**********
I trailed far behind Buffy through the empty halls and watched as she went into a classroom. Too bad, I'll catch her after school. Only one more class to go anyways. I might give Faith another shot in the meantime or at least see what the gang is up to. Can't have them getting in my way.
I headed outside to look through the windows of the library. I let out a bark of laughter when I realized that would be the best place to spy on the gang since they never look there for eavesdroppers. Sloppy. I should have noticed this way before now.
Suddenly, I felt the pack calling me, imploring me for instructions.
I noticed their eagerness at something. I sent back a tendril of
thought wanting more information.
Seems Principal Flutie was a bit irritated at our choice of afternoon
snack and wanted to reprimand us. Idiot. Not our fault he picked
lunch meat for a mascot. Your choice, I thought to them, deal
with him as you like. I could feel their reply to that from their
emotions.
Excitement.
And hunger.
Oh well, never liked him much anyway, I thought as I headed towards the library.
***
"Giles, Xander has gone nuts!" I heard Faith shout from my position near the library windows. "We have to fix him before he does something worse than just eating a pig and trying to mate with me."
"Mate? He didn't... um.. try..." Giles said flustered.
"Try, yes. Succeed, no. But that's not all, he told me he was going to 'conquer me' in order to take me as a mate. Then he went ahead an' attacked me! He matched me blow for blow," I heard her snort, "Heck, I barely managed to get away from him. With all of the training he does and this new change, I don't think I can beat him."
"Maybe you don't have to," Willow said.
"What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"Well, this all started just today, right? In fact, he was acting a bit off since the bus ride from the zoo. If you include the fact that he mentioned wanting to.. uh.. 'mate' with Faith, then maybe he was changed into some sort of animal, like a werewolf," she concluded.
"Hmm, maybe. Or perhaps it wasn't a change, but a possession..." I listened close and heard Giles walking closer to the stacks before turning back to the tables. "Yes, here it is... 'Shamans from many primitive tribes have been known to use magic to call spirits of animals into their bodies, giving them their strengths and abilities. However, there was a side effect to using this power. Those possessed by the animal spirits would act according to the animal's nature, so the shamans had to chose their animal wisely or else risk doing harm to those closest to them.' Oh, dear."
"So, how do we get this thing out of him. The way he is now he could easily hurt someone," Faith remarked.
Giles replied, "Of course, well i..if we can find where he was possessed a..and by what then we stand a better chance of reversing this."
"Well I didn't see anything weird at the zoo and I was with him the whole time," Willow commented and then brightened. "Except when he went off into the hyena house! And Kyle and the others were in there too!"
"Back to the zoo then. Willow, you and Oz try to find something on how to reverse the possession. Almost all of my books concerning this are here. Faith, you come with me. It might be best to keep you away from Xander right now. If he is as strong as you say, we should keep you away from him until absolutely necessary," Giles ordered.
"But what if he comes for Willow and Oz?" Faith remarked.
"So far he has left them alone, a..and he should continue to do so unless you are here to.. um.. entice him," Giles replied back. It was a few moments before I heard Faith walk out the door. I heard Giles follow her after one last comment. "We should be back soon. And if Xander does come here... hide."
I smirked as I held back my laughter. G-man might have been right about me not coming for them unless Faith was there. I wouldn't.
At least, not until I had heard that. Now I just had to do at least a little something to prove him wrong. I glanced down at my watch. I had a little time before Buffy's class was out.
Time to play.
***