"Okay, so I'm not sure if this will work", Willow admitted many hours later, looking from her partner to her best friend, "I've never done this variant of the locator spell before, but I read up on it before we left, and I hope I got it right."
"There's the spot you wanted", Buffy pointed out in reply, gesturing at the place where they had found the dead man the previous night, "and there still seems to be some blood around. How is this working again?"
"Well, you told me that his, um, mate was there with them", Willow informed her in reply, "and that shapeshifter at our place was talking about some kind of bond, which they apparently form with their partners, so I'll try to find the location of his mate through his blood. It's kind of a long shot, but worth a try, especially since we don't have anything else I could use for the spell."
"It won't be dangerous for you, right?" Pat wanted to know, something she had asked before, but clearly needed to hear the answer again; smiling up at her as she by now was crouching on the ground, the redhead reassured her that it wasn't, then ripped off several of the blades of grass on which the unfortunate Harrison's blood had dried.
"This should be enough", she decided after ripping out several more of them, giving them to her partner to hold before she opened the bag she had brought along and got out a small, earthen bowl, a plastic bag with the herbs she'd need for the spell following, the witch looking up at her girlfriend once she had gotten everything she needed out of the bag.
"I'll need some fire after I threw in the grass", she explained, "could you…?"
"Yes, of course", Pat reassured her at once, smiling at her, wondering why she even had to ask; the redhead returned the smile, then took in a deep breath before she asked the other two women to be quiet now, adding the information that an interruption of the spell might have dreadful consequences.
She waited until they both had nodded their agreement, then closed her eyes as she focused, breathing slowly and deeply to accomplish the calmness she'd need for the spell; it didn't take long until she felt ready and opened her eyes again, beginning the chant as she added the ingredients to the bowl, the demon watching her in silence, waiting for her to throw the grass into it so it'd be her cue to add the flames.
The moment Willow threw the blades of grass she had collected into the bowl, Pat did just that, flickering a tiny ball of fire towards the bowl; it landed right in the middle of the small heap of ingredients, and with an audible whoomp, they vanished away into nothingness, all eyes focusing on the map Buffy had spread on the ground next to the bowl, their faces falling in unison when nothing happened.
"So much for that theory", the witch then mumbled, now sounding disappointed, "I wasn't sure it would work, but I was hoping for it…"
"We'll figure out another way to find them, then", Buffy reassured her, having heard the disappointment in her voice as well, "no worries, and it was worth a try."
"Indeed", Pat agreed, smiling at her partner as she came to her feet again and briefly, but reassuringly touching her arm, "don't be bothered by that too much."
"Guess it was too much of a long shot", Willow replied, smiling slightly again as well, to the relief of both women, "but how are we gonna find them now?"
"Good question", Buffy had to admit, looking at the demon afterwards, sounding hopeful when she went on. "You can't smell them and find them that way, right?"
"Not anymore", Pat sighed in reply, momentarily looking dismayed as well, "my nose is good, but not that good."
"Pity", Willow commented, "guess we'll have to do old-fashioned detective work then… Maybe ask around at Willie's? We recommended that place to them after all, maybe…"
She trailed off as an unpleasant sound reached her ears, a low growling coming from the shadows all around them; obviously, Buffy and Pat had heard it as well, since they stiffened and glanced around, the demon automatically clenching her fists while next to her, the Slayer slid into a fighting stance.
"You think that's them?" the blonde then whispered to the taller woman, her eyes still darting back and forth as she tried to spot the source of the growls, "or their wild one?"
"I have no idea", the taller woman gave back, keeping her voice low as well, "but let's hope—"
The large, grey panther came rushing out of the shadows and leapt at Buffy, a startled cry escaping her when the beast's body slammed into hers and they both went down; pure reflex made her slam both hands against the shockingly big animal and push it back when it tried to bite, the strong jaws snapping together inches from her throat.
"Oh no, you don't", Buffy heard Pat growl right behind the panther – before the black haired woman, now in full demon form, snatched the beast from behind, managing to get her arms beneath the front paws and entwining her fingers behind the animal's neck as she jerked it back and upwards, away from Buffy.
Roaring in anger, the panther squirmed and struggled in her grasp, her mind racing as she tried to figure out how to handle this – after all, just killing the beast wasn't an option, not as long as they didn't know if it even was the member of the group of shapeshifters they were after, but just letting the animal go again wouldn't work out either, especially not since it was still growling and roaring at Buffy as the Slayer struggled her feet again, her eyes wide.
"We better knock that beast out", Pat panted at her, her muscles straining as the panther kept trying to break free, "quickly, before it—"
The large, grey head darted down and the teeth closed around her forearm, prompting her to let out a pained cry as they dug through her fur and deep into her flesh; and then, the panther's head snapped back again, tearing a large chunk of flesh out of her arm, another cry coming from her, but still she kept her grip on the panther, not wanting to know what would it do, should she let go of it.
"Willow!" Buffy called out, "the binding spell, quickly!" Hearing the blonde make that request tore the witch out of the brief shocked state she had gone into when she had seen her partner get bitten by the panther; nodding, she started mumbling the binding spell under her breath, only to be interrupted by a sharp female voice calling out "Stop! Don't harm her!", her concentration faltering as the words of the spell died on her lips.
Not sure if she should start over or just wait to see how that newcomer would help them handle this, she turned to look at the one who had called out to her, finding herself looking at a group of five, one of them being Alexia, two more women by her side and two men right behind them.
"Please!" the tallest of them now called out, "let go of her, she means no harm!"
"She bit me!" Pat protested, still keeping a firm hold of the thrashing beast, "and I'm not letting go of… her until she's been subdued!"
As if it had understood her, the panther snapped at her once more, making her groan this time when the teeth sank into her arm once again; and then, the small group had reached them, and one of the men dug into the pocket of his jacket, snapping at Pat to turn her head aside as his hand came back out clutching a fistful of grey powder, the demon quickly doing so, the panther roaring at the man in anger as he raised his hand and threw the powder into its face.
Another roar came from the animal, then it shuddered, growling and snarling as it clearly fought the effect the powder had had on her; and just a few moments later, the large body went limp, prompting Pat to let go of it and take a step back, the second bite in her arm healing with the usual fleshy noises while she glared at the small group.
"I think we deserve some answers now", she then stated, turning back to her human appearance the moment the wound had finished healing, glad that she had worn a shirt and pants wide enough to keep them from being torn to shreds during the change, "especially after you sent people to visit us in our homes without our consent and ask us phony questions."
"My girls told me of their rather… unsubtle ways", one of the women replied, making Willow wonder if this was the one Buffy and Pat had met earlier, "and I apologize for that, I should have told them that it is not common here to just walk into the home of someone you want to visit."
"Stuff your apologies up where the sun doesn't shine", Pat nearly spat in reply, "we don't like it to be made fools of, and that's just what you did, keeping things from us and sending people to us with idiotic questions!"
"Don't talk to her that way!" one of the men barked, stepping forward, the demon immediately focusing on him, snarling as she clenched her fists again, prompting Willow to move to her side quickly and place a hopefully reassuring hand on her back.
"Derek, wasn't it", Pat wanted to know, not letting it show if the touch was having any calming effect on her, "you wanna play the big alpha male again? I talk to her however the Hell I want."
"He's not our Alpha, I am", the woman who had apologized threw in, giving the man a sharp look and prompting him to step back again, "and surely you'll understand that I wanted to check out what kind of people exactly you are, not to mention the need to get a look at the witch. Nice to meet you, by the way, Willow, I'm Valeriana, I'm sure you've heard of me."
"Yeah", Willow gave back, still keeping her hand on her partner's back just in case, "and no offense, but Pat's right, we'd like some answers, and I don't like it either that you sent someone under a false pretence just to get a good look at us."
"I'm afraid we are not all too capable of dealing with regular humans, or demons who live as humans", Valeriana replied, giving her an apologetic look, "but all I can offer now are more apologies, and I'm under the impression that your mate has no interest in them."
"Damn right I don't", the demon answered before Willow could, "but what I am interested in are some answers, now."
"Didn't you figure it out already?" Valeriana wanted to know in reply, smiling pleasantly at her yet again, "this panther you just fought is the one we were after, responsible for the death of poor Harrison."
"Yeah, big surprise there", Pat grumbled, causing the witch to rub her back soothingly, glad when the taller woman finally reacted to her touch and glanced at her, smiling briefly at her, "but why would you want to check us out before you take care of that little panther-shaped problem?"
"To make sure you wouldn't make any trouble for us", Valeriana gave back, "but I can reassure you, our little meeting with you showed us that you are good people."
"Lucky us", Buffy now threw in, raising an eyebrow, "and you didn't notice that when I told you that I'm the Slayer and that it's my job to stop bad guys from eating innocent people?"
"We couldn't be sure that you are good at heart", the other woman pointed out in reply, "but now we know. And let me apologize once more for doing this, and for keeping information from you."
"So what is going on?" Buffy wanted to know, raising an eyebrow at the so-called Alpha woman, "and no more 'none of your business' or whatever, after your friend here attacked us, it is our business, and very much so."
"Yes", Valeriana nodded, to the surprise of the three women – they had been expecting her to protest again, after all, with yet another apology, "but we shouldn't talk about this here in a cemetery. Please, accept my invitation to our home."
"Valeriana!" Derek protested at once, not really surprising anyone this time, "you can't be serious, you want to take these to our home? One of them may be at least partly one of us, but the other two are just… humans!"
"I'm the Slayer", Buffy snapped, having enough of the man's attitude, "and Willow is one of the most powerful witches on the planet, if not the most powerful. So watch your tongue."
"Derek", Valeriana added with a sigh, "please, remember your place. I am the Alpha here, and if I invite them to our home, it is not your place to question it."
He bared his teeth in reply, but didn't try to protest again; Valeriana gave him another sharp look, then smiled at the three women once more and asked them if they were willing to come along, making them all nod after a moment of exchanging looks, the brunette's smile widening as she asked them to come along then, turning and walking off without another word, the witch, the Slayer and the demon hurrying after her and her small group a moment later.
