Chapter 4: Avoiding

When Kennedy woke up, she felt better than she had in a long time. He mind was clear and optimistic, filled with happy thoughts, her body was not too sluggish but not over-infused with energy either. She blinked and stood up, realizing that the room was lit up with the same light as she imagined was outside: dawn. She saw Chris, up oddly early, poking and prodding a ball of energy in the corner, from which the light was radiating.

She turned around when she heard Kennedy approaching. "Seems Will gave us a little gift," she mused, feeling the comforting warmth of the light. "Sleep well?"

"Yeh… I feel really good, but last night is a bit fuzzy in places."

Chris looked at her sadly. "You had another fit."

"oh."

They were silent and awkward as Kennedy scorned herself for probably causing Chris a load of trouble. "How…"

"The Justice League turned up, Willow calmed you down."

"…I guess I should thank her. At school."

Chris smiled at Kennedy in a 'you're-so-confused' way. She knew that Kennedy, since the prom, had not kept anyone by her close, and was starting to realize that if she stayed here for a while, they'd end up making friends- which was actually an alien concept to Kennedy anyway, since she hadn't been a very sociable child either. But Chris was glad that she could find a way to get the girl into a world that had any semblance of normality. Then again, a familiar anger bubbled up within her, but she subdued it, remembering that they had both ha a rough night.

Maybe everything would look better in the light of day.

"C'mon," Chris said, hoisting her rucksack onto her shoulder and unlocking the padlock that kept the trapdoor closed. She heard a low growling noise from behind and turned quickly to see what was wrong, only to lay eyes upon Kennedy blushing slightly and holding her stomach. "Breakfast?"

"Would be appreciated…" was the reply and Kennedy gave her an apologetic look. They scrambled out of the trapdoor and into the darkened corridors of UC Sunnydale.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Thanks for c-coming all the way h-here just to walk m-m-me to school…" Tara quietly thanked, her long blonde hair falling in curtains around her face as she dared not look at the charismatic redhead that was walking beside her. So many things about her fascinated Tara: the fact that she always smiled, her confidence- what a change from the dorky and quiet Willow that Tara had occasionally come across at high school- she had really come into herself. Tara sighed, thinking that perhaps she never would.

"Honestly, it's no problemo- and I wanted to talk to you anyways," Willow explained, smiling at Tara, who reminded her of herself a few years ago; she really wanted to help her come out of her shell so much.

"W-what about?" The blonde asked chancing a quick glace to her right. She was astounded at how the morning light shone through Willow's vermillion hair so beautifully- a quick glance turned into a look, which became a stare.

"I know I have bed hair, but is it that bad?" She asked, meeting Tara's eyes. She squeaked and turned away.

"N-nn-nnn-n-no! Your h-hair is v-vv-very nice!" She cursed herself for staring. How Willow would think she was weird and she'd never have any friends-

A warm hand rested on her shoulder. "Thanks," She turned cautiously to see a wonderfully kooky smile- something she'd caused. Suddenly Tara felt okay.

"You're w-welcome… And, um," she breathed in, steeling herself to say what she had wanted to since the attack. "Thank you, also… for y-yesterday. I was s-so scared… I knew about vampires and s-stuff, but it attacked me d-during the d-dd-day! I really, r-really didn't know they c-could do that…" she looked to Willow looking into the sky with a faraway look in her eyes. "Oh…"

"What?" she asked, turning her sparkling eyes back to Tara. "Go on- I was listening, you know. I babble too, my friends are used to trying to pick out the important bits," she chuckled and resumed staring into the sky, a which point there was a silence. After a while, Willow spoke up again.

"It's just like- my life has been crazy- amazing crazy, but still crazy, since I got involved with Buffy and the whole Vampire-Slaying deal. People have died… But it was like we only had to do it after school, after our normal lives ended, we could slip back into 'Scooby Gang' mode, and the next morning, we'd be high schoolers again. I just don't think I'm ready to give myself completely to that life, but with day-walking vampires, it makes attack at any point likely…" she shook her head. "And now other people are getting involved thick and fast… people close to home."

Tara didn't know what to say. She hadn't known Willow longer than a day and the girl was already spilling all her innermost fears.

"But enough of that! I wanted to ask you something. It's kind of personal though," Tara stiffened. How could Willow tell? What had she heard? Did people gossip about Tara? Was it well known all around school?

"Um, go on…" Tara said, bracing herself.

"You seemed different from the rest of the girls at Wicca group, when I went last night. I mean, I went to make sure you were okay, but while they were talking about bakesales and stuff, you wanted to get serious about it."

Tara blew a sigh of relief, and felt something great bubble up inside her. This was her area of expertise- where she shined. She had no stutter as she talked this time.

"I've been practicing since… well, ever. My mom was, too. I mean, I don't have much success, but… I try. I really believe in it… I feel like, more like myself when I'm doing it… but it has to be secret. People would freak. My family might come and try and take me back home… I…"

"Shh." Willow smiled. "I'm glad I've found someone who's into Witchcraft. I'd love to learn how to do more than just float a pencil."

"Um, if you w-wanted…" Tara cursed as her nervousness returned, but breathed in and continued. "I'm moving into a dorm later this week. Maybe once I'm in, we could, m-meet up and try something?"

That smile again. It was truly beautiful, heart-warming, even. "That sounds great." Willow glanced at the entrance gates. "Wow, time passes quickly when you're having fun, huh?"

"Fun?" Tara asked, astounded. She was fun? No-one had even bothered to compliment her, or even hang out with her, since she'd come to UC Sunnydale. And here was this funny, beautiful girl who shared her interests and was willing to talk and even meet up with her. Fate had finally thrown her a rope.

Willow made an odd face. "Of course! You're great to hang out with. Full of interesting things to say."

Tara was interesting. Tara was great to hang out with. Willow's words washed over her, and for the first time in a while, a smile crept onto her face.

"You should put your hair back. Then more people can see you smile."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Buffy groaned as she saw the big, red D on her essay. She had spent ages trying to get it right, and now Professor Walsh gave her a big, fat D for Delinquent. She felt a shadow come over her desk. She looked up to see Riley Finn, the TA, leaning over her desk and looking sadly at her paper.

"Ouch," He said, peering down at her paper. "Must suck- I saw you at the library like, every day doing that."

"Yeh, well…"

His eyebrows rose. "No witty, sarcastic comment? The grapevine informs me you're quite famous for them,"

"It's just… I studied hard for this paper, and though I'm not the sparkiest match in the box, I tried, y'know?"

Riley looked thoughtful. "If you like, we could meet up and I could go through this with you- see what's stopping Prof Walsh from giving you the A you worked for."

"Like a tutor thing?" Buffy asked, stopping herself from giving Riley a once-over. She hadn't noticed just how attractive he was before. "Um… yeh, I guess."

"great." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Then see me after class and we can arrange some times." Professor Walsh's shrill voice, telling people to take their seats and listen in caught his attention and he gave her a brief smile before returning to the front.

The door banged open and Willow stumbled in, breath ragged and face bright red. "I'm really, really, really sorry I'm late, Professor Walsh!" she squeaked, as the whole class trained their eyes on her, and a little bit of pre-college shyness shone through.

Walsh's eyebrows rose. "Miss Rosenburg- it's rare to see you late to my class. I will offer you a pardon if you could please explain the reason for this lateness?"

Willow shifted from foot to foot. She had been so occupied with talking to Tara about some intricacies of a seeking ritual that she had failed to perform many times that she had completely forgotten the time. She was about to open her mouth to spout a big, babbling lie, but the narrow eyes of Professor Walsh seemed able to sear right into her soul, and presumably sniff out a lie even before it was told. "Um," she said, eyes trained on the floor. "I got talking to someone and lost track of time. I'm sorry, Professor, it'll never happen again."

Walsh eyed her for a brief second, before confirming the integrity of her half-truth and motioning for Willow to sit down. Relived, she walked up to her seat next to Buffy and pulled out her folder, prepping herself to take notes.

As Walsh explained the structure of the essay she wanted them to write, Buffy twiddled her pen around her fingers, not taking her eyes of where Riley was standing behind professor Walsh. Willow noticed her friend's disconnection and nudged her slightly.

"What are you doing?" she whispered behind her folder.

"The TA, hopefully," Buffy answered absentmindedly. Willow's mouth dropped open, promptly causing Buffy to realize what she had just said. "Ah! Er… I mean… just daydreaming."

Willow grinned evilly and crossed her arms. "At this stage I would be worried about what this daydream concerns and whether you or Mr. Finn are fully clothed in it…"

A pinkish blush crept into Buffy's cheeks.

And then everything happened very quickly.

The double doors to the room flew open with a great, echoing bang, and in strode Kennedy, bag carelessly slung over her shoulder and hair slightly mussed. Before anything else could happen, however, Riley shouted an indeterminable word and flung himself at her, pushing her down onto the hard floor.

"Get the fuck off me!" she shouted, kneeing him where it hurt most and jumping up. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, you perv! In case you didn't get the memo, I don't play for your team." She paused for a moment. "Who the fuck are you anyway?"

"Excuse me!" Professor Walsh shouted over the loud hubbub, stepping out from behind her desk. "You!" She pointed at Kennedy. "There will be no foul language in my classroom! And Riley, what on earth possessed you to do that?" She glared particularly hard at the TA. Willow didn't miss the look that passed between them, and she sensed something deeper.

Subconsciously, she let out probing tendrils of consciousness to find out what was going on. Gasping as they shot out without inhibition, Willow felt everything in the campus- she felt overpowering emotions- sadness at a bad test score, elation at being elected class president- along with the most intoxicating sensation of all: magic.

"Holy Shit!" she uncharacteristically screamed at the wave. It crashed down upon her poor, untrained senses- it was like everything good that can happen to a person clashed relentlessly with pure, undiluted evil, all within her body. It tore at her mind, suffusing her tingling limbs with a force that felt like it would burst out and leave her a pile of bones and flesh on the floor. Her head swum with spots of every colour she knew- and some she didn't. Her normal vision was suddenly taken over by technicolour forms that radiated energy. Pupils dilating so much that her eyes were taken over with blackness, Willow's weak magical barriers broke down and she was enveloped by the hellmouth.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Willow awoke to the soft hum of an air-conditioning unit and the smell of antiseptic. A sniff sheet covered up to her neck, but she was fully clothed except for her jumper underneath. Opening her eyes, she found soft brown ones looking at her from her bedside.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Kennedy greeted, face lifting into a smile. "You should know that napping during schooltime isn't allowed."

Willow groggily sat up, wondering what had happened- then she remembered the magic. Just thinking about the feeling made her dizzy, and she fell back onto her pillow with a groan.

"Steady there, cowgirl. You're not in tip-top shape at the moment- incorrectly diagnosed as anemia by the school nurse, of course. Crazy lesson, huh?" She twirled a lock of her caramel hair around her finger.

"Eh…" everything came back to Willow. "What exactly happened?"

Kennedy's mouth again curled into her signature devilishly sexy smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Willow growled a bit. "Stop teasing. Is everyone okay?"

"Well… that TA may not be able to have sex ever again, but I don't care. As for what happened…"

"Holy Shit!" Willow screamed from her desk, shooting up and stumbling into the aisle. Kennedy turned from where she was rearing to have another go at Riley's privates to see the redhead, eyes obsidian, crunch hard onto the floor and roll haphazardly down the stairs and land in a motionless heap at the bottom. Abandoning her previous plans, she began to run over to her, but a surprisingly firm hand rooted her in place via her shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere near her," Professor Walsh growled, agitated by the mayhem in her class. "Go and stand outside while I sort this out!"

cocking and eyebrow, Kennedy twirled around t face her. "You couldn't sort out a flea circus, Professor Walsh. I have all the rights of any other human being to help my friend. I am perfectly capable of carrying her to the nurse's office and explaining what happened."

"You will do no such thing, young woman!"

Kennedy snorted. "Fine then. But I have 30 people in this room who are witness to me being assaulted by your TA."

Walsh gave her a calculated look. Her cold eyes pierced Kennedy's equally focused ones, but unlike all of her other students, this girl didn't buckle. Her eyes just twinkled brighter and her lips tugged into a half-smile. "Your choice, Maggie."

Kennedy felt the class behind her take in a collective breath as they stared it out. "Fine." Walsh gave up, defeated. She turned away and motioned for Riley to follow her into the small adjacent office at the back.

Smirking in triumph, Kennedy strode over to Willow, drinking in the magic that was exuding from her body. And she picked her up, a tingle ran through her arms and she moaned a bit. This was how everything was supposed to feel. Not just the numb and the cold and the cheap high of nicotine. This was it.

With Willow's limp form over her shoulder, Kennedy walked out amidst cheers from her fellow students, feeling like herself from three years ago.

"You're a real idiot, you know," Willow commented after Kennedy's story ended. "Walsh will be out for your blood."

The brunette shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care. There are always other classes. And if I gets too bad- I'll just leave." She stated.

"Don't."

"Excuse me?" Kennedy asked, surprised. "And here was I thinking you wanted me out of here as soon as possible…"

"Shut up. I just think… I dunno. We need all the help we can get at the moment. With day-walking vampires and all… I have a feeling life will never be the same again."

Kennedy felt a guilty wriggle in her stomach. Willow looked sad, and the brunette was a sucker for sad. She reached out a hand and cupped Willow's cheek reassuringly. Desires re-surfaced and she found herself aching for a kiss. Though she felt the girl trembling under her touch, she liked this too much. Liked the exhilaration of control and touch, things that made her feel alive again. Slowly exhaling and inhaling, she breathed in Willow's scent, letting her eyelids flutter dangerously close to closed. Her body ached for sex, a problem of her own making- sex made Kennedy feel good. For a while, anyway. Afterwards, she felt satisfied but hollow. As she'd watch that other girl sleep soundly, with her lips twitching into a smile, she felt horrible: like a monster. A sheep in wolf's clothing. Sometimes it got too much to bear, and she'd go find Chris and cry into her shoulder for an hour.

Emotions annoyed Kennedy sometimes. She pushed them from her mind and concentrated on feeling. Expertly trailing a finger lightly over Willow's creamy cheek, she leaned in for the kill, breathing in her minty breath- like polos.

"Ah!" the curtain pulled open and a girl gave a quiet shout, pulling it back almost immediately. Kennedy hurriedly yanked herself off Willow and stood up, hoping she didn't look too guilty.

"Come back," She said, calming herself. The girl inched into the cubicle tentatively, and Kennedy took a good look at her. It was the girl from the day before, Kara? Lara? The one she had sworn to get?

"Um… h-hh-hi… was I, um, interrupting a-anything?" She stammered, letting her hair fall over her eyes in nervous habit. Kennedy noted the strong aura of magic that she had tried to hide around her, but to a seasoned professional, she was practically wearing a pointy hat and carrying a broomstick. Looking back at Willow, who had miraculously fallen asleep or fainted or something, Kennedy decided she could play around a little.

"That's a nice little cloaking spell, witch. How long did that take you?" she cockily asked, arms folded. Probing into her consciousness slightly, not enough to alert her, Kennedy pulled out two surface thoughts- one of a paper with 'Tara Maclay, A*' written on it, with a sense of pride, and another of a certain redhead with the rising sun at her back, sending rays of sunlight shimmering through her beautiful vibrant hair…

"Oh, I'm pissed now." Tara was thinking about Willow. The snarl of Kennedy's lips was enough to enlighten Tara with the fact that she had done something wrong. She backed away slightly, but suddenly it was as if her mind had been clamped by a cold hand that was trying to worm its fingers into her brain. Kennedy furiously probed deeper into her memories, pulling the conversation from this morning up involuntarily. She absorbed the whole thing and gave a grunt and annoyance.

"Tara Maclay," she stated, voice weighed. "I don't give a shit who you are. I don't care if you have magic and I don't care if you're really good at History. I don't even care…" she trailed off and smirked slightly, "that you're a lesbian."

"How d-do you k-kk-know th-that?" Tara asked, freaked at the crazy brunette whose eyes swirled maliciously. "I- I just came to s-see if W-W-Willow was okay… I'm sorry… I'll l-leave…"

"Oh no," Kennedy said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her to face-to-face. "You're not going anywhere till you promise me something."

"Whu-What?"

"Promise me that you won't go near her again."

Tara's brow furrowed. "Why? It's n-not like I'm doing anything b-bb-bad, we're just acquaintances-"

She broke off with a muffled scream as Kennedy lunged at her and took her by the scruff of her neck, fangs bared and eyes flashing. "You won't go near her again. Say it."

Kennedy was a vampire.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Well, there it is, if you hadn't already guessed it. Read and review! Sorry for the late update!