These characters ain't mine.
The Watcher and the Witch -- Part I
Scented smoke drifted sinuously through the air. Three figures knelt in the middle of a chalked pentagram, chanting in sequence. A fourth figure stood by the wall, watching.
Xander walked through the door, carrying two pizzas. His jaw dropped as he took in the scene. “What are they doing?” he hissed in Anya’s ear.
“It’s a summoning,” Anya murmured. “They’re asking for help from some sort of demon dimension – information on Glory and Dawn.”
“Oh. Guess that means we shouldn’t bother ‘em, huh?”
“Yep.”
The chanting slowed, then stopped. Giles shook his head, mystified. “I don’t know why it’s not working. We’ll try again later,” he told Willow and Tara. He rose, wincing, then rubbed his back.
Willow shrugged. “I know my rhythm was off in the fourth repetition. . .? Oh, hi, Xander!”
Xander waved, placing the pizzas on the counter.
“It wasn’t you, honey,” Tara said firmly. She helped Willow to her feet. “I’m still not sure I’m pronouncing the names correctly. If it’s anyone, it’s me.”
“It probably isn’t either of you,” Giles raised his eyebrows, in full librarian mode. “We’re using a translation of a translation of a half-remembered spell inscribed by a madman, with substitutions for three ingredients which don’t exist any more.”
Willow still looked downcast. “Okay. Um, does anyone else want a soda?”
Anya and Xander nodded eagerly. Willow stepped out of the pentagram, careful not to touch the edges.
Tara turned to Giles. “Maybe we need to try the quartz next time, instead of the emerald?”
“That’s an interesting idea,” Giles said animatedly, rubbing his chin. “The resonance of quartz would add an entirely new facet to the spell.”
A dot of fire appeared above his head. It rotated slowly, then extended to both sides to become a line.
“Giles!” Anya shouted, pointing. Giles looked up, grabbed Tara, and threw himself out of the way. . . erasing part of the pentagram.
The line sizzled as it extended downwards, becoming a rectangle.
Or a door.
“Heads up!” Xander yelled as the first being flashed out, nearly as big as a large dog, flying straight for Willow. She ducked, yelping. The sodas fell to the floor as another being emerged, then another, then another, then ten more, moving dazzlingly fast. The doorway whirled and disappeared.
They circled the room, chittering to each other in high-pitched voices. It was impossible to make out any details as they travelled with eye-blurring speed, but Xander could see feathers, large teeth, and long, hooked tails. They weaved in and out of each other, with no collisions in spite of their size and the limited space. “Anra’ta,” Willow breathed, beside him.
He hissed, “What?”, and turned to look at her, but he never completed the turn. A creature darted for him. He fought, but it was over in a split-second. He was gripped firmly from behind. Something cold was at his throat. He froze.
Tara and Giles were on the other side of the room, also immobilized, claws at their throats. He assumed Willow and Anya were the same. The largest creature dropped lightly onto the floor, standing on its hind legs, which made it taller than Xander. It kicked at the remains of the pentagram, then grinned abruptly, showing pointed teeth. “You will re-gret that,” it said with difficulty, mouth obviously not built for speaking English. “Move not, or you die.”
The other unoccupied creatures crouched on the couches, which had been pushed aside to make room for the spellcasting. Mucus dripped from their mouths onto the cushions. Xander could practically feel Giles’ annoyance.
Xander heard the door open, and someone enter. Straining to move his eyes to their utmost, he could barely make out a long blonde ponytail. /Buffy!/ he thought with relief.
“Hi, guys!” Buffy said cheerfully. “I brought all the stuff you wanted from the shop, Giles, so-” That was as far as she got. Completely unprepared, she was grabbed by one of the creatures, then a second, as she proved stronger than the others. Her bags lay forgotten on the floor.
“An-oth-er one,” the largest creature salivated. “An-oth-er hos-tage.”
“What do you want?” Giles managed, with difficulty.
“We have you. You and your Slay-er. Will use for sacri-fice.” The creature indicated Giles and Tara. “We see you from home. You with her, do magic. She Slay-er.”
Buffy frowned. “She’s not-” Then she saw Tara shaking her head minutely from side to side, and Willow, eyes wet, doing the same. “- like us,” she finished lamely. “She’ll stop you. She won’t let you do this. She’s Buffy.”
Tara gave her a tiny smile. Message received and understood.
The creature strutted up to Tara and Giles. “We know.” It held up the first claw on its left arm, which was red where the others were bone-white. “Thought of that al-ready.” It jabbed the claw into Tara’s neck, then Giles received the same treatment. Buffy struggled, panicking. Tara’s eyes rolled up in her head. Willow groaned. Giles slumped back against his captor.
The largest creature nodded once to another henchcreature. It waved its claws in the air, and the rectangle appeared again. They all leapt into the air, cackling madly, and flashed through the doorway.
With Giles and Tara.
