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...