REPOST: Stormchaser parts (1-5a/?)

["Shadow" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Greetings all to celebrate me actually writing the update to this fic...
and for anyone out there who is not familiar with my mad little epic
(yes I'm calling it an epic now, its well over 100k in length you know)
I'm reposting the first fourteen parts. And oh yeah I even corrected a
few of my earlier mistakes... so it now reads more coherently in places.
All those who have read this fic from the beginning, well before I
learned the concept of a good beta reader, understands the joke. :) So
without further ado... Stormchaser.

Title: Stormchaser (1-5/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx
Rating: PG-17
Pairing: Buffy and Willow
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated characters
belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Warner Bros. Television, and
are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Spoilers: None - aside for the general back-story of the whole "Slayer"
thing. Everything else takes place in an alternate universe.
Summary: Vampires aren't the only "Children of the Night" to call
Sunnydale home, and its about time they're reminded of that little fact.
Archive: The usual places all others ask first.
Notes: This story is dedicated to Rodrigo, who inspired two of the
dream sequences and demanded - demanded! - that I post, or else. :)

STORMCHASER

The streets were bathed in blood, as the howls of the dying intermixed
with those of an ancient predator long thought to be figments of
terrified imaginations. Mangled bodies , ravaged by tooth and claw,
gave mute testimony to the onslaught of destruction unleashed by a
furious mistress in search of her mate. A mate who had been taken from
her by these "children of man", who seemed to infest the very core of a
world that once trembled at her mere presence, the night had called out
to her to reclaim what was her by birthright, to wipe out the inferior
race that had the audacity to put itself at the top of the food chain,
when they clearly belonged much lower. But no more! The Mistress was
finally free to reclaim her kingdom and the mate that had been taken
from her by the forerunners of the humans who lay littered about like
broken, discarded playthings that had lost their appeal long ago.

Oh how the sounds of terror spoke to the Mistress as she surveyed the
death and destruction around her. Calling to her for more, always more
of the rich screams of the foolish humans, as they were re-taught the
lessons of their ancestors, the night did not belong to them, it
belonged to her! It would always belong to her! This was a night of
many lessons as the Mistress reaffirmed her mark on her world and all
those who inhabited it. The blood alone would ensure for the survivors
that this town, this 'Sunnydale', was hers as were they. Insignificant
beings allowed to live at her whim, for her amusement and nothing else.

Still it wasn't enough, the blood, the screams of innocence being sent
to the slaughter wasn't enough! Something was missing, something that
belonged to the Mistress more then anything else, something these humans
were keeping from her. But soon, soon they would learn the magnitude of
their mistake, soon they would learn that they could hide nothing from
her, even if she had to slaughter all of them to prove it. Suddenly the
Mistress looked up from her most recent kill, a dark-haired boy lay at
an odd angle at her feet his life's blood flowing through the Mistress
as she searched for her next kill. That scent! She knew it, almost as
well as her own, it had called to her for countless centuries, singing
to her of passion and fury that only it could ignite in the Mistress.
It was the scent of her mate, at long last her mate was here. But
where? The night wind had changed as if to mock her, to deny her of her
mate.

"No!!!!!" She roared to the uncaring heavens, she would not be denied!
This was her world, her time! Nothing would stop her from reclaiming
what was hers! Then she saw it, a figure calmly stepping out of the
surrounding darkness. 'It's her!' The Mistress nearly groaned after so
long, so many centuries of imprisonment, she was here! Her mate had
returned to her, like she promised!

She was just as beautiful, as memorizing as she had always been, and she
was here. 'She's mine," the Mistress swore possessively watching with
eager eyes as the young woman approached. 'Soon, so very soon you will
be at my side once again.' She thought, recalling the hunts of the past
and how her beloved mate looked during the kill; leaning over her prey,
blood dripping from her fangs, as the life force drained away from
whatever creature they had decided to prey upon that particular night.
It was a glorious site her life mate made just after the kill, eyes
still flashing with the intensity of a predator as the blood of her prey
flowed through her veins like quicksilver. It aroused the Mistress just
thinking about it, her mate was like no other when it came to the hunt,
she herself hunted for survival - or to prove a point - but not her
mate. No her beautiful mate hunted for the sheer pleasure of the kill,
the embodiment of grace and beauty found only in a true creature of the
night.

As the young woman stepped close, the Mistress couldn't suppress the
smile that came to her lips. 'She's even more magnificent then before!
And she's mine, only mine!' Holding out her right hand, the Mistress
waits silently for her mate to take it, to reclaim her proper place.
Eyes, one set green the other blue, lock with one another as the young
woman without hesitation places her hand in the Mistress's own bloody
one, retaking her proper place. "I missed you," the Mistress whispers
drawing the young woman to her. "It has been so very long. Do you like
my gifts?" She questions indicating the carnage around them with a
dismissive wave of her left hand. "The dead sing out for you." She
spoke low. "Calling for you to add to their numbers, as only you can."
Her head lowers. "Can you feel them?" With each sentence. "The 'sheep'
that inhabit this place, their blood aches to be drink." Lower. "I can
feel it calling to you." Until lips nearly met. "It longs to run down
your throat igniting the hunger inside of you." As low growl, half way
between longing and pleasure, is the Mistress's only response as the
young woman in her arms is overwhelmed with the images dancing in her
minds eye. "Be with me." Came the low command before the Mistress
claims the lips before her own in a searing kiss full igniting a fire
that has long lay smoldering between the two for centuries. Suddenly
they are pulling at one another's clothing, as they slowly sink to the
blood-covered street, the urge to mate, to reclaim one another over
powering the urge to kill. Breaking away for air, two names cut through
the dark night, over shadowing the screams of the
dying...........

"Buffy"................

"Willow".............
********************************************************************

Elsewhere.....

Buffy Summers jolted out of a troubled sleep, in a cold sweat that
clings to her body, heart racing she tries to escape from the nightmare
images running through her mind. Setting straight up in bed, she looks
around her darkened room almost as if to remind herself that she was
indeed safe and all, of whatever it was, was only a nightmare. With a
shaky hand she pushes a damp lock of hair out of her eyes and glances at
the clock. "04:15 A.M." She says to herself more out of a need to hear
something other then the pounding of her own heart at the moment.
Taking deep, calming breaths, she struggles to recall as much of the
nightmare as possible, 'Giles isn't going to believe this,' she thought
ruefully running another hand through her hair before falling back on
the mattress, her mind working. Once her heart is no longer threatening
to pound itself way out of her chest, she drifts back off to less
troubled sleep, one thought making itself known just before she
surrenders to unconsciousness. 'Just who the hell is this Willow
person?


Sunnydale High

When Rupert Giles pulled into the school parking lot, to begin yet
another battle in the war against the forces of darkness {not to mention
illiteracy}, he was surprised to find his Slayer waiting, rather
impatiently, for him. Slowly putting his auto into park, he briefly
went over the possible reasons for Buffy Summers to be standing in front
of his vehicle; on a Wednesday morning, roughly forty-five minutes
before classes were scheduled to begin, with a look of irritation in her
face. Rapidly he narrowed it down to three possible scenarios to her
somewhat odd behavior, and it was truly out of character for the young
woman to be anywhere near the school this early in the morning. Neither
one, the world was about to end in one big fiery ball, unless the Slayer
intervened in time. Which Giles dismissed almost as soon as the thought
crossed his mind, if such an event was about to happen, chances were he
would have known about it already. Two, Buffy had come across something
while on patrol last night that needed his immediate attention. Which
was also unlikely, mainly do to the fact that Giles had accompanied the
young woman on her tour through Sunnydale's many graveyards that night -
and had been found the entire ordeal mind numbly boring beyond all
reason. The last option, somewhat chilled the Watcher/Librarian to the
bone, perhaps the stress of her sacred duty - and inability to find
sensible slaying shoes - had finally cracked the young woman, causing
her to stalk British Librarians in high school parking lots.

"Rubbish." He said under his breath, coming to the conclusion that he
had been spending way too much time in the company of Alexander Harris.
The boy was most definitely rubbing off on Giles in the most annoying
way. Shaking his head to clear it of the unruly thoughts, he begins to
gather up his kit in the seat next to him, only to be startled by the
driver's side door suddenly being flung open.

"Will you get out of the car all ready!" Buffy hissed leaning in to
give him the evil eye.

****************************
Meanwhile, at the same time just outside of town.

"Wills, breakfast!" Marco Garibaldi called out, putting the final
touches on his carefully simmering omelet by adding a healthy amount of
mushrooms and cheese before folding the entire thing in half and easily
sliding it out of the pan and onto a waiting plate. "Your omelet,
madam." He playfully said handing over the plate to the young redhead
that chose that moment to walk into the kitchen.

Not quite awake, Willow took the plate absently as she passed doing a
double take once she reached the corner table and realized what she had
in her hands. "I hate when you do that." She grumbled lowly putting
down the plate and taking her seat at the table.

"No you don't," Marco chuckled placing a kiss on the top of her head as
he walked by to take his own place at the table.

For as long as Willow could remember Marco had always been there for
her. He always know where she was, what she was doing, and usually with
whom. To most teenagers having their movements so easily tracked would
be mortifying, the teen years being when most young people start to
experiment and test their surroundings, trying to find their place in
the world. To Willow it was just her "half brother" being himself,
Marco was a strong psi, border line telepath actually, so one just got
used to such behavior. Marco just couldn't shut-off what made him
unique among their people, no more then he could change the colour of
the fine black fur that covered his body. Looking at him, Willow
assumed most would find him to be a terrifying sight, a giant black
panther that decided to stand up on two legs one fine day to see what
all the fuss was about. To her, he was just Marco, her big brother,
protector, fellow mischief-maker, and confidant all rolled into one. It
was he who took in the tiny halfling all those years ago when her family
had abandoned her. It was Marco who had taught her about her heritage,
taught her the ways of her people - the ones who made their homes in the
shadows, not the sun-walkers who had left her to die in a dumpster
behind a nameless hotel in some forgotten town. It was also Marco, who
had encouraged her to learn about the sun-walkers, who made up the other
half of her heritage. Sometimes Willow wished she carried one type of
blood in her veins, instead of the dual heritage of a
sun-walker/shadow-walker mix. It was so hard trying to balance both
sides of herself, the one that could go out among the 'humans' and pass
for one of them without much trouble, and the other that longed to prowl
the night with her 'wild' cousins who roamed the earth on all fours.

"Eat." Came the gentle encouragement, bring her out of her silent
musings. Looking into the golden eyes across from her, Willow cuts into
the side of her omelet with her folk, pushing aside melancholy thoughts.
She learned along time ago to except her 'uniqueness' among the pack, it
kept things interesting as Grandfather would say.

"Did you sleep okay? I heard you call out last night." Marco
questioned his golden eyes studying what, by all appearances, was a
young human seated across from him. He could feel the direction her
thoughts had taken moments ago. Such thoughts had deeply troubled his
little sister over the past few months, as her approaching adulthood
weighed heavily on her young mind. It wasn't easy growing up, it was
one of the few traits that the humans shared with his kind. He had no
delusions that it was any easier on Willow, especially with her dual
heritage pulling at her from different directions. He also knew that
things were about to get a lot more difficult for Willow in the very
near future. There was a reason he had asked her to move with him to
Sunnydale, away from the extended family of the pack, to finish up her
junior and senior year of high school among the sun-walkers. Willow was
destined for something big, Marco had known it for a long time, every
since that day seventeen years ago when a vision led him to an infant
child abandoned by frightened parents, who had little understanding of
why their only child had somehow gained fur and a set of fangs.

"I was dreaming about that nut vampire again." Willow replied with a
growl. "That crazy leech was having...I don't know?...a tea party, I
think! All night, she kept going on and on about the stars singing to
her and killing the nasty old Slayer, whatever THAT is?!" she continued
stabbing at the remains of her breakfast. "And she wants me to help
her! Kept calling me her little kitten! Her new little pet! I'll
kitten her, just let her try to collar me. I got something for her."
She growled darkly, her green eyes flashing with anger and something not
quite human.

"Drusilla," Marco's voice cut into her grumbling. "She's going to be
trouble, don't underestimate her, she's as dangerous as they come.
Don't try to take her on alone, she's almost as powerful as I am and
she's a lot crazier then I'll ever be........not a very good
combination." His words brought a knowing smile to both of their faces.
"As for the Slayer, that one's easy. The Slayer is the sun-walker's
chosen one to kill vampires. I'm not sure exactly how it works, never
had much to do with any of them, they come and go so fast. I do know
that there is a Slayer here, a powerful one at that. Not really trained
up here." He continued tapping the side of his dark head with one claw.
"But has the potential for it. I think Drusilla know this too, and is
looking for a way to destroy the Slayer before she becomes a real threat
to the leeches." Marco said finishing off his own breakfast.

"Does that make this Slayer friend or foe?" Willow wondered, cocking
her head to one side in thought.

"I'm not sure...things are muddled where she is concerned. Ideally she
is a good alley, we both hate leeches and really have no desire to see
the world end anytime soon. Then there is Drusilla. She's the real
wild card in all this, if she's messing with your dreams, changes are
she's playing with the Slayer's too. Can't really be sure how the
Slayer will react until we come face to face." Marco paused for a
moment noting the time. "But all of that is going to have to
wait...you're going to be late for school."

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

Shadow -
Dir. of Pub. Safety of the SECLGA and Chief Dungeon Keeper.
Vampire Teddy Bear and Flying Fox {Fruit Bat} of the Woods Outback.
The Big Bad and Little Comma.