Buffy & The Exiled Ch. 05

A hissing cry to his left made him snap his head around in time to see one of the vampires guarding the doorway spin under the impact of a crossbow bolt and disintegrate into ashes.

"Slayergram for Angelus!"

Buffy swept the head from the second vampire with a deadly arc of her blade. From the darkened doorway behind her burst her friends. Giles' sword danced before him with a dangerous grace as he cut down the nearest vampire. To the other side of the whirling Slayer, Wesley impaled another undead and kicked it backward.

Recovering from the surprise of the attack, the vampires around the room rushed at the five humans.

"I thought you said he only had fifteen vampires! There's gotta be twice that many!" shrieked Cordelia as she loaded another quarrel into her crossbow.

"Hey, it's not my fault if he can't count!" replied the blonde, as she mule kicked a too eager vamp back into the throng. A large guy wearing a Stetson snagged her sword-arm by the wrist. He twisted the weapon to the side and punched her in the stomach.

"Ooofff! You must be Butch, 'cause no self respecting vampire would call himself Sundance!" Headbutting the bloodsucker, Buffy blasted her knee into his chest and used an uppercut from her left fist to knock him onto his back.

Wesley pulled his blade from the chest of a vampire and sliced her head off. As her body burst into dust, a figure leapt through the cloud and snatched hold of his throat.

"Hi, Wes. Nice of you to drop by," sneered Angelus.

His grip closed like a steel vice and forced the Englishman to his knees. As he tried to bring his sword up, the Irish vampire stamped on the tip of the blade and knocked it from his grasp. With a look of malicious delight, he bared his fangs to the helpless man.

"You've saved me the trouble of coming to find you. That spoils things a bit because I'm afraid that I'll have to kill you quick so that I can deal with Buffy, and I was so looking forward to torturing you."

"We were friends, once," gasped the Watcher, clutching in vain at the powerful hand that held him.

"Yes. And that's not something that's easy to forgive," he replied with disgust in his voice. Snarling, he opened his mouth and bit down.

Just before his fangs punched into his victim's exposed throat, a crossbow bolt buried itself in his shoulder and knocked him back. Wesley slipped from his numb fingers and fell forward, coughing. Barely ten feet away, through the mass of charging bodies, Cordelia began to knock another bolt into place.

Angelus yanked the shaft from his body and tossed it aside. His eyes filled with hate as he grimaced at her, "Cordelia, you surprise me. I didn't know you were such a good shot with that thing."

"I'm not. I was aiming for your heart!"

Kicking the Watcher back into the melee, he lunged forward and batted the weapon from her hands. She backed a step away from him as his hands reached for her. He was struck from the side by a blonde blur and disappeared into the mass of vampires.

Losing sight of her former boss and the Slayer, Cordy ducked the grasp of a female vampire and sighed with relief when a battleaxe struck the fiend and flung it away.

"C'mon. We've got friends to find," said Oz, cutting a path toward the rear steps.

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Twisting her body and curling the chain over her shoulder, Faith flipped Spike across the room. He crashed into a table and bounded to his feet far quicker than she had expected.

"You think you can handle me in the state you're in, Slayer?"

"Spike, I could take you with one hand tied behind my back!"

He straightened into a cocky pose, "Oh? Prove it. I don't mind waiting while you get the rope."

She shot him a shark-like grin, "Remember what I told you while you were beating on me?"

"Yeah."

With amazing speed, she leapt forward and hit him with an uppercut that bounced him off the wall.

Like the warriors they were, they began to trade punches and kicks at a frightening pace. Spike blocked three combination punches and returned a spin kick that flattened the Slayer against the wall. His fist slammed down and he roared in pain as she ducked her head away and he hit the stonework. Her returning punch blasted under his chin and nearly lifted him off his feet.

He reeled as she followed her attack with a devastating combination of hits that had him staggering and off balance. Finally, he managed to block a blow and hit back. His face morphed into that of the vampire and he doubled her up with a punch to the stomach. As her body folded, he swept his foot up to try to connect with her chin.

The brunette Slayer was ready for that and snatched hold of his ankle, twisting it painfully to the side. He spun in the air and crashed down before her. She stamped her foot on his crotch with a gleeful look of delight.

As he curled up in pain, he saw her turn toward Willow. The damn witch was free! The Slayer must have unlocked her before attacking him. Spitting on her sleeve, the redhead wiped the blood rune from her forehead. The Slayer nodded to the back cellar and the witch gave a small smile of agreement before lifting her hand and turning an imaginary key. There was a slight click from the locked door behind him and he felt a cool draft carry the strong scent of blood over him.

"No!" he cried, climbing to his knees and beginning to stand up.

The Slayer struck him with a powerful kick that flung him through the air and into the charnel house of the back room. He hit the floor with a thud and skidded across the blood soaked surface as entrails and body parts were carried along with him. When he came to a halt, he saw Faith flash him a smile as she closed the door. It locked with an unnaturally loud click.

"Oh, bollocks," he whispered as the werewolf climbed groggily to its feet.

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Angelus rolled above her with both his hands fastened on her throat, "Ah, Buffy. You really were the sweetest conquest. I'll treasure taking your virginity for centuries."

She gripped his wrists and exerted all her strength to prise his hands slowly apart. "That's very romantic. Did you once eat a trashy novelist?"

"That's it, Buff. You make with the quips, but remember that I'll have the last laugh."

"Yeah? Well, you never were very quick at getting the joke."

Pain burst in him as she crashed her forehead into his face. While he was momentarily weakened, she pushed him up and managed to gather her feet against his chest. Snapping her body straight, she flung him backward and used a handspring to leap to her feet. He snarled as he rolled into a crouch and twisted to see where she had gone, spitting blood when he saw her charging toward the Shepherd.

The cultist made the mystic symbol for death above the last vial of blood and poured it into the green flames. The essence of a killer turned them black with a purple tint as they soared to twice the height they had been. On the wall opposite the sorcerer, the chalk runes exploded and left a jagged hole of darkness that was nearly twelve feet high.

"Lord Mobadon! You are free! Follow the sound of your faithful servant's voice to escape your prison! Come to..."

"Oh, knock it off, you prat!" snapped Giles as he flattened the sorcerer with his fist. Buffy skidded to a halt beside him and flashed a grateful smile.

"Giles, you're not quite getting the hang of saving the world. When you take out a bad guy you have to do it with a bit of wit."

He pushed his glasses further up his nose as he regarded his beautiful young charge, "Something like 'Oh, stop your bleating, Sheppy'? Or maybe, 'Flock off', perhaps?"

She grimaced and patted his forearm affectionately, "Okay, you took me literally when I said 'a bit'. My bad. Maybe you should stick to the research and I'll do the field work. Still, nice punch though. Did you stop him in time?"

"I'm afraid not," he said as a seven foot tall, jet black demon stepped through the dimensional rent in the far wall.

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TO BE CONTINUED in "Buffy and The Exiled 06" in which Angelus and Buffy get even more physical and two of the greatest magical powers clash.

FROM THE AUTHOR : Many thanks to my editor OMEGAZONE for taking the time to improve and guide my writing.