It started very slowly. An errie green light spread over the faces of the Slayerettes as they held hands tighly and focused their engery. Giles struggled to remember the words of the ceremony he'd preformed with Jenny Calendar in order to bind Moloch to the 'net. He hoped it would work as well with the Native Shamen. A strange keening sound descended upon the room, and the wailing intensified as a wind stirred. Willow and Cordelia's long hair flew up and bits of paper and dirt were tossed around the room. Everyone with the exception of Buffy and Spike closed their eyes, concentrating on the chant Giles was repeating over and over again. The Slayerettes repeated his words.
Buffy and Spike looked at the odd green light, which glowed brighter each second. The wind became so strong Spike had to brace himself against the wall, while Buffy held firm and bent her knees, flexing with the wind. A bright orb of white light sprung up in the middle of the circle formed by the rest of the people in the room, and the wailing sound became a screech. The wind whipped around the room, but Giles continued the chant in a clear, steady voice. The white orb expanded, and burst with an explosion of bright white light. Suddenly, the light separated into three separate parts.
The parts of bright light formed into the vauge shape of souls, long streakes of white with dark holes for the eyes and mouths. Buffy turned her head, yeilding momentarily to the wind and brightness. The spirts of the dead Shamen flew around the room, flying directly in front of Buffy. It's shape morphed for a second, taking on the shape of a devil's face, horns popping out the side of it's head and it's eyes glowing red. There was nothing she chould do. She couldn't stake a spirt. That was Giles' job, along with the rest of her family and friends.
"This is like an outtake from that 'Raiders of the Ark' movie!" Spike yelled through the wind to Buffy, his eyes clenched against the elements. Buffy nodded, catching movement out of the corner of her eye. There were zombies in the room. She motioned to Spike, who seemed to see them too.
Both the Slayer and the vampire approached the zombies, who's stench of decayed flesh was carried away by the high, fast winds in the room. As Giles and the Slayerettes repeated the chant, "Demons, come!", Buffy and Spike went to work chopping off the arms, legs and heads of the zombies. One tall, greyed undead creature touched the top of Cordelia's head, but to her credit, she did not shriek or even stop chanting. Buffy quickly killed that zombie, but there were more.
"There must be hundereds of them!" Spike yelled abouve the force of the wind. Buffy whacked the head off one and agreed. This was not working.
"Help me!" she yelled to Spike, running over to a large cabinet containing embombing materials. She and Spike began shoving the very heavy metallic storage closet over to the left and fitted it over one of the doors that lead into the mourge. Zombies on the outside of that door slammed it repeatedly, but the cabinet held, much to Buffy's relief. She and Spike went to work shoving the other closet, but it held firm.
"Buffy!" Buffy whirled at the sound of her mother's voice. A zombie had grabbed Joyce by the neck and held Joyce a few feet above the ground by the thoat. Buffy's mother had not broken the circle of hands, and kept chanting even though the zombie was strangling her and Joyce could not breathe. Buffy ran across the room and kicked out the zombie's legs, shattering the rigid bone. Joyce dropped to the floor and lay there stunned for a few seconds, then sat up and began chanting again. The wind continued to blow about the room at an alarming rate, and everything was bathed in a sickly green light. The spirt lights of the Shamen were whipping about the room, screeching and wailing. Buffy wanted to cover her ears and run, but forced herself to keep fighting. She killed two more zombies, and looked around for Spike. He was still struggling with the second cabinet, straining to pust it a few more feet so it would cover the door and keep the zombies out. Spike would stop pushing to hit a zombie with the fire extinguisher and knock off a few heads, but was presistant.
"DEMON, COME!!!" Giles shouted, and the other Slayerettes followed suit. The speed of the wind only intensified, and the white orb above the circle of people rose a few feet, expanding.
"Buffy!" Spike yelled. She turned quickly, only to see a zombie directly next to her. It grinned, it's eyes having rotted out of it's head and leaving only dark, empty sockets. Buffy did a roundhouse kick and sent the horrid thing flying across the room, only to shatter in a mass of brittle bone and paper-like flesh. One of the Shamen spirts flew in front of her. Buffy backed up against the wall, and the light of the spirt formed a face and a neck. Buffy pushed as far back against the wall, the spirt's face transforming into a perfect copy of Angel's beloved face. She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. Angel. She felt a tear produced by the intense wind slip down her face, and to her horror watched as Angel's face disapeared and instead she saw the Master, grinning at her, his cold, blood-red eyes burning into her.
Buffy dropped to her knees, suprised by the intense pain in her chest. The thing with the Master's head grew a long, large skeletol hand. The hand formed a fist, which began to tighten. Buffy caught sight of a very red spot in the middle of that great fist. She saw the red spot pump slowly, and she understood. The spirt of the Shamen held her heart in it's fist, and it was slowly crushing the life out of her. Buffy rose up on her knees to fight, but she couldn't breathe, and fell back. The Master's head grinned. Buffy saw black spots swim before her eyes, and she shook her head.
Through the white transparacey of the Shamen's spirt, she saw something more move. Something warm and beautiful. A pretty gold light. As her life drained from her body, Buffy saw Angel's soul hanging there, in the golden light, watching. Beside him was Kendra's soul. The other slayer, who had been killed a few days before, watched Buffy with warm, kind eyes. Buffy also saw her first Watcher, the man who had explained her destiny and had first trained her to be a Slayer. His kind, familiar, moustached face drew her closer to the inviting gold light. Buffy knew she was dying, but she felt no fear. Not like the first time she'd died. No, this was different. Her soul would join Angel's, and Kendra's, and Merrick, her first Watcher's soul would be there too. And her cousin Celia, Jenny Calendar, and all those other souls Buffy had not been able to save. Her chest constricted. The Master had won. Buffy felt herself slip away even more.
"No!!!" someone shouted, and all of a sudden, Buffy flew backwards, away from Angel and Kendra and Merrick and that pretty golden light. Spike dived in front of her, and lurched as the Shamen's fist caught him. Spike was tossed up and down like a doll, his long leather jaket whipped around in the intense wind. Spike's head dropped, and Buffy fought back tears. He couldn't die like this, she thought. This wasn't right. Buffy struggled to get up, to save Spike.
"DEMON, COME!!!" the Slayerette chanted. The hidieous Shamen-head turned towards the circle, dropping Spike with a crunch on the hard stone floor of the Alcatraz mourge. The head of the spirt morphed into a skull, red flames in it's eyes. It flew over to the circle, and floated above it. Giles, Willow, Xander, Cordy, Oz, Whistler and Joyce were oblivious to it as the Shamen roared above there heads. Buffy felt something breeze by her shoulder. She looked away, and saw a blue flash. The spirt of Jenny Calendar materialized before her, and Buffy blinked. Jenny pointed at something, and nodded. Buffy looked towards the area Jenny had pointed at. The Bhuni stood there, a tall staff with elaborate carvings. Buffy looked back at the ghost of Miss Calendar. Jenny looked at her with huge soulful eyes, and Buffy whispered, "Thank you." Miss Calendar vanished, and Buffy scrambled across the room, grabbing the Bhuni.
"Hey, ghost-guy!" Buffy shouted above the wind. The large head whirled at the sound of Buffy's voice and flew across the room, snarling. "Yeah, you!" Buffy yelled. She stood, and held the Bhuni staff above her head. "Have a nice day!" The head frowned in relization, and Buffy brought the staff down over her knee, snapping it in two.
The head screeched, and then there was darkness.
CONTINUES