REPOST: Stormchaser (13/?) CORRECT VERSION

["Shadow" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Gods I'm an idiot... goofed on what Megan said to Joyce and Giles, she
is NOT Willow's aunt, she is Willow's sister-in-law. I don't know what
the hell I was thinking, I was sitting here and that just occurred to
me... I misidentified Megan. It's my own fic you'd think I would know
who is who in it. ::sheepish grin:: Either way this is the corrected
version with one or two minor corrections that got past both my beta
reader and me. I hate when I find the mistakes AFTER I hit send. I
honestly try not to sound like an idiot as much as possible you know.
:)

Title: Stormchaser (16/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with
Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they belong to others and are used without
permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow
Rating: NC-17
Archive: You want it you got it, just let me know where it's going
first.

STORMCHASESR (16/?)

Early Dawn,
Garibaldi House -

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 aptitude 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.

************************
Upstairs -

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 prey
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.

*************************
Angelus' lair -

"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!"

*************************
New Orleans -

"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 clearly smoke.

End Part 16.

The Holy Thunder Demon Hunter Biker Club appear as themselves... got to
love the gang from the Woods Outback! :) Did I miss anyone?

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.