Buffy & The Four Ch. 01

"Uhm, yes, of course," he said, rising from his seat on the sofa and following the young girl into the kitchen. She was now wearing tight jeans, Willow's black cat tee-shirt and her long brown hair cascaded down her back in a glossy wave.

When she turned to look up at the handsome Watcher, he smiled down at her and slipped his hands onto her small waist. "I take it that this subterfuge was designed to facilitate our solitude so that you could slake your youthful lusts?"

"Is that the stuffy British way of saying it was an excuse to get you alone and kiss you?" she giggled, as her sky blue eyes met his. Not waiting for an answer, her lips parted as she raised herself on tiptoe to meet his mouth on the way down.

She tasted sweet and fresh as her tongue squirmed around his. While their lips brushed together, his hands roamed up and down her slender back while hers clasped firmly around the nape of his neck.

In-between dipping for more quick kisses, Giles whispered, "We shouldn't be doing this here. There is far too much chance of us being caught."

"I know," she murmured. "Thrilling isn't it?"

He wasn't so sure about that. If any of the Scoobies caught them and word got back to Buffy things would change in a way he didn't want them to. Dawn seemed oblivious of his reticence though as she licked at his lips, "If Anya hadn't come back when she did, you would have gotten the most wonderful time of your life. Did you like the skirt?"

He got a pulse of desire in his trousers as he remembered just how sexy, how provocative, she had looked in that little miniskirt. "Y... yes, I did. Are you going to wear it again?"

Her hands slid in his short hair as her breath mingled with his, "I might."

Reluctantly he let common sense rule and pulled away after one last kiss. "Why don't you go up and keep Tara company? I am sure she must be fed up with sitting in bed all day, even though she needs the rest to recover from her injuries."

"Okay," the young girl said with a fetching pout. When she turned to leave, he gave her a quick slap on the butt that earned him a little yelp and a shocked glance from her captivating eyes. He winked back as she flounced out of the room with a sassy smile.

++++++++++

The lizard-like demon leapt back in pain as the stake plunged into its slimy chest. Spinning around, it sprang off the fallen Slayer and jumped thirty feet upward to cling to the side wall of the tavern. Like Spiderman, it crawled up the vertical surface and slithered onto the roof, heading for the far side of the building.

Buffy curled her legs above her head and then snapped herself up to her feet in a quick flick and charged through the neon-lit doorway into the smokey room beyond. The bar was like most dives and only had a couple of heavy drinking patrons in it at this late hour who were barely paying attention to the aged stripper who was half-heartedly gyrating on stage.

"Is there a back door to this joint?"

The young man behind the gin-soaked counter nodded and indicated a door that was partially hidden by shelving; it was a common question amongst the tavern's dubious clientele. The Slayer hurried forward and disappeared through the exit.

Behind the sleazy bar, there was a narrow alleyway. Glancing up into the darkness, she saw a large dark green blur flit across the gap. "Great," she complained, leaping for a hanging fire escape ladder. Snagging hold of it, she curled her moving body around the lower rung with the grace of a gymnast and rapidly began to climb upward.

At the top, she peered over the edge, expecting a talon to swipe for her immediately. It didn't come. The overgrown humanoid lizard was crouched on the far corner of the roof, intently staring down into the almost empty street below. Its luminous yellow eyes focused on its mate as it fought with the second Slayer.

Faith had the breath blasted from her body when she ducked a vicious claw but was too slow to dodge the swinging tail that followed. The thing had a similar effect to a blow from a charging rhino. Like a rag doll, the brunette flew a full thirty feet before hitting the side of a seven eleven with a very audible thump and dropping to the ground. As the victorious demon scuttled forward to finish its job, its mate let out an eerie shriek that drew its attention. Looking up across the road to the rooftop, the demon bobbed its head in answer and took off down the road at a blistering gallop.

Groaning, Faith clasped her bruised stomach and rolled onto her back struggling for breath. Why had the thing not closed for the kill?

Silently, Buffy covered the distance across the rooftop to the Lizard demon. Maybe it had some form of super hearing, or perhaps could either smell or sense her, but it turned and hissed in her direction. Lunging for the creature, the Slayer had to flail to a quick halt to stop herself following it over the edge of the building. The demon just crawled head first down the wall with the same ease that it had climbed up the first one. When it reached the road, it shrieked and then rushed off in the same direction as its mate.

"Fine," Buffy complained, putting both hands on her hips. "Run away now, but this isn't over."

Wincing, she held up her hand and looked at the row of punctures. Her noses wrinkled at the thick, oily, foul-smelling black drool that coated her hand. As she watched, it seemed to draw itself over her hand and was sucked down into the wounds. She knew that she should be very worried about that, but for some reason she was totally unconcerned. After all, what harm could a bit of demon drool do?

++++++++++

"You okay, slugger?" she asked, extending a hand down to Faith because the brunette still lay upon her back in the gutter. "Interesting technique you used, seeing if you could smash its tail in with your ribs."

Grasping the offered hand and pulling herself to her feet, Faith grinned ruefully at her girlfriend, "Hey, you fight your way, I'll fight mine. I was just lulling Iguana-face into a false sense of security before I knocked its teeth out."

Reaching up and tenderly hooking some of Faith's hair behind her ear, Buffy smiled, "You do tend to have a much more physical approach to Slaying than I do. In my book, the less they hit you the better."

Clapping a hand to her forehead, the brunette groaned, "That's where I'm going wrong!"

Entwining their fingers together, the two Chosen began to amble in the direction of Buffy's home. The blonde squeezed her girlfriend's hand a little, "We'll get the gang to hit the books and see if we can figure out what type of demons ugly and uglier were."

Faith pulled a face, "I hate research. I'm no good at it."

"No, but you have other skills."

"Ain't that the truth."

++++++++++

"They could have been Belkas but I doubt it," Giles mused as the two Slayers described the monsters they had just fought. "They tend to extrude razor sharp spines down their backs when in combat."

"Well these guys must have ticked the 'no spines' box on their wanna-be-a demon application form. They did have thick scales there, but much more like the ones down the back of a crocodile," Buffy helped.

"Hmm," the ex-librarian mused.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they were definitely demons," Faith said, deadpan. Her carefully held blank look broadened into a huge smile at the slightly disapproving looks Buffy and Giles turned on her simultaneously.

"Quite," the Watcher said after a moment. He turned to Xander who was sat on the far end of the sofa with Anya on his lap. "You two dig out the demonic reference texts we have here and see what you can find. Faith, you... er... rest while I see to Buffy's wound."

++++++++++

Five minutes later, Willow walked into the dining room and saw that Xander and Anya were already deep in the books.

"Hey guys. What's the five one one?"

Xander gave a little embarrassed smile. "Hey, Will. You may wanna brush up a bit on the street slang."

"Oh," she said with a crestfallen look. "Then what's the E. S. P?"

"Nearly." Upbeat he added, "We're trying to find out what Buff's Lizardmen are really called."

"Not having any success, huh?"

"Nah. Still, we may just get lucky and find a page that says 'This is the beastie you are looking for' in big bold letters."

"Don't tell me you believe in miracles, too."

"Anything is possible. Hey, give enough monkeys enough time and enough typewriters and they'll eventually type up the complete works of Shakespeare," he told her, sage-like.

"Yeah, and give Faith enough time and enough fingers to count on, and she'll eventually add two plus two!" she quipped right back. The horrified expression on Xander and Anya's face made the redhead wince. "Annnnd she's standing right behind me, isn't she?"

They gave quick little nods.

"Poop."

Slowly, the young witch turned around to look at the angry brunette. "Ah, hi Faith. I was just talking about you..."

The Slayer moved to stand nose to nose with Willow and hissed, "Yeah, I heard. Two plus two, right?"

As the Wiccan gave a hesitant nod, Faith shot her hand out and struck Willow on her shoulder, knocking her off her feet and onto her butt. For a second the angry Slayer stared defiantly down at the witch before she turned around and stalked out.

Willow let her lip drop into a little pout and mumbled, "There's no need to get mad just 'cause you don't know the answer!"

++++++++++

Buffy sagged back on the couch as he dabbed antiseptic onto the bite mark on her hand, "It's just a scratch Giles, stop fussing."

"I'm not fussing," he protested in his mother-hen tone. "Demons have all sorts of toxins and venoms in their fangs, saliva and such. I'm just being careful." Rolling her eyes, she let him hold her hand as he reached for the sticking plaster.

Faith stalked into the room and dropped down beside her with an angry pout on her face and her arms folded tightly across her breasts. "How much trouble would I be in if I slayed a witch?" she groused at the Watcher.

Pausing his nurse routine, he thoughtfully considered it. "Well, it does depend upon the circumstances. Buffy did slay Amy's mother, in a round about way. Why do you ask?"

++++++++++

The Hagna demons bobbed and hissed in the shadows. They were normally quite fearless but both knew there was something different about these females. After all, the leader of them had lain with the Lord Gohnarth and that alone earned her the right to command the Hagnas in anyway she saw fit; even to order their deaths if she wished. The girls, now dressed in their usual black Goth clothing, stood in a rough semi-circle before them. Their leader was pacing back and forth with an angry scowl on her face. After several tense moments, she turned to the two creatures, "You are sure that you infected one of the Slayers with the essence?"

"Yeths, Mistreth, the golden-hair."

"Did the essence consume her?"

"Not yet, Mistreth."

"Why not?"

"She is a strong one, Mistreth." The demon bent low so that it had to look up at the young witch from about her waist height, in its species' position of subservience. "It iths in her body now though, and will thurely take her thoon."

"You'd better hope it does. Now go and keep watch on her."

Both demons bowed and scampered from the coven's presence, eager to be away from the deadly menace of their magic.

"Do you think something has gone wrong?" asked the youngest witch.

"No. The Hagna is right; Buffy Summers is the Chosen and so it will take a little longer than normal to turn her, but it will. When it does, she will only wish to serve us and spread the essence to everybody around her."

The four young women looked from one to another as smiles slowly spread over their beautiful faces. The lead witch clenched her fist, "And if that bitch Willow thinks her magic is stronger than ours this time, she is in for a rude awakening. This time, thanks to Gohnarth's Machina Demonica, I have far more power than she has. This time, she will bow before The Daughters of Gaia!"

The sheer joy of the power she now wielded shone in Ruth's eyes until Jody said, "Hey, can I copy your notes from Chem class? I'm dreading the test."

"The test is in Chem class? I though we were doing one in Algebra?" Kim frowned.

"That's next week, dingbat," Mary chided. "This week it's the Chem test."

Ruth sagged; "Now I know why the wicked witch of Oz worked alone."

++++++++++

"No luck on our scaly spidermen then?" Buffy asked as she wandered into the dining room and sat in one of the free chairs at the table. Willow and Xander shot her apologetic shrugs, but Anya turned a slightly angry face to her.

"Spidermen?! Spidermen?! I've spent the last two hours looking for lizardmen!"

Xander, used to his girlfriend's abruptness, leant over and laid a comforting hand upon her wrist. "Relax, Honey. It's a pop culture reference. Buffy called them spidermen because of the way she says one crawled up and down walls."

"Oh," said the demoness, hardly placated at all.

Buffy smiled at her tired friends, "Okay, you guys have been hitting the books for a while now, how about you take a break for an hour?"

"An hour?" Anya said, a happy tone back in her voice. "That gives us time to play some monopoly!"

"NO!" everybody chorused at once.

She sagged and pouted slightly, "How about the game of life then? That has money in it."

"Ahn, I think if we are going to play some sort of game for a break, then it should be something the others enjoy, too."

"Why?"

Climbing out of her chair, Buffy smiled at the banter of her friends. Even after all the terrors and horrors they had experienced, they still managed to retain a joy for simple pleasures and light-hearted fun.

++++++++++

Giles was sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, cup of tea at his lips and a large tome open before him. He seemed deeply engrossed in the ancient book and at first didn't notice Buffy enter.

"Does the hero ride off on a white charger with his girl at the end?"

"Hmm?" The Englishman slowly dragged his attention from the book and focused it on the young blonde. "Oh. Yes, uhm, quite. You know, this is a very interesting account by Zachariah Thomas of an infestation of Gok'nar demons in the late middle ages."

"Gachnar? Wasn't he that little guy I squished with my foot?"

"What? Oh, er... yes, but these were Gok'nar. They are reptilian in nature and may be closely related to your mystery attackers. I think I have a book at home that may list their sub-species." Carefully closing the large leather bound book and slipping it under his arm, he started for the front door. "Do you think you will be okay if I go and follow this lead? Can you manage without me?"

Patting his arm as he went by, Buffy grinned. "Somehow."

When he was gone, she climbed onto the stool he had been sitting on, folded her arms on the breakfast counter and rested her head on them. It felt like it had only been a moment, but had probably been a lot longer, when she jerked up out of sleep with a hiss of pain. Looking at her bandaged hand, she frowned as she flexed her fingers. The damn thing was stinging like Hell!

Suddenly, she felt far too hot and rushed out into the garden to get a breath of cool air. Gasping, she paced back and forth on the grass, clenching her injured fist as her whole arm tingled. The pins and needles feeling spread out along her shoulder and up to her head making her feel dizzy and light-headed for a moment.

There was a rustle in the foliage both to her left and her right. Slowly, the two Hagna demons raised themselves into sight, hissing and baring their fangs as they did so. Buffy's eyes narrowed as she looked from one to the other.

++++++++++

The board and pieces scattered across the room as Faith angrily slapped it away. "It wasn't fair! There were no questions on any of my areas of expertise!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Well duh! They don't make Trivial Pursuit with a category on decapitation or how to give blow jobs to six drunken bikers in an alleyway."

"You're gonna get a smack in a minute, Red."

Anya perked up, "Xander likes to give me a smack. Several in fact. Usually when we are playing naughty schoolgirl and..."

"Ahn, please!" he cried. "Less of the detail, if you don't mind."

"What detail? I didn't tell them about either the maple syrup or the handcuffs!"

"Anya!"

"Fine!" she pouted, leaning back on the sofa and angrily folding her arms. "When you do it, it's banter. When I do it, it's sharing too much!"

"Honey..." he tried.

"Oh, don't you Honey me! Every time I try to fit in with your stupid friends you pick on me and say I'm doing it wrong! You don't like me talking to Faith because you think we'll compare notes on your sexual performance, and you don't like me talking to Willow because she's your 'special' friend. And why is that? She's just a girl with red hair who talks funny. It's not as if you can get all sweaty with her anymore; she throws for the opposition now."

"That's 'bats for the other team'," Xander corrected before he could help himself.

"Er, hello?" said Willow. "I'm sitting right here."

"Yes, you are. Isn't that the problem?" Anya shot. "Don't you want to go up and check on your girlfriend? And you Faith, isn't there at least one man in this town that you haven't slept with? Don't you think you'd better hurry up before he gets away?"

The Slayer leant forward to peer around Xander at her. "What is it with you girls tonight? Are you queuing up for a slap?"

"Easy, easy! Calm down!" Xander begged, not fancying getting in the middle of a three-way fight between a Slayer, a powerful witch and a demon that had spent a thousand years killing and maiming. "Ahn, why don't you go and see how Dawnie and Tara are? Willow, how about you and I hit the books again? I am sure we'll find out what those demons were soon. And Faith..." He turned to look at her and found himself eye to eye with a seething Slayer that needed to vent a little anger. "Er... you don't hit anybody. Okay?"

Grumpily, Anya relented and headed for the stairs to do as suggested. Willow stuck her bottom lip out in a pout before sighing, "Why do you put up with her, Xander?"

"C'mon Will, she's not that bad really. Just different. You don't get rid of eleven hundred years of attitude over night, do you?"

"I suppose," the Wiccan mumbled, her voice hitting that deeper note it sometimes did. Nodding together, the two life-long friends began to pick up all the multicoloured triangles that Faith had sent flying when she knocked over the board. The Slayer very helpfully sipped at her beer and watched.

It took several minutes of hunting, but eventually all the pieces were accounted for. While Xander put the box away in the cabinet, Willow headed for the kitchen. "I'll get back to the research just as soon as I've gotten a drink of milk."

Xander turned to Faith, plastered on what he hoped was a friendly smile and gestured at the dining room with his thumb, "If anybody needs me I'll be in the other room with the books."

As he disappeared, Faith leant back and put her legs up on the sofa, "If anybody needs YOU, all the demons in Hell will be busy learning to ice skate."

++++++++++

Stretching to ease the kinks in her back from the long time spent sitting on the floor, Willow walked into the kitchen. She hadn't even reached the refrigerator when she saw the back door wide open and heard Buffy's shout, "Willow! I need your mojo!"

The red-haired witch reacted instantly to the call for help from her friend. Dashing through the kitchen, she raced out onto the back decking in time to see Buffy cartwheel away from a slicing talon.

The Slayer backflipped three times as the two demons chased her across the lawn, claws slashing wildly. Finally, she boosted herself into a somersault and landed neatly behind Willow's right shoulder. The Wiccan raised a hand and the two fiends were repulsed by a shimmering wall of force.