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...