I Wish...
"I wish..."
The room was lit only with flickering candles. There were no windows and the door was bolted. The only adornment on the bare stone floor was the sacred circle drawn with ram's blood in the centre. The blood was still wet and the smell of it flavoured the air.
The lone occupant of the room stepped into the circle and sat down, cross-legged on the floor. She opened the thick spellbook she was carrying, flipping through it to find the correct page.
Soon her calm voice filled the room, echoing off the walls.
"Blessed be the name of D'hoffryn."
It was late but this magic shop never closed. The clutch of identical androgynous demons that ran it never slept and never blinked. The tall shelves confused the floor plan and gave the place a maze like quality. Willow liked it and thought it felt homey.
Her index finger brushed across the spines of books as she tried to find one that leapt out and yelled ‘Yes I am the book that will tell you all about this hellmouth, read me!' So far the books were remaining annoyingly quiet.
The Cleveland hellmouth was weaker, smaller than the Sunnydale one but it still had its share of Big Bads and a history of blood and hate. It still attracted demons and vampires. Willow, Kennedy and three brand spanking new slayers had accepted the task of wiping out the evil demons and closing the hellmouth. Flush from victory, Willow had been confident and given it a couple of months. Now she was getting bored, restless. The other scoobies were getting to travel and see exciting new places while she was stuck in Cleveland. Buffy was in Prague last she'd heard.
She reached for a book on the demon fish of Lake Eerie.
"You're not going to find anything useful in that one." The voice was low and full of confidence.
Willow turned to look at the speaker. Her gaze wondered appreciatively over the woman's body for a moment before she remembered her girlfriend and focused her attention on the face. "How do you know what I'm looking for?"
"Oh, you're famous. Everyone knows that you and the slayers have come here to clean up this city. Most of the demons want you dead, hell most of the humans who profit from what goes on in this city want to be rid of you. I want to help you out."
"Why? And why should I trust you?"
"I want you to succeed in your task. And you can trust me or ignore everything I say." She leaned in closer. "It's your choice."
"Who are you?"
"My name's Lilah Morgan. Come on, If I'm going to spill the dirt on all this city's demons you can buy me a drink."
The heat in the stone room was stifling. The smoke from the candles swirled about the ceiling and lent an ethereal quality to the room. The woman in the circle read from the book. The words were steadily gaining in power and speed until the syllables virtually tripped over each other.
"..D'hoffryn hear my plea. He who is lord of vengeance. He who is lord of rage..."
The bar was crowded. Smoke hung in the air and made Willow feel light headed as she followed Lilah towards the bar. She realised that all the couples were women and wondered if Lilah had brought her here to make her feel more comfortable.
Lilah ordered a couple of bottles of beer and leaned against the bar. The crowd pressed Willow's bare arm against Lilah's jean covered hip as she moved to talk to her. Lilah leaned in close and the hairs stood up on Willow's arm. "What do you want to know first?"
"Um." Willow swallowed and tried to focus. "Tell me about the main players. I need to know their weaknesses before my girlfriend fights them. Did I mention I had a girlfriend?"
"Why would you have mentioned that?" Lilah's teasing voice replied close to Willow's ear.
"Just seems kind of important."
"Not important at all." Lilah smiled and held eye contact with Willow for a long moment. "I assume you know about O'Neill, the necromancer who makes the zombie prostitutes..."
"...Lord of Arashmaharr, I beseech you to appear."
There was silence for a moment after the spell was completed. She raised an arm to check her watch.
Seconds ticked by and the woman was aware of a distant rumbling steadily growing closer. The room started to shake, knocking candles to the floor and leaving the room in pitch blackness.
A booming voice filled the space. "Who dares call the Lord of Arashmaharr? Who seeks death?"
"Cut the theatrics, D'hoffryn, I‘m not a tourist." The woman walked to the door and flicked a discrete switch to turn on the light.
The shaking stopped and D'hoffryn appeared with a small pop. "Apologies, most professionals don't use the whole chant. What can I do for you?"
Willow was trying to concentrate on what Lilah was saying but it was so hard. The way her lips moved when she spoke was fascinating her. When the noise of the crowd rose a notch Lilah had to lean in closer and then her breath was hot against Willow's ear.
The crowd pushed Willow closer to Lilah and she could feel her partially erect nipples brushing against her. She tried to focus her thoughts on Kennedy but she just thought of her girlfriend's breasts and that made her feel more turned on.
Lilah seemed very interested. Willow had known people like her before, women who just loved sex and saw it as harmless fun. And she could just tell that Lilah would be very good. She shivered involuntarily at the thought and realised she had zoned out. Lilah was watching her with a knowing smile playing on her lips and she looked like she could see right into Willow's thoughts.
"Are you ok?" Lilah touched Willow's hand gently. At Willow's nod she withdrew the hand, her fingers softly stroking the skin.
Willow thought of Kennedy. How would anything she did with Lilah affect her? Kennedy would never even know about it. She could have this, she could totally have this. Kennedy would be mad if she found out but how would she find out? Lilah seemed like she could be discrete.
Willow's willpower dissipated, her rationalisation kicking in, explaining away her guilt, her reasons to resist. She finished her third beer and looked Lilah up and down lustfully, obviously.
Lilah took the hint and as she continued her rundown of the city's monsters she let her hands start to explore Willow.
But now Willow had made her decision she wasn't going to be tentative. She pulled Lilah to her and kissed her. Lilah broke away for breath and gasped in pleasure as Willow kissed and sucked at her neck. One of the witch's hands hungrily grabbed her butt and the other was past her hip and sliding up to her waist.
Willow was virtually ready to have sex right there but Lilah grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bar's bathroom. There was already a couple necking by the sinks but they didn't even look up as Willow and Lilah tore in and grabbed a spare cubicle. Lilah's hands started to work at the buttons of Willow's jeans.
D'hoffryn regarded the woman before him. "You ask much of me, what would you offer in return?"
"What do you desire? I can make a lot of things happen." The tone was seductive, daring D'hoffryn.
"I have a host of vengeance demons, spread across numerous dimensions. What could I want from one such as you?"
The woman raised an eyebrow and waited for D'hoffryn to continue.
"There there is something I need a mortal for. A delicate task that could be upset if the object perceived a magical presence. It also requires calculated cruelty and ruthlessness, an act so evil that few would even contemplate and only..."
"Are you going to tell me what it is or do you need to cackle first?"
D'hoffryn gave a thin smile. "I need you to seduce a witch. I wish to recruit a new vengeance demon and so she must have her heart shattered."
Lilah shrugged. "Ok."
Lilah was on her knees, kissing down Willow's stomach as she slid her jeans and panties down. Willow was loving giving up her normal control. She had never done anything like this and it felt dangerous and exciting and the wrongness of it seemed to make it all the more delicious. Lilah's hot tongue opened Willow's pussy and suddenly none of it felt wrong. It felt very, very right.
The witch tried to spread her legs more to give more access to her clit but her legs could barely support her as Lilah licked and sucked ferociously. Her tongue exploring every inch of Willow's pussy. Willow was aware of herself making some kind of noise but she couldn't really identify what it was. She threw her arms up and grabbed the top of the cubicle wall to hold herself up. Lilah started a quick repetitive flickering of her tongue that almost made Willow's knees buckle. She only had to keep it up for a minute before Willow screamed with ecstasy and came. All the strength left her and she sank down to sit on top of Lilah who immediately started to seductively kiss her again. It wasn't long before she regained enough strength to be eager to return the favour. She briefly considered the two of them going to a motel but that would require too much thought and time. She had already been gone far longer than the rest of the gang expected and she needed this immediacy, this naked lust that wouldn't wait for anything.
Lilah was a good lover. She directed Willow to do just what she wanted and was very vocal in her appreciation. Willow's jaw ached from exertion of going down but she was loving every second of it.
Now she was pressing Lilah against the wall, kissing her frantically, almost violently as they thrust their fingers into each other. Moaning into each other's mouths with their other hands trying desperately to touch every bit of each other that they needed to. Willow started to come and it took all of her determination to keep rubbing Lilah's clit as she was rewarded with a gasping moan as her lover came, pushing herself against Willow's fingers.
Both were drenched in sweat and each other and Willow couldn't stop grinning. She pulled up her jeans and gave Lilah a more sedate kiss before unlocking the door and leaving the cubicle. What she saw felt like a bucket of ice water in her gut.
Kennedy was standing near the doorway of the bathroom. She was looking right at Willow and her eyes said it all. Willow knew there was no hiding what had been happening.
"Kennedy..."
The slayer's voice wavered as she said. "We were worried, Dawn did a tracing spell." Kennedy's voice cracked, she tried to keep speaking but couldn't get the words out. The pain on Kennedy's face was so raw that Willow couldn't bear to look at it, but she couldn't look away.
Lilah took in the scene. "Gee, I guess you should have mentioned your girlfriend after all." She looked at Kennedy who was trying desperately to form the right words, her mouth moving soundlessly. "Does she always look like a Guppy?"
Kennedy bailed, fleeing the room, the hurt. Willow made to go after her but Lilah grabbed her arm. "Hey, you'll do better if you give her some time to calm down."
"But she's so hurt. I have to talk to her, tell her I love her. Tell her..." Panic and agony wracked Willow's features.
"If you talk to her now you'll both say things you'll regret. Just give her some time. Trust me."
Lilah gestured at the image of Kennedy D'hoffryn had conjured. "Are you sure you want to recruit her, she looks so... bland."
"She has power and rage enough to shatter mountains. Her potential is greater than even she knows and she will make a fine addition to the ranks of my army of righteous vengeance. Also her girlfriend pissed me off. I mean I gave that woman every chance and did she call? Did she even consider it? She shouldn't have denied me."
Lilah smiled. "I'll need all the intel you have on her and I need an opening to get close to the girlfriend."
"That won't be a problem. I will provide all you need and steer the slayer towards you at the right time. All you need to do is seduce the witch."
"So we have a deal. You will restore my body to life?"
"I will. But know this, Lilah Morgan, if you fail I can easily take back what I have given you." With a speed altogether unlike his normally slow and careful movements, D'hoffryn grabbed Lilah's head. Mystical energy arced between their bodies and Lilah gasped as she felt her heart start to beat, her blood to pump. D'hoffryn released her and she staggered back, clutching at her throat and finding not even a scar.
She was alive again. She laughed at the sheer joy of being able to breathe, to feel. She looked at D'hoffryn. "This is permanent right? I'm not going to start decomposing when the clock strikes twelve?"
"You will age and die as any normal human. Unless you cross me, in which case you will be hung by your entrails at the gates of my temple in Arashmaharr to be torn asunder by vultures."
"Imaginative." Lilah pulled out a cellphone. "Do you mind if I order some Thai food in? I haven't eaten in a couple of months."
Kennedy paced restlessly as the horned demon spoke to her. She knew she should try to kill him but his lure was too compelling. He told her to lose her rage in a wish. Let out her hatred, her lust for vengeance.
He knew her inside out, knew her hidden pain and anger. He had heard it across the dimensions. His voice was almost hypnotic. Make a wish and afterwards he would make her a demon. Give her purpose, immortality, power. She would grant wishes to women like herself who had been betrayed by their girlfriends.
That didn't matter to her now. Now just the wish mattered. A moment of remembered tenderness almost made her break down but then the sound of Willow and that woman came back, a porn movie playing over and over in her head, her own unwilling imagination filling in the visuals.
"I wish she was dead." Kennedy spat out the words. "And that bitch she was with."
"Done." Said D'hoffryn.