Author's Note: Since I won't be online until the new year, updating a day early. Happy new year everyone!
"I came as fast as I could", Buffy told her best friend as she almost stormed into the small room, stopping next to her, "how is she?"
"Not well", Willow let her know at once, not looking away from the large observation window for a mere second, not even when she felt Buffy's hand slip into hers and give it a reassuring squeeze; on the other side of the window, two doctors were fussing over Pat, the demon lying in a hospital bed, an oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose, and hooked up to so many machines that it was hard to tell what they all were good for. To the dismay of both the witch and the Slayer, she wasn't the only patient in this impromptu ward; there were three other people in a state almost identical to hers, being checked by doctors and nurses, machines beeping and hissing all over the room as they monitored the four patients.
"I've never seen her like this", the witch added, finally looking at the blonde at her side, "while we were waiting for Dr Henderson's car, I realized she's never been sick since we got together, and now this…"
"Miss Rosenberg", Dr Henderson's voice came up before Buffy could reply anything, the elder woman making her way to the two with a brisk step, "I'm glad to see the transport I organized worked out just fine."
"It did, thank you again", Willow gave back, fighting the urge to turn away from the elder woman so she could look at her partner again, "so… is there anything you can tell us already…?"
"A few interesting facts", the doctor replied, pulling a battered looking notepad from her lab coat and flipping it open, "we've managed to keep this under wraps so far, but if we get more victims like the ones we already have here, things will be out of our hands soon. I really wouldn't like that. The strangest thing we noticed so far is that some corpses seem to evaporate into a dusty substance upon destroying the brain, while others just lie back down and go back to being dead. Also, the change of state after a bite happens rather slowly, but we have our best doctors working on a way to isolate what is responsible for this so we can start thinking of a cure."
"Good thing they don't all turn to dust, or your scientists would have a hard time with examining anything", Buffy mumbled, making the doctor nod, "do you have any idea why they sometimes turn to dust and sometimes don't?"
"No", Henderson gave back at once, "so far, we couldn't determine any reason for that. We're working on this though."
"And we know who is responsible for this", the Slayer told her after a moment, deciding that, with reanimated corpses in the morgue, talk of demons wouldn't shock the elder woman anymore, "namely, a demon. We're working on figuring out how to find him and how to stop this."
"A demon, huh", Henderson repeated, not sounding all too perturbed by the thought, "interesting. Just two days ago, I would have called my colleagues from the psychiatric clinic after hearing such a thing, but now, I have to admit, it doesn't seem too unrealistic anymore."
"Wait", Willow perked up before Buffy could reply anything to that, "you just said that the process after getting bitten takes quite long? When were the people in there with my partner bitten?"
"Twenty-four to thirty-six hours ago", Henderson informed her, giving her a curious look, "why do you ask?"
"Well", Willow gave back, throwing another glance through the observation window, "Pat was bitten just two hours ago, and she got so sick so fast…"
"This is new", Henderson nodded, raising an eyebrow, "from what we learned so far, the symptoms your partner displays right now only set in eighteen to twenty hours after the bite."
"So what does this mean?" the witch wanted to know, giving her lover another look through the window, "she'll turn even faster than the other victims?"
"I have no idea", the doctor replied, not sounding very compassionate, "but there are some very competent doctors checking on her right now. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
"Maybe if it's because of you-know-what", Buffy whispered to her friend, who just gave her a crestfallen look in reply, images of her partner as one of the undead already dancing through her mind; before the Slayer could come up with any reassuring words though, the sound of doctors yelling and loud beeping from various machines came up from behind the observation window, prompting them both to turn and look into the room again, Willow's eyes going wide when she realized that the reason for the ruckus was her partner, the taller woman having sat up in the bed and struggling against the doctors trying to make her lie back down.
Without thinking twice about it, Willow left Buffy where she was and rushed to the door leading into the room; to her dismay, she found it locked, but a moment of concentration and a small burst of magic took care of that, the doctors looking up in surprise when she came barging in seconds later.
"Ma'am!" one of them snapped, moving away from the bed and towards her, "I'm sorry, but you can't be in here, I need to ask you to—"
"Get out of my way", she interrupted him, in a voice so full of command that he automatically shut up and stepped back; she gave him another glare as she moved past him, then reached the bed, the doctors there still trying to hold her partner down, even though they were visibly straining against her, not having expected their patient to be so strong.
"Please, miss", one of them tried to reason with her, taken aback when she growled at him in reply, "you really shouldn't…"
"Pat", Willow tried to gain her attention, grasping her hand, only to wince when the demon's fingers tightened around hers in a steel-like grip, making it feel as if she'd break her fingers any moment, "what is it, what's wrong? Sweetie, talk to me, please…"
"I need to get up", Pat pressed out between grit teeth in reply, sweat pouring down her face once more, "now, tell them they have to let me get up…!"
"Miss, you really shouldn't", another doctor tried to reason with her again, only to let out a surprisingly high-pitched yelp when, after a moment of holding her partner's gaze, Willow suddenly grabbed the oxygen mask and tore it off, the thin rubber strips snapping with an audible noise, the witch ignoring it when the doctor yelled at her and demanded to know what the Hell she was doing, only getting more frantic when she hurriedly removed the various pads which were connecting the taller woman to the array of machines around the bed.
"What do you think you are doing!" the doctor finally regained his senses, grabbing her wrist in an attempt to stop her, "these are connected to important monitoring tools!"
"Take your hands off me and let her get up", Willow snapped in reply, giving him a glare that nearly made him step back, "trust me, she knows what she's doing, so move back!"
For a few more seconds, he held her gaze, looking as if he wanted to protest – and then he let go of her, seeing something in her eyes which was unsettling enough to make him listen without further protest, his colleagues following his example after a moment and taking a few steps back as well, the men exchanging glances as they asked themselves what exactly was going on and what might happen next.
"Come on", Willow told her lover, in a much kinder voice, helping the taller woman out of the bed; for a few moments, Pat leaned on her, breathing heavily, her legs trembling visibly –before she, with an amount of willpower so strong that Willow could almost feel it, steadied herself and asked the redhead to step back as well, prompting her to do so, an uneasy feeling filling her as she realized what her partner was planning to do.
"I still think this is a bad…", one of the doctors started, then trailed off as his eyes widened, all of them unable to look away when Pat clenched her fists and let out another growl, her hair spreading and thickening, the doctors gasping and gaping as it changed into fur, her muscles bulging visibly as her body grew bulkier, flames flickering up all over her body and filling the room with an unsteady dancing light.
"What the Hell is going on", one of the men whispered, staring with eyes so wide that Willow feared for a moment they might fall out; not sure what to reply, she remained quiet, just watched how her partner finished her transformation, the flames vanishing the moment she had done so, the only sound now being her heavy breaths as her fists opened and closed, as if she was trying to strangle some invisible opponent.
"Pat", the redhead now tried to gain her attention once more, taking a step closer to her, "what's going on? Is this helping you now…?"
"Not sure", the demon rumbled in reply, prompting all the doctors to take a step back in comical unison, one of them even making the sign of the cross, "but I think that…" She interrupted herself with a low, pained growl as she doubled over, then slumped down on her knees; crying out her name once more, Willow rushed to her side and knelt down next to her, ignoring it when one of the doctors shouted a warning to her.
"Oh God it hurts", Pat panted out when the witch asked her once more what was going on, giving her such a miserable look that it was making her heart clench up, "Willow, it hurts…"
Not sure what she should respond to this, Willow reacted by putting both arms around her and rubbing her back soothingly, once more briefly amazed at how soft her fur was; now that they saw that this strange creature a perfectly ordinary woman had turned into minutes ago wasn't making a move to eat any of them, the doctors dared to move closer again as well, still eying the demon with caution though, clearly not sure what to think of this new and interesting development.
"This is astounding", one of them whispered to another, "I wonder if she'd let us run some tests on her? How did she do that?"
"She's a demon", an unknown, female voice spoke up behind him, making him jump before he glanced over his shoulder, finding himself looking at a petit looking blonde with Dr Henderson in tow, "and she wouldn't be happy if you'd tell her about the test thing."
"Let's not forget that this still is our patient, even if she turned into that… thing", Henderson now added her opinion as well, gaining some respect from Buffy with those words, "and apparently, she's still as intelligent and sentient as she was before this transformation, so thinking of running tests on her like on some lab animal is ethically questionable."
Before the doctor could reply anything to that, Pat let out another, this time shockingly loud growl, making them all flinch and step back again; and then, Willow felt her tense in her embrace, her breath speeding up until she nearly panted, her hands clenching into tight fists again, yet another growl coming from tightly grit teeth as her head snapped back into her neck.
Not sure what else she could do, Willow just gave her best to soothe her as she kept holding her and rubbing her back; she could feel another tremble run through the taller woman's body, whispering calming words into her ear as she racked her mind to figure out what was going on – before the shivering of her partner suddenly increased in intensity, an anguished sounding groan coming from her as her fists unclenched and her fingers dug into the floor, leaving deep scratch marks in the white tiles.
"What's wrong with her?" Buffy demanded to know, moving past the small cluster of doctors and closer to the couple when it seemed as if by now, the demon was trembling too much to let Willow hold her much longer; glancing up at her best friend, the witch answered with a helpless shrug – before she nearly got pulled off her feet as Pat suddenly and unexpectedly came to her feet again, her whole body so tensed up that it felt hard as stone beneath the redhead's hands.
Despite that and the violent shivers which now were shaking her partner, Willow kept holding on, keeping her in a tender embrace; not sure what she could do, Buffy just watched, her gaze moving from her best friend to the demon and back again as she tried to figure out what exactly was happening to Pat.
"Get away from me", the demon suddenly panted out, her gaze focusing on Willow, "please, quick, get away from me!"
To her obvious dismay, the witch just stared at her in reply, clearly having no idea why she'd want her to move away; and thus, she did the only thing she could think of as she felt her control slip, making Willow cry out moments later by pushing her quite harshly, right into Buffy's arms, the Slayer letting out a surprised yelp as well when she caught her best friend and kept her from falling.
She still had time to say "What the", then Pat growled loudly again, prompting the doctors who had dared to come closer to move back once more – before she burst into flames, with enough force behind it to not only let the fire engulf her, but to send a pillar of fire all the way up to the ceiling, the shocked cries of everyone in the room mixing with the crackling of the flames.
"Oh wow", Buffy muttered, watching with wide eyes, unable to take her gaze away from the quite spectacular sight, "has she ever done that before…?"
"No", Willow gave back, staring as well, "I didn't even know she can do that…"
They still had a few more seconds to worry about how flammable exactly the ceiling of the room was, then the flames died back down again slowly, to the relief of everyone not having done more damage than a scorch mark on the ceiling; with a heavy breath that almost turned into a grunt, Pat relaxed visibly, prompting Willow to take a step closer to her again, even though she still kept a safe distance, after all not sure if the flames might come back any moment.
"Sweetie?" she thus said, giving her partner a worried look, "are you okay…?"
In response, Pat just nodded, now looking tired – before she took in another deep breath and started changing the back, the doctors letting out gasps and noises of surprise as they watched, all of them eying her curiously once the transformation was done and she stood there again in her human form, momentarily glad that the hospital gown she had been put in when she had arrived had survived the whole thing.
"This is remarkable", Henderson was the one to break the stunned silence which had formed after they all had gotten a good look at her, the cool and composed mask of the doctor slipping for once, "how did you do this?"
"One of the perks of being a demon", Pat gave back, moving back to her bed and sitting down on it, "even though this time, it kicked in quite late."
She smiled tiredly, the paleness of her skin and the dark ring beneath her good eye showing how much of a toll all of this had taken on her; still, she looked much better and healthier now than she had before she had changed, not sweating anymore and even having regained enough strength to talk, something she hadn't been capable of anymore when she had been taken here.
"Oh thank God", Willow breathed as she fully realized that now, at the second try, her partner's healing abilities finally had kicked in and had cured the sickness the zombie's bite had given her; and with a few fast steps, she made her way over to her partner and hugged her tightly, briefly closing her eyes as she felt the taller woman return the embrace and pat her back reassuringly, the other people in the room forgotten as she kept the taller woman in a tight embrace, overwhelmed with relief that she'd be alright.