Slayer and Shadow

Part Thirty Three

The attacking monsters were expecting to face regular vampires. In fact the creatures released by Tiamat were used to dealing with much weaker vampires that hid in daylight and lurked in remote castles, dining on the weak and the unwary. The groggy, just wakened vampires had fallen easily, but their mistresses were... proving to be more of a problem.

"Cowards!" Dru yelled as the black haired woman beat another slime monster to death, "Come face your deaths." Both women were garbed in just slinky night clothes, which would have made a erotic sight if they weren't covered in monster gore.

Beside her Amy had burned the pile of scarabs that had impersonated Lindsey to ashes, though not out of avenging a friend. Honestly she didn't care that much about the mage. But he had been her's and Dru's, and she was determined to punish anyone who dared take from them.

The blond vampire hammered another enemy back with her mind, but Amy could feel herself tiring. These things were wearing them down with pure numbers, damn it. "Dru, we can't win like this," she hissed to her lover.

Dru stabbed her fingers into one of the beast's eyes, making it stagger back, keening in pain as a greenish puss ran down it's face. "I hate running," she growled, "but you could be right."

"Buy me a few moments," Amy smiled.

If Dru had fought fiercely before, it was nothing like what she did now. Going full 'vamp face' she charged the enemy, lashing out viciously at a enemy that had already become frightened of her. She tore the head off one stunned demon and threw it at another, then bodily threw the corpse at a third before he could even fall over.

Amy ripped at a certain part of the back wall, tearing away at the plaster with her inhuman strength. When the gap behind the wall was wide enough, she turned around and called out to Dru, "It's time to go!"

"Coming," Dru kicked another rocky hided creature back then ran to Amy, then the two hurried down their revealed hidden passage.

There was a moment's silence as the creatures tried to decide if it was a good idea to try chasing them down. The only senior among the demons wiggled a fang the two vampires had knocked loose, then looked at his depleted forces.

"We're burning this place to the ground," the battered monster decided, "we'll tell the mistress they escaped in the confusion. I am not trying this again without reinforcements." He looked around at the beaten and dead creatures around him, "Lots of reinforcements."

Dru and Amy headed for the basement, where a hole had been ripped in the cement by their minions. The roughly cut gap lead into the sewers, one of the few safe ways for a vampire to travel by day. Amy had insisted on making such a emergency access at any home they lived in, and this time that foresight had paid off.

"This is just going to ruin our clothes," Dru sighed as she jumped down the hole.

Amy followed, splashing down into the sewer muck. "Better our clothes than our lives," she shrugged. She gestured up towards the house as they hurried away, "I take it this means our dragon has betrayed us?"

"Probably," Dru pouted as she said, "I guess it was a bad dragon. I shall have to find it and swat it on the nose."

Amy smiled as she squeezed her lover's hand, "We'll need to do more than that, I think. But I have some ideas n how we can do it."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The abandoned mansion that Willow had set up shop in had become the defacto base for the city's defenders. Rupert Giles manned the phones, calling those who had helped him when the Master had ruled the city and mobilizing them. Some already knew and had had their own encounters with the demons, like Oz, and others promised to be on their guard.

Jenny Calendar contacted the coven, getting her mystic allies on the move. Their powers were not necessarily useful in direct combat, but they would make excellent medics and sources of information. She hung up from her calls and looked at Giles curiously, "What did the Watchers say?"

Giles snorted. "We already have Buffy and Faith," he said, "what more help do we need? At least that seems to be their attitude." He took off his glasses, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "From what I can tell, they also got a call from Wolfram and Hart, and they're terrified."

Jenny declined to comment on how cowardly she felt the Watchers were normally and changed the subject. "Well, there's some good news from the Bronze," Jenny said, referring to the teen hangout that the witches covertly owned.

"Oh?" Giles looked at her.

"It seems a sort of militia is forming up," Jenny said, "Maggie Walsh is providing help, as are members of the supernatural community."

"I thought Walsh had become a drunk after being defeated by the Master?" Giles asked, looking faintly surprised.

Jenny shrugged. "One of Tiamat's followers tried to attack her in her home this morning," she revealed, "that seems to have shocked her back to her senses."

"Hopefully they won't try to take on anything too much for them," Giles sighed. Of course, he had lead ordinary men and women against vampires in the past, but things hadn't gone that well for them. In fact, they had been lucky to survive.

"I'll ask some of the less adventurous coven members to keep an eye on them," Jenny said, "it's the best we can do for now."

"True," Giles sighed. "Can I leave you here to keep an eye on the Slayers?" he asked, getting up from the dining room table.

"I suppose," she answered warily as Jenny gave him a look, "you aren't going off to do something heroic but stupid while I'm semi-concussed?"

"Nothing too heroic," Giles said dryly, "but I want to get at my home library and the rare books I have stored at school. There might be useful information on the monsters we're fighting."

Jenny clearly wanted to argue, but couldn't. "All right," she conceded, "but please, be careful."

Giles walked over and bent forward to kiss her gently. "Always," he promised.

The battered old junk heap that Giles usually drove was waiting outside, and it started up with the usual trouble. Still, it was so ugly it would never be stolen, which was the main reason he kept it. Driving into town was eerily quiet, with the majority of people locked up in their homes. Which wasn't that bad an idea against vampires, but he wasn't sure how much good it would do against demons.

Giles hit his apartment first, which was a slightly harrowing experience. Apparently something must have sensed the magic artifacts in his home, because a brutish demon was trying to break down his door. He snuck up behind it and clubbed it with his satchel, conveniently weighted down with a large brick.

Sadly, it didn't do much good.

"Gwaa!" the thing bellowed in anger, whirling around and lumbering after him as Giles quickly backed up.

Giles backed up as the thing charged at him. Reaching the end of the hall he waited as the thing ran at him, picking up momentum. At the lat moment he hit the floor, revealing the window behind him. Unable to stop fast enough the brute crashed right through the window and fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.

Giles dusted himself off as he sighed, "I meant to do that."

Briskly returning to his rooms he dumped out a old trunk and loaded it with the books he thought he might need, along with any magical trinkets remaining. Giles then hauled them bacjk to the car and headed out, thankfully before the creature he defeated could revive itself.

Sunnydale High was deserted, which didn't really surprise Giles very much. While there was no official warning he felt confident that word about the current emergency would get around. And even the skeptics would be happy to skip a day at school. He locked up the car and hurried inside, walking as fast as he could. Mustn't run, in case there were any staff here.

Giles breathed a sigh of relief as he opened the library doors, then stiffened as he saw who was there. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Most men like seeing two half naked ladies," Dru noted mounfully, dressed in the tattered remains of her night gown.

"We haven't really had a chance to clean up," Amy shrugged eloquently.

Giles tensed, his thoughts racing. There were stakes hidden around the room, f he could get to them he might take one of them out. Maybe. I'm sorry, Jenny,' he thought as he prepared for a likely suicidal attack on them.

"Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you," Amy said with a sigh, holding up a hand.

Dru looked at him thoughtfully as she mused, "Though it'd be interesting if you tried to fight..."

Amy gave her a scolding look, "Hush." She looked back at Giles and tried for a sweet look as she said, "We need your help."

It took Giles only a moment to realize what was going on. "That thing you summoned," he said flatly, "it turned on you?"

Dru actually pouted. "All we wanted was a cute little puppy thing to play around with and use to kill the Slayer," she complained, "but it tried to kill us!"

Giles kept himself from lashing out at her for that comment, but it was a effort. "Attacked you directly or...?" he asked.

"Sent minions," Amy admitted, "the magician from Wolfram and Hart said he protected us from it. I guess that was true, but that didn't stop other things trying to kill us."

Giles studied the two vampires a moment then asked, "Why should we help you? I would think it was just deserts for you to be killed by your own summoning."

"Why did we think he'd help us?" Dru looked at Amy curiously.

Amy met Giles' eyes confidently, "Because you need us. Tiamat can't hurt us directly, and we can hurt it. Plus, the magics that bound Tiamat to this world are connected to us, you may be able to use that to send it away."

"Right," Dru nodded firmly.

Giles frowned as he said, "I don't trust you."

"Who said anything about trust?" Dru asked, suddenly tracking on the conversation. "This is just a alliance of convenience against a common foe."

Giles sighed, but knew they had a point. "I'll talk to the Slayers," he told them, "and see what they think. I won't make any promises."

"Aww," Dru pouted, crossing her arms "Where should we go while you're off talking?"

"Stay out of trouble," Giles advised as he opened up the book cage and grabbed the rare tomes, "in fact, I'd suggest staying here for now." He looked around as he muttered, "My poor library."

To be continued...