See previous part for Disclaimer, etc.



Chapter XII - A Willing Victim?



March 6, 1997

8:05 AM

A block from the Rosenberg Residence



Buffy had never given much thought to the phrase 'animals can smell fear'. She'd been a city girl all her life and the fiercest creature she'd encountered (pre-Slayer, of course) was her former neighbor's temperamental tabby cat that had chowed down on a pet canary Buffy had had when she was nine. Not very terror-inspiring. And how could you 'smell' fear anyway? Fear was an emotion, an intangible feeling often invoked but poorly described. You can't detect something abstract, no matter how sensitive the sniffer.

But that was wrong, Buffy knew now. Or partly wrong, anyway. 'The smell of fear' was merely the stench someone emits when they are afraid. Sort of a sickly sweet odor, caused by sweating without exertion. Perspiration created by that feeling of dread people called fear.

And the little mouse before her had fear rolling off her in waves. It was ... satisfying. Like she'd fulfilled some biological imperative to instill terror in those beings below her. Of which there were many.

The mouse, known sometimes as Willow, squeaked. "B-B-Buffy!?"

"Y-Y-Yes?" Buffy asked tauntingly.

Willow's eyes were like saucers as she swallowed convulsively. She tried to force a smile onto her face. "How's that h-hyena thing working out for ya?"

Buffy smirked menacingly at the girl, removing all traces of a grin from her face. "Super, Wills. Just great. I've really learned a lot. Want me to teach you a bit?" Showing that the question was rhetorical, Buffy continued without pause. "How about ... the relationship between predator ... and prey?"

Mmmm The scent was getting stronger. Willow's breathing was starting to get erratic as well.

"Oh, n-no, no, no. Y-You don't want t-to e-e-e-eat me. I'm, I'm not good for you! Look at me, I'm l-like skin and bones! All stringy and-and-and not tender. Ooh! I have eggs like, everyday, so I must be high in bad cholesterol-"

Buffy tuned her pathetic babbling out when she noticed Willow inching ever so slowly toward the sidewalk. A good, early morning chase would be nice, but this little bug wasn't worth the effort. Instead, Buffy stepped forward to grab her. When Willow saw this, she tried to make a break for it, but her effort was futile. Buffy shot her arm out and seized Willow by her forearm, squeezing tightly. "Relax, Willow," she said with a smile. "I'm not gonna make you into an entree. I've already eaten today," she announced casually with a shrug of her shoulders.

That did little to reassure the terrified girl she held at arm's length. She was wincing from the pressure being applied to her arm. "Oh, oh g-good." Her expression then changed to one of horror. "No, wait. Not good. Y-Y-You 'already ate'?"

Buffy ignored the pointless question and finished her statement. "I'm just going to kill you until you stay away from my Xander. But I figure it'll only take the one time."

If Willow's eyes were saucers before, they were full-sized dinner plates now. "K-k-kill me!?" Then she seemed to catch up to Buffy's reasoning. "Xander!? B-But I'm all right with you guys! See, 'OK Willow'?" There was a hint of desperation in her voice now. "I'm l-like totally over him. A-A-And Xander told me he d-didn't want me, cuz-cuz he loved you!"

For a moment, Buffy felt her heart jump slightly at Willow's words. Her grip loosened slightly on her arm and Willow tried to pull away from her. That was a mistake. Instinct came flooding back and convinced her that Willow was grasping at straws to avoid her wrath. Her completely justified wrath.

Buffy growled and roughly shoved Willow back against the fence, this time holding her there by the shoulders as she leaned into the girl. Willow seemed to bite back a scream, but her mouth fell open and her eyes closed in pain. The coppery smell of blood reached Buffy's nostrils, though she couldn't see where Willow was wounded. She fought back the bloodlustful urge to rip the injured girl apart right here and now. This wasn't just a random kill. Willow was a rival, weak though she was. This was a victory to be savored.

Buffy glared with narrowed eyes at her squirming captive. "You're a terrible liar, Willow. I know you still love him. You don't just turn that on and off like a light switch. I know you want to take him from me," she smiled unpleasantly. "It must just kill you that he won't give you the time of day while I've got a lifetime membership at 'Xander-land'." She finished her derision in a light tone.

Her gibes were having the desired affect on Willow. Her face fell visibly and her eyes started brimming over with tears, though whether it was from the taunts or the pressure Buffy was continually applying to her shoulders was up for grabs. Her body seemed to deflate in the Slayer's grasp. "Buffy, please," she almost whimpered.

Buffy smiled. She'd won. She'd ripped Willow's heart out and stomped it into the ground. Time to end this. She snaked her right hand toward Willow's neck and-

A new, familiar scent invaded Buffy's senses. One that brought out a different type of lustfulness in her. A scent she had memorized long before her present condition had enhanced her perceptions of her senses. Wrapping her hand tightly around Willow's neck to hold her in place, Buffy turned her head to witness the newcomer's approach. He ran into view right beside them as he cleared the fence and almost tripped over his feet at the scene he had come upon.

A seductive smile graced her face as she drawled out in a honey-laced voice, "Good morning, Xander."



I'm gonna need a tetanus shot Willow thought irrelevantly. Buffy was pushing her right onto that nail in the fence and it had to be buried a half an inch into her flesh just below her shoulder blade. It hurt, and the pain increased as Buffy suddenly grabbed her by the throat and squeezed.

Willow heard Buffy say something and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She felt her heart burst in relief when she recognized Xander. Xander's here! He'll save me! He'll ... get killed in the process. Run, Xander, run!

She tried to vocalize her thoughts but they came out as a rasp, as Buffy's iron grip on her throat made talking difficult. Breathing, as well. She was already starting to feel light-headed.

Willow stared wide-eyed at Xander as he stood there for a moment catching his breath. He must have run all the way here Willow thought with a strange mixture of happiness and guilt. He's going to get hurt cuz of me

What he did next surprised her and beat the remnants of her heart into the earth with a sledgehammer. He looked away from Willow and grinned lopsidedly at Buffy. "Morning Buff. And what are you up to this fine day?"

Willow was stunned. Xander was talking like he'd found his girlfriend eating a bagel. Not strangling his best friend. Then a terrible thought struck Willow. Is he...

He's possessed too! It all fit. He and Buffy had gone into the Hyena House together. Xander came out saying Buffy was possessed, then ran off to 'find' her. She hadn't heard from him since. Willow felt fresh tears coming to her eyes. She was doomed. Two of her best friends were going to kill her.

Buffy looked a little suspicious at Xander's lighthearted greeting. Nonchalantly, she shrugged. "Nothing much. Getting some fresh air, quick jog around the block, kill Willow. Same ol', same ol'."

Xander got an expression on his face that was partly amused and partly confused. "Her?" He asked incredulously, waving his hand at Willow. "Why?"

Buffy looked at him, a bit perturbed. "Why not? I'm just, y'know, throwing out the deadwood."

"Oh, I'm with you there, it's just..." he gestured with his hands, as though trying to make some non-existent point. "Well, Buffy the Vampire Slayer versus Willow the useless computer nerd? Hardly a contest." He waved his hand dismissively.

Willow hadn't thought the misery of the last few minutes could be topped but that statement proved her wrong. The tears streaked her face and she barely noticed that her breaths were coming ever shallower under Buffy's grasp...

Buffy sighed, aggravated. "That's not the point, Xand. She's trying to take you from me."

Xander laughed. A laugh of disbelief and maliciousness. "Willow!? Take me from you? What could she possibly offer that you don't have in spades?" He took a step closer to her. "Now let the mouse scurry back to her hole in the wall and you and I'll go do something a little more ... enjoyable." He smirked as he said the last in a gruff voice.

He reached up and traced her cheekbone gently with his finger. Willow felt the grip on her neck loosen a bit.

Buffy licked her lips and she glared intensely back up at Xander. "And just what did you have in mind?" she asked innocently.

Xander didn't answer, just pulled her roughly to him and descended on her lips, kissing Buffy savagely. An instant later, Buffy was returning it, just as fiercely. In the process, her hand left Willow's throat. She reflexively sucked in a long breath of oxygen she'd been in too much pain to realize she'd needed. She didn't care. Her eyes were stuck watching the decadent sight of Buffy and Xander mauling each others' mouths and groping one another. Willow felt her breakfast starting to come back up. She was witnessing her worst nightmare.

When the kissing duo finally broke apart, they stared at each other with desire-filled gazes. "So," Xander grinned lecherously at her. "What do you want to do now, Buffy?"

Her response was a frustrated and salacious growl as she gripped him tighter.

Xander leered at his girlfriend. "Thought so. What say we head on over to the 'Xander House of Love' and get down to some Barry White. 'Can't Get Enough' is responsible for most of the sex in the late 70s and 80s, y'know."

Willow noticed that Buffy's regular laugh was gone, replaced with a high-pitched, almost-yelping cry. It must have been an effect of the possession. But ... Xander was laughing normally. Well, normally in a mean way. What's going on here? She got her answer a moment later.

Xander wrapped his arm around Buffy's shoulder and started to guide her to the sidewalk. When he stood between his girlfriend and Willow, he shot his life-long friend a quick glance. A glance that was so full of pain and regret that Willow nearly gasped. Then she figured it out.

He was faking it! she thought with a great deal of relief. He couldn't physically stop Buffy from hurting me so he had to distract her Willow suddenly felt angry at being jerked around like that, but quickly shook it off. Better to be alive and able to be angry than dead and feeling nothing.

Her ping-ponging emotions then bounced back to fear, this time for Xander. He'd taken the heat off her, only to bring potential trouble to himself. And right now he was taking a sex-crazed Slayer home to ... He wouldn't, would he? No, Xander wouldn't take advantage of Buffy like that. But what if she doesn't stop and ... Help! I need to get help! Willow thought frantically as she slowly poked her head around the fence.

Buffy and Xander were a block and a half away. Xander seemed to be setting a slow pace for them. It occurred to her that he was trying to delay the inevitable so that she could call in the cavalry. Giles! He'll know what to do! And with that less-than-perfect plan, Willow started running in the opposite direction from her friends, toward the school and some much-needed back-up.



* * * * *



8:45 AM

Harris Residence



Xander's parents were gone. His mother must've run out of her kind of bread or something and decided to take one of her rare trips to the supermarket. And he'd seen his father driving out of the garage on his way to his latest menial job that he'd be fired from in a few weeks. Xander couldn't decide whether that was good or bad. On the plus side, his parents were now out of the line of Buffy's fire. On the bad side, he was now alone in a building with an extremely horny Slayer.

That's not a bad side an evil little voice in his head claimed. You know you want this

Oh, God this was a bad idea. Bad, bad, bad, bad! Resisting Buffy has never been one of my strong suits The idea had popped into his head while he'd been sprinting to Willow's place. He'd remembered the hyena's bull-headed single-mindedness. After a while, instinct had overridden his conscious thoughts. Getting Buffy's mind on a little mating fun would get it off hurting Willow.

But a feeling of dread had been seeping into his gut during the walk home. Walking as slowly as Buffy allowed them to,but not as slow as Xander wanted. He needed to kill some time to allow Giles and Willow and the others to get their acts in gear. Assuming that Willow had caught that last look of remorse he'd sent her. If she hadn't, then he was well and truly screwed. In more ways than one.

As soon as they walked in the door and confirmed that no one was home, his possessed girlfriend latched her lips onto his, kissing him so ferociously that his bottom lip split. The blood only seemed to send her into even more of a frenzy, much like a shark that detected blood in the water. A part of him wondered why her breath was so fresh the morning after she'd eaten raw flesh. Another part was wondering why the other part was focusing on that when he should be trying to keep this situation from getting out of hand.

It took every ounce of strength to push Buffy off him. A bit too much strength, as it turned out. She stumbled back and fell hard on the floor. Oops. And now she's going to kill me. Oh, joy Xander braced himself for an irate Slayer, but she didn't immediately jump up and proceed to throttle him. Instead, she just propped herself up with her forearms behind her back and let a sultry smile grow on her face. She stared up at him through a few errant strands of blond hair that had fallen in her eyes. Xander could not believe how sexy she made that pose look.

"Wanna play rough, huh?" Buffy asked teasingly. Before Xander could react, she was on her feet and pressed against him, kissing his daylights out again. Then she kicked his legs out from under him so that they landed on floor with a loud bang. With Buffy on top. "Two can play at that game," she said between fevered kisses.

Xander's reasoning and logic were starting to desert him. That sex-crazed little voice in his head was getting louder as the hormones coursed through his veins. Come on ... like Jordan says, just do it! You haven't gotten any since Anya left! Almost six months ago! And this is Buffy. Buffy. You've been wondering what she'd be like for ages. Here's your chance!

NO! Reason tried to reassert itself. If you do this, she'll never forgive you!

Of course she will! Horny Xander retorted. She'll be feeling so guilty over all the stuff she's done in the last twelve hours that you boinkin' her will seem like small potatoes

It'll-it'll screw things up between you and Buffy Logic was beginning to fade...

Time. He needed to play for time. Well, that was something he could do. He'd perfected the art of foreplay during his nearly two years with Anya. Their record was almost half an hour before they got down to it. That should be more than enough time for the gang to get to his place with some semblance of a plan. Also, it was a way to settle his little internal war for the time being. A compromise between 'hands off' and 'let's get it on tonight.'

Deftly, Xander grabbed Buffy's arms and rolled them over, pinning her arms above her head. As if she couldn't break free in a microsecond. But she just smirked at his controlling maneuver. Buffy's hair was tousled from his hand combing through it. Her face was flushed almost red and she was breathing hard and fast. And her eyes... Her eyes were feral with unleashed passion. If 'in heat' ever described a human being, it was Buffy right now.

I don't think she's going to give me thirty minutes. I'll be lucky to extend this five minutes before she rips my clothes off The fact that that was troubling him less and less as he thought about it was a dangerous sign.

"C'mon, Xand, Mr. 'tornado-in-the-sack'. Rock me like a hurricane," she dared him.

Control. Control. Stop thinking about how much you want to do that and focus!! Xander frenetically tried to get his libido in check. He managed to get them standing upright, much to Buffy's dismay. He pulled her into another deep kiss. Kissing is good, it's OK. Even if she's trying to suck my tongue down her throat Which she was.

Locked in their embrace, Xander started shuffling them toward the living room and its couch. For whatever reason, his pheromone-soaked brain thought that was a better place for ... whatever he'd been thinking about a second ago. He had honestly forgotten. He was reminded when Buffy simplified their relocation by jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. It also gave her more leverage to make her kissing and lip-sucking more insistent. Oh, yeah. Seduce Buffy, but not too much

Good luck with that that annoying pro-sex voice in his head said sarcastically.

Trying to keep your balance while light-headed and having a girl clinging to you is not easy. Xander wobbled and lurched around the living room until he bumped into the end table right beside the chesterfield, knocking over a ratty lamp perched there. Muttering a curse into his girlfriend's mouth, still firmly attached to his, Xander fell onto the couch, Buffy-first, crushing her between himself and the old, beer-stained cushions. Neither noticed or cared if there was any stench there today. They were too wrapped up in themselves. Literally.

Buffy had had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck during their little trip. Now, freed of the need to hold onto him, her hands were heading south, to dangerous territory. There was no way he could deny he was excited. The proof was poking her in the stomach. A wave of panic arose in him when she felt her small hands trying to separate them in the pelvic region, so that she could get at his zipper.

"Whoa! Buff! Goin' right to main course, huh?" It amazed him that his mind was still capable of sex metaphors. He reached down to secure her wrists with his own hands.

In a voice totally devoid of teasing and through clenched teeth, she growled out between panting breaths, "Now, Xander. I ... want ... you ... NOW!"

Trying to keep his cool in the face of Buffy's almost overwhelming desire, Xander shook his head slowly. "Tsk, tsk, Buffy. I have some pre-game festivities planned before the main event." He leaned down to kiss and nibble at her neck.

Xander tried everything he could think of to prolong the 'festivities'. Slowly nipping at one side of her neck, then kissing his way across her face to repeat on the other side. A little nibble at her earlobe every now and then. Rubbing his hands up and down Buffy's body, fighting off the urge to do a little fondling in her chest area. That was a bit further than he thought she would want to go. At least in her right mind. Right now, he could probably do anything he wanted to her and she'd cheer him on...

Stop it! You're not doing it so don't think it! Think about baseball. Yeah, baseball. Pitching ... catching ... hey! I think the Dodgers still have Piazza now. Wonder if I can stop them from trading him?

His distracting thoughts were broken off when Buffy let out a pent-up moan and took matters into her own hands. Unhooking her legs from around his waist, she flipped Xander off her so that he landed on his back next to the couch. Then she rolled herself off the sofa and back onto Xander, in control once again. She positioned herself so that she was straddling his thighs. She growled/groaned at the contact between their clothing-covered sexes. He felt his pulse start to race even faster at the pleasure he was bringing her.

"Xander," Buffy started breathlessly. "What part of 'NOW' didn't you understand?" Suddenly, she grabbed two handfuls of his sweater and with a mighty tug, ripped it in half straight down the middle. Quickly disposing of the shredded remnants, she ran her hands down his bare chest, her breaths coming even quicker now. A solid month of training and conditioning exercises had started to chisel out his junk-food softened body. He could tell that Buffy appreciated it.

Xander expected Buffy to go to his jeans next and was trying to summon up some last reserves of resistance. However, her hands instead slid up her own thighs and started toying with the hem of her shirt, the same tight black shirt she'd been wearing the night before. His surprise must have shown on his face, as she explained. "Tit for tat."

"Interesting choice of words," Xander found himself saying.

Where did that come from? he wondered. That's it. Game over. Buffy's not wearing a bra and when that shirt comes off, we're not going anywhere for the rest of the day. It won't be so bad. I mean, she's possessed, so what? It'll-

POP!

The sound of compressed air being explosively released broke through his haze. Neither he nor Buffy had heard the front door quietly open. It might have had something to do with the blood pounding in their ears. And they were too engrossed in themselves to see Oz come in, aim a tranquilizer gun at Buffy and fire.

Buffy emitted a sharp shriek as the dart struck her in the back. She snapped her head around and snarled at Oz before jumping to her feet to attack him. Fortunately for the musician, the dart's effects started to kick in before she was halfway across the room, and the Slayer didn't make it before slumping to the ground into unconsciousness.

Breathing a long sigh of relief, Xander thanked every God he knew (except for the Hellgods, naturally) that he'd convinced Giles to invest in a tranquilizer gun for their slaying work. Far too many of the threats they would face resided in the gray area of the bad-guy spectrum, and he hadn't bought one until Oz's lycanthropy had made it necessary. Xander almost laughed at that. How ironic that Oz was the one behind the gun now-

POP!

"OW!!" Xander cried as something hit his bare chest. His eyes snapped open to see Oz lowering the tranq gun again and a feathered dart sticking out of his chest. His eyes wide with surprise, he stared at Oz until his eyes started to feel heavy.

"Sorry," Oz shrugged. "Finger slipped."

As he drifted off into unconsciousness, Xander realized he had been right before.

This was a bad, bad, bad, bad idea



End XII