Julia, following a very uncomfortable discussion with her Uncle John, who then upon reviewing his own knowledge, plus consulting with a few of both his demon and guardian sources, confirmed Julia's suspicions. Willow and possibly this Fleur woman were her Mates. Among the increasingly potent attraction she had to the red-head and the rather steamy vision-quest-like-dreams she had of the blonde, or of the blonde and Willow, her ability to address her needs became more frustrating. Her Clan-Mates, no longer could provide this alleviation for her. In fact, when she was around them, buzzing with fierce arousal because of a moment with Willow or an erotic dream of Fleur, her skin, her breasts, became almost too sensitive, tender even, to their touch, that she had to pull away.

That moment when Willow had shoved, (she gave a mental shudder remembering that delicious moment) her against the wall, it almost seemed as if her skin reached out towards the red-head. It was that and another incident in the training room, Faith had been standing close and seemed almost too familiar with Willow, that it was a few moments before Julia realized that she was growling as she started across the cavernous room to deal with Faith. When she realized that that was what she was doing, she immediately stalked out of the room, to her office, to place a call to her Uncle John.

Her nose 'loved' Willow; she could scent when she was angry, when she experienced fear, even when she upset. This ability along with the empathetic Bond to the Witch, meant her body was specifically geared towards the red-head. And according to her Uncle John was sending her into heat! So far, Fleur had only managed to strengthen her empathetic bond. One would think that given that Fleur appeared to be in the middle of a dangerous war, sex would be the last thing on her mind. But Julia knew that not only did they Bond have a sort of 'play-back' feature, meaning if Willow or Julia or both were experiencing a moment of intense lust, Fleur would feel it too. In addition, the lust and desire felt through the Bond also incited something that felt very feral, almost animalistic inside the blonde. Willow and Julia speculated that it might be this Veela aspect of Fleur.

They hadn't been able to find a great deal on the Veela. They believed they might be able to gather some information via their interrogation of their "guest." Apparently even within the Wizarding World, the species was very private. Oftentimes, any legal issues were handled via the Veela's own representatives and they strongly believed in intermarriages with other Veelas. Exceptions are made, but they are frowned on and not encouraged. Something told Julia that it was probably something similar to indigenous tribes or other groups who believed that in order to continue to enhance their line, they restricted mating to within the group. At least that's what they've gleaned from their evil-wizard-guests.

They'd also run into the problem of what to do with their prisoners. Given that the Wizarding government, called the Ministry of Magic, had been taken over by the nazi-like Voldemort supporters. Julia couldn't wait to clean house because along with forming a concrete battle plans, Giles, Willow, and Dawn were meeting with the Prime Minister of Britain to smooth over any governmental or legal issues regarding them declaring their own war with Voldy. this also added to the general urgency of the situation. If her Uncle John was right and she was in heat, if Fleur's Veela was reacting to the lust trickling down their Bond from Julia and Willow, if this has become such a distraction that it was creating an even more dangerous environment for the blonde, then all this meant that they needed to get into the Wizarding World 'yesterday,' instead of waiting for all the diplomacy and research to be completed.

At the moment she stood leaning against one of her favorite trees, staring off into the countryside; an ancient thing, which ironically enough was a huge Willow tree. She felt a familiar presence before she scented her: Faith.

"Hey Jules. How goes it?" Faith shook out one of her cigarettes and lit up before speaking again. "You feelin' pretty twitchy too?"

Julia shook her head, knowing exactly what Faith was referring to. "Yeah, it's… drivin' me insane, girl. I can't… I can only pummel a goddamn punching bag before yet another one busts open on me."

"Well at least you ain't wearin' out vibes like it's the fuckin' the end of the world. I got Babeland on speed dial!"

Julia chuckled at that. She had already tried that route – it only seemed to add heighten things for her (and Willow and Fleur). "Any ideas on when we're goin' in?"

Faith blew a ring of smoke, watched it rise a little, before answering. "Oh yeah, I knew I came out here for something other than cause I needed to breathe. Looks like we're gonna be getting' the go-ahead within a couple o' days. We're havin' a prep meeting at 7am sharp tomorrow."

Sighing loudly, feeling the tension pull even tighter in anticipation of the Hunt, Julia realized she needed to do something before that meeting. "Finally! Keepin' a lids on my 'worldly wonders,'" she ran her hands along her torso and then curled her hands into fists, until she took up a fighter's stance, "was like keepin' a crack-head from a fired-up pipe!"

They both had a good chuckle at that before Julia spoke again. "Well then, I gotta head inside. Got somethin' to take care of before tryin' to catch some sleep. You good?" Julia motioned to their surroundings, indicating Faith's safety at being left alone, outside, at night.

Faith scoffed, "After all the energy we've been tryin' work out" in reference to everyone readying for battle (and her own Bonding-Mating process), "let's just say we've made quite an impression on the demon community. They ain't comin' through here if they ain't got to."

Snorting, Julia replied. "I bet. Remember that shit two nights ago?"

Following their rescue of Kierra, they'd been amped up on fury and vengeance, and they needed a way to expend some that energy. So most of the rescue party, minus the Witches, who were attempting save and heal Kierra, and Xander, who was busy securing the prisoner, went patrolling that night. It wasn't until 3:30 in the morning that they stumbled into HQ, covered in demon goo, blood – some of it their own, but most of it not, and general filth—compliments of sewer systems and graveyards. They must have cleared out at least three large Vamp nests, one strong demon clan, and then a 'cleaning' of the local demon bar.

Julia agreed that was memorable. "Yeah, that was fun. Unfortunately we had a bit too much fun, which is why patrols have been a tad boring lately. Hopefully it's because of that night and not in typical Scooby-fashion something more sinister."

"Damn girl, you just had to say it! Now it's guaranteed that the 'quiet on the home-front' is cause of something sinister headin' our way." Julia grimaced at Dark Slayer's grievance, she really should have known better.

But she had a way of diverting Faith's attention from Julia's unfortunate pronouncement. "So I hear y'all got a Bonding issue of your own?"

Immediately Faith scowled. "You just had to bring that up! Aren't you headin' back inside?"

Faith watched the lithe movements of Julia as she headed back inside for a few moments, before turning towards a little introspection of her own. It'd been rough-going lately. Between the attack on Kierra, the ratcheting up of the Slayer-dreams, Slayer-dreams she shared with B. Slayer-dreams that involved a sexy, pixie-haired woman who seemed both vulnerable and fiercely brave, with a bar of steel running down her spine. What Faith really wanted to do was run her fingers through hair the color of chocolate, with dashes of caramel, mahogany, and sand. She wanted to have the woman straddling her lap as Faith tasted her mouth.

She wanted to watch her being fondled by B, sometimes she wanted the woman watching her and Buffy giving into their more primal, Slayer-lust; naked, sweaty skin, muscles straining against the other, 'playing' a sexual game of dominance; the kind that can only be played between two of the oldest, most powerful Chosen Slayers. Faith worried that B would shut her out or that their history would insert itself into the relationship they'd been steadily building since Sunnydale. But aside from a few tense moments, they've managed to… work things through (translation: a serious sparring session or doing a heavy patrol).

Instead, they'd been… talking. Admittedly, not either of their strong suits, in fact, both took great strides to avoid any heavy talking. But since the Dreams, they'd noticed that their Slayer Bond had morphed into something even stronger, seemingly more tactile, at times she swore she could feel Buffy biting her nails as she worried over something or even more memorable were the surprising bouts of insecurity and vulnerability—sensations Faith was well acquainted with. the pain of a solid right hook also clued Faith into B, getting hit, no doubt on patrol, but the immediate rush of energy, endorphins, and carefully-controlled rage, signified that the blonde had let loose on whatever demon or baddie she encountered. However, Faith's more… incendiary example of this 'tactile bond' happened a few nights ago. little did she know that theirs wasn't the only bond that had manifested itself in such a fashion.

With all the build-up from the attack on Kierra and their inevitable battle with Voldemort,

Then there was that time when B, was takin' care of one the Hs of H-&-H. Faith swore she could feel, small, callused fingers plucking her nipples or sliding into the groves of her soaked cunt. By the time Buffy began touching herself, Faith would be soaked. She also knew that this occasional tactile Bond went both ways. Faith had to deal with her own H-and-H, but she tended to be less…sedate, oftentimes simply needing to fuck, hard. So after a night of plunging her fingers into her wet, grasping hole, or shoving a butt-plug in her clenching rosebud, a vibrator on her quivering clit, sealed the deal. But it was the expression on Buffy's face the following morning, darkly blushing, lidded eyes that seemed incapable of meeting Faith's, that made the Dark Slayer wish that they were at a point where she could drag B somewhere and continue.

But this Bond had stretched like nebulous taffy to include their pixie-haired woman. A good and bad thing all things considered. Good because Faith had the sense that their woman hadn't had too many occasions to connect with this part of her. Also it… firmed the Bond between them, making it richer, more intense. However, it was bad because the woman appeared to be one of the leading… warriors against that dickwad Moldy-Shorts, so distraction could be very dangerous.