Demon Lord
Chapter 2
By: Malaca

The wind blew in currents ever strengthening around the silver SUV. Malaca smiled grimly thoroughly enjoying the ride. Several cars swerved out of the way of the approaching vehicle. Horns blared and lights flashed.

"Relax, I wasn't goin' hit ya'," muttered Malaca as another horn was honked in direction.

She swerved drastically into the store parking lot. Malaca drove in to one of the front parking spaces, scattering people out of the way left and right. An old man glared at her briefly before walking away, supported by his walker. Malaca sneered back and removed herself from the SUV. She walked gracefully in to the store and began to fill her cart full of groceries. She needed at least three chartloads of food, and then some to fill the stomachs of those who lived with her in the rented house.

"So what are we facing?" Willow questioned.

"I really do not know, Willow. Perhaps an underworld demon, or just some vampire with a bad reputation," answered Giles in his English dialect.

"A bad reputation?" Xander snorted.

Buffy and the Slayerettes' were in the middle of a meeting in the library with the slayer's watcher, Giles. The sun set in the distance, signaling the beginning of a new night of terror. Giles, the center of attention for those present at the assembly, pushed his glassed farther up on his nose. He glanced around nervously, as if he was looking for something or someone. He continued carefully.

"Yes, it may only be that, although I greatly doubt it," Giles answered, again placing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.

Willow looked at him with confusion, "So what-"

She was interrupted by Buffy, "So what you are saying is that you had all day to examine this and you still have no idea what is going on, or who is causing it?"

"Well, umm-, yes."

"Don't be hard on him, he doesn't know what is happening any more than you do," a cold voice stated from the doorway.

Buffy, recognizing the voice, turned and grinned at Angel. Angel gave a weak smile in return and walked over to the group. Xander glared at him with murderous eyes. Cordeila soothed him with a hand on his shoulder. Willow glanced questioningly in Angel's direction before settling down in Oz's lap.

"What do you know of these 'disturbances'?" Giles asked.

Buffy glared at him before turning questioning Angel with a glance.

"Well, I know that he isn't a vampire with a 'bad reputation'. He's a full blooded demon bent on the destruction of Earth."

"What else is new? What do I have to do this time? Stab him through the heart and hope he dies?" Buffy said sarcastically.

Angel looked at her deeply, "Don't even try that. This guy is harder than any of us have ever faced. He is way out of our league."

"So what do you propose we do?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, what do you expect us to do? Spray him with all of Cordelia's perfume and hope he dies from the smell?" Xander joked.

"Hey!" Cordeila yelled slapping Xander hard in the back.

"No," Angel answered angrily, "this is too serious for jokes. You are looking at possible Armageddon, and there is nothing 'we' can do."

"But," he said continuing, "I heard of this poem once when I was younger, before I was a vampire."

"What's the poem going to do in this situation?" Oz questioned coolly.

"I don't know, exactly. I do know it the key of finding powerful warriors that will help us destroy this Demon Lord."

"What's the poem, Angel? Maybe we can look it up on the Internet," Willow said helpfully.

Buffy nodded along with her watcher.

"Well, if I remember it right it goes, Torch of spirit sought through five, Drinking strength from immortal fire, The darkest prison sheds the light, Churning beneath a swirl of salt, Burning within a throne of rock, Floating amongst the eyes of ages, Unmoured in a stream of the sky."

"Long poem, but what does it mean?" Oz mumbled to himself.

Willow removed herself from his lap and walked over to the computer. She began to search the computer for all matches.

Giles watched her before continuing, "I don't know, something about that poem reminds me of something I've heard before."

"Like what?" Cordeila asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he answered leaving the group.

"I guess I'll go help him. What about you Cordy?" Xander asked.

"No, I'll go. You can help Buffy with rounds," she answered walking away.

"Whoa! What happened to her? Did you give her medication today, Xander?" questioned Buffy.

Xander just smiled.

"I'll go with you all if you don't mind," Oz stated getting up to stretch.

"All right. Angel, are you coming?"

"No, I'll go find out what I can about the Demon Lord," he answered Buffy.

"Okay, but be careful," she answered with worry in her voice.

Angel nodded and left quickly, so as to avoid a painful reminder of what he could never have. Buffy watched him leave sadly.

'What I would do to be a normal teenager.'

The door banged shut. A large wolf looked over the counter panting wildly. Malaca eyed him evenly before setting all of the bags on the floor. She began to place the groceries into the large cabinet.

~Exercising?~ he questioned noticing all of the bags that she had carried.

~Haha, very funny. I suppose you couldn't even think of helping would you?~

~You didn't ask~

~Because I didn't need help~

The wolf eyed the bags~What did you do, buy the whole store?~

~No I didn't. If I need to remind you, I have many here to feed, not including you.~

~Such a drama queen you are~

"Whatever," Malaca muttered as she finished putting the groceries away.

"I'm going to go outside and saddle up for tonight," she stated as she grabbed the pack of food she had put together for a small picnic.

A large panther waltzed in from the back door. She shook herself quickly and walked up to her friend, the dragon-child. Malaca paid the panther no notice as she got up from her post on the kitchen stool. Throwing the pack over her shoulder, Malaca walked out of the house. The panther eyed her shortly before turning to the wolf.

~Greetings sister of the claw.~

~Greetings brother of the claw~

~What is wrong with the Dragon?~ the panther questioned.

~Nothing is wrong Orion, she just misses the other of her kind.~

~You mean the ones that smell of the samurai?~

~Yes, now go away~ Revenge answered the panther as he trotted out of the house.

~Whatever you say, wolf! Race you!~ the panther playfully yelled as he ran ahead.

~Not while I'm around!~ Revenge yelled back and tackling the younger cat.

Malaca felt the two wrestling and rolled her eyes. Animals could be so rough. She entered the large barn and eyed it carefully. Mia had been gracious enough for her need to have a large space for her animal pals that insisted in coming with her.

A noise to her left startled her. She jumped and turned around to face a large tiger. The tiger eyed her questioning her with her warm brown eyes. Malaca sighed in relief as she patted the overly large tiger on the head. The tiger purred in contentment. Almost as large as White Blaze, the orange and black striped Bengal tiger was supposed to be the animal companion to the Phoenix armor. Flame growled low in his throat as another cat approached Malaca, begging for attention.

"Now, now, Flame, it's only Reign."

Reign eyed the tiger briefly before taking up a spot next to Malaca. The cougar male purred softly as Malaca began to stroke him in a sensitive spot. Malaca giggled as yet another cat walked over. Blizzard demanded her attention right away. The female snow leopard pounced on Reign, drawling him away from Malaca. Reign bore the animal armor of the Centaur, while Blizzard bore the animal armor of the Pegasus. Malaca looked at Flame, who was now the only animal around and asked him a polite question.

~Where is Spade?~

The tiger snorted~ She's probably in a load of trouble.~

~Why would you say a thing like that?~ a female lion questioned sauntering down from the loft.

The tiger eyed her briefly ~Because it's usually true~

~Whatever~

Spade is the animal companion of the armor of the Griffin. She usually was in a heap of trouble with her always picking fights with stronger opponents. Her friends of the animal mystics always had to help her out of any trouble.

~I love to chat guys, but I've got to go~ Malaca stated pointing to the setting sun.

The two cats nodded before going back to their arguing. Malaca rolled her eyes and walked away.

The sky was a canvas on to which the angel's painted in the bright hues of red and orange. Malaca stopped in her tracks, awestruck to it's glory. Horses of every color reared up and allowed the sun's crimson rays coat their bodies. Malaca glanced back to the horses and grinned broadly as the lead stallion reared up and exclaimed his greetings. The large black stallion trotted towards Malaca and rubbed up against her shoulder. A single white star was his only marking, besides the mark of the dragon on his right shoulder. The mark was a large Chinese dragon rearing back and flicking his tongue, breathing flame out in defiance of all evil. Dragon's mark was small, no bigger than a human's hand and was the color of sapphire, Malaca's armor color. The other horses trotted over to her and expressed their own unique greetings.

The one named Spitfire, the Phoenix's mount, was a light chestnut color and bore the mark of the Phoenix. The large horse was a hand(1) shorter than Malaca's black mount, Cardon. The mark was also on his right side and contrasted his hide with it's ruby red color. The Phoenix was symbolized by a large fiery bird raising it wings in flight.

The Serpent's mount was a small brown filly and she had the mark of the Serpent on her left shoulder. The serpent was green, and it was reared back in a typhoon of water. The horse herself was named Typhoon.

A medium sized, dappled gray gelding was the next to greet her. Muscles rippled signaling to all of the ex-race horse still had it. 'Quake was his name. 'Quake bore the mark of the Centaur on his left hind. The mark was brown and showed a Centaur warrior raising up on his hind legs and carrying a spear in his left hand.

Whirlwind was the Griffin's mount. Whirlwind was a large stallion, almost the size of Cardon. He was bright bay in color. His only markings were of the Griffin on his right hind and a small white snipe on his nose. The Griffin's mark was a small black picture of a griffin snarling at an unknown enemy.

The last mount to introduce herself was shy in nature. Starling white in color, Horizon was the mount of the Pegasus. Her only mark was that of the Pegasus on her upper neck. The Pegasus mark was light blue in color and showed only a picture of a Pegasus flying peacefully into the distance.

Malaca laughed again as the horses nudged her in different directions. She giggled and held on for dear life.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. I've got to go on rounds. Cardon come with me," she commanded.

The horses understood her tone and back off slowly only to join back to their horsey games. Malaca smiled and shook her head in mock disbelief. Malaca quickly saddled up the black horse. She slung her packs over Cardon's shoulder and then strapped her sword to the left side of her belt. Malaca then summoned Revenge to her side and mounted her horse friend. After saying farewell to her animal companions, Malaca left to search for any signs of evil demons she had come to hunt.

"Hey, Buffy, wait up!" Xander whispered harshly after her.

Buffy voiced no answer.

"Hey, Buff, what's wrong?" Oz questioned.

Buffy offered no answer.

Xander stepped in the way. Buffy looked off in to the distance and didn't bother to acknowledge his presence. She walked around him and stopped. Buffy looked off in to the distance, not particularly looking in one direction.

"Buffy?" Oz asked again.

She waved a hand behind for a response. They were silent. After all she was the Slayer, and she knew what she was doing. A rustle in the bushes at their left startled Xander. Oz stood placidly sniffing the air like a wolf.

"Well, what is it?" Xander questioned impatiently.

A large, furry and veracious beast lunged out of the bushes and attacked ruthlessly. Snarling with an animal like growl, the creature spoke out to the startled Slayerettes. His voice was inhuman and nearly impossible to understand. The creatures' matted fur was tangled and the scent and look of blood was heavily upon him.

"Beware ones of the human race, the shadowlings are coming. Beware, for you must fight your own race-your own feelings to win this battle."

"What battle?" Buffy interrupted.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Xander questioned, receiving a glare from Buffy.

"You will win or die with the rest of your species. You-, havv' ben warnedd."

And to this, the creature with barely enough strength to stand failed to live. His mighty hide fell down to the ground and his life blood ran in streams. The Slayer stood still and listened as her friends stood and gawked.

Oz turned to Xander, "What was that all about?"

Buffy sighed, "It's the beginning of the end."

The horse reared up high and screamed. It's rider hushed it quickly, rubbing legs on the horse's side to calm him down. Speaking in low tones, the rider glanced nervously about. Something had scared Cardon bad to have him shy like that. Looking down, the figure noticed that the wolf had arched his back and held his lip up in a snarl. Sitting up straight, the figure scanned the area around her. Frowning, she realized she couldn't see or hear anything with her superior senses that she had developed over the last year.

Malaca pouted, but quickly let the pout go. She closed her eyes and listened carefully. Expanding her senses to their utmost limit, she searched the forest. She switched to her mental vision and snarled. Malaca opened her eyes and sniffed the air carefully. She almost retched what she had just eaten. Evil surrounded her on all sides. By dropping her mental barrier, she had discovered that the whole town wreaked of evil.

'Their is something about this town that is really important, but what? I'll have to ask Mia to research that for me,' Malaca mused.

A strangled yip, brought her attention back in full. Demons emerged from the surrounding forest. Vampires, she recognized them from her former days. They came by the tens and lined up in front of her in straggled formations, showing that they had little to no idea on how to fight as a group. Together there was about 50, but Malaca wasn't worried. After all, they didn't have an armor or even knew how to focus their ki's.

'This will be to easy,' she smirked to herself.

Hey All

Malaca here. Just letting ya' know that this is my IDEA. Please do not use my characters, unless you've previously asked me! Thank you. Still this is one of those stories I'm only posting because the trouble I'm having with my wrist. You can contact me with comment and/or flames. Be gentle please! I didn't really get a chance to perfect this, but I will go back and revise it later. Ja ne!

Malaca

Notes:

1. A hand is equal to four inches. The standard measurement of measuring horses