Chapter 9: Hunt

They split up for the drive. Antonio and Peter headed for the west side of town. Buffy, Dawn, Nick, and Clay headed for the east end. Clay dropped Buffy and Dawn off behind a medical clinic that had closed at five. Dawn Changed between two Dumpsters that reeked of disinfectant as Buffy threw her sister's clothes into a backpack she carried.

The sisters started in a subdivision. They stole along the front of a set of townhouses, hidden between the brickwork and foundation shrubbery. At each doorway, Buffy watched as her sister stuck her muzzle out and sniffed.

A few minutes later, a howl rang out. Clay. He'd found something. When a second howl came, the sisters used it to pinpoint his location, and then started to run. They had found early on that Buffy's slayer abilities were a match for the werewolf. She had no problem keeping up with Dawn.

At the junction of two streets, Dawn smelled a werewolf; she looked at Buffy and made the motion of smelling something, her sister nodded in understanding. She gazed down the street. The trail while old, was in the general direction of where they'd heard Clay, so they changed course and followed the mutt's trail.

The scent led to a single-level brick house with aluminum-sided additions on the back. Judging by the three mailboxes out front, there were three apartments. The house was dark. Dawn sniffed along the sidewalk. It was inundated with werewolf scent and she couldn't tell where one trail ended and the next began.

"Hello, Clay," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes as Clay came up beside them, in human form and not a stitch on.

"Hello, Slayer," Clay drawled as he reached down and ran his hand through the fur behind Dawn's head.

Dawn snapped at Clay as she dove into the bushes. "You know," Buffy said as she followed Dawn over to the bushes and put Dawn's clothes on the ground, "Dawn doesn't like it when you pet her."

"Buffy's right," Dawn muttered as she stepped out of the bushes dressed. "When I'm Changed, either you stay Changed or you respect my privacy. Petting me doesn't help."

"I wasn't 'petting' you, Dawn. Christ, even the smallest gesture—" Clay stopped himself. "This is the mutt's place, the rear apartment, but he isn't here."

"You've been inside?" Buffy asked.

Clay shook his head. "I was checking things out and waiting for you two."

Dawn looked at his naked body. "I don't suppose you thought to get clothing while you were standing around."

"You expect me to find something on a clothesline at this hour? Sorry, darling."

"No, but you could have handed me a set of clothes and I could have added it to the bag," Buffy said as she showed him the backpack. They walked around to the rear apartment door, it was locked. Buffy did as she had done in the past she broke the lock with a sharp twist of the handle. She'd barely pushed the door open a crack when the fetid odor of rotting meat hit her.

The door opened into a living room, it was fairly obvious once they stepped inside that the mutt had killed there. Buffy and Dawn searched the main room, checking everywhere they could get to for some kind of ID. Something they might be able to use to identify the mutt. There was nothing. They went into the bedroom as Clay searched under the bed.

Clay pulled out a hunk of hair with the scalp still attached, tossed it aside, and kept searching for something more interesting.

"Nothing," Clay said. "How about you two?"

"Same. He knows enough to keep his place clear of ID," Dawn said.

Clay nodded. "But not enough to keep his hands off the locals."

"Hereditary, but young," Dawn said. "He smells new, but no new bitten werewolf could have that kind of experience so he must be young. Young and cocky. Daddy's taught him the basics, but he hasn't got enough experience to keep his nose clean or stay off Pack territory."

"Well, he's not going to live long enough to gain that experience," Clay said. "His first screw-up was his last."

They were doing a last sweep of the apartment when Nick swung through the door, panting. "I heard you call," he said. "You found his apartment? Is he here?"

"No," Buffy said.

"Can we wait?" Nick asked, eyes hopeful.

Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other, and then shook their heads. "He'd smell us before he even got to the door," Buffy said.

"Jeremy said to kill only if we can do it safely," Dawn added. "We can't. Unless he's a complete novice, he'll pick up our scents when he gets back. Besides Buffy's is very distinctive, remember?"

Most werewolves like vampires could smell there was something different about Buffy's blood. It was how they knew instinctively she was the Slayer.

"With any luck, he'll take a hint and get out of town," Dawn continued. "If so, you all can hunt him later and kill him off Pack territory. Definitely safer."

Clay reached over to the nightstand, where he'd put things that he'd pulled from under the bed. He handed Dawn two matchbooks. "Bet I can guess where the mutt spends his evenings," he said. "If he's too dumb to blow town before we come after him tomorrow night, we can probably find him scouting for dinner at the local meat markets."

The sisters looked at the matchbooks. One was for a local bar. The other was for someplace neither of them recognized. They memorized the address just in case.

"Back to get our clothes," Clay said. "Nick and I left ours across Main near where we dropped you two off, so we can run together most of the way. You want to Change in the bedroom? We'll stay in here."

"Change?" Buffy asked with a frown.

"Yeah, Change," Clay said. "You two have the luxury of clothes. But Nick and I … well it might get a bit tricky, streaking across the highway."

"There's clothing here," Dawn said.

Clay snorted. "I'd rather be caught naked than wearing some mutt's clothes." When neither sister replied, he frowned. "Something wrong?"

Buffy sighed. Jeremy's orders had been clear. Dawn, Clay and Nick were to return to the car in human form. Still Clay had a point, Clay and Nick would have had a lot of explaining to do, as well as very likely a night in jail for indecent exposure. "No," Buffy said as she looked at her sister. "Clay's right. Being Changed will be less of a risk than being seen nude."

Dawn nodded as she stepped into the bedroom, she left the door open a crack and handed her clothes to Buffy through it. Buffy then walked outside and waited. Most werewolves didn't like it when anyone watched them change.

Buffy herself liked to give Dawn some privacy, but she was the only one that Dawn ever let watch as she Changed.

They slowly made their way back across town. Buffy and Dawn had taken the lead when a garbage can crashed at the end of the alley. All four of them skidded to a halt.

"What the fuck are you doing?" said a young male voice. "Watch where you're going and get your ass in gear. If my old man finds I snuck out, he'll nail my hide to the woodshed door."

Another male voice only gave a drunken giggle in reply as two heads came into view, moving into the alley. Dawn inched into the shadows until her rump hit the brick wall. Across from her, Clay, Buffy and Nick retreated into a doorway and disappeared into the darkness.

Buffy looked from Dawn to the approaching boys. "Dawn," she whispered," you are exposed."

But it was too late to move. Dawn could only hope the boys were too drunk to pay attention as they stumbled past. As the boys passed her, Dawn crouched, flattening herself to the ground. Their boots took three more steps, propelling them just past her hiding spot. Then the dark-haired kid tripped. Falling, he twisted, grabbed the side of a garbage bin, and saw Dawn. He blinked once. Then he tugged his friend's jacket sleeve and pointed.

The redhead turned and ran down the alley, tripping and stumbling through the trash. The other boy's eyes followed his friend. Then, instead of bolting after him, his hand shot out into the garbage pile. When he pulled back, the moonlight glinted off a broken bottle, the fear on his face replaced by a grin of power.

Dawn happened to glance to her side and saw Clay in a crouch, she let out a very low growl, one the boy didn't hear but her sister thanks for her Slayer abilities did. Buffy grabbed Clay just as he was about to leap. They tumbled for a small moment as Buffy tossed him away from her toward the end of the alley. Clay hit the ground running, Buffy, Dawn and Nick at his heels.

They got to Stonehaven after two. Antonio and Peter were still out. The house was silent and dark. Jeremy hadn't waited up. Buffy, Clay and Dawn raced for the steps, Nick at their heels. They hit the top of the stairs and ran for Jeremy's room at the end of the hall. Before they could get there, the door creaked open.

"Did you find him?" Jeremy asked.

"We found where he's staying," Buffy said. "He's—"

"Did you kill him?"

"Nah," Clay said. "Too risky. But we'll—"

Jeremy nodded. "Good. Tell me the rest in the morning."

The door closed. Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. Then they shrugged and headed back down the hall.

"I'll just have to beat you to it tomorrow," Dawn said to Clay as her sister rolled her eyes.

Clay pounced, knocking Dawn onto the hardwood floor. He stayed on top of Dawn, pinning her arms to the floor and grinning down. "You think so? How about we play for it? You name the game."

"Poker," Nick said.

Clay twisted to look up at him. "And what stakes are you playing for?"

Nick grinned. "The usual. It's been a long time. You up for a game, Buffy?"

"I think I'm going to head downstairs. Work off a little excess energy. The Slayer doesn't like a hunt with no kill, remember?" Buffy said as she headed for the stairs.

Clay nodded as he got up, and lifted Dawn into his arms. When he, Nick and Dawn got to his room, he tossed her onto the bed, and then headed to the bar to mix drinks.

"What makes you think I'm going to play at all?" Dawn asked as she sat up.

"You missed us," Nick said.

"Whiskey and soda?" Clay called.

"Perfect," Nick said.

Clay didn't ask what Dawn wanted; he knew she, like her sister, rarely ever drank alcohol. He held a cold glass as Nick took it. "Go find the cards," he said.

"Where are they?" Nick asked.

"Look," Clay said. "That'll keep you busy for a while." He sat down next to Dawn and handed her a soda. She took a sip. He gulped his own drink down, and then leaned over her. "Perfect night, wasn't it?"

"It could have been." Dawn smiled up at him. "But you were there."

"Which means it was only the beginning of a perfect night," Clay said as he leaned over Dawn, his fingers brushing against her thigh and slid over her hip.

Suddenly Clay was pulled off her and thrown clear across the room. Dawn looked up and saw Buffy. "Buffy?" she said.

"I decided I wanted to play one hand," Buffy replied before looking at Clay and growling. "You stay away from my sister."

Clay got up and looked at Buffy, he knew not to get on her bad side and he knew that he was very dangerously close to doing just that.

Nick came back just at the moment. "Playtime…" he said as he noticed Buffy. "Buffy?"

"No one lays a hand on my sister. You all got that?" Buffy asked.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Dawn watched her sister and Clay face off she thought back to the first time the two of them had butted head. Buffy had accused Clay of biting Dawn. Jeremy of course had said it wasn't possible, that he would have known if Clay had done it.

As Dawn thought about that night, another night seemed to float to her consciousness that had long since been buried. She had told Clay how she and Buffy were immortal, how she was a witch and her entire life's story. Clay had told her he had a way for them to stay together. He had invited her to Stonehaven to meet Jeremy. Jeremy had tried to find a way to get rid of her before she had found out about them. She had started telling Jeremy about being immortal and a witch when Clay had entered the room in wolf form. And before she had known it he had bit her. She had yelped, more in surprise than in pain. She remembered that Jeremy had chased Clay out of the room.

"You bit me," Dawn whispered as Buffy looked to her.

"What?" Buffy asked as she looked at Clay.

"Clay bit me," Dawn said. "I was sick, feverish, and delirious for two days; you were in Toronto getting our new identities set up and didn't know I was sick. You were going to come back after Christmas and we were going to find a way to tell Clay that you and I are immortal. Then on Christmas Eve I told Clay everything. A couple days later we were here in Stonehaven. Jeremy tried to get me to leave and Clay bit me. Jeremy must have dumped me back in our apartment. I didn't remember anything of the last week; I had assumed it was because I had been sick. Then you came back and we thought we would approach Clay and tell him the truth, except he was nowhere to be found, his apartment had been cleaned out and had told the university that he could not return the next semester. Then I went through my first Change and Jeremy approached us. Told us that he was a werewolf and could smell that I was one also. Promised to find out who did it, who had bit me. He never did, because he already knew."

Buffy turned and glared at Clay as she led her sister out of the room and into their own locking the door behind them.

It was nearly noon by the time either sister got dressed.

"Dawn? Buffy?" Clay said as he rattled the door handle. It was still locked. The only lock in the house Clay didn't dare break. "I heard you both get up," he said as the sisters looked at each other. Had he really just said Buffy instead of Slayer? "Let me in. I want to talk to the both of you. Come on." The door rattled again this time harder. "Let me in. We all need to talk."

Dawn walked across the room, opened the window, and swung out, hitting the ground below with a thud as Buffy followed. They headed around the house and went in the front as Jeremy and Antonio came down the hall.

"The stairs aren't challenging enough anymore?" Jeremy asked.

Antonio laughed. "Challenge has nothing to do with it, Jer. I'd say it's the big bad wolf huffing and puffing at their door up there." He shouted up the stairs. "You can stop shaking the house apart now, Clayton. You've been outmaneuvered. They are both down here."

Jeremy shook his head and steered Buffy and Dawn toward the kitchen. By the time Clay came down, they were halfway through breakfast. Buffy decided to confront Jeremy later in private about what she had learned the night before. She wanted to know why Jeremy had lied to them.

When they were done eating, Buffy and Dawn told the others what they'd found the night before. As they talked, Jeremy scanned the newspapers. They were wrapping up when Jeremy put down the paper and looked at the sisters.

"Is that everything?" Jeremy asked as Dawn shook her head. "Are you two quite certain?"

"Uh—yes," Dawn said. "I think so."

Jeremy folded the paper with maximum bustle and delay, and then laid it out on the table for everyone to see. The headline on the front page read: WILD DOGS SPOTTED IN CITY ATTACKING WOMAN IN ALLEY.

"Oh," Dawn said with a glance at Buffy. "Whoops."

Buffy let out a sigh. "Yes they were spotted. And the woman who was supposedly attacked was myself. If it hadn't been for me, Clay would have done something he might have regretted later."

"And why were they together, let alone Changed?" Jeremy asked as Peter and Antonio slipped from the table.

"We were returning from the mutt's apartment," Dawn said as she looked at her sister. "The kids walked into the alley. They saw me."

"Dawn didn't have enough room to hide," Clay interjected. "One of them grabbed a broken bottle. I lost it. I was about ready to leap at them. Buffy stopped me threw me away from them and we took off. No one got hurt."

"We all got hurt," Jeremy said. "I told you to split up."

"We did," Dawn said. "Like I said, this was after we found the apartment."

"I told you to Change to human after you found him," Jeremy said.

"And do what? Walk to the car butt-naked?" Buffy said. "You may think that is acceptable, Jeremy. But the outside world has rules. I made a judgment call last night. Clay and Nick had left their clothes back where they had Changed. I had Dawn's. I always carry a backpack when she is Changed and I'm with her. It was safer for Nick and Clay to Change back and head for their clothes. Far better than if they were spotted by the cops, arrested for indecent exposure and put in jail. As we all know a werewolf won't survive in jail for long without being discovered. And as we all know thanks to the Slayer I can keep up with you all when Changed, Dawn couldn't, not in human form, so I had her Change again so she could stay caught up as we made our way back."

Jeremy's mouth twitched. A full minute of silence followed. Then he got to his feet, motioned for Dawn and Buffy to follow, and walked from the room and out of the house as the sisters followed. He led them into the woods, taking the walking paths. They'd gone nearly a half-mile before he said anything. "Dawn, Buffy, you both know we're in danger," he said.

"We all know—" Dawn said with a glance at her sister.

"I'm not sure you two do. Maybe you both have been away from the Pack too long. Or maybe you think because you both moved to Toronto this doesn't affect either of you," Jeremy said.

"Are you suggesting Dawn or I would purposely sabotage—" Buffy started.

"Of course not," Jeremy cut in. "I'm saying that maybe you two need to be reminded how important this is to all of us, no matter where we live. People in Bear Valley are looking for a killer. That killer is a werewolf. Dawn, I and the rest of the Pack are werewolves, Buffy. If he's caught, how long do you think it'll be before the town comes knocking at our door? If they find this mutt alive and figure out what he is, he'll talk. You were right about that in there; a werewolf would be discovered in jail, even if he didn't talk. Anyways he's not in Bear Valley by accident. Any mutt with a father knows we live around here. If this one is discovered, he'll lead the authorities here, to Clayton and me and, through us, to the rest of the Pack, and eventually, to every werewolf, including any who are trying to deny any connection with the Pack, such as Dawn and yourself, Buffy. Just because you are not a werewolf, Buffy, doesn't mean you would not be at risk. You are not only a member of the Pack, even if you aren't a werewolf. But you are also a target for someone after Dawn because she was a werewolf. Just as someone would use Dawn to get to you because you are a Slayer, the same is true Buffy, for Dawn. They would use you to get to her."

Buffy nodded, she knew he was right about that. How many times back in Sunnydale had Dawn been kidnapped just to get at her? "Don't you think we realize that?" she asked. "While most people will ignore this as is indication from the paper. Not everyone will and some will come after you. We know that."

"I trusted you both to set the tone last night," Jeremy said.

"Then that was your mistake," Dawn snapped. "Buffy and I didn't ask for your trust."

They walked in silence. Buffy wanted to talk about what they had learned last night. But as they walked she realized that Dawn's nose was working overtime.

"Do you smell that?" Dawn asked.

Jeremy sighed. "Dawn. I wish you would—"

"There. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, but"—Dawn's nose twitched, picking up a smell in the breeze—"that scent. Do you smell it?"

Jeremy's nostrils flared. He sniffed the breeze impatiently as if he didn't expect to find anything. Then he blinked. He'd smelled it, too.

"What?" Buffy asked. "What do you both smell?"

"Blood," Dawn said as she looked at her sister. "Human blood."