclaimed, "Give me my swords!"

"Your swords?" asked Brother Linden.

"Yes," said Faith, glaring at Brother Linden. "Did I stutter?"

"No, but I thought the crossbows --" Brother Linden started to say.

"I don't care what you thought," said Faith. "I want my swords. Now. Or would you prefer that I breathe on you?"

"Hand her her swords, you idiot," said Sister Lilith. "She wouldn't ask for them if she didn't need them."

xxx

Meanwhile, inside the Violet Moon, Buffy said to Laurel, "Please get me my spear and shield. Now."

"Right away, Buffy," said Laurel. "But shouldn't you be going out the back so that you can go take care of the big drag--"

"I can't take care of anything as long as Faith is out there," said Buffy. "So go get me my spear and shield. Please."

"Okay," said Laurel.

Sir Roderick blinked and said, "You know, Buffy. You and I have never been really close but it seems to me --"

"I don't have time for any of your lectures right now, Sir Roderick," said Buffy. "Faith hasn't given me a lot of options and right now I'm playing the best hand that I got. Either I kill her or she kills me. There's not a whole lot you or Laurel could do about that right now."

Laurel returned with Buffy's spear and shield, and then said a brief prayer over her that Buffy hoped was a good sign.

In the meantime, Messalina just stood by the wall and watched the Slayer prepare for battle.

"Stake," she said, "I think the two human girls are going to fight."

"Of course they are, luv," said Stake.

"I suppose someone should do something about that," said Messalina.

"Yes, I suppose someone should," said Stake. "But you know these humans..."

"Yes, I do," said Messalina. "Still watching the Slayer prepare for battle like this makes me feel funny."

"You mean funny peculiar or funny ha-ha?" asked Stake.

"Both, I think," said Messalina. "I mean, the Slayer actually saved my life. I never imagined a Slayer doing that before. And I've been around a good long number of years."

"So you sympathize with her, I take it?" asked Stake.

"Well, ordinarily you'd think so but er, no," said Messalina.

Just then Faith Rappaccini re-entered the inn, this time holding two big swords -- one in each hand.

Meanwhile Buffy held up her spear and shield and scowled at her would-be attacker.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Faith," Buffy said. "Just stand down and I'll go out and kill the big dragon for you. Afterwards, I'll leave town and you never have to see me again."

"The only way you're leaving this inn is in a pine box, Slayer," said Faith.

"The graveyards are full of people who have said the same thing to me in the past," said Buffy. "So for the sake of your father and your village, you'd best stand down while you still have a chance."

"You have some nerve, Slayer," said Faith. "I'm not scared of you. Nor am I scared of your pet vampires."

"Oh, yeah," said Buffy. "Well, they aren't my pets.They're just people who helped me when almost no one else wou -- Hey! Where did Messalina go?"

"Is this the part where you go on about how loyal your vampires are?" asked Faith. "Because it doesn't look that way from here."

"No, it isn't, Faith," said Buffy. "Look, can't we just call this stupid thing off before one of us gets hurt? I don't want to have to kill you."

"It's not necessarily a matter of you killing me," said Faith. "It's a matter of me killing you. And quite frankly, I've waited long enough."

Faith raised her two swords even higher and smiled. "Goodbye, Slayer. See you in He -- Hey!"

As Buffy watched in bemusement, a mysterious masked figure threw a black cloak over Faith and grabbed her around the torso so that she could not use her arms. Then the figure pulled Faith outside so fast that by the time Buffy thought to react, Faith and her mysterious captor were already out the door.

xxx

One moment Faith Rappaccini was all set to kill the Slayer; the next she was struggling to get a cloak off of her. She tried to use her swords but both of her sword arms were being held in a tight embrace by someone clever enough to avoid direct skin contact with Faith yet strong enough to hold both her arms while dragging her backwards at the same time. And that someone was doing all this to her while she was outside in the rain.

"I don't know who you are," she said, "but I'm going to kill you."

"That's not very nice," said the voice. "All I want to do right now is make you a hero."

"I don't want to be a hero," said Faith. "I wanna kill the Slayer."

"Well, let's make you a hero first," said the voice. "Then you can go kill the Slayer."

"No, you idiot," said Faith. "Let me go."

"You didn't say 'please'," said the voice.

"Please let me go or I'll kill you!" exclaimed Faith.

"Not good enough," said the voice. "My, my. What would your mummy think of your manners?"

"I know that voice," said Faith. "You're the vampire. The lady vampire, that is."

"Am I?" asked the voice. "Will wonders never cease?"

"Stop fooling around and let me go, vampire," said Faith. "Or I'll have my minions kill you."

"Your 'minions' have been both rendered unconscious," said the voice. "But hey, nice try with that threat."

"I'll kill you!" exclaimed Faith.

"You're welcome to try," said the voice. "But not until after I make you a hero."

"I said, let me go," said Faith.

"Okay," said the voice. "You'll get your wish."

Just like that, the embrace ended and the cloak was taken off of Faith. And before her stood the big two-legged dragon that had been intent on destroying the town.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Faith, forgetting about the swords in her hands. "Look at the size of that thing!"

"You look!" exclaimed the voice. "In fact, I insist that you get a closer look."

And just like that, two gloved hands pressed on Faith's back and pushed her so close to the big dragon that Faith could not help but touch it. Whereupon the poison in her body immediately began to work upon the creature.

"Oh, no!" Faith exclaimed. "I killed it!"

Then she thought, hey, I killed it. I killed the big dragon. That makes me a hero. Now I can go kill the Slayer. And the lady vampire.

With that, Faith turned to face Messalina who was rapidly running away from the big dragon.

Faith smiled. You can run but you can't hide, vampire, she thought.

Then Faith heard a noise and looked up in time to see the rapidly dying dragon looking down upon her.

The last thing she saw after that was the dying dragon's one last torrent of flame which just happened to be aimed in her direction.

After that, Faith had no more thoughts.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Thirteen-Beta

Just before the Meggido glove went off, Buffy rushed forward and immediately pulled Sir Reilly's hand upwards, ensuring the burst of magical energy that came out of the glove went harmlessly into the night sky instead of into Fae Lahane's chest.

"Are you crazy!" cried Buffy to Sir Reilly.

"Stand down, Slayer!" cried Sir Reilly. "You just interfered with my termination of a viable target."

"She's not a target," said Buffy. "She's a human being!"

"Hey!" cried Fae. "I resent that!"

"I mean she's a supernatural being who deserves to be treated like a human being," said Buffy.

"That's better," said Fae.

"You heard her, Slayer," said Sir Reilly. "She threatened my life first. I was well within my rights to execute her."

"With a magic glove that capable of killing a dragon?" asked Buffy. "Isn't that overkill?"

"No such thing as overkill," said Sir Reilly. "Make too many polite distinctions in the field and you end up six feet under -- if you're lucky."

Buffy turned toward Fae and said, "There's no chance we can't compromise on this whole glove thing, is there? Like maybe wait until after Sir Reilly has killed the big dragon outside and then taking the glove back to your mistress?"

"Not a chance, Slayer," said Fae. "Orders are orders. Besides, I don't just answer to Mistress Post. I also answer to her mistress, Queen Mab the Winter Monarch of Faerie. Not quite as charming as Queen Elsa but still not anyone whom you really want to disappoint unless you have a death wish."

"I'm not asking you to disobey her," said Buffy. "Just give us a little time."

"I don't see why you're bothering to negotiate with her," said Sir Reilly. "I have a sworn duty to the king to not hand over to the enemy any weapons that have been gathered in his name."

"Fae Lahane is not the enemy," said Buffy. "At least she doesn't have to be. And there has to be a nonviolent solution to this. There just has to be."

"Let go of my arm, Slayer," said Sir Reilly. "That's an order."

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Slayer," said Fae. "I can take care of Sir Reilly myself."

Oh, great, thought Buffy. Now look what I got myself into. I'm in the middle of one big fight and neither side is likely to back down. And they're both mad at me. I can't imagine how anything can be worse.

Then she felt something sharp and pointed being pressed to the side of her head.

Before Buffy could turn, she heard Querida's voice say, "I'd listen to my boyfriend Sir Reilly if I were you, Slayer. I know you Slayers have remarkable healing powers but even they can't heal the effects of having a crossbow bolt being fired directly into your skull."

xxx

"Boyfriend?" asked Buffy. "I thought Sir Reilly was just a customer."

"Boyfriend, customer, it doesn't matter," said Querida. "He's still pretty special to me. So let him go or I'll be forced to shoot you."

"If I were you, I'd let her go right now, Mistress Querida," said Sir Roderick. "Otherwise, the full force of the Watchers Council will come down upon you."

Querida just smiled. "The Watchers Council bother with a vampire? Don't make me laugh. Even if I went ahead and killed the Slayer, there's no way they could punish me. Thanks to Madame Cornelia, I have friends in high places. For that matter, I also have friends in low places as well but enough about He of the Demonic Countenance."

"I don't suppose you'd care to help, Fae?" asked Buffy.

"Hey, it's your mess," said Fae. "Anyway, all I care about is the glove."

"Well, you're not getting it," said Sir Reilly.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked a voice from behind Fae Lehane.

Everyone turned to look at the new arrival, a pale, black-haired woman in a black dress and cloak whose outfit was still damp from the outside rain. On her hands were two gloves that she kept touching over and over again.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Sir Reilly.

"Lady Isabel Sherwood of the Royal er-something-or-other," said the lady. "We've heard reports of a dragon in this area and I can see outside that they are obviously true. What I don't understand is why you all are standing around here quarreling instead of doing something about that dragon?"

"Mind your own business," said Fae Lahane.

"May I remind you," said Lady Isabel, "that I am under direct orders of the --"

"Go away," said Sir Reilly.

Lady Isabel replied, "Kind sir, I really must insist --"

"Sir Reilly just told you to 'go away'," said Querida, aiming her crossbow away from Buffy and toward the newcomer. "What part of 'go away' don't you understand?"

Lady Isabel just stood there and calmly took off her gloves. Then she held up her hands palm up and closed her eyes.

After a while, her hands began to glow with a white light.

"I see you have the Meggido glove," she said to Sir Reilly when she finally opened her eyes. "Very interesting. Personally, I don't like to rely on that type of technology to perform certain tasks."

At this point, white flames started to appear on her palms.

"You see, Sir Reilly," said Lady Isabel as the flames on her hands grew larger, "I prefer to do certain things old school."

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Thirteen-Alpha

The dragon's attack was hardly the first time Buffy felt the impact of a dragon's flame upon her body but it was the first time that she experienced it without her magic potion. And yet Jamie's spell worked. To Buffy's surprise, her transformation into a dragon really did make her fireproof and once Buffy opened her eyes and realized that she was still alive, she felt a lot more optimistic about her chances against the dragon.

She started humming an odd tune she had heard earlier -- some strange little ditty that began with a wolf's howl and a few notes from a church organ -- and then realized something else. She had wings! Jamie had given her wings!

She could fly around the dragon now.

The dragon started to roar again and this time its roar was accompanied by some strange foreign music Buffy had never heard before. A real ominous tune that seemed like something one would hear from a foreign army on Judgment Day.

Buffy started to use her wings to rise up off the ground, only to hear a voice cry out, "Dragons are so stupid!"

As Buffy watched in horror, some short little knight with a red mustache started waving his sword in the dragon's direction, only to immediately perish when the dragon turned and gifted him with the same type of flame he had previously bestowed upon Buffy.

I need to end this because someone else gets hurt, Buffy thought.

Buffy started to fly up to the dragon's face so that she could attack. But before she could get there, she was swatted out of the sky by a sudden swish of the dragon's tail.

Next thing Buffy knew, she was landing in a nearby forest where she hit the ground with an impact that was not at all pleasant. Then she lost consciousness.

xxx

Jamie Madigan had always lived in fear of dying by fire. It did not help that her own mother -- hardly the kindest woman who ever lived but still in her own way a loving parent -- had died by fire, executed by the Watchers Council for charges that were considered either legit, bogus or unbelievable, depending on whom you talked to.

Jamie still remembered standing in the crowd, silent with stark raving fear, as the flames had consumed her mother. She had kept expecting her mother to do something -- to call out a curse upon her executioners, to extinguish the flames with a sudden rain storm, to do anything apart from what she actually did -- which was to die screaming as a crowd composed of her former friends and clients silently stood by and watched her burn.

That was just two years ago but after all this time, her mother's screams still echoed within Jamie's head and though part of her told herself that her mother had deserved her fate -- that she had done great harm to a great many people -- another part of her told herself that no one -- no matter how bad -- should have to die the way that her mother did.

Perhaps that was why she chose to reach out to the dragon slayer. Up until this night, Jamie had believed that all dragon slayers were arrogant little women whose sense of entitlement made your average princess seem quite humble. Yet tonight she had not seen such a creature. She had seen a frightened little girl who was trying very hard not to sound like a frightened little girl. A girl who, like Jamie, feared death by fire -- and had no idea what to do about the imminent prospect of such a death.

Jamie liked to think that she had dealt with her fear by striving to prove herself the exact opposite of her mother. Instead of performing black magic, she performed white magic. Instead of using her powers to perform evil deeds, she used them to perform good deeds. And yet despite all that, she had always lived in fear that it would not be enough. That, in the end, the Watchers Council would consider her to be as guilty as her mother, no matter what she did, and send her to the stake to burn.

But by helping the Slayer, she was helping herself. At least, that's what Jamie told herself. After all, the Watchers Council might be a corrupt bunch of hypocritical old bullies but even they would not be foolish enough to execute someone who had actually proved to be of use to them. After all, they might need her help again in the future.

And yet despite all that, Jamie could not help thinking: what if the spell wasn't enough? What if Buffy wasn't able to defeat the dragon? Death by dragonfire did not seem like much improvement over death by Council fire.

So Amelia walked outside of the Violet Moon and watched Buffy fight the dragon, only to see poor Buffy flung off into the wilderness. Great Goddess, Jamie thought. Is Buffy dead? Did my spell just ensure that Buffy would die a different type of death by dragon than the one Buffy had originally feared?

No, wait, thought Jamie. Dragons are almost indestructible. More importantly, Buffy in her dragon form was almost indestructible. And even if she wasn't, there was no way a mere flick of the dragon's tail could have killed her.

Buffy was still alive, Jamie thought. She just knew that had to be true.

Indeed, she could see Buffy in the air right then. She was flying back to the village in the opposite direction from which she had been flung but she was returning.

But wait!

Why would Buffy be flying in from that direction? And why was she ignoring the big dragon that had just knocked the stuffing out of her. And more importantly, why did this Buffy look so different from the Buffy Jamie had seen much earlier?

A nasty thought crept into Jamie's head. And though she knew that she should be using her powers to defend herself, she could not help but just stand there as she looked at the approaching dragon.

And as the dragon drew closer, Jamie found herself unable to move. In fact, she seemed unable to do anything save focus on just two thoughts:

1. The small dragon flying in her direction was not Buffy.

2. Jamie really was about to suffer the same death by fire that she had always feared.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Twelve-Gamma

"Okay," said Messalina. "Your Slayer is ready."

Laurel glanced at Buffy and noticed that her eyes seemed to be blank.

"Are you sure she's okay?" Laurel asked.

"Of course, she is," said Messalina. "All you have to do is prepare her for battle."

"But she seems so quiet," said Laurel.

"Would you rather she still be in hysterics?" asked Messalina. "The point is I calmed her down. Is there anything else you want her to do?"

"Okay," said Laurel. "Have her go back into that room over there and get undressed."

Messalina smiled. "You heard the lady, Buffy. Go into that room and strip."

Buffy did as Messalina asked.

"I guess I'll put the magic lotion on her now," said Laurel. "But first, is there something you're not telling me?"

"About Buffy?" asked Messalina. "You know as much as I do."

"That's not what I meant," said Laurel. "If I ever find out you did something to her..."

"You're wasting time," said Messalina. "I thought she had a dragon to fight. That dragon isn't going to stay out there forever. And the longer it takes Buffy to get out there, the more buildings it's going to burn."

Laurel started muttering under her breath but in the end, she went in and spread the magic lotion upon Buffy's body. And noted how weirdly silent Buffy was, even when Laurel applied the lotion to an especially ticklish spot.

When Laurel was done, she asked Buffy to pick up her sword. There was no response.

Then Messalina came into the room and asked Buffy to do the same thing. Buffy automatically picked up her sword with no problem whatsoever.

Messalina smiled again.

"Now walk into the hall," she said.

Buffy walked into the hall.

"Walk toward the front entrance," said Messalina.

Buffy started walking toward the front entrance.

Sir Roderick did not say a word but Laurel could not help being skeptical.

"Are you sure she's going to be able to fight a dragon like this?" Laurel asked.

Messalina just shrugged. "Actually the dragon is not Buffy's worst problem," she said. "Her worst problem is -- "

Just then the front door opened and a dark-haired woman with two crossbows on her arms stepped into the inn.

"My name is Faith Rappaccini," she said, "and I kill demons, vampires, and rogue slayers. Especially the type of rogue slayers who collaborate with vampires."

"Ah!" exclaimed Messalina. "There's Buffy's worst problem right there."

xxx

"Who the heck are you?" asked Laurel of the dark-haired woman in the front entrance.

Sir Roderick interrupted. "Laurel, please. Let me handle this."

He turned toward the dark-haired woman in the front entrance and said, "Now then... Who the heck are you?"

"I just told you," said the woman. "I'm Faith Rappaccini. I'm here to slay your dragon slayer."

"Why in the world would you want to do that?" asked Sir Roderick. "Your town is under attack by a dragon. You need a dragon slayer to take care of that. And anyway, what gives you the authority to prevent the Slayer from performing her duties anyway?"

"I take my orders from my father the mayor," said the woman who called herself Faith. "The dragon will be taken care of in due time but in the meantime, your Slayer has got to go. She's been compromised by her involvement with vampires and I'm here to see that she pays for it."

Messalina sighed and snapped her fingers. "Time to wake up, Buffy."

Whatever trance Buffy had been in ended and she looked around the inn with a startled expression on her face.

"Hey, why am I naked?" she said, shielding her breasts from view. "Why am I covered with lotion?"

Then Buffy noticed Faith. "Who the heck are you?" she asked.

Now it was Faith's turn to sigh.

"Not this again," she said. "I'm Faith Rappaccini. I'm the mayor's daughter. I kill demons, vampires and rogue slayers. And I'm here to kill you, Buf --"

Buffy interrupted, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it already. You're evil. Do we have to chat about it all day?"

"No, we don't," said Faith.

And with that, she fired a crossbow bolt in the direction of Buffy's chest, only to watch with dismay as Buffy caught the bolt just before it hit her.

"You sure you want to start something with a professional dragon slayer?" asked Buffy. "My job requires me to fight giant fire-breathing reptiles on a regular basis. A mere human is hardly a challenge compared to that."

"She's not a mere human, Buffy," said Stake. "She's a poison damsel. I can smell the difference from here. One touch of her skin or one whiff of her breath and you're a dead woman."

"The vampire has it right," said Faith.

"Wait a minute!" said Buffy, turning toward Stake. "You're a vampire?"

"You honestly did not know that?" asked Stake.

"Well, I don't encounter many vampires in my line of work," said Buffy. "Besides, why would a Slayer need to know anything about vampires?"

"I'm a vampire, too, for what it's worth," said Messalina.

Faith smiled when she heard this. "I guessed as much but since you were nice enough to confess..."

She fired a crossbow bolt in Messalina's direction but again Buffy intercepted it before it hit its intended target.

"Okay," said Faith. "Since that's the way it's going to be, it looks like I'll have to do this the hard way."

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Twelve-Beta

"Oh my Goddess!" cried Laurel. "That poor woman!"

"Oh, Mistress Post wasn't poor," said Sir Reilly. "In fact, she was well-off. Indeed, she owned --"

"That will be enough of that, Sir Reilly," said Magdalena. "No need to inform them of all our private business. Speaking of which, any progress in regard to that second item I requested?"

"If you're referring to the Holy Grail," said Sir Reilly, "well, we still have had no luck. As for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, we've had a heck of a time tracking that down, given that its last known location is currently controlled by the Teutonic Knights. We did manage to obtain a few clues in Cairo but then all hell broke loose. Apparently some mercenary lost her girlfriend in the marketplace and was harassing all the local basket merchants about it. Then of course, he had to go and shoot an Arab swordsman with his crossbow, and boy, did that cause no end of trouble. And in addition --"

"Okay, Sir Reilly," said Magdalena. "We get the point. Think you have time to slay a dragon for us?"

"Yes, Mistress Walsh," said Sir Reilly with a click of his heels.

"Oh, good," said Magdalena. "The sooner we get this dragon-slaying over with, the better."

Just then there was a knock on the front door.

Again the innkeeper answered it.

This time there was a young woman at the door. She had dark brown hair and appeared to be eighteen -- just about two years younger than Buffy.

"Top of the evening to you," she said. "I'm here on behalf of my mistress Guadalupe Post. I believe you people have something that belongs to her."

"Who the hell are you?" asked Sir Reilly as the blonde woman leaning on him suppressed a smirk.

"Me?" asked the woman. "Why, I'm nobody. Just a faithful friend and servant of Mistress Post, here to collect a bit of lost property. But if you have to call me something, please feel free to call me Fae Lahane."

"Well, Fae," said Sir Riley with a scowl, "your mistress's 'lost property' is now the official property of his Majesty and his loyal servants. So you can just get lost."

"Are you sure you don't want to change your mind?" asked Fae. "You really don't want me as an enemy."

Sir Reilly laughed. "I give up his Majesty's property to no man."

Fae smiled. "It's funny that you put it that way because as you can see, I am clearly not a man."

At that point, she dropped her dress and revealed a naked body that had been concealed from the sun for so long that its whiteness was almost blinding to look at. But that bit was not half as noticeable as the large transparent wings that were spreading out behind Fae's back.

"Heck," Fae continued, "I'm not even human."

xxx

"Wow!" exclaimed Querida as she gazed upon the naked body of Fae Lahane. "The carpet really does match the drapes!"

"Why, thank you," said Fae. "You don't look so bad yourself -- for a human."

"Hey!" exclaimed Querida. "Take that back! I'm a vampire, not a human!"

"My mistake," said Fae.

"No worries," said Querida. "Though I must admit that if you're nice to me, I could be anything you wanted me to be -- provided, of course, the price is right."

"Anything?" asked Fae. "Even a pony? I always wanted a pony."

"Okay," said Buffy. "This is getting weird."

"Getting weird?" asked the innkeeper.

"Of course, I normally prefer to ride broomstick but for you, I'm willing to make an exception," said Fae.

"Yeah, right," said Querida with a wink.

"Er, girls," said Laurel, "aren't you both forgetting something?"

"Laurel!" cried Buffy.

"Oh, right," said Fae, turning back to Sir Reilly. "I made a promise to a lady. Okay, whoever your name is, hand over the glove or else I'm going to have to hurt you."

"Please don't do that," said Querida. "That's my job."

"Oh, really?" asked Fae. "Is it okay if I kill him instead?"

"I'd rather you didn't," said Querida. "After all, he is one of my best customers."

"If you don't mind, Querida," said Sir Reilly, "I can fight my own battles, thank you very much."

"Well, excuse me for trying to save your life, Sir Reilly," said Querida. "It's humans like you that make me wish I was turned a lot sooner than I actually was."

"Tell me about it," said Fae. "Humans can be a real pain sometimes. Not that I mind most of the time. After all, some of my best friends are humans. But every so often..."

Sir Reilly cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you just go away."

"Well, like I said," said Fae, "I made a promise to a lady. So while I would like to think that I'm as big a fan of the 'want, take, have' school of philosophy as most of your kind, Sir Reilly, I really would appreciate it if you turn over the Meggido glove right now. Please don't make me take it from you. You would not like that."

Sir Reilly sneered. "And you would not like what I do in return."

And with that, he raised the hand wearing the Meggido glove and pointed it in the direction of Fae Lahane's uncovered chest.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Twelve-Alpha

Buffy kept telling herself that she had nothing to worry about. After all, she had a dragon's claws, a dragon's scales and most important of all, a dragon's flame. With all that, it should not really bother her that her hands could no longer hold a spear or a sword or even a shield. Her skin was fireproof, her claws and teeth deadlier than most weapons she had handled as a Slayer and if worse came to worse, she could always breathe fire.

Then she got outside and saw the dragon. It was very easily the largest dragon she had ever seen. It was more the size of a small mountain than that of the overgrown lizards that she had usually fought as a Slayer. Heck, even Vermithrax Pejorative would have seemed like a newt compared to this creature.

Plus this creature stood on two legs. Buffy had fought many a dragon in her brief life and yet she had never encountered a dragon that stood on two legs. They were always on all fours.

To be fair, this dragon also had no wings but that did not seem to make a difference to Buffy when she saw how easily the creature breathed fire. Who cared whether or not the darn thing flew? It could very easily set on fire almost any flying animal that it saw.

Then the dragon turned in her direction. As a veteran dragon slayer, Buffy could guess what was coming but she still felt a bit of fear creep down her spine.

Pure instinct made her close her eyes as well, which was just as well because the dragon's very next move was to belch a mass of flame in her direction.

xxx

Erastus Rayne led the way to one of his back rooms where he immediately advised Brother Linden to step outside of the room while he got Sister Lilith prepared for the big dragon fight.

"Why can't I stay?" asked Linden.

"Because Lilith is going to have to get undressed right now," said Erastus. "And she'd probably be more comfortable if she could do it in privacy."

"I've seen Lilith undressed before," said Linden.

"Hey!" said Lilith. "I thought we both agreed we weren't going to talk about that."

"Very well," said Erastus. "You can stay."

Linden went and stood against a nearby wall, leaving a very nervous Lilith to undress before the gaze of him and Erastus.

"I've attended too many Black Masses to pretend I've never undressed in mixed company before but never have I had to undress for something like this," said Lilith as she started taking off her clothes.

"Don't worry," said Erastus. "The transformation should be painless and it should take less time than a -- Oh, my!"

"What is it?" said Lilith as she dropped the last of her garments to the floor.

Erastus replied, "I've heard that you looked quite fetching in the nude, Lilith, but I never realized -- Er, you don't have to cover yourself for my sake. We're all adults here."

Lilith continued to hold one arm over her breasts and the other over her private parts, feeling a bit like the convent girl she used to be before she changed teams.

"No, thanks," Lilith replied. "Somehow I feel more comfortable like this."

"And yet you're supposed to be this big bad representative of the Dark Brotherhood," said Erastus.

"Hey, members of the Dark Brotherhood can be modest, too," said Lilith.

"Ahem!" said Linden. "I know a naked Lilith is a hard sight to pass up but we do have a bit of a time crunch on our hands."

"Right," said Erastus. "Well, here goes!"

Erastus made a few gestures with her hands, muttered some words in Latin and then flung out his hands in Lilith's direction. There was a brief flash of light emanating from his hands and then --

Lilith disappeared.

In her place there stood a dragon roughly about her size.

"There," said Erastus. "It worked. Now let's go kill that witch and that Slayer."

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eleven-Gamma

Messalina was leading Buffy into a back room of the inn so that she could get undressed when her boyfriend Stake pulled her aside.

"Listen, Mess," he said, "you know I usually have your back on all things but if things go pear-shaped with this Slayer business, the Watchers Council is going to come after us with everything they've got."

"Let them try," said Messalina. "They've come after us before -- and they've never caught us."

"But this is serious," said Stake. "It's one thing to expect them to write off Niccola Wood as an unfortunate coincidence. But if the same thing happens to this Buffy..."

"Relax, darling," said Messalina. "I know what I'm doing. Besides, this Slayer is actually different than the late Miss Wood. I can tell just by talking to her. And I'm learning a lot of interesting stuff from this one too. I never expected that to happen."

"Wait!" exclaimed Stake. "Are you telling me, Mess, that after years of anti-Slayer rhetoric, you're actually beginning to empathize with a Slayer?"

At this point, Messalina's eyes went vacant.

Then she said, "No, that's not it."

xxx

"So this dragon slayer is actually collaborating with vampires?" asked the dark-haired woman known as Faith as she walked down the street toward the inn called the Violet Moon.

"As far as we can tell," said Sister Lilith, wondering why the rain seemed to bother Faith far less than it bothered her. "At least that's what our sources say."

"Why would she do something like that?" asked Faith as she loaded the two crossbows that she wore on her arms. "Doesn't she know how evil vampires can -- Oh, it doesn't matter. The fact is that she chose to go over to the other side and it's my duty to punish her for doing so."

"You think you can take her?" asked Brother Linden.

"I can take any human," said Faith. "I'm a poison damsel, remember? If I can't hit her with my crossbows, I have merely to touch her or breathe on her and she'll be a dead woman."

"You know the Watchers Council won't be happy with you if you succeed in this," said Sister Lilith.

"So what?" said Faith. "I'm not happy with them. Besides, I don't work for them; I work for my father the mayor. And if he hadn't asked me to do this thing for you two, I wouldn't even be here."

At this point, Faith stopped to glance at the giant two-legged dragon in the town square.

Then she shrugged and turned back toward the Violet Moon.

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eleven-Beta

The cart carrying Brother Linden, Sister Lilith and Siegfried was more than a block away from the center of the village when Siegfried suddenly looked up and saw the giant dragon.

"Fire!" he exclaimed, pointing at the dragon's fiery breath. "Fire!"

And just like that, he was climbing out of the cart and running like hell away from the dragon.

"Well, so much for that idea," said Sister Lilith.

"Relax!" cried Brother Linden. "I have a backup plan."

xxx

Twenty minutes later, Brother Linden and Sister Lilith were knocking on the door of a certain house on the edge of the village.

A dark-haired man in a monk's robe answered and asked, "What do you want?"

"Are you Warden Meers by any chance?" asked Brother Linden.

"Who wants to know?" asked the man at the door.

Brother Linden replied, "I represent the Dark Brotherhood of --"

"Oh, for Lucifer's sake!" exclaimed the dark-haired man. "I told you folks before that I'm not doing any more contract work for Adelle and Topher. I'm tired of being asked to fix Whiskey and Echo and don't even get me started on all the issues you've had with Alpha. If you wish to have your galateas and galateos fixed so badly, why don't you all go to that Geppetto guy and his assistant the Blue Fairy? I'm done playing Pygmalion for you people."

"Silly warlock," said Brother Linden. "We don't represent the Dark Brotherhood of Rossum. We present the Dark Brotherhood of the Wolf, the Ram and the Stag."

"So?" asked the dark-haired man.

"We wish to acquire the services of the two golems you refer to as the Girlfriend and the Slayer," said Brother Linden. "Specifically, Salome and Mina."

"How did you find out about them?" asked the dark-haired man.

"We have our sources," said Brother Linden.

"Well, I'm not sure I can lend them to you," said the dark-haired man.

"Oh, we're prepared to pay you a hefty price for their services," said Brother Linden. "Also I feel obliged to inform you that a man in your position is better off having the Dark Brotherhood as a friend rather than an enemy. Unless of course, you wish us to tell the Watchers Council about the type of stuff you've been doing with Salome and Mina in private."

The dark-haired man turned pale.

"Of course you may have them," he replied. "Just give me a little time to get them both ready."

"Take all the time you want," said Sister Lilith. "However, I am obliged to ask you just one more question."

"What is it?" said the dark-haired man who was so obviously Warden Meers.

"Have you managed to imprint either figure with the Asimov spell?" asked Sister Lilith.

"Hell, no!" said Warden Meers. "That spell is a son of a bitch to imprint onto this type of golem."

"So, in other words, you have two golems with superhuman strength and absolutely no qualms about taking a human life," said Sister Lilith. "That's good to hear!"

xxx

"So what do we do now?" asked Buffy as she, Laurel, and Sir Roderick followed Magdalena Walsh back into the Violet Moon.

"Fortunately, I have a backup plan," said Magdalena.

"Oh, really?" asked Buffy. "What is it?"

"You'll find out in a few minutes," said Magdalena.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the front door. The innkeeper opened it and in walked a knight dressed in black armor with a bleary-eyed blonde leaning on his left shoulder. In his hands was a mysterious black box.

Magdalena took one look at the black box and smiled as the two most recent arrivals walked in and closed the front door behind them.

"Ah, Sir Reilly," she said. "So glad that you could make it on such short notice. Who's your friend?"

""Oh, this damsel," said Sir Reilly. "She's um...er... What was your name again?"

"Querida," said the blonde. "Querida... er, I forgot what my last name was. Does it really matter, dear boy?"

"Not to me," said Sir Reilly.

"Nor to me," said Magdalena. "Er, you didn't tell her about the you-know-what?"

"No, he didn't," said Querida. "And frankly, I don't care. Anyone have any rabbit blood, by the way? I'm feeling kinda peckish."

"Rabbit blood?" said the innkeeper's wife. "Don't tell me she's --"

"That's right," said Sir Reilly. "She's a bunny-eater."

"Oh my God!" cried the innkeeper's wife.

And with that, she hastily ran upstairs.

Sir Reilly smiled a cold smile. "I'm only kidding, of course. She's really just a vampire. Although Madame Cornelia calls her a lamia to impress her more posh clients."

"Madame Cornelia?" asked Laurel. "You mean she's also a --"

"A very good kisser," said Querida with a grin.

Then she saw the pale expression on Laurel's face and said, "Don't worry. I won't bite you -- at least not until I get to know you better."

"This is all very interesting, Mistress Walsh," said Sir Roderick, "but what about this backup plan you supposedly have?"

"Oh, it's right here," said Magdalena, pointing to the box in Sir Reilly's hands. "Right here in this box. Take it out, Sir Reilly."

Sir Reilly reached into the box and pulled out a metal glove that was covered with spikes. One end of the glove consisted of metal hooks specifically designed to secure the glove to any hand it was placed upon.

"What does it do?" asked Buffy in spite of herself.

Sir Reilly smiled, placed the glove on his left hand, watched silently as it magically secured itself to his wrist and then aimed the glove at a nearby window.

Almost instantly a large glove-sized hole appeared in the glass.

"It's called the Meggido glove," said Sir Reilly. "Fired in the right direction, it can kill almost anything -- even a dragon."

"How ever did you get it?" asked Sir Roderick.

"Easy," said Sir Reilly. "Me and the rest of the boys who work for the Prerogative -- the favorite secret project of our current monarch -- managed to borrow it from Mistress Walsh's former associate Guadalupe Post."

"How ever did you manage to get her to part with a weapon like that?" asked Laurel.

Again Sir Reilly smiled -- but this time his smile was even colder than before. "I can't really tell you how but I will say one thing -- she did not give it up voluntarily."

To be continued...

Friday Fanfic

Buffy the Dragon Slayer

(An obvious continuation of last week's story)

Chapter Eleven-Alpha

As Buffy started to follow Jamie and Sir Roderick out the front entrance of the Violet Moon, she could not help turning toward Laurel and saying, "Whatever else you do, Laurel, don't let Jamie die!"

"Oh, that's nice of you," said Laurel. "I didn't realize that you liked Jamie that much."

"I don't," said Buffy. "But right now she's the only chance I have of ever becoming a human again. So whatever else you do, please don't let Jamie die!"

"Damnit, Buffy!" exclaimed Laurel. "I know you're frightened but you don't have to tell me my business. I have no intention of letting Jamie die. Any more than I would let you die."

"Well, just the same..." said Buffy. "Please keep her safe."

"Okay, Buffy," said Laurel.

Laurel sighed as she watched her good friend Buffy Summerfield rush off to battle in the guise of a dragon. Buffy was a hard person to like at times but for some odd reason, Laurel preferred this angry Buffy to the frightened Buffy she had seen just a short time earlier.

She started to walk out the door when she realized she had forgotten her purse in her room. She turned to go get it and then immediately bumped into a blonde housemaid who had been carrying a pile of white towels. Towels that were immediately dropped upon the floor.

"I'm sorry," said Laurel. "I didn't see where I was going. You see -- Wait! Why haven't I seen you before, Miss..."

"Terra," said the housemaid. "You probably haven't seen me because I've been gathering lost towels all day. Every day we have guests, we lost a towel or two and when we have female guests, we seem to lose even more. You would be surprised how often our distaff guests would lack covering after their baths were it not for the work of humble servants like myself."

"That sounds terrible," said Laurel. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Well, right now you can help me pick up all these lost towels," said Terra.

"But right now I have to -- Oh, never mind," said Laurel. "I'll help you out."

Terra just smiled. "I'm sure you will."

xxx

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, Linden and Lilith were knocking on the door of a certain residence. At long last it opened and a thin, dark-haired man looked outside with an expression on his face that reminded Linden of a weasel. Or a fox.

"Erastus Rayne?" asked Linden.

"Who's asking?" asked the man.

"We're from the Dark Brotherhood of the Wolf, the Ram and the Stag," said Lilith. "We would like to hire you to help you deal with a certain problem involving a witch and a dragon slayer. Apparently the witch took it upon herself to turn the Slayer into a dragon and our employers would prefer that we find a way to discourage that kind of behavior. Can you help?"

"Hmm," said Erastus. "Dragons are almost indestructible. Only one being is harder to destroy than a dragon and he's not in the country at the moment. Perhaps you two should go see the mad wizard Lex Luthor. He's an expert at battling almost indestructible beings."

"Luthor is not available at the moment and anyway, we would prefer to deal with you," said Linden. "We will pay you well for your trouble."

"Hmm," said Erastus. "Okay. I know of a solution. Come inside and we'll discuss it."

Linden and Lilith smiled. Apparently this task was going to be easier than they had feared.

"Of course, one of you is going to have to get undressed," said Erastus.

"Undressed?" asked Lilith. "Why?"

"Because the only thing that can defeat a dragon most times is another dragon," said Erastus. "Sure dragon slayers get lucky from time to time, but if you want to really defeat a dragon in a surefire way, you need to get a dragon."

"So get a dragon," said Linden.

"On this short notice?" asked Erastus. "No way. I'm going to have to make a dragon -- which means one of you will have to undress so that you can get transformed. And since one of you is obviously handicapped and the transformation spell won't work on the handicapped, that means that it's the girl who gets to be the dragon."

"It figures," said Lilith as she rolled her eyes.

To be continued...