Encased in stone. Bad if things needed to be taken care of outside. Okay, he thought, just going to have to work around this. Flex. Flex. Crack. His arm was free. Kick. Kick. Kick. Shatter. Legs in motion again. Stretch. Stretch. The casing around his body exploded away. He was free. Free to finish what he’d started.

The only sound was the rush of the wind outside. The only scent was that of dust, soil, and grass. And the vanilla airfreshener that dangled from Oz’s mirror. Oz and Cirrus didn’t speak as they crawled up the highway to San Francisco in Monday pre-holiday traffic. Instead they concentrated on the sounds and smells, hoping to somehow be soothed. The werewolves opened their nostrils and turned their ears. They had shifted out of their wolfen forms at dawn to avoid unpleasant run-ins, and as a result they had both grown tenser. Oz pondered this as he drove.

Something about being the wolf made everything all right. Oz had known that even before he could control his changes, and secretly, he relished it. He supposed that it was the strength the form bestowed, the raw, primal power coursing through his veins. As if his emotions flowed in his body with his blood. In human form they were trapped in his head. He had to think more about them.

He looked at the clock. 10:14 am. Another 45 minutes to go, if traffic lightened. Cirrus had her eyes closed. Oz could feel her fear radiating into the air between them. He hated it, he really did. Cirrus was the closest thing to family he’d had in a long time. His mother had been minimally attentive for the first part of his life, but as soon as he could get himself off to school in the mornings, she was gone. Drinking... Clubbing... Drinking, drinking, drinking. Oz sighed.

“ What’s my father like?” he asked finally.

Cirrus shuddered, shaking herself out of the trance. “ He’s a good, patient teacher. Like the old guy from Karate Kid. When he teaches you something, it sticks. I knew you were his son the moment I saw you, because he looks just the same. Only in an older kinda way. He has this beard that is his pride and joy, I swear, he brushes it carefully every morning.” A smile spread across her face as she recalled more of the man’s habits, his speech, and stories of things that had happened to them both. At the end of her description, Oz began to feel as though this man was more Cirrus’ father than his own. He desperately wanted to know the old werewolf.

Oz switched on the radio. Mellow guitar made spirits rise further, and by the time they finally passed into San Francisco, they were almost happy to be there.

“ Cordelia no! Don’t even think about it again!”

“ But Angel...” she pleaded. “ It would be so perfect! We could be together forever!”

Angel sighed. “ I don’t even love you, and if I did, I still wouldn’t consider it. Now go home!”

“ Don’t you try to tell me that! You were kissing me last night, even after our encounter with Buffy. You love me,” Cordelia told the vampire, wheeling around in front of him, blocking his path to the bedroom.

“ It’s daytime Cordelia. I’m tired. Go home,” he repeated, annoyed.

“ Very well...” she muttered, wheeling away. “ But you will make me a vampire yet, my Angel...”

“ Overlord?”

“ What is it?”

“ All is ready... but there is one thing I thought you should know about...”

“ Spit it out already!”

“ Tallus is gone.”

“ WHAT?”

“ We don’t know what woke him, but we found the stone split and the guards dead. Only Tallus could have defeated four of the Elite.”

“ Hmmm... Carry out the plan. Tell no one else of his escape. I will deal with him myself.”

“ Yes Overlord.” The imp bowed and scurried out of the room.

Overlord stroked his chinbraid thoughtfully. “ Tallus... You will not stop me. Not this time,” he whispered to himself.

The guards had been nothing. Demons can be easily conquered when surprised, Tallus had learned. Their blood, sickly purple, stained his hands. His own blood, red, telltale of his bastard heritage, flowed freely from the wound on his right hip. Digging strong claws into the rock wall, he scaled to the top. Within the wall lay all that Overlord had created. The crystal mines, the arena, the tower. That horrid tower. Built from the bones of Overlord’s enemies. At the top there was one spot, a single groove that looked as though it waited for something. Only he knew what. The Overlord had told him long ago as the stone wrapped tightly around his body. Tallus’ own skull.

Slowly he spread the stiff, unexercised wings and dove into flight.

The elevator didn’t move fast enough, Oz decided. They climbed slowly, stopping every now and then to let a fellow passenger off. He yearned to rip into his other form and tear up the stairs and burst through the door at the top level of the building. His father owned that entire floor, proof of the wealth Oz had guessed he possessed from the fat checks that were sent to him every month.

“ Patience Oswald,” Cirrus said softly, resting a gentle hand on the anxious younger man’s shoulder.

The ride to the top continued to be a slow one, but eventually, they got there. The elevator doors slid open to reveal another door beyond them. Oz held the doors while Cirrus knocked. Oz tensed as he heard the scuffling on the other side of the door. His heart raced as the bolt was unlocked. And when the door creaked open, he practically pounced upon the aging man within. Cirrus laughed.

“ He insisted on coming Abraham,” the girl explained.

“ Wha...?” the man asked, looking down at the boy in his arms. His eyes widened and he stepped back for a better look. A mirror image of himself at that age stared back. “ Oswald!” he cried, and father and son lunged into an embrace once more.

Cirrus closed the door behind them. The main room of the vast apartment was just as she recalled, tiny kitchen in the corner, training area with mats and tackle dummies against the west wall, and the sitting room, pillowseats, short round table, decorative lamps and soft carpet, against the east wall, which was nothing but windows. It was there that they had greeted dawn every morning with a cup of strengthening tea before their training. Abraham and Oz took their seats on two of the pillows around the table. Cirrus followed suit.

“ It is good to see you again Abraham,” she said, bowing her head in respect. “ Do you remain strong?”

The older man bowed his head in return and replied, “ Yes, I am well, though I did worry when you did not return right away. And Kerri is missing as well.” He frowned, rubbing his great strawberry blonde beard.

“ We know,” Oz said.

“ It’s a long story,” Cirrus added.

“ We saw her,” Oz explained.

“ Okay, apparently not that long. Anyway, she kidnapped a friend of ours, a Slayer. We also have reason to believe she’s been... Turned.” Cirrus did not look Abraham in the eyes as she said it.

“ Turned?” the old man breathed. “ A vampire...”

“ She left a message in the Slayer’s blood saying that she was coming back up here. She fooled us in Sunnydale, turned my friend and I against each other...”

“ How?” he asked, for some reason needing the details in his daughter’s evil.

“ The Slayer and I... we became lovers. I remember you told me once about Soulmates. I could feel that when I saw her. She felt it too, we couldn't resist. Kerri came and made her jealous, she drove us apart, then took the Slayer... my Faith...” In a desperate attempt to keep her raging emotions in check, Cirrus shifted.

Abraham reached for the teapot on the table and poured a cup. “ Drink this,” he said, handing the cup to her. She did, and soon it worked its soothing magic and she was able to stay calm in human form. “ Remember, the wolf is for battle only.”

Cirrus nodded. “ Yes Abraham.”

“ This is a problem. We can search for them, but we should wait until sundown. If she is a vampire, then that is when she will be active and that is when we can hunt her,” he decided with a heavy heart. Abraham was determined to be happier though, after all, his long lost son was with him at last. He turned to the boy. “ I’m sure you have questions for me that will take up the time until sunset.”

Oz nodded. “ First, why did you leave?”

He sighed. “ I was ashamed. When I learned with my magic that the child your mother carried had the wolf blood within, I couldn’t bear to be there. I have known others, whose mates did not know of their power. When their children grew up to be the same way, many of them were driven from their families, cursed for causing the offspring such ‘pain’. I couldn’t stand for the same thing to happen to me, so I left of my own will.”

“ Mom was destroyed by your leaving. She goes and drinks every night and doesn’t even come home most of the time.”

“ I know... I’ve had people watching you both from time to time, just to see how you were... I’m so sorry Oswald...”

Oz frowned. “ So that is my real name?”

“ Yes. It’s the name I had picked out for you before I left. I suppose your mother called you Oz because she wanted to keep the name, but also desired no reminders of me.”

“ Okay, second question. You say I had ‘wolf blood’ when I was born. So why didn’t I change until Jordy bit me?” Oz asked, desperately needing to find the answer.

“ Your mother wasn’t a werewolf, so the blood was only half as strong. When two werewolves mate, the offspring is automatically able to change. With half-bloods though, something is needed to trigger the change. The event needed varies from person to person, I guess the bite was what you needed,” Abraham explained, pouring them all tea.

“ Oh. Cool.” Oz said, nodding in understanding.

For two and a half hours their conversations went on. And then the sunlight faded.

Buffy didn’t know quite what it was when it hit, but the second it did, her body reacted violently. Like an overwhelming orgasm minus the pleasure. The darkening sky flashed dull red, the color of old blood. Then all went black and Buffy slipped into unconsciousness.

Willow and Xander had just settled down to cast their spell and bring Cordelia back from her insane love when it happened. Their circle of candles flared up and spit fireballs to each other, so fast that soon a ring of hovering flame surrounded them. Willow screamed. Xander hid his face in his best friend's sweater. Then as suddenly as it had begun, the flames vanished and Willow and Xander too slipped into darkness.

Angel woke immediately. He was not taken by unconsciousness, but rather filled with a heightened alertness. Things seemed different, more pleasant for him, and deep within his unbeating heart, he was happier than usual. There was a primal, sadistic feel about the place he suddenly found himself in. And that was when dread overtook him. He had been to such places before. Rushing quickly out of the mansion he saw the bloody flash in the sky.

“ A demon realm...”

They stayed within alleys mostly. The city bustled as much in the night as in the day. More so actually. Abraham went first, softly on his paws, followed by Cirrus who achingly sought the scent of Faith or Kerri. Oz came last, his ears open, but more admiring his father, whose werewolf form was the most impressive he’d ever seen. He had never seen a red wolf before, and his father was bright. And Abraham’s eyes. They were black and glowed with a grey light, nothing like Cirrus’ electric blue or his own mellow gold. The stink of humans was all around them, and every once in awhile the reek of death that accompanied the vampires. But no Kerri and no Slayer.

Then Cirrus’ head snapped up. “ Come with me,” she ordered, taking the lead and saying nothing else.

They went hurriedly, but carefully, back to Oz’s van and climbed in. Cirrus took the wheel and drove the three of them across the Golden Gate, into the less populated areas outside the city. Down toward the water, she parked on the side of the road and they went by foot to the ancient-looking boat. It smelled of rot and moss and mold. And vampires. And Kerri. A beat up wooden door led to the lower chambers of the boat. Cirrus smashed it with a kick and out they flew, seeking to take the invaders by surprise, but the werewolves recovered quickly and fought the undead.

There were eight vampires in all, Kerri not among them. Two took Oz, for he was the smallest, and three fought Abraham and Cirrus. Oz growled as his attackers slammed him back into the cracked wooden railing. He grabbed and snapped off a piece and, using it as a stake, he dusted the one that came to finish him. Cirrus threw one of her’s into the wall, and she flew through, landing on a large splinter on the floor inside. Abraham fell to the deck, tripped by a burly male vampire. He didn’t get up, instead he closed his eyes to concentrate. Another of the undead stood over him with a rusty axe, ready to end his life. Before the axe blade could fall though, the vampire was hit with a suddenly surge of silver-blue light that shot from the red wolf’s clawed hands. She screamed as her body burst into flames. She stumbled to the railing and allowed herself to plunge into the shallow water. She didn’t get very far from the boat though, and a flailing arm set the old wood ablaze. The fire traveled quickly up the ship’s side via a fraying bit of rope. The other vampires fled into the water and mud and scrambled into the brush beyond.

“ C’mon!” Cirrus shouted above the crackle of the fire. She dove into the small room and down the stairs there to the cargo hold. Kerri stood over Faith there. The Slayer was bound tightly and gagged and obviously weak, for she didn’t even struggle against the bonds. Kerri slapped her across the face one last time and turned to face her former lover and the beasts that stood behind her.

“ Cirrus, you finally made it!” she exclaimed in her bubbly way, now only a mockery that made Cirrus’ blood boil. “ We’ve missed you so much!”

Abraham stepped forward. “ Kerri... What has happened to you daughter?” he breathed.

“ Oh Daddy, it was all her fault!” she whined, pointing at the black werewolf. “ She had to go and fall in love with the Slayer and leave me! And then I was crying so hard when I saw them together that I didn’t see the vampires Daddy! They got me because of her!”

“ My daughter, you lie. The Earth shows me different in my mind. You went down there after you were Turned to serve your dark purpose.” He advanced upon his daughter. Cirrus followed.

“ Fine! I’ll admit it, I had a job to do. And guess what, it’s done! Ha, you ran out of Sunnydale so fast you didn’t even stop to think that the trap you were running it wasn’t your own! You foo-”

She was cut off by the stake that whizzed between Abraham and Cirrus and lodged itself directly into her heart. She fell as ash to the floor. The werewolves turned to see Oz recovering from the throw.
“ She was starting to get on my nerves,” he said simply. “ Sorry Dad.”

The smoke began to leak into the room then, reminding them of how little time they had left. Cirrus untied Faith and took her gently into her arms. Finding the doorway blocked by the inferno, Abraham kicked out the boat’s side, sending a rush of water inside. Fortunately, the ship did not go deeply under the water, and the three trudged to shore, to the van, and back to Abraham’s home.

“ We can leave for Sunnydale first thing tomorrow. Now we all need to rest,” Cirrus said. They split up and retired for the night to three bedrooms.

“ They’re here Overlord.”

“ Excellent, and how are they all?”

“ The humans are unconscious. The... others appear to be thriving.”

“ Very good. While they are unaware, round up the humans and ready them for work. Bring the Slayer to the arena.”

“ What of Tallus Overlord? What if he attacks?”

“ I took care of Tallus when the gate was opened. Now go. When the Slayer awakens, assemble everyone at the arena. Have Missy there. This promises to be a great treat for us.”

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