Sorry About That

"It is very late, Samuel," Odell said as Sam got out of his girlfriend's Caddy and walked to the porch of the small clapboard shack hidden so far off into the swamp that you just knew that pizza delivery was an impossibility.

"Ya, sorry about that, Odie, but..ah, I'm hoping you can help me out with something," Sam replied as he casually tried to peek into the partially open door.

Raising an eyebrow at the bastardizing of his name, but not really remembering if he was supposed to be annoyed by it or not, Odell turned away from his former acquaintance and raised his face to the nearly fallen moon. Only a few hours til sunrise and discovering what those preposterous witches thought that they could do against him. Waiting til daytime was smart, he had to give them that, but the day that the Living God of Death, as his vanquished enemies had called him on occasion, could be bested by four witches of any power had not yet dawned and never would. He wondered again if maybe he should go and attack them even though they hadn't offered any violence yet...No, he had spent so much time and effort to make his home a fortress, leaving it would be foolish and he had lived too long to be foolish. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Sam taking a quiet step towards the open doorway. Freezing him in place by turning back towards him, he spoke, voice growing deeper and heavier with power, "Samuel, the woman is dead. There is nothing in my home for your eyes."

For the first time in Sam's relationship with the always strange and eccentric Odell Gassaway, he saw the recluse for what he was, a very dangerous individual. "Right...look, about that...there's a lot of people that think she's alive. I really need to see the body, Odell."

"She was fed to the alligators, Samuel. I am sorry, but what I told you was true. She had only moments left when you arrived here with her." Odell let a minute amount of his will seep out and could see the effect as Sam started to believe him. He had been unable to find her secrets with power, now all he could do was question her and she was being remarkably difficult, but he would not let her go, to freedom or to death until he understood her mystery.

"Hey, Numbnuts!, Your little gag spell failed!" Both men froze when the clearly angry and clearly female voice sounded out. Sam snapped out a daze he hadn't even realized he was in 'til it was gone and went to push past the other man to go into the little shack.

"STOP...Samuel." His voice dripping with power, the command word stalling Sam immediately. "Listen to me, I think I remember liking you at one time, but make no mistake, you are an insect to me as all of you mortals are. Before I blink practically your whole civilization will have run it's course. Leave now and you may survive to see the rest of your absurdly short life." Adding his will again, he watched as Sam tried to draw a weapon, as if that could be useful.

Sam tried to resist but in the end, had no defense against a type of magic he had probably never encountered before, and slowly, mechanically he walked back to the car, his face contorted in rage and fear as he listened to the female beg him for help at first, and then condemn him as poultry excrement for failing to do so.

After Sam had finally driven away, Odell took a deep breath to steel himself to deal with his obnoxious prisoner wondering yet again if a thousand years of an unsolvable mystery wouldn't be in fact better than having to converse with this horribly insulting and disrespectful wench. Whomever it was that was tasked to break this girl to be deferential to her husband and all menfolk had failed miserably...what was society coming to if the females did not know their place. He would have to make sure that her defiance never spread into the rest of the population. Some year from now, he may choose another wife and didn't want to have to deal with anyone even remotely close to having the attitude that this creature did. Taking another deep breath and chastising himself for stalling the inevitable, he walked back into the lion's den.

"Welcome back, Cletus, what did the rest of the deliverance boys think of your girly voice?" Came the biting sarcastic question.

Shaking his head, he shut the door.

----------------------

Killing her fifteenth Indian, excuse me, Native American zombie ghoul thingie, Buffy ducked as a wall of golden flame shot over her head and impacted the already ablaze shack. Startled by the sound of Michael's assault rifle cutting through a zombie alligator she missed the ghoul panther sneaking up on her. The dead cat jumped onto her back, claws digging in and tried to close it's jaws over the back of her neck as they were both driven to the ground. Rolling over under the cat, she fought to hold his jaws away from her face and was trying to position her hands to do the King Kong rip apart thing when the demon kitty's head exploded in her hands. Willow's bruised face filled her vision and helped her up.

"Bad kitty go boom," Willow giggled.

"Will? Are you okay?" Buffy asked as she started to select another threat in this target rich environment.

"A little drunk on the power...OH! Look, Buffy!" she excitedly pointed over to where Faith had decapitated one ghoul while spinning a back kick into some kind of winged dinosaur looking thing that was attacking her. "She's got a really nice butt...Yummy."

"WILLOW!" Buffy shrieked, causing the red witch to snap out of it, blush and then turn away quickly to a different part of the assault. Seeing a flock of massive black and gray ghoul vultures descend towards the other side of the house, Buffy ran over there dispatching two zombie Indians on the way.

Odell used a wave of his power to knock the Slayer Kennedy away from him. He had lost his concentration viewing her life's history while they fought; the sight of her and the other females in her bed had shaken him. Society may have changed while I was away he thought. Calling more of his dead servants from the ground he directed them to find and kill the woman whom he had seen throwing her exploding devices around creating havoc with his permanent wards. Feeling someone breaking through the holding magics on the other side of his house, he tried again to bring death to all of the outsiders and again their magic protection saved them. He had to do something about that circle the witches had made.

Ignoring the pain that each touch of the door caused, Xander kept kicking over and over again, while Sam covered his back with a combat shotgun. He could hear her calling him and no amount of pain was going to stop him. Pieces of zombie were raining down around him as the shotgun sounded over and over.

"I should have brought a chainsaw!" Sam yelled using the gun as a club on one of the smaller flying fiends. "or maybe a flame-thrower. Keep going kid, I got your back!"

Three more massive kicks and the magic holding the door dissipated and the wood shattered into a haze of splinters. Charging in, Xander's heart almost stopped, seeing his alive and well wife crouched inside of a small silver cage filled him with rage and he threw himself at it, trying to rip it apart with his bare hands.

Launching a grenade from the tube under the barrel of his Springfield AR-15 assault rifle, Michael ran toward the throng of impossible creatures that were trying to get at the two witches who were attempting to guard their little circle of candles. Not that he understood why those candles were important, he just trusted Faith; when she said they had to be safe, he decided that the candles would be his cover responsibility. Silver energy flying from Sienna's hands and a burst from his rifle dispatched the last attacker in the vicinity. "I'm going to have to learn some new rules," he told the witches as he picked out another target to engage.

"I'll teach you anything you want," Mathilda told him, biting her lower lip as her hair, seemingly with a mind of it's own, wrapped around her like a hug from a lover.

"Back down, white girl." Sienna laughed breaking the tension she was feeling. "I don't think Fiona the Mad Irish Bomber would like that too much."

Screaming as she bit the head off of one of the dead birds trying to peck out her eyes, Fiona had enough, her Sig was empty and Mr.Frenchy was currently stuck in the head of a zombie panther somewhere. She grabbed a wing on the other bird and bashed it over and over into a tree trunk. Spitting dead bird parts out of her mouth she turned and ran for one of her weapons stores she had placed near by.

Every time Odell tried to go back into his home, another slayer attacked him. Obviously they were trying to distract him from whoever was rescuing the girl but it didn't really matter, she would be easy enough to recapture once these troublesome invaders were all dead.

Sam could see Xander holding her in his arms, the two of them pressed so close together they were almost one person, he smiled and vowed to God that no monster would get past him as he guarded the doorway.

Okay, that was weird, Kennedy thought, wondering why Willow had just looked at her and blushed. She had found Fiona's knife in a dead panther and was now using it in one hand and a long sword in the other against three spear wielding dead Aztec looking dudes. Her earlier injuries were just dull aches now and Buffy's suggestion that she sit this out had been laughed at and even Faith had helped her convince the boss to let her come to the party. Speaking of Faith, Kenn couldn't help but watch the ballet of destruction she was unleashing. Faith danced around the battlefield handing out death and dismemberment with a smile on her face and Kenn couldn't help but appreciate her terrible beauty, watching her powerful legs move and the bounce of her chest as she blocked an attack and then killed her foe...Willow's face popped into her view and now it was Kennedy's turn to blush as the witch killed the Indians she had forgotten about.

The blast of the Barret .50 Cal obliterated even the largest of the winged monsters and Fiona was glad she had decided to hump this heavy-ass beast out here to the boondocks. Using the fork of a massive tree to support the barrel she chose her targets and decimated them ruthlessly, only wondering if she had brought enough ammo.

"THIS IS SO COOL!" Blake screamed as she ducked under a winged fiend. She was using the hell out of the King of the North's fiery gift and she thought that if she ever met the guy, she really owed him some serious snuggle time. "COME GET SOME,MOTHER..JERKS!" she cackled immolating a whole crowd of advancing bad guys. Willow had made her swear on everything that she held holy, namely the Jonas Brothers, that she wouldn't attack the Big Bad without her or Buffy telling her to. "I could take the big goofy bastard," she told the confused looking ghoul before flash-frying him. "I LOVE THE SMELL OF BURNT ZOM..." She bent over coughing and tried to clear that very same smell from her nose.

"What are you doing?" Xander yelled, while trying to drag his wife out of the house. She had broken away from him and was using the jaw bone from some giant creature to bash the little shrine in the corner of the room.

"He's some kind of Voodoo guy, his power might come from this altar," she said as she destroyed it and scattered the remnants. Odell appeared in a burst of green sparks next to her and backhanded her across the room. Roaring, Xander threw himself at the monster. Odell met Xander's charge with a blast of energy that launched him across the room also. He had taken a step towards them when three quick shotgun blasts impacted his head. His power immediately healed the damage and he turned towards the door saying,"Samuel it's time to..."

Buffy had stepped around Sam and the power of her slayer was on full display. "Sam, Blake, get them out of here, Fuckface and I are gonna dance," she commanded as Odell and her faced each other.

Odell watched her life's history and seeing her beat the First Evil nearly stopped his heart. How had he not remembered what the slayers were. Of course, now it makes sense he thought as the others retreated from his once quiet little home. "Wait!" he said stopping her step forward. "I must know the answer to a question first." When Buffy nodded, he continued, "The woman, What is her..." Buffy's fist blasted into his chest. He hadn't even seen her move, she was so fast.

"Ooops, SORRY ABOUT THAT, I forgot to mention; No questions about my sister." She ripped his heart out and showed it to him.

When he dropped to his knees, a green looking Blake reached in the doorway and handed her a sword. Buffy stepped back and looking for a moment at the cage he had put her little sister in she spun back with a scream and sent his head rolling away. The instant it left his neck, his remains started to fade and the sound of the flying creatures falling to earth could be heard.