Author's Note: Posting a day early since I won't be here tomorrow to do so, and I'm eager to get this one started :) I hope you'll enjoy it :D
Disclaimer: None of the characters of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer are mine. Sadly.
Leader of the Pack
"I prefer this to the zombies we fought last month", Buffy commented as she staked a vampire with ease, „not so much danger in case you get bitten."
"Yup", Pat agreed, easily ducking the clumsy punch her opponent tried to land, then swiping his legs out from underneath him with a swift kick, "even though at least, those were slower."
She finished her fight by staking the vampire she had been battling, making him growl before he exploded into dust; smirking at the small pile, the demon tucked the stake back into her belt, then glanced around the cemetery, still eager for a fight after not having gone on patrol for a few nights, due to Willow wanting her company in the evenings so they could snuggle and cuddle on the couch.
"Someone's wanting to kick some ass", Buffy teased her as she noticed her look, making her shrug, then nod, the smirk still on her face when she looked at the Slayer and replied. "Yup, sure, I really want to beat something up still, being with Willow the last few nights was awesome of course, but you know how I get when I don't fight for too long."
"Yeah, really cranky", the blonde replied, now with a smirk of her own, "and we don't want that."
"Nope!" Pat agreed at once, then looked around again for yet another vampire, frowning when she saw nothing out of the ordinary though; the cemetery remained quiet, and the demon let out a huff, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance while the Slayer giggled again at her obvious need to fight something.
"Come on", she suggested after a moment, "I don't think we'll find any more vampires here, let's go to another cemetery."
"Alright", the taller woman nodded immediately, "which one? The one close to the hospital?"
"Yeah, why not, been a while since I went there", Buffy agreed, then started walking, the black haired woman moving along next to her, still glancing around while she dug out her cigarettes and lit one of them up; she briefly calculated how long it would take them to get to the cemetery she had suggested, figuring that she had more than enough time for a smoke, only to flinch when half a minute later, a female voice screamed in the distance, sounding panicked and scared.
Without a word needed, the two women exchanged a glance, then started running; thanks to their strength, almost on par with each other, they both could do so with impressive speed, approaching the cries quickly, spotting the source of the yells only a few minutes after hearing them for the first time, even though they both slowed down when they did so – because the one threatening the screaming girl wasn't a vampire, but an ordinary man, the girl fighting him with all her might as he was trying hard to tear her clothes.
"Come on, show me!" they both heard him snarl at her, then they had reached him and Pat tackled him, causing him to let out a surprised cry as her body weight and the force of the impact forced him to the ground; Buffy took the chance given by that to tell the girl that she should run, frowning when the man yelled "No! You don't understand!", struggling against the demon on top of him as the girl nodded and did just that, vanishing in the next side alley.
"We don't understand what?" Pat wanted to know as she got up and grabbed the guy at the collar, hoisting him to his feet and causing him to stare at her in surprise at her strength, "that you tried to rape that girl and that we interrupted you? Yeah, too bad."
"What?" the guy squeaked, "no! That wasn't what I had in mind…"
"Sure", Buffy gave back, rolling her eyes; the man struggled to free himself from Pat's grasp in reply, now glaring at both of them, sounding surprisingly convincing when he spoke up again. "Yes, sure, because it's the truth! You don't know what you did!"
For a moment, he looked torn, glancing into the direction the girl had ran off into and at the two women – before his hand shot into his pocket with surprising speed and, before Buffy or Pat could react, came back up with a fistful of some strange white powder, which he threw into the faces of the two women, startled yelps coming from them as it burned in their eyes and nose.
"Sorry!" he called out as the demon involuntarily let go of him so she could rub at her good eye frantically, tears streaming down her cheeks, "but you have no idea what this is about!" And with those words, he turned and ran off, his footsteps fading away in the distance while Buffy and Pat remained where they were, rubbing at their eyes and coughing frantically as the powder burned in their airways, both of them trying to figure out what exactly he had thrown into their faces.
"What the fuck", Pat finally managed to say, spitting as she tried to get the burning taste of the powder out of her mouth, "seriously, what the fuck was that! Jeez! My eye!"
"No idea", Buffy groaned, still rubbing at her eyes, "but it hurts, oh God, come on, we need to find some water or something to clean that… Ouch!"
"Damn, how annoying", the demon grumbled, finally finding herself able to open her eye again, even though it still burned and was tearing, "that guy really surprised us with that…"
"That he did", the Slayer agreed, slowly opening her eyes again as well, "but, look, lucky us, over there's a drinking fountain, we can use that to wash that out of our eyes…"
Nodding, Pat made her way to said drinking fountain with the blonde; there, they quickly washed out their eyes, glad that at least reduced the burning, and tried to get rid of the same effect in their throats and mouths by sloshing mouthfuls of water around in their mouths, spitting it out before swallowing a few sips.
"Willow's gonna scold me", the demon then sighed, still blinking as her eye still burned slightly, "first time I go on patrol with you in a week and I end up coming home looking as if someone sprayed pepper spray in my face."
"She'll probably scold me too for letting this happen", Buffy smiled, reaching out to clap her on the shoulder, "so no worries there. I just wonder what that guy meant when he said we don't know what we did when we helped that girl."
"Maybe he was just deranged", Pat shrugged, finding her cigarettes and lighting up another one, "I mean, he denied that he wanted to rape her, but that's what it looked like, right?"
"Right", Buffy agreed, "but if he had that powder in his pocket the whole time, why not use it on her? He could have stopped her from fighting him with that, but he didn't."
"…good point", the demon had to admit, "but, well, he ran off, so we can't ask him anymore, which is too bad. Also, I'd like to kick his butt for throwing that crap in our faces."
"Me too", Buffy let her know with a scowl, "that really was unnecessary, and my eyes and throat still burn. Yours, too?"
"Yeah", the taller woman grumbled, "unfortunately. And my need to fight puffed away when I got that powder thrown in my face, so if you want to call it a night, I'm fine with that."
"Oh thank God", the blonde sighed in reply, "because after that, I don't want to go on anymore, I just wanna go home and put my feet up."
Smirking, Pat nodded her agreement, then figured that their ways would part now then, since they had to walk into opposite directions; she told Buffy to take care, the Slayer advising her to do the same before they parted ways, the demon still rubbing at her eye every now and then as she walked to the apartment building, smiling a bit when she reached it and saw light in the window of their living room, signalling that Willow was still awake.
"Or she fell asleep while she was waiting for me", she then mumbled to herself, briefly regretting it that it was so late - she already knew how the redhead would react to her runny and reddened eye and her voice, which was even hoarser than usual thanks to the strange powder, and she figured that bringing along flowers would have been the perfect way to calm her down again, but unfortunately, no stores were open anymore.
Thus, she just took in a deep breath, briefly grimacing again as it burned in her throat, then entered the elevator and using the mirror there to check her face, her grimace returning when she saw that her good eye was bloodshot and her nostrils swollen.
"Bastard", she grumbled to herself, shaking to her head at how messed up she looked; then, the elevator arrived at the second floor and the doors opened, the black haired woman sniffling again as she made her way to the apartment door and unlocked it as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Willow up in case she had fallen asleep on the living room couch.
"Pat, Sweetie?" the witch's voice drifted to her the moment she stepped into the small anteroom, "is that you?"
"Yeah", she called back, briefly wondering who else it could have been, since only Willow and she had keys to the apartment, then shrugged it off and taking off her shoes and jacket before she made her way into the living room, the witch sitting up straight on the couch the moment she entered, her eyes going wide.
"Jeez!" she then cried out, practically jumping up from her seat, "what happened?!"
"Hey, I don't look that bad", Pat tried to protest half-heartedly; Willow only dignified this by raising one eyebrow, then moved closer to her, looking at up her with concern as she repeated her question about what had happened.
"Something quite weird", the demon let her know, nodding at the couch as she figured that going to sleep was out of the question until she had recounted her adventurous evening; they both sat down, the black haired woman taking the time to light up a cigarette before she spoke on, quickly recounting the events which had led to her looking as if she had spent the night drinking, Willow looking at her with a frown the moment she had finished her little tale.
"That doesn't make any sense", she finally said, after pondering all the facts for a minute in silence, "if he had this powder ready, why not use it on the girl?"
"Just what Buffy said", Pat smirked in reply, glad that by now, at least the burning feeling in the back of her throat had stopped, even though her eye still was tearing slightly, "and I have no idea. Maybe he didn't want to… um, well, you know… with a girl made a mess by that stuff. Or we really got the wrong impression and he was right when he told us we didn't know what we'd done."
"Did you notice anything odd about the girl?" Willow wanted to know, looking at her curiously, only to frown again when the demon shook her head at once, then shrugged, sounding a bit sheepish when she replied. "Nope, but we didn't get such a good look on her, and she ran off pretty quick after I tackled that guy and got him away from her."
"Too bad", the witch commented, "but done bun can't be undone, and I'm tired. Let's go to sleep once you finished your cancer stick there?"
"Yeah, sure", the taller woman shrugged, then quickly finishing said cancer stick so her partner wouldn't have to hold out too long; the couple still took the time for a quick and tender kiss, then made their way into the bedroom together where they changed into the nightmare, the strange man and his strange powder soon forgotten as they drifted off into dreamland in each other's arms.