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...