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Series: The Willow Chronicles Title: Stalking Death Chapter: Three/? Rating: R Pairing: Willow/Buffy, Willow/Alex Fandom: Buffy Timeline: Two months after Wrecked Spoilers: Nope Beta Reader: Dark Gremlin & Kris Notes: Think Willow meets Nancy Drew. I've decided that what Willow needs right now, is something to make her feel more important. Not magic or hacking. But something that makes a difference, but at the same time is all her own. Summary: A classmate dies mysteriously and the police have targeted a friend for the murder. She finds herself trapped between her duty in helping her friends solve the newest hellmouth baddie, and saving a friend from an evil a lot closer to home. Disclaimer: Not mine. <><><><><><><> Willow stepped into the dark room, ignoring the curiosity that was radiating off her pet, and stuffed the lock pick set back into her pocket. " Where did you learn to do that?" " I taught her." replied a deep voice from behind them. She groaned softly. This was not what she needed right now. She loved her older cousin dearly, but she had no intention of dragging him into this. " Kevin..." The dark haired man flipped on the light. He was still dressed in the loose black suit pants, but his tie and jacket were now missing. The sleeves on the white business shirt were rolled up to his elbow's, revealing the dragon tattoo on his left forearm. His gun and badge were unnervingly visible to anyone that bothered to look. " I had a feeling you'd pay a visit." Alex moved in front of her mistress. " Are you going to arrest us?" Kevin rolled his eyes behind his black oval spectacles. " Of course not. I just want to be here to make this legal." " Oh, cool." Willow shrugged it off, and turned to regard the room critically. The pale beige carpet was stained with dried blood in front of the bed. By the window, there was white tape that roughly outlined where the body was found. The dresser drawers were open and bare, probably from her dumping Jaime's belonging's into the hall. The closet was still half open, allowing her to see the small amount of clothing that was left. The dresser and night tables had visible gaps and chunks of space. The problem was that everything else looked normal, at least as far as she could remember from the few times that she'd been there. " Okay, Alex you take the closet. Kevin, you've got the dressers." She handed them a couple of pairs of latex gloves, then tugged her own pair on. " What are you going to do?" Willow smirked mischievously at her pet. " The beds." Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, " Oh? Need any help?" Kevin coughed in response, " Can we get to work?" " Yeah, yeah, yeah. Spoil sport." Willow pulled the small mag light from the inside pocket of her leather jacket, and kneeled by the bed. There didn't seem to be anything under it. In fact, it was spotless, almost like someone had been under there consistently. She ran the flashlight over the box springs, pausing as a brief white glint caught her attention. She reached up and tugged on the tied bundle. " You found something?" " It looks like some kind of letters." Kevin sat on the bed, taking the thick pile of envelopes from her. " There's no return address." Willow grabbed the first letter from him, her curiosity overriding her sense's. " Listen to this. I've lost my heart to your beauty the first time I saw you. It draws me to you through the crowds, until we're the only one's left. Your soulful eyes drive me deeper into your spell, and I find myself with no will left. It belongs to you, and only you. Just as you will belong to me. I will possess you. Mind, body, and soul. My bride, the mother of my children, my slave." Willow refolded the letter numbly." I guess she had an admirer. A seriously demented admirer." " Here's the next one." Kevin unfolded it, " Why were you with that dyke? Don't you know that you are mine? You will do well to remember that, or I might be forced to teach you to obey me, your master." Alex scoffed softly. " Sounds like some serious stalking issues." Willow took the letters from Kevin, and pulled out the last one in the pile. She dumped the other letters onto the bed and opened the crinkled paper. " I saw you last night at the game. I was watching as you kissed that fucking dyke, in front of the entire school no less. What the hell were you thinking? Were you trying to anger me? Make me put the fear of god into you? If the coach hadn't stopped me, I would've taken you right there. I've tried to be patient with you, but you just won't listen. You've left me no other choice, and you will learn that you can't treat me like this, if it's the last thing you do." Willow swallowed nervously, " This is dated the night she was killed." Kevin took the letter from her with a frustrated grunt. " I guess you were right after all. Now the only question is, who's the stalker?" " Whoever it is, is involved with the football team." Willow said quietly. " All we have to do is figure out who the coach was interacting with right before half time." " Why then?" Alex asked. " That's the only time during the game that Jaime had any contact with Judy." Alex nodded. " Oh, right. I forgot." Willow took pity on her confused cousin, and explained. " Judy was hurt during one of the cheerleading routines." " I see." He put the letter's into a large zip lock bag, " I'll take this in to be processed, and then I'll get your friend released." She waited silently as the pooka slipped out of the room to give them some privacy. " Could you talk to the football players for me? I think they might respond better to another student." " Sure." Willow followed the other man into the hall. " Kevin.." " Will, promise me that you'll watch your back. The D.A. isn't known for his tolerance when it comes to lesbians, and when he find's out about these letters, he'll hit the roof." " It's not like he can do anything." Kevin turned her to face him, " I'm serious, Will. This guy is bad news. He goes out of his way to convict gays, even if he knows they're innocent." " I promise, okay? Now let's go get Jaime. I don't want her to spend any more. time behind bars than she has to." <><><><><><><> " So, where's the witch?" Buffy glared over at the vampire, trying to decide whether it was worth staking him or not. " I don't think that's really any of your business." " I guess you don't want to know what the other demons are saying about her then." She grabbed the bleach blonde wonder and slammed him into the alley wall. " Start talking." Spike pushed her off him, making a big show of brushing off his spotless duster. " You know slayer, if you want it rough all you have to do is ask." " Spike..." " Fine. There's talk that Whistler has taken an interest in her, been keeping a close eye on her, and all that." " Why?" " Something to do with a prophecy." She sighed. " It always does. What is it this time?" " Don't know." " Great." She started back into the Magic Box, her mind racing over the possibilities. What sacrifice were they going to have to make in order to save the world? Her death? Torture? An apocalypse they barely stop? " Buffy, Buffster, buddy. Which is the better cat? Sylvester or Tom? Now think carefully." " We have another prophecy to research." Tara glanced up from the cash register. " What is it?" " No clue, except it's about Willow." Xander dropped the comedy at the mention of his surrogate sister. " Buffy, get the codex and the copies of the watcher's diaries. Anya will get the books of general prophecies. Tara.." " I'll get the magic based books." She interrupted as she climbed up to the loft. Dawn pushed her homework away, " I'll help." Buffy decided to let it go for now, they needed all the aid they could get with this one. What ever the future held for Willow, they would face it together. <><><><><><><> " But, why did he teach you that? And what's up with a cop knowing something like that anyway?" Willow walked deeper into the store, " He used to stay with me a lot when I was too young to be home by myself." " Yeah, but lock picking?" Xander perked up, " Let me guess. Kevin?" Willow nodded as she sank into the chair between Dawn and Buffy. " Yeah." " Well?" Alex asked. " He used to be in a gang." Willow finally answered. Xander jumped in eagerly, " It was the only reason no one ever tried to end our pitiful existence in school. Well that, and they were afraid the geekiness that was us, was contagious." " You remember the time when Harmony put quarantine signs on our lockers?" Xander started to laugh and leaned forward. " And you hacked into the CDC network, and falsified a quarantine order." " She spent two weeks in that room with no make- up and no clothes other than those yucky, sweaty grey gowns...." Willow trailed off at the blank looks from her friends. " Anyway, you'll be happy to know that we've clear Jaime's name." " Actually, you did." She shook her head at Alex's comment. " Nope, it was definitely a teamwork accomplishment." " Please, you're the one that found the letters and figured out the killer is on the football team." " Well, when you put it that way, I'm a genius..." She smirked as the pooka kissed her with a playful growl. " Hey!! Like ewww, there's a child present!!" Dawn said, pushing the Asian away from Willow. Alex shot the teen the evil eye, her short patience totally gone. " You listen, Miss. Kleptomaniac, I may be willing to turn my back on your stealing, but if you keep pushing, you might find that I can push back." Dawn got to her feet, nervously backing away from them. " Sh-she's such a joker. We-we're always playing with each other, ri-right? Alex?" Willow started to get up as Buffy pulled her sister into the back, but Alex gently pushed her back down. " They need to talk. Alone." " I-I just..." Willow felt the fresh wave of guilt swallowing her. " I need some air." " Willow..." Alex started after her. " Leave her." Tara said, moving in front of the pooka. " It's better to leave her alone when she's like this." Alex stared at the door, torn between her need to help her mistress, and knowing that Tara was right. " Fine. I'll do it your way. For now." <><><><><><><> Willow numbly walked towards the lake. How could she have misread it? Three months of taking care of the younger girl. Two more months of helping Buffy with her, and she totally overlooked it. She'd failed. Again. She kicked the park bench. " Ouchie." She collapsed onto the bench that had so callously attacked her. "Great now I have a broken toe on top of everything else." She rubbed her sore appendage, although it wasn't doing much good through the heavy leather boots she'd started wearing. " Well, look who's here." " Chris..." She glared at her cousin's partner, unable to stop the sarcasm. " Gee, what happened to your nose? You hit it on something?" " You fucking dyke. If you weren't his damn cousin, I'd snap your neck." She stood up to stare at the angry cop. " Oh, don't let that stop you. You want to kill me, then come on." The detective glared at her. " Don't mess with me little girl, or you'll learn what a real man is. On second thought..." " Look here Mr. I take steroids and cheat my way through college. I have had a really, really bad day, and I'm in no mood to deal with your bigoted, one- celled male chauvinist mind, so you'd better back off before you learn what woman power really means." " Oh, this just might be fun after all." Chris punched her in the jaw, sending her back onto the bench, then grabbed her arm, slamming her face down into the seat. Willow whimpered slightly as she heard him unbuckling his belt. " Daddy told me all about how you got that dyke out of jail. I think I should do him a favor and stop you from meddling. Then I can go take care of the other fag. I bet she's a real animal in bed. What do you think?" ' Great, Rosenberg, you still don't know when to keep your mouth shut. ' She closed her good eye, trying to hold back the spell on the tip of her tongue. She'd promised her friends she wouldn't perform any more spells, and she wasn't going to break that promise. But her levitation abilities weren't spell based, or magic based. She snapped her good eye back open, suddenly very grateful that Jaime had forced her to practice using her levitation, telepathy, and empathy. She felt her eyes change to silver as she pushed out with her mind. Throwing the bastard into the nearby lake. She struggled to her feet, and forced her body back towards the store. She had to get to a phone and warn Jaime. Aeris Jade Orion Grey Fox, and cause of Discord in the outback. " Are we mice, or are we men?" " We're mice." - Stephan Kings IT MSN: jadeorion@xxxxxxxxxxx AIM: Aeris Jade Yahoo: aeris3996 |