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...