FF: The Willow Chronicles: Stalking Death: Chapter Three

[aerisjade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

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
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