Author's Note: Happy Easter everyone! Here we go with yet another fic – time to give a certain demon some backstory, so I hope you'll enjoy it :)
Disclaimer: None of the characters of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer used in this are mine.
Through the Shadows
"And then, I hit her really hard, like, one, two, bamm bamm straight in the face!" the young vampire, only just sired a few weeks ago, proudly told his small audience of three, vampires like him, "you should have seen me, I was on a total roll!"
"So did you kill her?" the only female in his audience wanted to know, looking at him with something akin to worship in her yellow eyes, "and drink her dry? I heard Slayers taste supergood…"
"You bet I did", the guy gave back, nodding proudly, "you should have been there, I would have let you taste her."
"What did it taste like?" one of the guys wanted to know, "was it really different to normal blood? Was it sweeter or something?"
"I'd like to know that, too", a second female voice came up behind the storyteller before he could give an answer, and he turned around, startled, just in time to see the fist come flying at him, hitting him right in the jaw hard enough to send him tumbling off the gravestone he had been perching on while he had been telling his little tale.
"Because I hardly ever taste my own blood", the petite blonde who had punched him went on, smiling sweetly at him while seemingly out of nowhere, a stake appeared in her right hand, "and I like the thought of it being special."
"You lied to us!" the girl cried out as she hurriedly got to her feet with her two vampiric companions, "you bastard! Come on guys, let's get outta here!"
She turned away from the Slayer to do just that, just in time to get the crossbow bolt right into her chest; her eyes went wide as she glanced down on it, hearing her two male buddies gasp before the fact that her heart had been hit was registered and she turned into a pile of dust, prompting the two other vampires to take a step back as their gaze fell on the woman who had shot, a sardonic smirk on her face as she lowered the crossbow.
"Good shot, Pat", Buffy complimented her, punching the vampire who had been telling exaggerated stories about her demise yet again when he tried to get up, then staking him quickly and efficiently while the demon was already loading the crossbow again, prompting the two remaining vampires to glance from the blonde at her and back to the Slayer nervously.
"Look", the taller one then said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, "we didn't believe him anyway. And, uh, if you could just let us go, uh, I suppose we could start living off pig's blood or something, I mean, we just got turned a few weeks ago, it'd suck if we got killed now…"
"Yeah, it'd suck", Pat agreed amiably – before she pulled the trigger yet again and shot him in the chest, as well, causing his smaller companion to let out a startled gasp, any other noises he might have been planning to make cut off by the stake Buffy rammed into his heart through his back.
"What a bunch of losers", Buffy shook her head, dusting off the stake before she tucked it back into her belt, "vampires aren't what they used to be anymore."
"Or we just got that good by now", the taller woman confidently smirked, making her friend giggle slightly as she nodded; the two exchanged another smile, then Pat slung the crossbow over her shoulder so it dangled down her back, nodding when Buffy asked her if she wanted to make another round through the cemetery.
"Just to make sure we didn't miss any of those wussy vampires", she then added, making the blonde giggle yet again; she still took the time to light up a cigarette, then got moving with Buffy again, the two chatting amiably as they walked side by side, knowing that, if any vampires would hear them, they'd most likely come rushing by to attack and would make getting rid of them much easier.
"So", Buffy wanted to know after rather mindless small-talk for a while, "Willow's approaching her first PhD. How's she doing?"
"Quite fine", Pat let her know, the blonde holding back the urge to giggle at the slightly dreamy smile which had appeared on the taller woman's face after the mere mentioning of her girlfriend's name, "she has her moments of freaking out, of course, but her dissertation is really going well, even though I'm not sure I understand what it's about whenever she reads some of it to me. Or when I check for spelling errors."
"As if she'd ever make any", Buffy giggled, prompting the demon to nod; she just opened her mouth to say something in reply when movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, a frown creasing her brow when she glanced over and spotted nothing out of the ordinary.
"What is it?" Buffy claimed to know next to her, a hint of alarm in her voice – by now, she knew the taller woman well enough to be aware of the fact that sometimes, her senses and instincts worked much better than those of a human, honed to incredible sharpness by centuries of being an assassin.
"…nothing", the black haired woman told her after a moment, "just thought I'd seen something. Must have been a shadow or something."
"Let's hope you're right", Buffy mumbled in reply, glancing around, "because in Sunnydale, 'a shadow or something' often turns out to be something deadly."
"I'm sure it was nothing", Pat reassured her, a bit surprised by this worried reaction, "probably just the leaves of the tree over there moving in the breeze. And, I believe I hear a vampire up ahead."
This was enough to distract Buffy from her worries as she listened closely, quickly realizing that the demon was right; she nodded and raised one finger to her lips, signalling at her to keep quiet, then both of them started to sneak towards the direction the noises were coming from, the fight which erupted with said vampire just a minute later successfully pushing the Slayer's concerns out of her mind.
When Pat came home shortly after two o'clock in the morning, she was expecting to find Willow fast asleep, already prepared to move as quietly as possible so she wouldn't end up waking her partner; instead, she found Willow on the couch, hunched over her laptop, a look of fierce concentration on her face as she was typing with that speed which always stunned her girlfriend, clearly not even having noticed her entering.
Not sure if she should say something or not, since she didn't want to startle her, Pat just stood there for a while and watched her, still unnoticed; and she used that time well, taking in the small crease which always formed between the redhead's eyes whenever she thought so hard, the way she'd absent-mindedly reach for a by now surely lukewarm can of soda next to her every now and then and took a drink from it, only to lick her lips afterwards, the mere sight being enough to fire the demon up after a night of slaying.
Figuring that there was one way which would gain Willow's attention without startling her, the demon lit up a cigarette, then just smoked in silence and kept smoking; and just as expected, it didn't take long until the redhead sniffed audibly, then looked up with her frown deepening, only to smile the second her gaze met her partner's.
"You're back", she then stated the obvious, forgetting her laptop immediately as she came to her feet and moved to embrace the taller woman, her smile widening when immediately, the hug was returned, albeit one-armed, "how long have you been standing there?"
"Quite some time", Pat teased her in reply, then bent down to kiss her tenderly, the kiss soon turning quite heated though, making it obvious to Willow that the patrol had been rather successful.
"That's the way I like to be greeted", the witch mumbled after they had pulled apart again, a shiver running up and down her spine when she felt the demon's hands slide beneath her oversized, comfortable shirt and come to a tender rest on her bare back.
"I should hope so", Pat smirked, "it'd worry me if that was any different. But actually, I was expecting you to be asleep by now."
"I guess I should be", Willow sighed, glancing at the clock guiltily, "but, well, the work on my thesis was going so well, and I kinda lost track of time."
"No surprise there", the demon gave back, her fingers now tenderly caressing the smaller woman's back and making her shiver yet again, "but I know just how to make you tired."
"You do?" Willow feigned ignorance, unable to hold back a smile though, "and just how would you accomplish that?"
In response, Pat made her squeal by moving her hands downwards with surprising speed, then picked her up, prompting her to wrap her legs around the taller woman's waist out of pure reflex; she had a moment to wonder if it wouldn't be smarter to switch off the laptop first, then she was already carried to the bedroom, those thoughts soon forgotten as the demon lowered her on the bed and kissed her yet again, not even trying to hold back her obvious lust and passion anymore.
"Wow", Willow sighed out quite some time later, a blissful smile on her face as she snuggled up to the taller woman, said smile widening when she immediately was taken into a tender embrace, one of the demon's hands moving up to caress her hair afterwards, "slaying really must have gone well."
"Oh, it did", Pat gave back at once, shifting slightly on the pillow to get into a more comfortable position, pulling the witch closer again once she had accomplished that, "we actually managed to sneak up on a vampire telling an interesting tale about how he bested Buffy and drank her blood. It was really quite hilarious."
"I can imagine", Willow giggled, shaking her head, "and they had no idea you were there and listening to his little tale?"
"Not until Buffy punched the lying sack of shit", the demon smirked, rolling her good eye when at once, Willow reprimanded her with the usual "language"; the redhead briefly smiled at her, then propped herself up one elbow so she could bend over her and kiss her tenderly, a content sigh escaping her when immediately, she felt one of the taller woman's hands move to her neck and caress the sensitive skin there tenderly.
"Be careful", she mumbled after pulling back from the kiss, still hovering over her partner, "or you'll get me all worked up again."
"And that would be a bad thing why?" the demon wanted to know, managing to sound endearingly innocent; at a loss for words, all Willow could do was shrug, not really able to come up with an answer.
With her smirk widening slightly, Pat pulled her closer to herself yet again, kissing her deeply moments later; giving in to the lust which welled up within her again as she felt the taller woman's hand slide down her back, the redhead once more allowed herself to forget everything around her as she focused on her partner, glad that she could sleep in the next morning and that no alarm clock would tear her out of her slumber.