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...