Needed Effects
Chapter 1 of ‘Connections’
By Chani
“This is pointless, slayer.”
Buffy glared at the blonde vampire and exhaled sharply. “I told you, we need to make sure this thing stays put.”
“How exactly do you plan to do that?” he asked, chuckling. “There’re a couple hundred demons down there guarding him…it…whatever, and he can create more at will. You really believe the two of us—”
“Ahem.”
Spike glanced over at the dark-haired boy, then rolled his eyes. “Okay, three of us…do you really think we have a snowball’s chance in hell of stopping it?”
The slayer scowled. There was no way she’d admit he was right, even if he was. And all three of them knew it. “Well, at the very least, we have to make sure no one wanders down there and gets hurt.”
“Only a complete moron would go down there,” he responded, pointing at the huge crater that used to be the park. “If the big hole doesn’t bother people, I’m sure the temple would.” His tone became more annoyed with each word he spoke. “Or maybe the fact the whole bleeding area is glowing red!! Or perhaps the massive amount of demons, all of which are larger than any human in existence!!”
“Spike—”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Xander interrupted, “I gotta agree with bleach boy here. It’s been here for two days and not one person in this town has come anywhere near here since the news did that story about some sort of strange construction project going on in the park.”
“But what about when it finishes whatever it’s doing down there and starts looking for sacrifices?” Buffy asked seriously. “You guys saw what the book said. This Nudyemag demon—”
“Neuennymagh,”
Spike interrupted, chuckling.
“Whatever. The thing thinks it’s a god, and it wants to
be worshipped, human sacrifices and all.”
Xander put a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t stop it, Buffy. This isn’t one of those ‘grab a sword and whack it’s head off’ demons. The thing’s bigger than any building in town. The only thing that’s gonna bring it down is magic.”
“What if Red can’t do the spell to summon the demon that can kill this thing?” Spike ignored the four eyes shooting daggers at him. “Are we just gonna fight till the death, go out in a blaze of glory? Or are we gonna get out while we still can?”
“She can do it,” Buffy said confidently, fighting the urge to smack the smirk off the vampire’s face.
Spike shrugged. “The spell’s more difficult than the one she did to make you Super Slayer and the one to neuter Angelus combined! A lot more difficult.”
“She can do it,” she reiterated. “She just has to find the ingredients and then she can do it.”
“I hope I can do this.”
“Well, did you find the ingredients?” Giles impatiently asked as Willow walked into his apartment.
“There’s a magic shop in L.A. that has what I need.” She sank into the couch, rubbing her head. “I called Angel to see if he could go pick it up. The store was closed, but when I told the girl on the phone what I needed, she knew what spell it was for and said she’d wait until he got there. I was gonna meet him somewhere, but when he found out I haven’t slept in two days, he said he’d send Cordelia with the stuff. She should be here sometime later tonight.”
The watcher looked at his watch and frowned. “It’s already almost nine o’clock.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Angel said it’ll probably be around midnight by the time she gets here…he had to find the magic shop, call Cordelia, and take the stuff to her. He wasn’t even sure she was home. So I guess it looks like another night with little or no sleep.”
“Why don’t you go take a nap, or at least rest for a while?” He gestured upstairs, toward his bedroom. “I was reading about this spell—it’s not going to be easy.”
The redhead laughed. “That’s an understatement. I read the same book you did…no one’s ever managed to do the spell to summon the Neuennymagh demon, much less the one to summon the thing that gets rid of it.”
“From what I’ve read about it, it’s probably a good thing.”
“Yeah, I got the feeling it’ll be harder to control the thing than it will be to summon it.” Her hands twisted in her lap. “I wish Tara hadn’t gone home as soon as that whole Adam thing was over, she could’ve helped me with this spell.”
He gave her a sympathetic look. “I just wish there were some other way to fix this.”
“But there’s not,” she told him. “And if we don’t do something soon… well, we know it won’t lead to hugs and puppies.”
“True. I just hope the solution doesn’t turn out to be more deadly than the problem. Spells like these tend to have dire consequences.”
Angel paused momentarily when he reached his destination—The Kat’s Eye—to look at the logo, a piercing set of deep green eyes. “Cute,” he muttered, rolling his eyes before opening the door. The bells on the door rang loudly as he stepped inside, the noise echoing through the dark store. Though no one was in sight, there was a dim light coming from a doorway in the back of the store. “Hello?”
“Just a moment.”
The girl’s voice was vaguely familiar. Definitely British. Rich tone, with just a hint of squeak. He took a few steps forward, trying to get a peek at her, but she was nowhere to be seen. The smell of incense and candles teased his senses, bringing back a memory from before he had become a vampire, a memory he didn’t really want to revisit. Movement caught his eye, and he glanced over just in time to see a head pop up from behind the counter. He walked slowly toward her, and though it was still too dark to see much, the light coming from the doorway would’ve helped—had she not been facing away from him.
As he got closer, he noticed her hair—long strawberry blonde curls, with streaks of gold and honey mixed in—and it finally struck him why the voice sounded so familiar. Her hair stopped just inches above her small waist, which was accentuated by the tight black pants she was wearing. He stopped just before he reached the counter, letting his gaze wander past her waist to her tight, full hips to her lean, muscular thighs and calves. The high-heeled black boots she had on made him smile. The 4-inch heels helped her hide the fact that her height was less than average, something that had always annoyed her. He watched as she slowly turned to face him, her golden-green eyes meeting his.
“Hello Angel.”