Title: Maybe I'm A Lie in Disguise
Author: Muse's Inspiration
Rating: Hard 'R' right now… could lead to higher! ;-)
Pairing: Looks at the board…uh, wow. Gee… I wonder…
Warning: The usual Buffy & Supernatural violence, gore, yadda yadda yadda
Spoilers: Um, well… yeah… I mean, could we write fanfiction without spoiler of some sort being in it??
Challenge: issued by Jenn over at Rt 66:DS. I did the best I could… but it might not fit it exactly!!

Chapter One: Break Out!

Buffy needed to get away. She was willing to admit to any and all that she'd had more than her fair share of the chaos. She needed some time to herself. Since she was fifteen years old, she had done nothing but put everyone else's needs before her own and now she just needed to be selfish.

If she, at twenty-five, needed to jump up and down and scream and throw a tantrum, then by damn! – that's what she'd do.

She wanted to make sure that everyone got settled into their routines in Cleveland. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the siren call of the open road, however. For over two weeks now, her 'escape' bag had been packed up. Sure, she was more than ready to go, to head out and just 'be' for a while… but every time she turned around, there was another crisis, another issue, another…something. It seemed like she was never going to get out of Cleveland. And as irritated as she was… she didn't let on as to what she wanted to do. It rather defeated the purpose of running away if she told everyone what she was doing. The point was for no one to find her once she did it and for no one to talk her out of it before she left.

Which is why she more than shocked when one day Faith came in to the office she was in, sitting at her desk, doing paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.

Before she could even utter a word of surprise or protest, Faith grabbed her hand, tugging her out of the room, grabbing her purse and coat as they exited the doorway. In complete silence, not answering any of the dozens of questions that Buffy was rapidly firing off at her, Faith drug her through the house, down the stairs to the front door. Just as Buffy was about to finally say to hell with it and get really angry, Faith opened the front door and slung her outside.

Tumbling through the front doorway, Buffy caught herself before she actually fell down the front steps. Turning, more than a little pissed at the other Slayer's highhandedness, she opened her mouth to start blasting Faith for all she was worth when Faith held up a hand to stave off the oncoming verbal assault.

"B… just…Just go."

Buffy stuttered to a stop. "what?"

"Look… I know, ok? I get it. The others mean well… but… Look, just go. It's all there." Faith said and she gestured to a point behind Buffy.

Buffy turned and there was Faith's black GMC Yukon parked at the curb, motor running, and waiting for someone to get inside and drive off.

"It's all there, B. Maps, clothes, gassed up, credit cards, cell phone… Everything you need. All you have to do is get in it and drive."

"Faith…I…" Buffy faltered, not really knowing what to say to her. "Faith… thank you. But… I don't even know where to go."

Faith just shrugged and looked away from Buffy. "B, I think the whole point is to not know where you're going…and just enjoy it when you get there."

Buffy found that she couldn't argue with that logic and smiled. "I think you're right!"

"Just… get in and drive. And I'll make sure no one looks for you. This is your time now. There's so many of us now, I think we can handle any of it these days."

Buffy smiled. Out of all of them… who would have thought that it'd be Faith who'd get it, who'd understand?

"OK… I'm going! Let's see if 'normal' is as overrated as they say!"

Faith snorted. "Uh, B… I hate to be the one to tell you… but normal is not a word that I'd ever associate with you."

Buffy laughed and headed towards the GMC. "Yeah. Whatever. I'll check in with you occasionally. Let me know if Dawn runs into any issues… I never can tell if she's actually passing her classes or not when I talk to her. And just… say goodbye for me, ok?"

Faith nodded.

Buffy got into the truck, buckled herself in, put on her sunglasses and looked out at the world. Suddenly, she felt freer than she had in a long time and grinned. She put the truck in gear and pulled away, honking once and waving at Faith as she drove off, singing to the song that was on the radio… maybe it was a sign of an excellent adventure that it was "Life is a Highway" that was playing as she headed towards the interstate.

Two days and a snowstorm later, Buffy had changed her mind about the whole 'excellent adventure' sign and determined that it was more like someone was playing the Gods equivalent of a practical joke on her. Since she had left Cleveland she had gotten lost twice, blown a tire, been hit on by the world's oldest and dirtiest trucker who thought that his lack of front teeth should have been a turn on for her (shudder) and she was now fighting the snowstorm that was 'rocking the mid-west' according to the radio. God, throw in some beer and a dog loaded down with ticks and she'd be a bad country song!

At some point, she had ended up on Rt. 66 and was about an hour or so past St. Louis, looking for a place to stay the night. It was late, she was tired and she knew that if she didn't get off the road soon, the rhythmic sounds of the windshield wipers would lull her off and she'd fall asleep at the wheel. She was pretty certain that Faith would be pissed if she wrecked her new truck… yeah… not a good idea.

Buffy glanced up and noticed she'd need gas soon, so she pulled off to the side of the road and checked her road map. She knew that the truck had OnStar, but she was determined that this was going to be her trip and besides… Buffy and electronics were so not of the mixy type. She saw that there was a small town not too far up the road according to her map and decided that she would stop there for the night. Folding up her map, she pulled back out onto the road and headed out, listening to the soft whish-thump of the wipers as she drove through the snow. She yawned and rotated her neck, trying to work the stiffness out as drove, thankful that an end was in sight and she could just stop for a night or two and just… 'be'. She had been in the car for far too long and she was far enough away from Cleveland that she felt she could stop and take some downtime in her quest to 'get away from it all'.

Driving for about another thirty minutes, she was about to give up hope of finding the town when she finally spied the lights ahead. She breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't wait to get out and stretch her legs. As she approached the small community, she saw a roadside motel with its blinking vacancy light calling to her like a moth to a flame and guiding her like a lighthouse to safety. She pulled up in the parking lot and turned off the truck, yawning again. Bracing herself, she grabbed her purse and stepped out into the night, immediately wishing she had put on her winter coat. The cable-knit sweater was just not cutting it, neither were the jeans for that matter.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she hurried into the office and luxuriated in the warmth and she stepped in. She took stock of her surroundings and couldn't quite keep from rolling her eyes as noticed that it looked like every cheap motel you saw in the movies… down to the little sitting area in the front, complete with the old man leering at her and making her wish that it wasn't so cold outside so that she could turn around and leave. However, exhaustion persuaded her to move to the counter and smile at the young lady who was behind it and started filling out the card handed to her so that could get a room.

Once she had the room, not really all that thrilled that it was on the second floor, she returned to the cold night and was pleased to see that it had stopped snowing. The clouds moved brokenly through the night sky, covering and uncovering the crescent moon, throwing the snow covered world into shadows and light. Buffy walked to the back of the truck and grabbed her bag out of it, being sure to grab the laptop and her coat at the same time. She couldn't help but groan when she reached the stairs, but she tromped up the rickety steps anyways… all the while half prepared for them to fall out from underneath her.

Reaching the second floor in one piece, she started fumbling for her room key, having to hold her purse with her teeth because her hands were full. So intent on her purpose of finding the blasted key, muttering around the purse as the elusive plastic stayed hidden…somewhere…that place where all things go when you desperately need them, she didn't even notice the man in front of her that had exited his room until she plowed straight into him, causing her to drop her purse and her coat in an effort to not fall.

Embarrassed and muttering apologies to each other, he helped her gather up her belongings. As she took her coat from him, she took notice of him and couldn't help but admire the good looks of the guy. She was female, it had been a while, and she could appreciate male beauty when she saw it! He was tall, lean, she could tell he took care of himself, and had a mop of brown hair that looked like it needed a cut. Unfortunately, as attractive as she found him… she just couldn't shake the feeling of him reminding her too much of Xander to really appreciate the specimen in front of her.

Finally finding her room key, which had been in her jeans pocket the whole time, of course! – she opened her room door and turned and thanked the man for his help. He smiled, and boy did he have a great smile! – and then started off towards the stairs. Buffy stood in the doorway, just appreciating the quiet and watched as the man got into a black car that was parked down in the parking lot. She smiled softly to herself. That car…

It might not be her style… but Dean would have loved that car.

Damn but she missed him sometimes…

She sighed softly and turned to go into her room. But as she was entering, she felt the slightest tingle along her spine; the faintest brush, ever so slight. Frowning, she turned back and looked out into the night, searching for what, she wasn't sure. She stilled when suddenly, breaking the silence of the night a lone howl could be heard in the distance. Frowning, she leaned out and looked up at the moon and saw that she wasn't mistaken, it wasn't full. Listening intently, she didn't hear another sound in the night except for the occasional vehicle slowly moving down the ice slick road in front of the motel.

Shrugging it all off to the fact that she tired and not used to her surroundings, she turned and went back into her room and closed and locked the door. She was taking a hot shower and then going to bed. End of discussion. Yawning, she went over to her bag and got her shower items and her night clothes and started her mission of the evening: RELAXING.

Waking up the next morning, she stretched out and groaned at the various pops, snaps and cracks that came from various joints and could help but smile to herself. She felt more relaxed right now, in this dingy motel, than she had in ages. She might ache everywhere, but the fact that she was alone with no one asking her a million and one questions and expecting something from her every time she turned around, made it all worth it. She would so recommend this to anyone who asked.

By the time she finally decided to get up and get dressed, it was well into the morning and she could see that the sun was shining brightly outside through the cracks of the curtains. She knew it would be even brighter once she got outside since the sun was going to be reflecting off the snow and was more than grateful that she had her sunglasses with her. Digging through her bag, she found her black jeans and a thick gray cable-knit sweater that pulled on over her black shirt. She also made sure to put on her heavy boots this time, knowing it was going to be cold and she'd have to walk through the slush and muck to get anywhere. Wrapping her scarf around her neck, she grabbed her purse, slipped on her sunglasses and headed out of the room.

Pulling on her gloves as she headed down the creaking stairs of the motel, she glanced up and saw that there was a large group of people standing over in the field across from the motel, gathered near a fence line. Cursing her Slayer curiosity, she stopped and put her purse in the truck, locked it up again and headed through the knee deep snow to where everyone was standing.

As she approached, she could hear the group whispering to each other, almost as if they feared to speak too loudly.

"I've never seen anything like this… look at that! It looks like it was ripped in half!" one of the younger men in the group said to a woman who looked as if she was going to throw up at any second.

Buffy trudged over and pushed her way through the crowd only to stop short when she caught sight of what had everyone so spooked.

It was a bull… she thought. She could see the horns tossed to one side, looking as if it were ripped from the skull of animal. Looking a little more, she could see what the guy was talking about. Intestines, blood, stomach… all of it was spread all over the pristine white snow, the crimson in a stark contrast the white canvas that it covered. The hind legs were about six feet away from the front, the spine severed and cracked where it appeared that the animal, had in fact, been ripped in half. And if that wasn't enough to really wig Buffy out… the long, deep claw marks all over the chest and hind quarters just added to overall scene of horror movie gore.

Something 'not normal' had been here. And it had been here after the snow had stopped falling. She couldn't help but wonder if it had been what she had felt last night… but that feeling had been something distant and not getting closer. This was close enough that it should have been blaring clown music and have a neon sign over it, yet she hadn't noticed anything. That disturbed her more than she was willing to admit to herself.

Walking around the carcass, she started looking for tracks to give her an indication of what had done this. However, everyone crowding around it had pretty much destroyed any hope of finding tracks. Glancing up, she started as shend locked eyes with the man that she had ran into the night before at the hotel. He was crouching down by the carcass, looking it over as well. He stood up and watched her closely. Slowly, he made his way over to where she stood, eyes never leaving her face. Finally, she couldn't take the silence anymore.

"What?"

He frowned. "What, what?"

She sighed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

She sighed again. "I dunno… like I have something on my face."

He allowed a small smile. "Sorry. I just can't help but be amazed that the two other women here look like they're going to spew at any moment and you… you look like you're about to pull out a sandwich and eat it while you observe all of this."

"Yeah, well…" she shrugged, "it's not like I've never seen animal entrails before."

He looked at her like she had two heads.

"Ummm… sorry! My family owned… uh… a butcher shop…?"

He frowned a little.

"Anyways… what do you think did this?"

He looked out away from the crowd, past the fence, towards the rolling hills. Frowning, he looked back at her and shrugged. "I don't know… wolf, maybe?"

Buffy looked away, rolling her eyes. A wolf… yeah. Right.

The guy looked at her and smiled towards her. "Look, I gotta go. I need to grab my brother from the hospital. I'll talk to you later, ok?"

She really liked his smile. It was honest, made you believe he actually meant it when he smiled at you.

"Sure. No problem. I'm staying another night anyways. Hope your brother's ok."

"Yeah… thanks. He is. He's always getting injured…" he chuckled. "I don't think he can go more than two or three weeks without something happening to him."

"Well, go get him and take it easy!" she said, refusing to acknowledge the pang of something she couldn't name when she realized she probably wouldn't see him again.

"I'm Sam, by the way." He introduced himself as he held out a hand to her.

She took it, noticing the strength and confidence in his grip. "I'm Buffy."

"Huh. Not a common name, that one."

He had no idea. She always silently wondered why her mother, Miss Master's Degree, had decided to name her daughter 'Buffy'. She should have known that it would be a name no one would take seriously.

"Yeah. So… I'll see you around, maybe?"

"Yeah.. maybe."

She smiled as he turned and left, heading for the motel parking lot. Sighing, she turned back and stared out across the field. She couldn't help the small shudder that shook her. She was more than discomfited.

What had happened here during the night?

TBC…