Fic: Of Slayers and Angels Part 11/?

["frank_8281" <frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx>]

Author: Bob Head
Disclaimer: None of the characters below (Except for the Slayer's 
Shadow) belong to me. All the BtVS people belong to Joss Whedon, 
Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. I'm just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: One for Season 1, a few for Season 2, more for Season 3. So 
if you haven't seen the first three seasons& Of course, if you 
haven't seen them, you've probably been living under a rock for the 
last decade, so what are you doing here anyway? 
Rating: NC-17
Feedback: Well, Yeah! frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx   
Note: For the full version of Shadow's story see  my first fic 
Missing Red.
 

OF Slayers AND  Angels

Part 11

Buffy's POV

It's been a little over a week since Willow's parents kicked her out, 
and as I understand it had her declared dead! I'm still seriously 
pissed about that. And totally amazed that Will loves me that much, 
to give up her whole family rather than leave me. 

The legal stuff was a lot easier to deal with than I thought it would 
be. Mostly because Giles' `friend' the judge, owed him some kind of 
BIG favor. I don't know what and I don't care, as long as it means 
Willow is safe from her fucked up parents. They didn't even bother to 
show up for the hearing. Of course that only made it easier for the 
judge to declare them unfit and to legally sever their parental 
rights. Right after that he made Mom Will's legal guardian, which 
basically means that Mom agrees to be legally responsible for her 
until she turns eighteen in six months.

The day after the hearing Giles went with the Sheriff to serve them 
with the papers and to get Willow's stuff. When they got there they 
found a `for sale' sign and a pile of boxes in the yard. Typical. 
According to the realtor the owners were moving to Europe for 
an `extended period' and just wanted to sell the house quickly. Wills 
had cried for hours after learning that they had completely abandoned 
her. All I could do was hold her and plot the demise by slow 
evisceration of the bastard who thought it would be a hoot to fuck 
with my Willow.

Which brings me to tonight. I made sure to get the photos before 
Wills saw them. Sorry bastards left the envelope in a box of her 
books where she'd be sure to find it! I had Giles use pretty much 
every source he had trying to find out who the photographer was. He 
found out nada, zip, and zilch. So I'm going to hit the streets 
tonight, emphasis on hit. I've got Mom taking Willow to the movies, 
there's a Three Stooges festival at the Sunnydale Cinema.

I don't ordinarily wear all black, but tonight I'm going for maximum 
intimidation. Leather pants, a black tank top, leather jacket, black 
steel toed work boots (they were a bitch to find in my size) and a 
little gift from Angel. They look like really expensive driving 
gloves. You know the kind, with no fingertips?  Angel got them for me 
last year before& well, you know. He saw how torn up my knuckles got 
after a night of heavy Slayage. The next time I saw him he gave me 
these. The insides are nicely padded, but then they have to be. Sewn 
into the backs and the knuckle area are narrow pockets full of lead 
shot. They're called knuckle saps. With these things on I can remove 
the jaw of a Vamp with one back fist. I don't wear them all the time 
because... well, they're kind of vicious. But tonight I'm FEELING 
vicious! I put my hair in a bun and put two miniature stakes through 
it. `Mr. Pointy' gets tucked into my pants at the small of my back, 
and I'm ready to go kick some ass. Giles' sources couldn't find 
anything out about the damn pictures but when Willow was kidnapped by 
that frog demon he came up empty too. I'm gonna go have a talk with 
somebody who did come up with the info I needed. I'm gonna go find 
Shadow, and if he needs some `persuasion'& well that's what the 
knuckle saps are for.

   Interlude

Damn Slayers! I make six minions and they kill four! The only reason 
they didn't get these two is because they wandered in off the street 
the other day and I kept them here! There has to be a better way to 
raise manpower than this. I' m never gonna be ready at this rate. 
Damn Slayers!

   End Interlude


Willow's POV

Buffy's up to something. I'm not sure what because she's being all 
secretive gal. That usually means that she's trying to protect me 
from something. I just can't seem to convince her that I don't always 
need to be protected. And her Mom has been sooo great about& letting 
me move in and all. She did make us sleep in separate bedrooms, but 
we expected that. Besides we have a date scheduled in a couple of 
days and if I have my way it WILL include serious smootchies.  


Shadows POV

The Slayer is in a really bad mood. Last couple of days she's been 
kicking some serious ass and she's stopped patrolling with Red. Never 
a good sign, usually it means that she's planning something dangerous 
something & Shit! I sense her just before she slams open the door, I 
watch as she stalks past Willie and heads straight for me. Two vamps 
step up and get turned into dust buster chow in less time than it 
takes to tell. She hardly breaks stride. I take in what she's wearing 
as she sits down across the booth from me.

"So, did we have a date after all Slayer?"

"No cryptic shit tonight Shadow, I am sooo not in the mood.

"I can see that, what's with the outfit? You look like Dark side 
Barbie."

She gives me her patented `look'. "Not quite the look I was going 
for." She says.

"So what's wrong with Red?" The look on her face is priceless. Then 
she reaches across the table and grabs my jacket.

"What do you know about my Willow?" She growls.

"That you're crazed, and the only thing that does that is Red." I say 
quietly.

Slowly she lets go and sits back then pulls a manila envelope from 
her jacket and slides it across the table. I open it and look at the 
pictures inside.

"Someone sent those to Will's parents, they did worse than disown 
her. I need you to help me find out who did this."

Knowing that Red's parents are Jewish I understand what she's 
saying. "Tell her I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, help me! Help Willow." She hisses.

"What about Giles?" I ask.

"We've already tapped his resources and got nothing."

"Not surprising." I say.

"Why?"

"His sources are all in the Demon world right? Well, this doesn't 
have the earmarks of a Demon or Vampire plot. It's too personal."

"That doesn't make any sense. Will doesn't have any Human enemies. 
Well, outside of Cordelia, and not even she would do this. It's too 
cruel even for her."

"I never said it was Willow's enemy."

"You think someone did this to her because of me?" She asks softly, 
her eyes on the table.

"No, I think that someone is trying to GET to you through her. Is it 
working?"

"They hurt my Willow!" She says through gritted teeth, her fists 
clenched. 

Willie, ever the king of bad timing, chooses that moment to bring the 
Slayer a drink. She looks at it like something smelly and gross, and 
then she gives Willie pretty much the same look.

"What the fuck is this?" She growls.

"Uh, Dr. Pepper, diet. That's what you drink isn't it?" Willie 
answers, terrified.

"And how do you know what I drink Willie? Do you have somebody spying 
on me and Will?"

Willie holds the tray in front of his chest and backs slowly away. I 
put my hand on her wrist and she shoots me a venomous look.

"Tell her how you know Willie." I say quietly.

"A-Angel, h-he used to have stuff delivered to the mansion. I-I 
figured the DP had to be for you. I started keeping a couple of six 
packs around in case you wanted one. That's all. I swear!"

"Okay," she says "Sorry I scared you Willie."

"Sure, no problem! It's on the House." 

"Feel any better?" I ask as I release her.

"No. You know I came out tonight planning to kick your ass. Now 
you're making more sense than Giles. How is that?"

"I've been around longer than Giles."

"You don't look that old."

"Describe me."

" I think I speak for everyone that is me, when I say `huh'?"

"When you look at me, what do you see?"

"Uh, a guy. Early thirties maybe, motorcycle jacket with lots of 
zippers. Heavy looking boots leather pants." She stops like she's 
finished.

I decide to prod her a little. "What color is my hair? Is it blonde, 
brunette, or am I a redhead like your Willow?"

She looks a bit confused. "You can't tell can you?"

She starts to rise from the table. "What the FUCK are you doing to 
me? Is this some kind of spell?" She ends in a defensive stance a 
couple of steps back.  

"Sort of. It's like a glamour only I can't really control it. More 
like a natural defense mechanism. It helps me go unnoticed."

She sits back down warily. "So how come I can see you at all?"

"People I've interacted with can always recognize me. But they all 
see something a little different from each other."

"So if I ask Giles to describe you he won't be able to either?" She 
asks.

"Oh he'll have an idea of what I look like but it will be fuzzy. 
Probably no better than yours and I'm sitting right in front of you."

"So who ARE you really? You're not Human, are you?"

"Nope. If you concentrate for a minute, you might notice something 
else." I'm taking a chance with this, but something's coming up soon 
and I'm going to need her to trust me.

She closes her eyes and gets a thoughtful expression. Then she looks 
at me wide eyed and says; "I can FEEL you! Like I can feel Faith, but 
it's& different somehow."

"I know, we're linked, the three of us. Through your bond with Willow 
I can feel her too. Not as comprehensively but I know she's there. 
Usually Slayers can't feel my link with them but now that you're 
aware of it you'll probably continue to be."

Her expression gets hard. "So what the hell are you? And no more 
cryptic bullshit! It's starting to piss me off!"

"I'm the reason there are Slayers. The source of the Slayer Power."

I tell her the whole story. About the Shadowmen. What they did to a 
Human girl to create the Slayer. About the Watchers Council and what 
they've done over the centuries to maintain their control over the 
Slayers. At that point she asks a question.

"Wait, why didn't they do that with me? Kidnap me away from my 
parents and take me somewhere so I'd be a good little robot."

"They don't find ALL the potentials. Sometimes they live in remote 
regions that are difficult to reach or the locator spell just misses 
them. That's what happened with Faith. They didn't even know there 
was a potential in Boston until she was Called."

"So What about me. Did they just miss me too?"

"Not exactly. I hid your presence from their locators."

"Okay, before we rescued Willow, you were really getting on my nerves 
because of the way I had to pry answers out of you. You're starting 
to get on them again. So you wanna help me out here and tell me why."

"Because I knew you were going to be the next Slayer, maybe the best 
one in a long time. But not if the Council got their hooks into you 
so I made sure they couldn't find you by staying close. My proximity 
screws up their locator spells. Once you were Called it didn't work 
anymore. Active Slayers stand out like a beacon. That's when they 
sent Merrick, not their first choice but he was closest. He was 
considered a maverick, and he was, mostly. He trained you a little 
differently than most Watchers train their Slayers. He didn't harp on 
that `chosen one fights alone' shit. That's why you allow your 
friends to help you. And why you found your mate."

"Willow."

"Yep. Even just saying her name makes you look happier. Slayers who 
don't find their mate have a tendency to die sooner. Ask Giles to 
look it up if you don't believe me, all the longer lived Slayers had 
mates."

"These mates, were they all&" she lets the question trail off but I 
know where she's going.

"Women? No, but the ones that lasted the longest were in same sex 
relationships. I don't know why, so don't ask. It just seems to work 
out better for Slayers when they mate with females."

"So why tell me all this now? If you've been around all this time and 
never told the other Slayers. Why me?"

I sigh. "I can't tell you that yet."

She makes an exasperated noise and slams her hand down on the table; 
a crack runs across its surface.

"I think we talked about my lack of patience with cryptic bullshit 
earlier. So knock it the FUCK off, and tell me! Or at least tell me 
why not!"

"I need to speak to someone first, find out where they stand on 
something. And no I'm not gonna tell you who or what so don't ask. 
Besides you need to talk to Faith."

"About what?" She asks, looking confused.

"Tell her what I told you about Slayers and their mates. Maybe you 
can get through to her where I couldn't. Girls got a chip on her 
shoulder the size of Gibraltar."

"You have got to be kidding me. You want me to play matchmaker for 
Faith?" She asks incredulously.

"No, just try to get her to understand that being alone is bad for 
her and it couldn't hurt to find someone to spend time with. Maybe 
someone to share her life with. This `get some get gone' mentality 
isn't gonna help her."

"I don't know where she is tonight." She says. Her reluctance is 
understandable but Faith needs help now or we're gonna lose her.

"She's about ten blocks south of here." She gives me a sour 
expression. "And she's fighting." I say.

"Is she winning?" She asks as she jumps up from the booth.

"What do you think." I answer.

"Shit!" As she takes off at a dead run.

I hope she gets through to her this time. Girl needs someone. I tell 
Willie good night and as I head out the door I look in the direction 
the blonde Slayer ran. I wonder if I should have told her that I 
think Faith sent those pictures to Red's parents. No, not yet. Cause 
then I'd have to tell her why I think she sent them. And I don't 
think even Faith knows the real reason. She thinks she wants to take 
Red away from Buffy. But that isn't quite right, I can hear it in her 
voice when she talks about her. Oh she wants to break them up but I 
don't think she's admitted the real reason even to herself. She wants 
a mate but she doesn't want Willow. She wants Buffy.

TBC




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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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