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Chapter Seventeen
Buffy crouched in the bushes on one side of the clearing with Jean and Kurt. Her body was tense in preparation for the upcoming battle. The scythe rested lightly across her knees. “Why are we just waiting here?” Jean whispered. The slayer fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Because that’s the plan.” “I still don’t understand. Why not just attack now, before they all get here?” Jean had been the only one to voice resistance to the entire plan, but Buffy had a feeling that it was just to irk her. “There are several reasons why. I want to get all the amulets they have to prevent this from happening again. Plus, if we attack now, their buddies could sneak up behind us. I like having all the baddies where I can see them,” Buffy explained as she watched more demons enter the clearing. They watched in silence for several minutes and the clearing quickly filled with demons. Buffy glanced at her watch and saw that there was still ten minutes till midnight. She leaned in close to Jean. “Tell the others we’ll move in in about eight minutes and to wait for the signal.” “That’s cutting it close,” Kurt pointed out. “I know, but I want to make sure they are all here.” Jean’s eyes grew distant as she relayed the message to Scott on the other side of the clearing. ********** “What is that girl waiting for?” Logan growled from his position next to Scott. “To make sure they’re all here,” Scott whispered. He checked his watch. “It’s five till. We’ll charge in a few more minutes.” “Are any of them vampires?” Storm asked. “Nah, they’re all pure demons,” Logan answered with a sniff. “That makes sense. Wesley said that vampires and demons don’t usually mix,” Scott said as he watched the demons. Then Jean’s voice was in his head. ~We’re ready. Just wait for Buffy’s signal.~ ~What signal is that?~ ~She said Logan would know.~ Scott swore softly. He hated not being privy to important information. “It’s up to you, Logan. Buffy said you would recognize the signal.” Logan growled. “Crazy girl.” “What do you mean?” “Means she’s going to do something stupid before we’re supposed to join her. Like that,” he pointed out as Buffy stepped from her hiding spot, nonchalantly swinging her scythe for them all to see. “Hi boys. Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” She asked sweetly, as she rested the scythe on her shoulder. “It’s the slayer!” One demon yelled. “Stop her!” “That’s a shame,” Buffy said with a dramatic sigh as she easily decapitated one of them. “I wore my dancing shoes and even brought some friends.” “Move!” Logan ordered as he leapt to his feet and charged into the clearing, unsheathing his claws. A feral grin appeared on his face as he realized that some part of him missed this - the rush of adrenaline as you faced a foe. He quickly dug his claws into one Terash demon and pulled up, effectively slicing and killing it. He jumped slightly as lightening touched down behind him and he turned to see a scorched demon lying on the ground. Storm smiled at Logan as he nodded his head in thanks. She went back to looking over the clearing to find another demon to hit. From her vantage point in the air, she had a clear view of the action. Seeing one of the demons trying to sneak up behind Jean, she sent down another bolt of lightening. A Terash demon flew through the air and was impaled on a tree branch. Jean lowered her hand and turned her attention to one of the demons wearing an amulet. She reached out a hand and the amulet flew into it. The demon turned to charge her, but was decapitated by Buffy. “Nice work, Jean!” Buffy said. “Only a few more to go!” Jean went to get another, but was tackled from behind. The weight was knocked off of her and she rolled to see Logan standing over her. He held out a blood soaked hand to help her up. “They’ve started the chant!” Buffy yelled as she flipped a demon over her back. She gave it a quick kick sending it directly into Logan’s waiting claws. “We need to stop them!” The scythe literally sang in the air as she tried to cut a path to the ceremony in the center of the clearing. With her slayer senses at full alert she could feel exactly where everyone was. She could feel Logan off to her right and Scott just to her left. She had thought that Storm would be safe in the sky, but apparently one of the demons was ambitious. Buffy looked up to warn her, but saw Kurt appear next to her, wrap his arms around her, and then disappear. A red beam shot through the dark and incinerated the demon that had jumped out of the tree to where Storm had been only seconds before. She changed her focus to see Scott land a solid punch on a Terash demon and ducked to avoid another one. He stood up and hit a third one with one of his deadly beams. The blonde made a mental note to spar with him a few times a week, he seemed to be pretty capable. A huge smile began to break out on Scott’s face as he watched the demon turn to ash. He knew he should stay focused since they hadn’t exactly stopped the apocalypse, but he knew, without a doubt, that they were going to win. He was having fun. It wasn’t often that he was able to use his powers without fear of severely injuring someone. And, as always, it felt good using his powers for the greater good. Kurt sighed as he used his tail to break one of the demon’s necks. He really hated killing. He knew that the demons weren’t human and were trying to end the world, but he still felt bad. There had been many times in his own life that he had been called a demon, but those people had been ignorant to the real world around them. The blue skinned mutant only hoped that God would forgive him for this. Buffy began to grow slightly worried as the chanting continued. Deciding that it needed to stop now, she yelled, “Wolvie, I need a lift!” He looked over at her and she nodded to the center of the clearing. Understanding what she wanted, he moved to about ten feet in front of her and dropped to one knee. She took off running and her last step was in his outstretched hands. With his added assistance, she easily vaulted over everyone and into the center of the ceremony. “Did you miss me?” She asked as she quickly cut down the closest demon. The chanting around her intensified as she began her assault. She removed another amulet from one of the fallen demons and then stood and easily decapitated another demon. Scott barely registered Buffy’s flying leap over them, he was too busy fighting. The last of the Terash demons were gathered in the center leaving the stronger and tougher demons to defend them. The fight had only been going on for about ten minutes, but he was beginning to tire. A grunt escaped Logan’s lips as one of the demons got lucky and sliced his arm with its claws. “Mine are better, bub,” he growled as he sliced the thing’s arm off. He then stabbed it in chest, killing it. His senses tingled in a strange warning and he whirled around in time to see a huge fist slam into Scott’s face, knocking his visor off. Logan felt rooted in place, as what happened next appeared to take place in slow motion. Without the visor, Scott’s beams incinerated every demon in its path. That is, until it hit something that stopped it - Buffy’s back. He watched in complete horror as they hit her full force and her screams of pain filled his ears. Logan could see Scott’s own look of terror, but he seemed unable to close his eyes. “Damn it, Cyke! Shut yer eyes!” He cried as he ran toward him. But Scott’s body seemed unable to comply until Logan tackled him to the ground. Logan looked up to see Buffy fall lifelessly to the ground and the demons turn on her en masse. Seeing the woman who had captured his heart in danger caused something in him to snap. With a savage roar, he leapt into the crowd of demons. He recklessly cut into anything that foolishly crossed his path. Demon body pieces flew everywhere and Logan’s mind didn’t register any injury he received. His body moved on complete instinct and everything around him was red except for the blonde hair that he fought his way to. He slashed and hacked until he stood over her and killed anything that approached. His bloodlust didn’t fade until he realized that all the demons were dead or had run off. As he regained his senses, he retracted his claws and dropped next to Buffy’s prone form. Tears stung his eyes as he took in the blood, muscle, and bone that had once been her back. He nearly cried out in relief as he heard her heart beating faintly. “Oh my god,” Jean whispered as she knelt on the other side. She did a quick examination. “We need to get her back to the mansion, fast.” “Kurt, can you teleport Jean and Buffy back to the mansion?” Scott asked. Someone must have retrieved his visor for it was back on his face. “No. I can only carry one other person over long distances.” “Then take Buffy and come back for Jean,” Scott instructed. “We’ll take the cars back.” “It’s too great of a distance for one jump,” Kurt protested. “Then do a bunch of short jumps. Just go!” Logan growled. Kurt nodded and bent down to touch Buffy. Then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Logan picked up Buffy’s scythe and began heading back to the vehicles with long strides. “Let’s go.” They left Jean waiting for Kurt to teleport back for her. None of them noticed blood from a Terash demon seep into two of the amulets and then sink into the ground. ******** Logan paced outside the room that Jean was treating Buffy in. The doctor had long since ordered him out citing that he was only in the way. So he was forced to wait outside with no clue of what was going on. “She’ll be fine, Logan. After all, she can’t die,” Wesley said, trying to assure the man. Wesley and Fred were sitting in chairs in the hallway with him. “You didn’t see her,” Logan growled. “There was practically nothing left of her back.” “That’s highly besides the point. She is immortal, she will heal.” Logan was prevented from arguing further by Jean stepping into the hallway. Wesley and Fred stood up and along with Logan, approached her. “How is she?” Logan anxiously asked. “She is in a coma, but she is stable.” “Oh my god,” Fred said with a soft cry. “But that is a good thing,” Jean said quickly. “It’s allowing her body to heal. I’ve cleaned her back and the rest of her wounds, and set up and I.V. with antibiotics and to keep her fluids up. But I’m afraid if I do anything else, it will only interfere with her natural healing. All we can do now is wait and let her body take care of the rest.” “Can we see her?” Wesley asked. “Sure,” Jean said with a sad smile. She stopped Logan from entering. “You need to clean up first. You can’t go in there like that, you could make things worse.” Logan looked down at himself and for the first time he noticed he was covered in blood, gore, and dirt. Not wanting to hurt Buffy more, he nodded and ran back to his room to take a quick shower. His hair was still wet when he entered the room. He felt a huge lump in his throat as he saw her pale body lying facedown on the bed leaving her raw back exposed. Paying little heed to the others in the room, he pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and took her hand into his own. “I’m afraid Fred and I still need to leave in the morning,” Wesley said softly. “We don’t want to, but we don’t have much of a choice, Angel needs us,” Fred added. Logan nodded. “She’d want you to go,” he said, not removing his eyes from Buffy’s face. “Call us when she wakes up,” Wesley said and again Logan just nodded. Knowing that the man was in no condition to talk, he and Fred silently left. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. All the X-men and quite a few of the students came in to visit her, but he barely noticed that they were there. His entire being was focused on her. His mind worked feverishly trying to figure out why he was suddenly doing things that he had never done before. He preferred living a solitary life with no one to worry about or to worry about him. That type of life allowed him to live and do as he pleased. But this wisp of a woman had changed all that. She brought out this intense need to care for her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of herself, but more of a need to support her - to show her that someone would be there for her, always. She just kept on giving and giving, yet received so little in return, and he wanted to change that. Logan was determined to be the man who stood beside her, no matter what. The only thing that would stop him would be his own death. She was trying so hard to be alone so as not to get others hurt, but that kind of behavior wasn’t in her make-up. And he was going to prove that to her. He wasn’t sure why he was the one to do this, after all, he wasn’t exactly qualified for the job. But his instincts told him that he was, and he always trusted his instincts. There was this nagging notion, however, that his instincts were following something else. Logan hadn’t been lying when he had told her that she had affected him that first night he saw her. When he thought really hard about it, he realized she had ensnared him from the moment he first set his eyes on her. After that, there was no where to go except with her. In the hour just before dawn, he made a confession to her sleeping body. “Buffy, I need you to come back. I’m afraid my heart has gone and done something stupid. I think I just might love you.” Previous Part Looking For Tomorrow Menu Next Part |
