Stormchaser
Disclaimers – You
can find them in Part 1.
Feedback – You can contact me at Shadowlander1@coastal.net.
The
name Dysis is from Greek mythology. She was one of the Horae, the goddesses of
the seasons. They were also the collective personification of justice. And no I
haven’t the faintest idea why she showed up in this.
___________________________________________________________________
“I
take it that Willow has explained to you what a Brijas and a Soljinn are?”
Dysis asked once she had regained their attention.
Recalling
the phone call she received last night from her old friend Marco, explaining
Willow’s unusual behavior that night. Now that she could observe Willow first
hand, Dysis could see just how out of control the young werecat really was.
“Yeah,
Wills said that a Brijas was a titan, like in Greek mythology. Very old, very
powerful, like to live on top of mountains a lot.” Buffy replied, trying to remember her mythology as best she
could.
Dysis
couldn’t help it, she had to laugh; she hadn’t heard her family described in
quite a manner for centuries. ‘Like to live on top of mountains, indeed,’ she
thought with a grin.
“And
Soljinn?” She questioned with a raised eyebrow. ‘Can’t wait for the answer to
this one.’ She thought with a smirk,
leaning back against the padded bench.
“Soljinn
are related to the elves,” the Slayer replied slower, her mind still trying to
figure that one out.
“Close,
the Soljinn are an off-shoot race of a couple of the fire elves tribes and one
really lost Amazon tribe,” Dysis explained with a small grin. “They made very interesting children, hell
raisers every last one of them. Of course, that is what you get when you
intermix a bunch of elves with attitudes with some of Ares’ favourite
daughters.” She added with a wicked grin.
“If
you say so.” Buffy answered with a grin of her own, not all that sure of what
the other woman was telling her. She’d
have to get Giles to research it for her later, she decided, her little Slayer
voice whispering that this was really something she needed to know.
‘Oh
I do kid, I really do.’ Dysis thought to herself, wondering when the kid was
going to put it all together. ‘The Fates have out done themselves with you two,
I don't even think they've realize it yet.’ She said to herself, deciding that
a move to Sunnydale wasn't such a bad idea after all, things were going to get
real interesting with these two running lose.
And
best of all she was going to have a ringside seat to it all. ‘Maybe losing that
bet to Ares wasn't so bad after all.’
*****************************
Rupert
Giles loved his books, there was simply no way around it, his books were his
children. And like any proud parent, he
was reluctant to let his ‘babies’ leave the nest so to speak.
Especially
when the book in question was from his personal collection, or to put it more
bluntly, one of his demon and other such monsters books. Aside from the fact
that the general populace would probably dismiss the existence of such a book
as the product of some overactive imagination, his books were extremely
valuable to the Slayer’s work and he could not risk them being lost.
“Translation:
don’t touch the Librarian’s books, it makes him cranky!”
Willow
barely suppressed a laugh at the Slayer’s whispered words as the librarian in
question continued his monologue of what not to do in his library.
Despite
herself, Willow was finding that she actually liked the British
librarian/watcher. She hadn’t been sure of what kind of reception she would be
getting from the older man after the little incident at the Bronze last night.
Most humans found it disrupting witnessing her rip out someone’s throat.
Granted,
she was only killing a vampire, but you still had the whole ‘ick’ factor to
take into account. ‘Which apparently didn’t count to the Watcher,’ her cat had
decided with a mental shrug. ‘I’ve got to get him and Marco together.’
She
added cocking her head to one side as the Watcher continued to explain proper
library etiquette, which mainly involved not looking at any of the ‘special’
books without Giles consent and/or leaving your first born as collateral in
case of damage.
Willow
was brought out of her silent musings by a hand waving in front of her face.
“Huh?” She questioned with a shake of her head, discovering that Buffy was now
standing in front of her with a curious look on her face.
“Want
to rejoin the rest of us? Or is it really nice were you’re at?” The Slayer
asked playfully, wondering what the redhead had been thinking about for the
past five minutes.
“Err....I’ll
rejoin you…here.” Willow replied wondering just when Buffy had moved and where
the librarian had disappeared too.
“Good,”
Buffy replied with a wide grin, insanely happy to have finally gotten the
redhead alone. Giles had gone to a
staff meeting, leaving the two of them in the library. “Ah, Giles wants me to
clean things up here. Want to give me a hand?” She asked with a wave of her
hand indicating the research table behind her littered with the various books
of demon lore that made up Giles’s precious collection.
“Yeah,
sure no problem,” Willow replied with a smile of her own. Her cat jumping up
and down in excitement, ‘we finally got her alone!’ it crowed with delight.
‘And doesn’t that table look comfortable?’ The cat whispered with a purr to
Willow's human self, supplying mental images of the possible future uses for
that very table, few of which had anything to do with research.
Although
her cat kept insisting that studying the human anatomy would be considered
‘research’ if done properly with the right partner and lots of candles, and
chocolate sauce.
‘Can’t
forget the chocolate sauce, it wouldn’t be studying anatomy without the
chocolate’ her cat stressed with glee.
“You’re purring again,” Buffy said as she put the last stack of
books down in the cage. In truth Willow
had been purring the entire time, but the Slayer had been enjoying the soothing
sound so much she hadn’t mentioned anything earlier. “Must be why so many people keep cats,’ she thought to herself
with a mental shrug, before turning around and finding herself face to face the
still purring Willow.
“I know,” Willow replied in a purr, her eyes almost shinning as
they stared into the Slayer’s.
“You know that you to have the most remarkable scent, right?” She
questioned taking a step closer to Buffy.
“Very nice actually, just calls out to you...begging for a
touch...intoxicating...” she finished in a whisper reaching out to run one
finger down the Slayer’s throat.
‘Intoxicating! Oh damn...’ Buffy thought, she had been told twice
that her scent was intoxicating to Willow, but did she listen? No.
She was too busy listening to her annoying little Slayer voice
whispering all kinds of helpful suggestions about Willow to pay attention to
anything else. {A large amount of those very suggestions involving the redhead
naked and screaming out her name}.
The same little voice that was even now making suggestions on how
to get the redhead out of her clothing and see just how loud she could
purr. ‘No! No!! Bad Slayer!’ she told herself firmly even as
she found herself taking her own little step closer to Willow. Her little Slayer-voice cheering merrily in
the background, shouting encouragements the entire time, like she really needed
any right now.
Her body seemed to be getting into the swing of things all by
itself. “Ah, Will...I don't think this
is a good idea...” She said softly, even as she found herself lowering her head
towards the redhead.
Time seemed to stand still as their lips touched, the only sound
in the library was Willow's purring that was more felt then heard. The sound seemed to sink deep into Buffy’s
bones, soothing and calming her even as it aroused other things. ‘It is right, the way it should be,’ her
annoying little Slayer-voice kept insisting in the back of her mind.
“Oh shut up,” The Slayer muttered before slipping her tongue into
Willow’s mouth and pushing the redhead up against the cage wall.
Willow’s cat purred merrily as their tongues battled for
dominance, while she wasn’t quite sure whom the Slayer was talking to when she
said shut up. She really didn’t care, all that mattered was that this was her
life-mate kissing her and not another soul, or leech for that matter, was in
sight to interrupt them.
‘Yes the way it should be,’ her cat firmly agreed as she slipped
her hands under the Slayer's shirt. “Nice...” Willow hissed pulling away from
Buffy to take a few deep breathes, even as her hands continue to roam under the
Slayer’s shirt, enjoying the feel of the warm tanned skin.
“Mine!” She growled
staring deeply into her life-mate’s eyes, before turning her attention to
Buffy’s neck.
With that statement the Slayer learned three very important
things. One, that Dysis was not kidding when she said Will’s people tended to
be possessive with their loved one. Two,
she wasn’t as grossed out as she thought she would be at being thought of as
property. In fact, her little
slayer-voice seemed down right pleased with Willow’s possessiveness, boy was
that little voice was really beginning to get on her nerves at times. And
third, and most importantly, Willow has fangs!
Pulling away from her, Buffy puts her hand under Willow's chin and
lifts it up. “You have fangs!” She said
a bit breathlessly. ‘How in the hell did I miss THAT when I was kissing her?’ She wondered absently, ignoring her
protesting Slayer-voice who had been totally turned on by the sharp little
fangs nibbling on her neck.
“Huh?...oh sorry...not much I can do about that, they are always
there,” Willow replied after a moment, trying to figure out what had distracted
her life-mate. “I forgot I had them,” She added with a little grin, her cat
jumping up and down yelling ‘enough talk get back to the good stuff,’ she was
about to start purring too in the back of her mind.
“Oh to hell with it,” Buffy said after a moment, if Willow really
wanted to kill her she would have done it by now. Besides the redhead was doing the most remarkable things with her
hands, why stop now? They could have
the whole fang discussion thing later, right now she wanted those fangs
nibbling on her neck some more.
She decided with a little shrug taking Willow’s lips. Her tongue
slipping past the redhead’s lips and playfully running along her upper fangs.
Now that she knew they were there they suddenly became more interesting. Willow certainly seemed to like Buffy running
her tongue around them, her purring had gotten even louder.
That was when the Slayer learned another interesting thing about
Willow - unlike a vampire she just didn’t have an upper set of fangs, she had a
lower, smaller set as well. She learned
this little fact when she accidentally cut the tip of her tongue on one of the
little fangs.
Willow's eyes shot open as she tasted Buffy’s blood in her mouth,
her cat eagerly pushing forward, with a demand to claim what was hers and be
done with it. Firmly pushing down her
cat, Willow concentrated on the feel of her life-mate in her arms as she
slipped her hands into the Slayer’s jeans.
‘Now is not the time to do any claiming. Not yet anyway, it is too soon for her,’ Willow's human self
hissed at the frustrated cat in the back of the back of her mind.
Then it was Buffy’s turn to have her eyes shoot open in shock as
she felt one of Willow’s fingers slip into her warmth. Absently wondering when the redhead had
gotten her jeans undone without her noticing it. Only to have the thought slip
her mind as Willow’s lonely little finger was suddenly joined by a second and
third finger, working in unison to drive a certain blonde Slayer over the edge. Unable to control herself any longer, Buffy
began to move with Willow’s thrusting hand, her low moans joining Willow’s
purrs humming throughout the otherwise quiet library. ‘Oh she is good at this,’ Buffy thought happily ripping her mouth
away from Willow’s lips to begin her attack on the redhead’s neck. ‘Turn about
is fair play,’ she told herself merrily, grinning wickedly against her lover’s
warm neck before playfully nibbling at the flesh under her lips.
Willow growled approvingly as she felt her life-mate’s playful
nips on her neck, her hand moving steadily within her lover. ‘Oh yeah, it is exactly the way it should
be,’ her cat and human-self agreed contently.
Buffy chuckled evilly at Willow’s low growl, enjoying the reaction
her efforts were getting. ‘Seems my
little kitten likes being bitten,’ she thought evilly, her hands eagerly
working on the zipper of Willow’s leather pants. ‘Why the hell does she wear leather, anyway?’ she questioned as
she felt her orgasm beginning to build.
‘She is way too talented with her hands,’ was her last coherent thought
as she went over the edge, covering Willow’s hand with her cum as she came with
a strangled cry. Her faced buried in
Willow’s neck muffling most of the sound.
Carefully comforting her life-mate as she slowly came back to
herself, Willow found herself dealing with her frustrated cat. While on one hand she was pleased beyond
belief that she had brought her life-mate such pleasure, if the pounding heart
and gasps for breath were any indication, on the other, her cat was a bit
peeved, her enhanced hearing having picked up voices approaching the
library.
“Buffy? We’re about to
have company.” She whispered calmly into her mate’s ear, chuckling at the
immediate reaction her words caused.
Buffy’s eyes widened again as she tried to pull away from her
lover, only to discover that Willow’s hand was still inside her and didn’t seem
to be in any hurry to move said hand anytime soon.
“Wills!” she growled as
Willow twitched her hand within her before pulling completely out. Drawing her hand out of Buffy’s pants,
Willow regarded her life-mate with hooded eyes and a small smirk, before a
naughty little grin lit up her face.
Catching the Slayer’s eyes, as she hurriedly tried to get her
clothes in order, Willow brought up her hand covered in Buffy’s juices and
proceeded to lick her hand clean, a dark light glowing behind her green
eyes. With one final lick, Willow
suddenly leaned forward and gave her life-mate one final breath-stealing kiss,
before releasing her with a playful wink and a promising smile.
“You do NOT play fair,” Buffy hissed, buttoning her jeans, trying
to get her pounding heart not to beat itself out of her chest. Only to be
greeted by a playful chuckle in reply.
“I never said I did.”
By the time the library doors opened, Willow had found a
comfortable seat at the research table where she could watch her somewhat
flustered life-mate try to regain some kind of control of herself. Settling back with a smug little grin firmly
in place, Willow gave a brief thought to how the Slayer was going to explain
her rumpled appearance to the Watcher and the woman with him. Tapping her fingers on the tabletop, her cat
amused itself once more with lovely little images of her life-mate. Unsurprisingly most of those images involved
a total lack of clothing, lots of chocolate and silk scarves.
‘Wonder how she'll look in our bed with nothing on but our
mark?’ The cat questioned, eager to see
the blonde in that very position sometime in the very near future. ‘And the pool, can't forget the pool or the
recreation room. All those mirrors down
there...the possibilities are endless.’
Her cat continued to her human-self wanting nothing more then to get out
of the library and do a little exploring of the fascinating territory known as
Buffy Summers.
Running one last hand through her hair, Buffy snuck a quick look
at
Willow, unsure if she should be concerned about the almost feral
glow to the redhead’s eyes. ‘I just had
mind blowing sex in the book cage,’ she said to herself, trying to slow her
breathing down. ‘I just had SEX in the
LIBRARY!!’ The rational part of her
mind that wasn’t always on speaking terms with her inner Slayer voice, all but
screamed.
‘Yup we sure did,’ her inner Slayer voice replied with a goofy
looking grin plastered across her face.
‘I wonder how fast we can get rid of
Giles and go do it again?’
‘No, no. Sex in the library is wrong...and, and...It’s just
wrong! This is like Giles’ inner
sanctum. The shrine to all that is
stuffy and British and Watchery, we have desecrated the domain of Giles and you
want to do it again?’ Rational-Buffy demanded in disbelief.
Buffy’s inner-Slayer voice was cut off as she suddenly became
aware of a hand moving back and forth in front of her face. “Ah Buff, you in there?” Xander Harris
questioned with one arched eyebrow.
Concern clearly written on his face as he continued to wave the donut
temptingly in front of her. It just
wasn’t like his best friend to totally space out, unless they were both sitting
in English Lit class and had long given up on trying to remain conscious as the
teacher drone on and on about the merits of Tennyson.
“Huh?...ah, yeah I’m fine.”
Buffy said coming back to the here and now, shooting Willow a scolding
look when she picked up the faint chuckle coming from the redhead. ‘Go-ahead laugh, little kitten. Just wait until I get you alone.’ She said to herself all ready plotting her
revenge. Snatching the donut out of
Xander's hand, she took a bite effectively saving herself from having to answer
any other questions.
“Okay, if you say so.”
Xander replied noting Buffy's calculating look and Willow’s smug down
right-pleased beyond belief look. His
teenage hormones all ready coming up with possible reasons for the looks
passing between both girls.
******************
Drusilla replayed the phantom images of the Slayer and the
were-cat mating in the book cage pleased at how both of them had responded to
her manipulations. It had taken awhile but
she had finally gotten her little kitten to initiate a mating with the
Slayer. It would make it easier for the
vampire to condition the Slayer as she continued to nudge the chosen one on the
path she had set for her.
“Soon my luvs you’ll both be at my side for all eternity.” Dru said to the empty room. She was all ready envisioning the death and
destruction the two of them will unleash upon the world with but a command from
her. Dissipating the phantom images
with a wave of her hand, she got up to prowl the empty halls of her lair. She had other plans to make, plans that
concerned her little kitten and her willful behavior of late.
Descending the staircase to the ‘dungeon’ that had been especially
built for her, Dru crossed to one of the occupied cells where her current
favourite was screwing one of the humans kept in the mansion as food for her
and the few minions that served her.
Taking a moment to watch her youngest childe pound into the willing body
of the tall muscular human under him, Dru watches the two with growing lust.
She had noticed lately that her little boy had taken a liking to the college
student they had captured one night a few months back. The vampire would spend hours in the human’s
cell torturing him and shagging him for countless hours - usually leaving the
human one bloody mess in the back of the cage when he was done. She also know that the younger vampire was
thinking about turning the human, but was only waiting for the right moment to
ask for her consent.
Pushing aside thoughts of the human's ultimate fate, Drusilla
entered the cell to have her way with both of the males. She would make a decision after she had left
her mark on both of them. And then she
would turn her full attention to the matter of her little kitten.
*************
Angelus had been in a rage when he had returned to the mansion,
receiving minor damage from the sun's rays for his troubles. After several hours of torturing the
luckless minion that had the misfortune of being in the main hall upon his
return. The master vampire had gone in
search of his favourite childe, needing to vent his other frustration before
settling down in front of the main fireplace and brooding for several
hours.
He had already begun to make plans for the mysterious redhead who
had surprised him in the cemetery. She
would be his, of this he had no doubt.
He’d worry about figuring out just what she was once she had been
captured and caged. Can’t have his new
little pet roaming the night without him.
After he had shagged Spike for several hours, he’d allowed the
younger vamp to feed and then put to work building the cage for his little
pet-to-be. One way or another the
redhead would be his, he firmly decided.
All ready envisioning the hunts he would have with her at his side. After the initial shock at seeing her change
forms wore off, Angelus could admit that she looked magnificent in her cat
form. He couldn’t wait to have the cat
sitting at his booted feet as he placed his mark on the Hellmouth. With the cat and Slayer under his control
nothing in heaven or hell would be able to stand in his way.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Willow asked her new life-mate
as the two approached the front door of the redhead's home. “I mean we could always put off meeting my
brother....”
“Wills, I’m fine and I really want to meet your brother,” Buffy
replied with a laugh, wondering why the other girl had suddenly become so
shy. After the two had made their
escape from the library once Giles had gone over the night’s patrol area, Buffy
had felt the sudden need to meet Willow’s family. The need had only become stronger as the two neared the redhead’s
house and Willow started to get cold feet on her. ‘Teach my little kitten to get
all smug on me,’ she thought to herself, ‘my little kitten? Where did that come
from?’
With a defeated sigh Willow, opened front door determined to get
the dreaded “meet the parents”, or in this case meet the big brother, thing
over with so she could get back to getting her life-mate alone and naked. ‘Then
go kill a few leeches together and get naked again’, her cat practically hummed
in the back of her mind, her wild-half already deciding that her life-mate
would always look her best naked no matter what the occasion. Although her human-half just had to point
out that it would make it a bit hard on her life-mate to go to school naked all
the time, and people would start to get suspicious if she killed everyone that
looked at her life-mate while she was naked. ‘Stupid human-half always using
logic’, the cat grumbled in the back of her mind, unwilling to let go of her
mate naked.
“Before you meet my brother... where is something you should know
about Marco”, Willow said stopping just in the threshold, “he’s sort
of...furry.” She finished before losing her nerve. Granted her brother being covered in black fur really didn’t
bother her much, hell half her family were all furry to begin with, but her
mate was different. Buffy was human,
even if she was a funny smelling one that did naughty things to her self
control every time she got close to her, she was above all else a human and not
used to seeing large black panthers walking around on two legs.
“Furry?” Buffy questioned with an arched eyebrow.
“Yes furry,” a voice purred from behind the Slayer even as Willow
growled lowly. “Willow, you DIDN’T?” the voice said after a moment, noting a
certain smell on the young blonde standing before him.
Swinging around, Buffy found herself face to chest with a field of
black fur. Looking up she found a
cat-shaped face studying her calmly, yellow eyes winkling with mischief. “I’m
Marco, Willow’s older and better looking brother,” the creature greeted with a
feral grin.
Buffy wasn’t sure what to make of the large creature standing
front of her, while her spider sense wasn’t setting off any alarms, her
rational-side was screaming that it damn well should be going off because this
thing was damn huge. Only to be brought
out of her stupor by a low growl from behind her coming from Willow.
“I don’t want her”, Marco growled right back at the outraged
redhead. “No offense, but I have a mate... she’s the jealous type and I would
look terrible as a throw rug,” he said turning to Buffy for a moment.
“Okay”, Buffy said, not sure what Willow was growling about “is
this that possessive thing again?”
“Oh yeah,” Marco agreed with a chuckle, “she’s mad because I’m
standing too close to you when all she wants to do is get you naked and screw
you senseless,” he finished in a conspiring whisper with the Slayer.
“Marco!” a new outraged voice said from hide the two, “don’t be
telling the child THAT!”
“Well its true!” he chuckled turning to the small woman standing
on the top of the porch stairs giving the furry giant a dirty look. “My little
kit is all grown up, discovered her hormones at long last.”
“Ignore the giant fur ball here, he lost his mind years ago”, the
woman said swatting him in the stomach as she stepped closer to Buffy. “I’m Megan, the fur ball’s mate, and you are
the Slayer”, the woman noted after a pause, “interesting.”
“Nice to meet you,” Buffy said after a moment noting that Willow
had stopped growling now that Marco had backed off.
“Come lets go inside, we’ll be more comfortable there... and we
can talk about our mates, tell embarrassing stories about both of them.”
“Megan they just met, I don’t think the Slayer has any
embarrassing stories about kit,” Marco said with a chuckle giving in to the
next few hours of having every stupid thing he had ever done retold for the
benefit of his mate’s amusement.
“So... she’ll just have to make up a few!” Megan countered
serenely, taking the blonde’s arm and leading her into the house leaving the
two siblings behind.
“Thanks a lot Marco,” Willow growled at her brother before
following the two.
“Oh sure blame me for my mate's evil sense of humour,” he
countered following the women into the house with a shake of his dark head.
Buffy was certain she had never laughed so hard in her life, especially
after that one story about Marco and his two biker buddies getting thrown out
of a small Iowa town after causing two riots, kidnapping the mayor only to
return him later that night on the front steps of the courthouse in a pink
evening gown and thirty-four cases of spiked jungle juice.
Marco seat back in the comfortable chair, with his mate firmly in
place on his lap, silently thanking the gods for his dark fur, just when he had
thought he had lived that night down someone in the clan brought it up
again. He was certain that it was an
order from the elders that wouldn’t allow him to forget about the one time he
got into that spiked jungle juice with his old Australian biker friend.
From her position on the cough beside the Slayer, Willow was wondering
about the “Barbie” doll incident Buffy had told Megan about as part of the
“embarrassing Willow” tales the blonde had made up. She never owned a Barbie in her life, aside from the one she used
as a chew toy when she was first teething. ‘Frog fear?’ she wondered arching
one eyebrow as the Slayer went into her tale of Willow's fear of frogs. ‘She is
enjoying herself way to much’; Willow’s cat purred quietly, planning her own
little payback for the outlandish stories her life-mate was making up about her.
‘Frog fear indeed.’
Once the laughter died down from Willow's latest imagined exploit,
Megan turned serious, “So when are you two going to complete the ceremony?”
Grinning evilly at Willow’s groan, ‘she’s a keeper Willow you have to explain
things to her’, she thought.
“Ceremony?”
“Bonding ceremony,” Willow said after a pause, “basically it makes
us life-mates.”
“Life-mates? As in
married... you and me?”
“Well there is a bit more involved, but yes that is pretty much
the basic idea,” Marco said studying the two young women on the couch with his
yellow eyes. “You don’t have to make
any decisions now, but if you two are going to keep doing the things you were
doing earlier.... you need to.” He advised gently reminding himself that Buffy
was a sun-walker, a human, with different social and cultural values. To his people what the two of them were
doing earlier had already mated them, the bonding ceremony just a formality to
let the rest of the clan know one of their own was taking a mate... and well it
was also a good excuse to throw a party.
“I need to go”, Buffy said suddenly remembering that she still had
patrol.
“Of course, we are keeping you from your duties”, Megan replied,
climbing off of her mate’s lap. “Willow will show you out,” she added pointedly
to the redhead.
Walking to the door with the Slayer, Willow tried to keep her
emotions under control, apart of her fearing that Buffy was about to walk out
of her life forever. “I’m sorry about that back there, I wanted to talk to you
about it privately,” she began only to have her words cut off by a pair of
lips.
Buffy slipped her tongue into Willow’s mouth effectively shutting
her up for a moment. “I’ll be happy to marry you... or mate with you whatever
its called, bit give me a little time to get used to the idea first... ok?”
“O-oh sure, whatever you want,” Willow said absently, her thoughts
effectively shattered to the four corners of the universe at the moment. It was
only after Buffy had disappeared out the front door did the words sink in.
“YES!!” she roared doing a back flip.
It was the smell of blood that woke Willow from a troubled sleep,
the scent as familiar as her own.
Rolling out of bed, she crouched low to the floor expanding her senses
to try and pick up the source of the smell. ‘Buffy!’ her cat raged, recognizing
the scent almost instantly but not detecting her life-mate's heartbeat. ‘But
where?’ she wondered, picking up only two other heartbeats in the house, that
of her brother and his mate. ‘The bond... it’s already forming,’ she
rationalized, ‘worry about that later, need to find my mate now.’ Her cat
growled, as she launched herself through the patio doors and into the night,
shape shifting on the way to the ground to her cat form to begin the search for
her mate.
Behind her, Marco stared after his little sister with a growing
sense of dread wondering over the strange blast of emotions he has picked up
from her before she crashed out of her bedroom and into the night. “Megan...
call Alex get him here now... we got big trouble,” he said after a moment
trying to collect himself. He too
smelled the blood that had awakened Willow, his link to her sharing whatever
his little sister was experiencing, “tell him that Willow is forming a
life-bond... a real strong one with a Slayer... we need the ceremony now not
later.” He spoke rushing back to their room to grab some cloths and a few
weapons.
He wasn’t sure what Willow had seen through her growing bond with
her chosen mate, but he did know that if anything happened to the Slayer at
this time before the bond could properly be sealed, the results would be
disastrous for her.
“This is so not good,” Marco grumbled to himself, pulling on a
pair of pants over his night shorts, “taking a Slayer for a life-mate is one
thing... but to form a life-bond with one!
By the ancients, Willow...Slayers got real short life spans... the
Fate’s must be laughing their asses off over this one. “Unless,” he continued,
stopping in mid reach for his favourite axe as a thought occurred to him.
“Nah... it can’t be, the Nameless One can’t be returning... not now.” He whispered, a lump forming in his gut as
the thought took root. “By the ancients...don’t let that happen now. Alex where the hell are you?”
************************
“So I tell him; friend I wouldn’t hurt thee for the world... but
you are standing where I am about to shoot,” the large, somewhat hairy, biker said
to the nun across from him, as his massive frame shook with laughter. “The big
bad Holy Roman Crusader couldn’t get out of the brothel fast enough.”
“Brother Alexander... your contempt for the church is well known,”
the nun said with a slight shake of her head.
“Not the church my dear Sister Agitha... just the dips in
charge...besides I’m a druid,” the biker replied, as he dealt the latest hand
of poker. “Furthermore, those Holy Roman bastards were well known pansies that
can’t draw their own swords without a holy command from an
Archbishop.”
“I will ignore your blasphemy and raise you two hundred,” the
Sister replied tossing in her chips, “the stakes the same... the winner gets to
wipe out the nest of demons in the French Quarter?”
“Excuse me Brothers and Sisters, but there is a phone call for
Brother Alexander.... your cousin Megan, she says to tell you they have ‘really
bad karma and they needed you last week’... she said you would understand,” the
monk said.
Cursing softly, “My dear Agitha a pleasure as always, tell Mother
Kimberly that it was honour as usual and I will look into her request to hunt
down that wayward child of hers. I wish
you luck with the demon nest... and if it isn’t too much trouble, would you and
your dear sisters swing by the Hellmouth at your earliest convenience it should
prove to be a most enlightening experience,” the biker called Brother Alexander
said, as he stood from the card table and pocketed his winnings. “Brothers...
we have a long ride ahead of us... little Willow is taking a mate and I get to
perform the ceremony... and then there are all those demons, just screaming to
have the light shown to them,” he said, with a wild look in his eyes, as he
pulled out his hunting knife to check its edge. “We’ll be sure to save you a
few unworthy souls for salvation my dear sisters.”
*************************
Buffy ducked the hammer that had been aimed at her head and shot
out a leg at her attacker to trip him.
As the large demon fell, the blonde Slayer scrambled to her feet,
pushing aside the pain that shot through her damaged side at that moment. ‘Damn
where the hell did this guy come from?’ she wondered, trying to keep herself as
focused as much as possible. She wasn’t sure why the demon was so determined to
kill her but she wasn’t going to make it easy for the slimy little bastard.
‘Make it to Giles... get the axe and intro this guy to the business end of my
favourite melon slicer,’ she thought, fighting off the wave of nausea that
threatened to overtake her. Only to be
halted in her tracks by her demon attacker’s large sledgehammer hitting her in
the shoulder, sending her slamming into a wall.
“Time to die Chosen One... in the name of the Glorious One you
shall....” the demon never got to finish what he was saying as a very large and
very mad mountain lion slammed into him with a murderous roar.
Fighting through the pain, Buffy tried to climb to her feet, one
arm completely numb, but not making it as she slowly lost her battle with
consciousness. The large cat gave one
mighty snarl before sinking her teeth into the demon’s neck and biting down
effectively tearing out the creature’s throat.
With one final snort of disgust, the cat turned away from the dead
demon, intent on checking on her beloved mate, the growing bond between them
having signaled exactly when the blonde had passed out.
A large dark mass dropping down from one of the rooftops signaled
Marco’s arrival in the alleyway, his own axe covered in blood from the other
demon that had been laying in wait for the Slayer. “She’s still with us little
sister... but we need to move now... get her to safety then plan our next
move,” he told the cat, his own golden eyes shining. ‘Alex you had better be on
your way here.’ He thought, watching Willow assume her more traditional
were-cat form and gathering the unconscious blonde up in her arms.
Early
Dawn,
Rupert Giles approached the front door of the large house a bit
cautiously, unsure what to expect, his mind going over the phone call he
received from someone claiming to be Willow’s brother with the news that his
Slayer had been injured. Behind him,
Joyce Summers was nearly jumping out of her skin, Buffy's mother having showed
up on his front door when her daughter had not returned from patrol. ‘A Slayer
whose mother knows of her daughter’s destiny,’ he thought, with a mental shake
wondering if he was doomed to be the one Watcher in history to have absolutely
no control over his Slayer what so ever. ‘But do you really want her like every
other Slayer?’ that little part of him that was still the rebellious youth
questioned, ‘our Slayer has out lived most of her predecessors... lets make a
go at seeing her grow old and bloody well get senile.’
Joyce Summers tried to remain calm, an icy fist firmly wrapped
around her heart as all kinds of scenarios and horrible images ran amok through
her mind. She thought she had prepared
herself for this night, the night that she would be told her eldest child had
been severally injured or killed, but she was wrong. Nothing could ever prepare for the heavy suffocating feeling that
gripped her heart and seemed to try to suck the life right out of her. The rational side of her kept whispering
that Buffy was a lot stronger then she looked, that she had that supernatural
Slayer ability that would kick in and all would be fine, even if her daughter
would be very sore for the next week and a half. But there was also that other side of her, the irrational mother
side, that was nearly screaming that her daughter... her baby had been hurt and
she could only take so much abuse and beatings before those supernatural powers
would simply give out.
The front door opening nearly caused both adults to jump out of
their skins, a small dark haired woman standing in the open portal with a calm
smile on her face. “Ahh you must be Rupert Giles,” the woman said, noting
Joyce's presence with a sympathetic smile, “you must be Joyce... Buffy’s
mother, I am Megan Garibaldi, Willow’s sister, please come in.”
Sharing a quick look with the British Watcher, Joyce squared her
shoulders, one hand firmly on the small handgun in her coat pocket. While she
wasn’t sure how much a simple gun would do against these people if they were
demons of some kind, she was determined to put up one hell of a fight if they
even thought about harming her or her daughter. As much as her daughter fought to keep her away from the whole
slaying thing, as Buffy liked to call it, Joyce had been doing her own research
trying to find some way to help her daughter in her “chosen duty”, a small part
of her cursing the damn Watcher Council for thrusting their holy cause on her
eldest child. Granted most of the
information Joyce had learned had given her quite a few nightmares and caused
her to lose her appetite at least twice when she read about the mating habits
of some of the more “icky” members of the demon world, but she did learn a few
things. Like bullets did tend to give
most demons time to pause and rethink their actions, especially if you shot
them in the head.
“Oh, don’t worry about the big furry thing in the living room...
that is my mate Marco and he is quite harmless for the most part. He is the one that helped save Buffy tonight
and brought her back here... so please don’t be too afraid. He really is a big cuddly kitten,” Megan
said, as she led the two into the living room.
Marco looked up from the pile of books surrounding him, an old
baseball hat with lightening bolts on the sides, he liked to call his “thinking
cap”, resting on his furry head, even as one of the white lightening bolts
drooped to the side. In all it as
somewhat of a surreal scene, this large black panther wearing a white t-shirt
and jeans, surrounding by books and wearing a hat with one droopy lightening
bolt, for a moment Joyce wasn’t sure if she had finally cracked or not. “You’re
not seeing things... Marco has... strange research habits and he didn’t want to
scare you when you first saw him,” Megan said gently, with a shake of her head,
sometimes she really didn't understand her mate’s logic. “Now that you shocked
the humans... please take off that hat,” Megan said with a pleading look. ‘One
of these days I’m going to get my brother for giving him that thing... and I
STILL don’t buy his excuse that it was a gag gift and he really didn’t think
Marco would actually wear it. Quin
knows how he is when it comes to shocking people,’ she thought ruefully.
Sticking his tongue out at his mate, Marco took off the hat and tossed
it across the room, giving Megan a coo wink when the hat landed on the top of
the end table pushed into a corner, “Mister Giles, I believe...we spoke on the
phone,” he said, as he stood up and held out his hand to the Watcher, a calm
smile that didn’t quite look right with his fangs showing on his face.
“Ah y-yes,” Giles replied, after giving himself a mental shake.
‘Concentrate man!’ he told himself firmly, ‘keep your wits about yourself until
we find out just what is going on here.’
“My daughter... I want to see her,” Joyce said suddenly, deciding
to accept and move on, she wanted to know where her daughter was and how bad
she was hurt.
************************
The large cat laid curdled up next to her injured mate, her low
purrs of comfort nearly shaking the bed in their intensity. Almost absently Willow’s tail twitched back
and forth in time with Buffy’s heartbeat, the cat intently watching the rise
and fall of her beloved’s chest.
‘That bastard was hunting her,’ her cat fumed, images of the
demon’s sledgehammer slamming into the blonde’s shoulder running through her
mind, ‘should have made him scream more.’
Only to be brought out of her murderous thoughts by a hand
caressing her furry head, “Hey kitten,” Buffy said in a pain filled voice, her
battered muscles protesting as she scratched the cat behind the ears, “did I
get him?” Everything hurt, the last time she felt this bad that bleached moron
childe of Angelus’ tried to run her down in his party mobile. Although the annoying little bastard
wouldn’t try it again, not after Buffy kicked in his windshield as she was
clinging to the top of his hood while he tried in vain to throw her off. ‘The
idiot shouldn’t have tried to kill me during the day,’ she thought smugly,
remembering his howl of outrage when she had succeeded in allowing some
sunlight into the interior of the car.
Laughing softly as the cat licked at her fingers, “Hey... cut it out....
injured Slayer here. It hurts to
laugh,” Buffy scolding Willow playfully, as her ribs reminded her that at least
one or two where cracked and didn't want to be bothered with movement any time
soon.
‘She’s awake! She’s awake!’ Willow's cat cooed merrily, as her
purring increased and she batted one paw at her mate’s teasing hand, ‘her eyes
are open and everything!’ The cat continued to crow goofily, her tail twitching
happily back and forth, banging against one of her mate’s legs every so often.
Suddenly stilling, Willow looked toward the door of the guest room, her head
cocked to one side as it opened to reveal Megan and Joyce.
Suppressing a groan as she shifted on the bed, “Mom?” Buffy
questioned, moving into somewhat upright position.
Tearing her eyes away from the really big cat that was calmly
regarding hr, Joyce turned to her daughter. “Oh baby,” she cried, her motherly
instincts kicking in yelling how her daughter should never have been in the
position to be injured in the first place, chosen duty or not.
“I’m okay mom,” Buffy assured her, noting the signs of her mother
about to wig out. They weren’t all that
hard to miss, the Slayer learned to spot them very early after her mother first
learned about the whole “destined to fight evil the rest of your life” thing. In all her mother did handle it pretty well,
only giving Giles mildly murderous looks every time he brought Buffy home
injured. “Oh this is my little kitten... she’s been keeping me company,” Buffy
said by way of an introduction, one hand ruffling Willow's fur, a secretive
little grin dancing in her eyes. ‘Payback’s a bitch kitten.’
*************************
Same Time
Dru's
Mansion -
The female vampire was in a rage as she tore through the halls of
her lair, “I want the being that DARED to order this attack on MY Slayer
found,” she growled to her favoured childe and his new mate. “Bring me their
hearts... and Daniel do not fail or you and your new toy will pray that I only
stake you.” She ordered them, before
dropping into her chair to plan her revenge on the fool that dared to order a
hit on the Slayer. With a brief nod the
vampire and his newly turned childe left the room, intent on finding the source
of his sire’s wrath and killing it, anything to avoid his sire getting the urge
to play with the crosses and holy water.
After the two male vampires left, Dru turned her attention to the
large panther like creature that had assisted her little kitten in defending
her Slayer. “Who are you?” she questioned, recalling the way he killed the
other demon that had been laying in wait for the Slayer.
*************************
“I want them found Spike... the bastard that ordered the hit on my
Slayer... and the creatures that helped the Slayer escape. It seems my little kitten has a playmate that
is helping now too.... I want them both,” the dark vampire growled, twisting
the neck on some nameless minion that had the misfortunate of being in the
wrong place at the wrong time. “No one
touches what is mine!”
*************************
“Alright my children, we’re needed over the Hellmouth, so gather
your gear we got a long ride ahead of us and souls to save,” Father Rodrigo
said moving through the large mansion he and his ‘children’ had been occupying
during their stay. “James... if you will be so kind as to inform you brothers
and sisters that we will be leaving soon and they have to put up their
peashooters for the night. Quin go get Carol and tell her to pack the whips and
chains we will need them for the Lords work later.” The leather-clad priest
said, putting on one of his metal studded gauntlets. “I will be dragging Shadow
and Samuel away from their lab,” he said, heading toward the attic area of the
old house where two of his more ‘wayward’ children had set up their chemistry lab
and were making their branded of white lightening that few mortals could drink
and live to tell about it.
“And someone go and tell Patrick to quit poking at the chaos demon
in the basement and just kill it already!” He yelled down from the top of the staircase,
remembering that his other ‘wayward’ child had taken to taunting the captured
demon with a ten-foot pole and forcing the creature to listen to The Brady
Bunch Christmas album nonstop for days. While the spiritual head of the Holy
Thunder Demon Hunters did feel that the demon should be made to repent before
death, forcing it to listen to the Brady Brunch was just sadistic. ‘That boy
has just got to rebel against something,’ he thought, with a shake of his dark
head before opening the attic door and promptly getting blown off his feet by
the latest lab explosion that finally shook lose the chandelier in the ballroom
sending it crashing to the floor.
“Oh good... its done,” a form that looked surprisingly like a
large humanoid koala, of sorts, wearing a pair of Oakley sunglasses said,
through the smoke.
Willow, why don’t you go and make yourself presentable,” Megan
suggested with a slight smirk, shaking her head at the large mountain lion that
had closed its green eyes and was leaning into her mate’s caress. ‘Just like her brother, you scratch behind
her ears and she’s putty in your hands,’ she thought ruefully.
Opening her eyes, but making no move to break contact with the
Slayer’s hand, the cat regarded her sister-in-law for a moment, debating the
request. Well not really, she was quite
comfortable right where she was at the moment, thank you very much, and didn’t
plan on moving anytime in the near future, unless it was back to her room with
her mate so they can get naked and naughty. ‘Megan is just too weird at times,’ Willow’s cat fumed, her
purring increasing as Buffy hit a particular ticklish spot behind her left
ear. ‘Oh yeah right there... why don’t Megan
just leave already... we got better things to do?”
From her spot beside the purring cat, Buffy grinned mischievously
at Megan and her mother, while she continued to scratch Willow’s furry head,
only mildly jumping when Willow suddenly rolled onto her back and the Slayer
was now scratching a furry chin and throat.
“Oh no you don’t!” Megan cried
out, realizing that her young sister-in-law was firmly into ‘ignore all the
noisy humans’ mode and wasn’t about to listen to anyone but her mate at the
moment. “Buffy! Don’t encourage her, you’re scaring your
mother!”
With a defeated sign and a roll of her eyes, “Alright Wills...
might as well make yourself ‘presentable’,” she said to the purring furry lump
beside her. ‘We got to get a lock for
that door,’ her annoyed inner Slayer voice said with a pout.
With an annoyed snort, Willow shape shifted back to her human
form, looking up at her mate with bright green eyes filled with mischief and a
hint of arousal, “But I’m comfortable right here,” she said, just before a loud
thud was heard over by the door.
“Oops!” She added, rising up to look over her mate’s body at the form
now laying prone on the floor beside Megan, “did I do that?”
Hanging her head in defeat, “Just like her brother,” Megan
grumbled, before crouching down to check on the passed out Joyce.
***********************
“I can’t believe you did that.”
A voice said out of the darkness as Joyce Summers drifted back toward
consciousness, a cold wet cloth lying across her eyes and forehead.
“You’re the one that wanted me presentable,” another voice grumbled,
as whatever Joyce was lying on shifted a bit, “by the way... she’s awake now.”
“Willow, she is a human... not all that used to seeing people
change forms in front of her,” Megan tried to explain as she removed the cloth
from her patient. “You still with us,
Joyce?” she asked gently.
Opening her eyes Joyce Summers looked around the room trying to
get her bearings, “I s-saw,” she began her eyes settling on her daughter who
was sitting up next to her on the bed wrapped in the embrace of a redhead who was
looking sheepish at her.
“You saw Willow returning to her human form... something she
should have done in another room so she wouldn’t startle you, “ Megan explains
sending her sister a dirty look.
Shifting into a more comfortable position, mildly cringing as her
soar ribs protested at the movement, “Now Meg... you’re the one that wanted her
to change forms,” Buffy said in defense of the redhead, not really seeing what
all the fuss was about.
“Give it up Megan... you’re not going to be able to reason with
them,” Marco said from the open door his large frame shaking with suppressed
laughter. “You have to forgive
Willow... her senses are out of wack at the moment as a direct result of your
daughter, so she’s not thinking all that straight.” He tried to explain, wondering just how much he should tell his
future mother-in-law. ‘She is human...
no telling how she is going to react to the news her daughter just took a
mate,’ his logical side rationalized.
“Out of wack?” Joyce questioned with an arched eyebrow.
“I’m like catnip to her,” Buffy grinned goofily at her mother,
snuggling closer to the redhead as she started to purr once more.
“Er.... yes,” Giles acknowledged somewhat awkwardly from beside
Marco, the two men having heard Joyce’s fall and racing upstairs to see what
the ruckus was all about.
“Yuppers... I make my little kitten lose all self control,” Buffy
added, leaning her head back and turning her face up at Willow for a quick
kiss, ignoring the others in the room.
“Oh gods,” Megan said, casting her gaze skyward as if looking for
divine intervention. ‘They’re in
heat... the both of them,’ she realized wondering how much more bizarre things
would get before Joyce was ready for commitment in the nearest sanitarium,
humans tended to be fragile things when it came to life-mates and mates going
into heat.
“I’ve meant to speak with you about this privately,” Marco said to
Joyce who was staring at the kissing couple with wide eyes. “It seems that my sister and your daughter
have mated.” He said deciding to bite
the bullet and just come out with everything.
‘What’s the worse that could happen’ he thought with a mental shrug,
there wasn’t anything that could really be done about a life mating besides
accepting and moving on.
“Mated?” Joyce squeaked,
in a high-pitched voice certain she was losing her mind.
“Oh yeah,” Buffy said somewhat absently, that big goofy looking
grin rapidly becoming a permanent part of her.
“Did the deed in the book cage,” she added, turning slightly to tuck her
head under Willow’s chin before closing her eyes and drifting off, the
redhead’s continuous purrs having lured her to sleep. Only to be woken up by another thud as Giles’ hit the floor in a
dead faint. “Huh?” she questioned
sleepily, shifting to look around the room to find the source of the
interruption in her slumber, even as lightening bolts of pain shot through her
battered body. “What’s his problem?”
she asked once she spotted her Watcher passed out on the floor beside a
laughing Marco who was nearly rolling on the floor in laughter himself at the
moment.
Bringing her mate closer to her, Willow turned her attention to
Joyce, her green eyes studying her new mother, ‘A mom,’ her cat thought, trying
to get a feel of the concept. ‘Never
had one of those before, should be interesting.’ She decided, trying to let her
new mother know that she would always protect her life-mate to the very
last. After all nothing was more
important to a Brahan than family, they defended their own to the death and
beyond at times and she would be no different, nothing touched her life-mate or
her new extended family without a fight.
Joyce returned the direct gaze of the little redhead cradling her
daughter to her, trying to keep her own thoughts and emotions under control,
her gut instincts warring with her rational side. ‘Calm down... think this through,’ she ordered herself;
remembering what happened when she first learned about Buffy’s slaying
activities. It was kind of hard to
ignore such things when your daughter kills a large hairy and smelly demon on
your front lawn in full view of god and everybody. “I think we need to have a long talk,” she said after a long
pause, choosing rationality to gut instinct, they would find a way to deal with
this mating thing, she wasn’t going to lose her daughter, not now not ever.
TBC….