It didn't take long for the couple to come upon the fighters, both of them surprised to see that it was an unnaturally large wolf, fighting the bird they had seen moments ago; now that they could get a closer look, they realized that the bird's body was constantly shifting, parts of it becoming human before they were covered by feathers again or sprouted talons, the legs quite thin and spindly while the arms and upper body were, in stark contrast, bulky and muscular.

Of course, Willow realized, her mind as always supplying information, even in such strange situations, they'd need a strong chest and arms to fly… What the Hell is this thing?

Making sure to stay behind her partner, she raised her hands, ready to fire a spell the moment one of the creatures would start focusing on them; and the blink of an eye later, the huge wolf did just that, the spell dying on her lips though as her eyes met his and she saw the relief in them, realized how familiar they were.

Shrieking, the bird turned its head and glared at her, then at Pat; she had a moment to worry if maybe, it had been a mistake to not fire the spell at the wolf when the bird took off moments later and vanished into the sky – and then the wolf sat down and looked up at the demon and her, its tongue hanging out while it, to make the whole situation more absurd, started wagging its tail.

"…that's not your ex, is it", Pat finally broke the silence which had formed at the sight, almost making Willow giggle before she regained her self-control and shook her head, giving her an amused look afterwards.

"No", she then verbally declined as well, "werewolves don't look like actual wolves. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, of course", the demon gave back, eying the wolf warily and taking a step back when it rose to all fours again, "that just was the first thing which came to my mind…"

As if it was responding to her, the wolf let out a snort, almost sounding amused – before the bulky body started to change, the fur retreating until it became human skin, the rest of the body following suit, both Willow and Pat letting out unarticulated noises of surprise when they recognized the man the beast was changing into half a minute later.

"Derek!" Willow was the first one to call out his name, not even fully noticing that said man was naked as he came to his feet and looked at them with a happy smile, "what the… Oh my God, you're naked!"

"As always after they change", Pat commented dryly, already taking off her jacket and holding it out to the man, "dude, what are you doing here?"

"Came here to find you", Derek gave back, putting on the jacket, grimacing as blood dripped from deep gashes in his leg, caused by the talons of the bird, "the Pack needs your help…"

"Blunt as ever", the demon shook her head, making Willow smile slightly, "not even a hello, even though you're standing naked in the woods, wearing nothing but my jacket. In a forest filled with people, by the way, so we better get you out of here before anyone spots you and calls the police."

"Forgive me", Derek muttered in reply, at least having the decency to look slightly ashamed, even though both Willow and Pat knew him well enough to figure that he wasn't uncomfortable at all with his nakedness, "you know how we are. But you are right, of course, let's go…"

"The search", the witch realized in reply, giving her partner an uneasy look, "we can't just leave now, we said we'd help…"

"Search", Derek questioned before Pat could reply anything, "what search? Did a member of your pack… group… get lost?"

"No", the demon gave back, glancing around as she hoped no one would walk up to them now as they stood there talking to a mostly naked stranger instead of searching for Jimmy, "a boy, from town. He got lost in those woods."

"Oh", the young man gave back, now looking around as well, as if he was expecting to spot the kid any moment, "well, lucky for you, you got a wolf in your company now. You don't happen to have anything of his, right?"

"No", Willow was the one to answer that, "unfortunately not… And we can hardly go and ask the others, they'd probably think it's weird…"

"Well, I could try finding his scent without anything", Derek let them know, to their surprise, prompting them both to wonder how good his sense of smell actually was, "but it might be difficult with so many people around."

"Try it", Pat told him after thinking about this for a moment, "the faster we find him, the faster we can listen to your troubles and see what we can do about them."

Nodding, Derek took off her jacket and handed it back to her, then dropped down on all fours; curious, both the witch and the demon watched him closely, since this was the first time they saw him shift shape in full control, still remembering well how wild and untamed he had been when he had shifted in front of them for the first time, under the magical influence of a shard which had caused loss of control for several other shifters of his pack.

He let out a low grunt as fur sprouted from his skin; unlike when Pat transformed, the hair on his head didn't simply lengthen and turn into fur, but the fine hairs all over his body did so, his mouth and nose lengthening, then melding together to form a snout while his ears slid up on his head and became pointed, his grunting turning into low growls while his hands and feet turned into paws and a tail formed where his spine had started to lengthen.

The whole process took less than a minute, but still looked quite painful; and by the time Derek stopped growling, a large and shaggy black wolf stood in his place, looking up at the couple and wagging his tail.

"I get the feeling he wants a biscuit", Pat commented, to her amusement earning a low snort and a glare from the wolf; and then, he lowered his nose to the ground and sniffed audibly, giving the two just a moment to ask themselves if he'd catch the scent – before he started moving, glancing back at them impatiently when they didn't follow him at once.

"We're coming", Willow told him as they caught up to him; he let out a huff, then went on hurrying through the woods, keeping his nose to the ground, the witch and the demon close behind him, both of them hoping they wouldn't run into any other members of the search party, knowing that they would have a hard time explaining what was going on.

In the distance, they could hear said people calling out for the little boy tirelessly, all of them as eager to find him as the two of them were; luckily though, they all seemed to be quite a distance away, making sure no one would run into the three of them and see the newest members of their search party follow a large and shaggy wolf through the forest.

"Jimmy!" Willow now called out again as well, more for the other people to hear her than for the little boy to do so; next to her, Pat snorted when Derek flinched visibly in reply, then gave her an annoyed look, prompting her to shrug helplessly, a low huff coming from the wolf before he focused on his search again, sniffing audibly as he moved through the woods.

He kept doing so for a few more minutes, the couple following closely behind him, calling out for Jimmy every now and then; by now, the voices of the other search party members weren't audible anymore, making it clear how far away from them Derek had led them, something they might have been worried about if they didn't trust the shapeshifter, but after their adventure with his pack and him in the past, they had no such doubts, merely feeling glad that now, at least the danger of anyone seeing them and forcing them to explain was gone.

And then, Derek suddenly froze, sniffing loudly a few more times, then starting to growl in the back of his throat; worried, Willow and Pat exchanged a look, briefly wishing that he'd be capable of talk in his wolf form, then the demon moved up to him and went down on one knee next to him, keeping her voice low when she asked if he smelled something unpleasant.

"Vampire?" she went on after he had confirmed it with a low huff, the wolf shaking his head in response, prompting her to make another guess and ask him if he was smelling a demon, then.

"One who's not me", she added after a moment, earning yet another huff and an annoyed look which practically screamed "Seriously?"; curious now, she glanced up ahead, trying to see anything which might work as a demon's hideout, still keeping her voice low when she spoke up again.

"I can't see anything up ahead, but that doesn't mean much", she murmured, addressing her partner now, "so we better be—"

Before she could finish her sentence and tell her partner that they'd better be careful, a loud snapping noise echoed through the wood, briefly reminding her of a whip's sound; and then, a thick, dark green length of twine shot past her, a startled cry coming from Willow as it wrapped around her throat, then jerked her off her feet, pulling her towards the tree it had originated from with shocking strength and speed.

"What the…!" Pat cried out, startled, as her lover was pulled past her, struggling wildly against the vine holding her; and then, she regained her senses and, with a daring dive, shot forward and past the witch, grabbing the twine, gritting her teeth as she gave her best to tear it apart, pain flashing up in her palms as the rough material tore over the skin.

With a loud bark, Derek finally got over his shock as well and rushed forward, sharp teeth closing over the twine seconds later and biting it in two; choking and gasping for breath, the witch slumped to the ground, clutching at her throat while the vine fell off her, barely registering that her partner was by her side moments later and helped her sit up, still staring into the foliage all around them as she tried to figure out which tree the attack had originated from.

"What the Hell", she swore under her breath while she made sure Willow was okay, the redhead still coughing, but regaining some of her colour, "one can't even go into the woods here without some fucking demon attacking!"

"Language", Willow wheezed, rubbing her throat where the vine had left a bright red mark, "did you see where…?"

"No", the demon grumbled, still glaring at the various trees all around them, "it's really blending in well, I have no idea where it is…"

The whiplash sound came again before the smaller woman had a chance to reply, yet another vine aimed for her partner this time; thanks to her fast reflexes, Pat managed to jerk back before it could wrap around her, the pointy end of the vine leaving a bright red gash across her cheek as it connected, blood dripping from the wound moments later and prompting the demon to growl angrily, a similar sound coming from Derek moments later.

"Please tell me you won't go all blood-lusty on us now", Willow told him, relieved when he merely huffed again in reply, then directed their attention to one of the trees by staring intently at it; coming to her feet again, the black haired woman wished for weapons as she focused on said tree as well, not surprised when a face formed in the gnarly trunk, glaring at them from brightly green eyes.

"Dammit, I can't even burn it", she muttered, more to herself than to her companions, "I might set the whole forest on fire…"

"Indeed", Willow agreed, now coming to her feet again as well, "let me see if I can do anything about that thing…"

Her brow furrowed as she concentrated, trying to figure out how to hurt this strange demon without endangering Pat or Derek, and the forest all around them; before she could come up with something though, a small voice cried out from the very top of the tree, sounding so scared that it made her heart clench up. "Mommy? Daddy? Is that you?"

"Guess we know now what happened to little Jimmy", Pat commented next to her, making her nod; and then, the spell she could use came to her mind, and she quickly brought up her hands and mumbled the words under her breath, calling to her Goddess for her aid, the demon watching how brightly glowing white energy formed around her hands, then streamed from her fingers and towards the tree, engulfing it and making it twitch and tremble.

"Hecate, work thy will", the black haired woman heard her mumble, looking from her to the tree demon and back again, "make him be calm and still…"

The energy pulsed brighter around the tree for a few moments, a strangely sounding cry coming from it, as if someone was rubbing two pieces of wood against each other; and then the tree froze as the white glow sunk into it, the bright green glow in its eyes at first dimming, then vanishing.

"Alright", the redhead breathed, lowering her hands again, "I don't know how long this will hold, so we better get the kid out of there quick…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know", Pat sighed, already moving to the tree, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth and showing that her words weren't as serious as they might have sounded, "let the one with no depth perception climb the bigass tree demon, just because she's a demon."

"And strong, and not a wolf", Willow added, giggling; the demon took a moment to let the smirk show, then started climbing, the redhead and Derek watching from the base of the trunk, glad that they had found the little boy before any serious harm could've been done to him.