From:  "carrkjar"  
FF: Red Moon Rising - 1/11 - B/W/T - R

Thought I would intro myself with a series I wrote. Hope you enjoy 
and let me know what you think. Blessings - Hunter

Red Moon Rising 
Part 1
Author: Hunter Ash 
Copyright © 2001 by Hunter Ash. All Rights Reserved.
Email: carrkjar@yahoo.com Feedback welcome!!
Homepage Addy: http://www.hunterash.com/ 

Disclaimers: The characters and show all belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, 
Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, and God only knows who else. The storyline, 
however, is the sole property of the author. This story cannot be 
sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made 
for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright 
notices.

F/F romance: the story assumes a loving and sexual relationship 
between people of the same gender and may even include 3 at the same 
time . If this offends or is illegal for you, then please leave. 
Come back when you are older, have an open mind, moved, or changed 
your laws. 

Spoilers: Some general 5th season stuff, but nothing major.

Summary: OZ is back and causes havoc when he demands Willow join him 
as his mate. Buffy, Willow and Tara have other ideas. 

Rating: R, violence, werewolf attacks, major character injury, angst, 
hurt and comfort. It's Buffy, there's violence.

Author's Note: While this is not my first story, it is my first Buffy 
story. So….kind words are hoped for…. Oh, and by the way, this 
will be posted in parts. This being part one. Feedback always 
welcome.

Red Moon 
Frau Hunter Ash
carrkjar@yahoo.com
carrkjar@pacbell.net


Part 1, Red Moon Rising

"Oz?" 

The young musician didn't looked surprised by Buffy's stunned 
response when she answered the door to the dorm room she shared with 
Willow. He expected nothing less than surprise and looked like he 
was ready to flinch at any moment if her reaction was even stronger.

Buffy Summers, the Slayer, was tempted but resisted slamming the 
guitarist into the hallway wall behind him and then bouncing him down 
the stairs a few times. Both of them knew as The Slayer she could do 
it; she had the skills, she had the strength and she definitely had 
the anger.

"Is Willow around?"

Buffy Summers felt her eyes narrow in anger as Oz did flinch and the 
Slayer sensed his muscles tensing in a pre "flight or fight" 
adrenalin rush.

"Haven't you done enough damage?" Buffy demanded. "She's just now 
getting back on her feet."

"With your help?" Oz snapped, his green eyes flashing.

The question puzzled Buffy but she refused to be drawn out of her 
original anger at him for hurting her best friend, her Willow.

"I'm not talking about me, you idiot!" she snapped back. "She spent 
a week in this damned room and refused to budge, we could barely get 
her to class. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep, her grades 
slipped!"

Oz had the decency to look ashamed at Buffy's description of Willow's 
suffering. He had left town with little word and no explanation 
other than to find himself and a way to control the wolf raging 
inside of him.

"Is she here, please?" he asked again.

"No, she's over studying with a friend," Buffy growled, her blue eyes 
almost flashing lightning at the small male.

Oz pulled out an envelope and handed it to the blonde. She saw it 
was addressed to Willow.

"Could you give that to her, please," he asked in his normally soft 
and low voice. "It has the number where I'm staying; I'd like to see 
her."

"Why? Are you back for good or do you plan on ripping out her heart 
again?" Buffy demanded.

"I don't know, one of the things I want to talk to her about is to 
say I'm sorry," he admitted and turned to walk away, stuffing his 
hands in his jacket. 

Buffy watched as he walked down the hallway towards the stairs, her 
eyes still angry. He hadn't changed outwardly in the six months he 
had been gone, she thought. He still had that scruffy look that 
Willow seemed to find adorable in him. His red hair was still spiky, 
an old baggy rock t-shirt, baggy green trousers in the style favored 
by a lot of the skateboarders and Doc Martin boots. 

Buffy slammed the door and turned back to the room she shared with 
Willow, wanting to punch something. She thought about ripping up the 
envelope and whatever it contained inside but she knew Oz would just 
be back and find a way to get to Willow. 

Buffy Summers, college student and Vampire Slayer, let out a yell and 
kicked her chair into her desk, shattering it. She laid the envelope 
on Willow's bed and threw herself on her bed and began pounding her 
pillow flat.

, she thought. Willow was just getting her life back 
in order after her werewolf boyfriend had left. The young college 
student, computer hacker and witch had taken the breakup very hard. 
First Oz had slept with Veruca, a female werewolf, and then turned 
Willow down for intimacy. To finish off the hacker's self esteem, he 
left town with barely a goodbye to his girlfriend.

Willow had gone through everything Buffy had described to the 
musician. It had actually been closer to two weeks before Buffy and 
Xander had gotten Willow to pay attention to anything other than 
sleeping and crying.

She had started going out with them and attending a local on-campus 
Wicca pagan group and had met a new friend which helped distract her.

Buffy had just met Willow's new friend Tara and thought the new 
friendship was actually good for Willow. What was puzzling Buffy was 
her reaction to Tara in general; she didn't like the time Willow was 
spending with Tara even though it seemed to be helping the witch. 
, Buffy scolded herself.

Buffy had her own distractions lately and had been spending less and 
less time with Willow. The Slayer knew that it was only natural for 
Willow to start turning to someone else for friendship and focus. 
Buffy was spending time with her new boyfriend Riley, the commando-
trained demon hunter. Time spent patrolling with him, studying with 
him, and sleeping with him.

It did bother Buffy though; she was used to Willow being there. 


Buffy frowned to herself,  



 A voice demanded from 
deep inside the Slayer.

************************

Willow pulled back from the kiss; knowing that she was blushing and 
lightly cursing her normally pale skin. Having red hair didn't help; 
it made her blushing more noticeable and embarrassed her even more. 

She noticed the same puzzled look on Tara's face. 

"Wow," Willow muttered and sat down on Tara's dorm bed. The other 
witch joined her on the bed, still looking puzzled.

"I've wanted to do that since we met," Tara admitted.

"Really? I mean, like, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said," 
Willow stammered.

"But?" Tara added with a slight smile on her face.

"I don't know," Willow admitted.

"Not what you expected?" Tara asked gently.

"It's not you!" Willow began stammering again, "Oh gods, I just… I 
don't know. It's not because you're a girl and I'm a girl, it's not 
that it's the gay thing, even though I'm not sure about being gay. I 
am attracted to you, that's not it…"

"Willow!" Tara broke through the red-haired witch's babbling. "It's 
alright, I feel it too. Something isn't clicking or maybe it is and 
I'm just scared, I don't know either. The magik works, being with 
you is wonderful, but it…"

"Goddess, you're not mad at me?" Willow asked softly.

"No, not at all, it doesn't seem to be there for me either," Tara 
responded, her voice still soft and somewhat sad.

"Nothing changes between us, does it?" Willow asked, her voice 
sounding small and somewhat timid and Tara drew the smaller woman 
into her arms.

"No, I was hoping that maybe there was more but you can't force love, 
especially if both of us don't feel it," Tara whispered.

"But I do love you," Willow muttered and then smiled shyly. "Can we 
try that kiss again?"

"What about Buffy?"

Before Willow could puzzle out what Tara could mean by that question, 
the person in question barged through the door. 

"Willow," she almost yelled as a greeting when she stopped in the 
middle of the floor and took in the sight of her best friend in 
Tara's arms. 

Everyone seemed frozen in place, Willow in Tara's arms and Buffy 
gawking at her best friend.

"I… uh," Buffy stammered. "I wanted to find you before he did; I 
didn't want you to fall over in shock. I didn't mean to barge in…"

"Buffy," Willow sat up, moving slightly out of Tara's embrace. "Who 
him?"

"I… uh… Oz," Buffy stammered. "Oz is back and looking for you."

"Oz?" Willow whispered. "Oz? As in red hair, guitar, wolf fur and 
fangs, Oz?"

"Yeah," Buffy answered unhappily. 

"Oh God," the witch frowned and missed Buffy's puzzled look for a 
moment until she looked up and realized Buffy was staring at her 
holding hands with Tara. Willow began to blush an even brighter 
red. "I… uh… Tara, I need to go for a bit."

"You going to be okay?" Tara asked, turning to Willow with such a 
look of concern that Buffy felt her heart lurch a little. 

"Yeah, I think so," Willow said softly, appearing to think about it 
for a moment. "I guess I need to talk to him."

"You don't have to!" Buffy said firmly. "I can just tell him to get 
lost."

Willow appeared to continue thinking about it and shook her head as 
she stood up. "No, that would be cowardly, that wouldn't be good, 
no, not good."

Buffy managed to finally smile. "That's my Will, babbling right 
along."

Willow blushed and smiled. The witch turned as Tara walked up behind 
her. "I'll call you or drop back by later, okay?"

"Sure, let me know, okay?" Tara asked.

"Yes, I will," Willow promised. "Let's go, Buffy."

************************

"So, where we headed?" Buffy asked once they got outside Tara's dorm.

"Buffy, I… uh," Willow tried to begin. "Let's walk, okay?"

"Okay," Buffy agreed and the two young women started walking along 
the campus. "I… I'm glad you found Tara, Willow. What does Oz 
returning mean though? I mean, like, I'm okay with the gay thing and 
I don't think Oz deserves you."

Willow began blushing, as if on cue. "It's not what you think it is 
with Tara. Well, actually, it was kinda but that changed, maybe. I 
mean, we're still friends and everything but we're not… we're not, 
like girlfriend as in girlfriend-girlfriend thing. At least, not 
yet, I don't know."

"Slow down!" Buffy laughed. "Try that without the babble."

"Oh boy," Willow sat down on one of the many benches and Buffy joined 
her. Buffy could tell the young witch was nervous and placed her 
hand reassuringly on Willow's thigh. The Slayer almost jumped at the 
feeling of electricity passing between them and saw Willow jump as 
well.

"I… uh… Tara and I, we admitted we were attracted to each other and 
kissed," Willow said in a rush, blushing profusely.

"And?" Buffy whispered, almost holding her breath.

"And we… it was nice but it wasn't… it totally," Willow tried to 
explain.

"Is it because of Oz?"

"No," Willow said thoughtfully. "We came to that before you showed 
up."

"So, like, you're not gay?" Buffy asked, puzzled.

"No, I think I am, or at least bisexual," Willow admitted. 

Buffy and the young witch sat lost in their thoughts for a few 
moments.

The Slayer was puzzled by her own reactions and couldn't seem to sort 
them out. Willow seemed happy around Tara, better than her own 
relationship with Riley which was turning out to be a disaster, but 
they weren't a couple? 

Ever since Oz had left, Buffy had started noticing how much she 
depended on Willow, especially since they hadn't been spending that 
much time together. Somehow, Riley seemed like a poor substitute for 
Willow in her life.  The Slayer demanded from 
herself.  



 it also meant she had fallen for her best friend somewhere 
over the last few years together.

"Are you okay with this?" Willow asked in a timid voice.

"Yeah, it's just a surprise, I never thought you went for females," 
Buffy commented.

"I didn't think I did but Tara and I got closer and I started 
noticing these feelings," Willow said. "You know that evil double 
vampire Willow thing, like she was totally skanky and kinda gay. I 
tried to ignore it until Tara. Then I started noticing other girls 
and kinda analyzing how I felt and I guess I'm kinda gay. "

"Other females?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows and noticed how 
flushed Willow suddenly got and how nervous. "Like who?"

"I… uh… shouldn't we be talking about Oz?" Willow asked.

"Okay, I've got an envelope he left," Buffy said, agreeing to the 
distraction for now. It might give her time to think too. She 
pulled the envelope out and handed it to the witch and watched as 
Willow ripped it open and began reading the pages inside. 

Willow read, letting Buffy drift into the background. It was 
something a part of her mind noticed though; she never really let 
Buffy totally leave her mind. 

"Willow, I'm staying at the Red Door Inn, room 17. Please call me. 
I just want to talk. Part of what I want to say is that I am so very 
sorry about what happened, especially with Veruca. I was wrong but 
didn't know how to stop her that night. I'm so sorry in leaving the 
way I did. We should have talked things out but talking has never 
been one of my strong points. I know I hurt you and I would do 
anything to make that up to you. I love you, Willow. Please call 
me."

Willow handed the letter over to Buffy as she leaned forward, putting 
her chin in her hands, elbows on her knees. The young witch was 
quiet as her best friend read the letter.

"What are you going to do, Will?" Buy asked softly when she finished 
reading.

"I don't know. I'm going to call him."

"How can I help?"

"Just be here for me," Willow whispered, looking up at her friend. 
The compassion and caring in Buffy's eyes surprised Willow. Buffy 
had been so hung up lately with Riley that Willow wasn't sure about 
how close their friendship was now. Looking into Buffy's eyes, there 
was no doubt but there was a new level of confusion.

Willow had danced around the gay question and thinking about women 
other than Tara because the red head didn't want to think about that, 
especially when talking to Buffy. Willow had gone through something 
of a self analysis when she realized she was attracted to Tara and 
one her thoughts which seemed to constantly came back was about Buffy.

Not only how gorgeous the Slayer was, but also how much their 
friendship meant to Willow. They were close and Willow knew they 
loved each other, now it was time to admit that she was also IN love 
with Buffy.

 she thought to herself. The last 
thing she wanted to do, especially now, was lose Buffy's friendship. 
Willow didn't think she could face Oz, her changing relationship with 
Tara and the general stress of living in Sunnydale without Buffy.

"I'll always be here for you," Buffy said softly and felt her body 
moving forward slightly, her eyes half closing.

Both women suddenly sat upright and blinked in the sunlight a moment, 
both realizing they had been about to kiss. 

"I… uh… I guess I'll call him?" Willow asked softly.

"Okay," Buffy stammered, mentally smacking herself.  she yelled at herself.  "I'll wait in our room."

"Okay, that's good," Willow stuttered. "Support is good, close is 
good. I mean, support close is good."

Buffy noticed she wasn't the only one blushing and at a loss for 
words. 

"Oh God," she whispered.

"Oh boy," Willow agreed. "I need to talk to Oz and get this over 
with," Willow muttered.

"Okay, I'll be in our room when you get done," Buffy said 
firmly. "You can do this."

"Yeah, my turn to hurt him," Willow muttered.

"Will, that's not it and you know it," Buffy scolded gently.

"I know, I'm not doing it out of revenge. I've changed and he's 
probably changed, I know I'm not in love with him anymore," Willow 
agreed. "I'm in... I, uh, gotta go."

The computer hacker was up and trotting away before Buffy could 
respond, leaving the Slayer with a slightly stunned expression on her 
face. 

************************

Willow had agreed to meet Oz at the Espresso Pump and was now 
nervously waiting, drinking her second cup of strong Earl Grey tea 
when she saw the familiar spiky red hair walking in the door.

"Oh Goddess," she whispered to herself as Oz spotted her and his face 
lit up. Watching the young man make his way to her table just 
confirmed what Willow had decided. She was no longer in love with 
Oz. She still felt a stirring for him but it was nothing like when 
she thought of Buffy and Tara.

Oz sat down slowly, his face and eyes cautious. 

"Hey, Willow," he said simply.

"Hi, Oz," the witch responded. "You're looking good." 

"Thanks, I'm doing a lot better. That's why I came back," Oz 
responded.

"How so?"

"I learned to control the wolf, no more losing it on full moons," he 
answered with a grin, taking her hand in the two of his. "I still 
change but I can control the rage."

"That's great!" Willow was truly happy for Oz, turning into a 
werewolf for three nights out of the month, especially when the wolf 
was a blood thirsty, out of control, killing machine was not what she 
wanted for anyone, especially her ex-boyfriend. It didn't matter 
that he had hurt her, a lot of that was because of the wolf.

"Yeah, I was hoping to make things up to you," Oz continued. "I was 
hoping we could start again."

"Oz," Willow hesitated, "I…"

The normally quiet musician waited.

"I don't think so," Willow said softly. "I'm not in love with you, 
Oz. I care, and I still love you, sort of, but not like `in love' 
with you."

Willow expected Oz to be hurt; she wasn't prepared for the anger in 
the young man's eyes. Feeling his hands clenched in anger shocked 
the witch.

"Oz? I'm sorry," she whispered.

"We're meant to be together, Willow," he muttered. "I love you."

Willow tried to pull her hands out of his but his grip tightened.

"It took that mess with Veruca and finding myself before I realized 
how I really felt. I can't live without you, Willow."

"Oz, please, don't do this," Willow winced as Oz squeezed even 
harder. 

"I can't do this without you, Willow," Oz continued, ignoring her 
struggles. "I can only control the wolf by thinking of you and of us 
being together."

Willow began to look around the coffee shop and was dismayed. There 
were only three other people in the shop besides the guy behind the 
counter. A couple so deep in love that they probably wouldn't notice 
if an airplane dropped on them and a student who had his head buried 
in two different pre-med books. The guy behind the counter was 
somewhere in the back and out of sight.

"Oz, please, you're hurting me," Willow pleaded, a little louder.

"Just come with me tonight," Oz kept on, seeming not to hear Willow's 
protests. 

"But tonight is a full moon," Willow whispered and then cried out as 
she got one hand loose but Oz clamped the other one tightly.

"Yes, come with me and see how I can control the wolf, we can be 
together like we're supposed to be," Oz's eyes had gone from his 
normally blue to a wolf yellow and Willow felt her heart begin 
pounding with fear. "We can join together, Willow. I can teach 
you." 

Willow knew she had gone pale as Oz's words sank in. 

"You want me to be like you, like in furry and fanged three nights of 
the month?" Willow squeaked, trying to lower her voice as she 
continued to struggle to get her hand free.

"Once we mate, nothing else will matter," Oz grinned but it wasn't a 
friendly grin, especially in his eyes.

"Oz, no, please!" Willow winced again. "I don't love you anymore, 
there's someone else. At least I hope they love me," she muttered.

A deep rumble from the young man's chest caused Willow to freeze.

Oz pulled her hand up to his lips and she almost screamed when she 
saw fangs when he smiled. 

"One bite, Willow," he said softly. "That's all it takes." 

"Oz, no! You can't mean that! Think of the suffering you've been 
through!" Willow protested. "Think what you put everyone else 
through, especially me! You can't mean to put me through that!"

"I'll take care of you until you can control it," Oz shrugged and ran 
his tongue over her wrist. "I could do it now, you know."

Willow was speechless with fear and then mentally shook herself. She 
was in danger and she wasn't going to be a helpless victim! She 
began searching her mental magick database for something to use 
against Oz as her heart pounded loudly, the terror breaking her focus.

Willow didn't know this Oz; this wasn't the kind and gentle young 
musician that had left Sunnydale to find a way to control his demon. 
Willow had a feeling that the demon inside had somehow conquered him.

"You know how I want it though?" Oz questioned, ignoring her stunned 
expression. "I want us to be together when it happens, I bite you 
and we both change and becomes mates forever."

Willow thought she was going to be ill. "You mean like having s… 
like doing it and turning all furry?"

"Yes, it'll be fantastic!" Oz grinned. "Or you continue to argue and 
fight me and I do it now and wait for you to change tonight or 
tomorrow."

Willow was beginning to panic, she couldn't think straight enough to 
form a spell and she knew she was running out of time. 

"I can't, Oz, please," Willow whispered.

Oz growled and tightened his hand abruptly and Willow cried out with 
the fire-like pain radiating up her arm from her hand. 

Instinctively, Willow's other hand grabbed the napkin holder and 
whacked Oz along side his temple and pulled her hand back from him. 
Oz yelled in anger, surprise and pain and was grasping for her shirt 
as she dashed past him, heading for the door.

The young witch almost bounced off the pre-med student suddenly in 
her way. The tall young man grabbed her arms to steady her and then 
pulled her behind him. 

"Get out of here, I want to talk with your boyfriend," he said and 
faced an enraged Oz springing up out of his chair.

Willow knew she should stay and try to protect the young man; it 
could be a major disaster if he was bitten by Oz. Buffy and the 
Scooby gang might actually have to hunt him down just because he had 
tried to help Willow. The witch also knew she was the focus of Oz 
and she needed to get out of there.

Willow hit the sidewalk running and stumbling, clutching her wounded 
hand. The pain was incredible and the red-haired witch bounced 
against a wall and almost fell. Willow bit her lip and kept moving. 
The hacker ducked down the next street and began running back towards 
campus; her only thought was to get out of Oz's sight and to get to 
Buffy. Oz wouldn't dare take on Buffy during the day.

"Willow!" 

The young woman squeaked in fear at the sound of Oz's voice behind 
her and sped up. She changed her direction abruptly and dashed 
through the doors of the dorm closer than the one she shared with 
Buffy. Willow was breathing heavily as she rushed up the stairs and 
down the hall to Tara's door.

"Tara! Help me!" she yelled, pounding on the door with her good 
hand. She could hear Oz's boots on the stairs and whimpered slightly 
but before she could bolt away, the door opened and someone pulled 
her into the room and slammed the door shut. Willow spun and saw 
Tara lock the door just as Oz hit it and grabbed at the door knob.

"Willow! Open this door, damnit!" Oz began screaming while he pounded 
and kicked the door.

Tara quickly got on the other side of a dresser as Willow got on the 
other end. Even with one hand, the adrenalin pumping through her 
system lent her strength beyond the pain and they managed to move the 
dresser in front of the door.

Willow felt her knees go weak and let Tara pull her over to her bed 
and then watched as Tara picked up the phone. The hacker was barely 
aware of her friend calling campus security as the pounding and 
yelling continued outside the door. After a moment Tara looked down 
at her, the other witch's eyes filling with tears of anger and 
concern.

Tara went to the door.

"Get away from here! I've called security! Leave her alone!"

The two witches heard Oz cursing them and then his boots pounding 
down the hallway. 

Tara quickly went to the bed and took Willow into her arms as the red 
haired witch broke down in tears, holding her hand that was quickly 
swelling.


************************

Buffy found she couldn't concentrate on anything. It was a losing 
battle to attempt to study or even surf on Willow's computer while 
she was waiting for her best friend to return. 

The Slayer's mind was racing too fast and she couldn't seem to stop 
it. 

"What?" she demanded into the phone as she picked up it before the 
first ring had ended. 

"It's Tara, Buffy," a timid voice informed her. "I've got Willow 
over here. Oz got a little rough and I think her hand is broken."

"I'll be right there!"

"No, Willow wants to meet you at Giles', we're going to take a cab 
over there," Tara informed the Slayer.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Because Oz wants to bite Willow tonight and the tranquilizer gun is 
at Giles' place," Tara explained and Buffy could hear the tears in 
the witch's voice. 

"Intentionally infect her?" Buffy whispered, not quite believing what 
she was hearing. That didn't sound like the Oz she knew, unaware she 
was reflecting the same thoughts Willow had earlier.

"Yeah, he wants to make her his mate," Tara said bitterly.

"Get her to Giles', I'll be right there," Buffy responded, looking at 
the setting sun outside her window. "Make it fast, Tara."

"I will, promise," the witch responded in a stronger voice.

Buffy quickly grabbed her jacket and several stakes. Then she went 
to her dresser and rummaged through the bottom drawer until she found 
something wrapped in a silk scarf. Unwrapping it, Buffy felt a tear 
escape down her face as she looked at the silver dagger.

"Oz, I liked you but I'm not going to let you hurt my Willow," she 
whispered and stuck the dagger in her belt behind her back. 

She wasn't surprised that the campus was beginning to clear for the 
evening. Even if no one admitted it in Sunnydale, people learned not 
to be outside unless it was in numbers once the sun went down. Buffy 
wasn't worried but she was in a hurry and broke into a trot as she 
headed for her former Watcher's home.

Even if Giles was no longer officially a Watcher, their relationship 
didn't change much after both of them had rejected the Council. 
Buffy was grateful that it hadn't, she depended on his guidance and 
especially his research in her task as Slayer. Between Willow and 
Giles, there wasn't much in the way of information that could remain 
hidden. Add in Xander's enthusiastic and dependable help, and the 
Scooby gang was a vital asset to the Slayer. Buffy knew that it was 
the combined efforts of all of them that had kept her alive as long 
as it had.

Buffy frowned, thinking as she trotted.

That's what was missing in her relationship with Riley, she 
realized. She knew he wanted a relationship with her but the 
Initiative would always come first. He looked at it like a soldier, 
as a job and didn't truly understand that Buffy really didn't have a 
choice in being the Slayer. 

Riley Finn really didn't believe in magic, demons, vampires, and 
werewolves; he believed there was a scientific explanation for 
everything and that demons were merely a different species that lived 
underground and hated mankind. 

Riley wanted Buffy but she didn't really feel he believed in her role 
as The Chosen and she didn't believe in the government approach to 
the problem of demons, vampires and werewolves. She had seen too 
much and knew that the Hellmouth had been real; she had died fighting 
that thing and its minions. Buffy had put a sword through Angel's 
heart, knowing that his soul had just returned, all to keep the 
demons from gaining power. She had betrayed his love and trust to 
save the world.

Willow had been there for her after that; Willow was always there for 
her.

Buffy was determined to be there for her Will.

The Slayer was almost to Giles' house when her "spidey" sense kicked 
in and she skidded to a stop. Her sharp eyes caught movement in the 
shadows to both sides in front of her and behind her.

Oz stepped out into the light with an evil smirk. Buffy realized the 
other five figures surrounding her were vampires, in complete vampire 
demon face. What the Scooby gang called "game face".

"Sorry, Buffy," Oz said easily. "I need to talk to Willow without 
you around."

"Oz, don't do this! If you love her you couldn't possibly consider 
infecting her," Buffy begged. 

"Shut up! She's going to be mine! Kill her!" Oz shouted and the 
vampires moved in.

"'Kill her'?" Buffy questioned, "Didn't you learn anything more 
original in hanging with us, Oz?" she taunted.

Buffy struck out with her right hand, ramming a stake through the 
heart of a vampire on her left and kicking another vampire in the 
jaw. She spun and drove the same stake into that vampire. Vampire 
#3 grabbed Buffy from behind and threw the Slayer to the ground while 
Vampire #4 dived for her neck.

TBC

    Source: geocities.com/npetrenko33/fan

               ( geocities.com/npetrenko33)