TITLE: THE PRIZE 6

TITLE: THE PRIZE 6

AUTHOR: STEPHEN HOWE

E-MAIL: sh01@bigpond.com.au

FEEDBACK: Sure.

DISTRIBUTION: Ask and ye shall receive!

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss! He created everything! Rated R for violence and adult themes. Set in season 6.B/X pairing Giles is Buffy's watcher who now works for the Council once more. Anya gave her life to save Buffy in the fight against Glory. Dawn is still here and Willow is with Tara. REVELATIONS. Willow looks down at the mound of dirt she's standing on and her mind refuses to take in what her eyes see. Bill comes up from behind her and wraps his arms around her, his hands roughly grab at her ripping the blouse from her body. Her eyes turn dark black. " Hecate work thy will let the...Ugh!" Jim hits her with the gun leaving her dazed and confused. Her body's on autopilot as she tries to fend off the two men as they try to rape her. Jim has managed to reach his goal when, suddenly, he's pulled off and flung against a nearby tree. Bill looks past Willow and his eyes grow wide as he pulls out his side arm and fires at the hideous beast. Willow hears a bear like roar and snaps back to reality. When she sees Bill being yanked into the air she almost looses it completely. She watches the creature tear and rend the man until it's nothing more than bloody rags at it's feet before she sees it turn to Jim. " No.. No get back! " He pleads with Willow. " For the love of God help meeeAGHHHHNONONOARGH!" Then silence as, with the snapping of its jaws Bills head vanishes in a spray of blood. Her mind desperately searches for some spell that will get her safely out of this situation but her mind is numb with fear and her mind decides to escape. Her body falls bonelessly to the ground as the fearsome beast bends down and sniffs her near naked body before revealing a set of razor sharp teeth covered in blood. THE ALLEY. Buffy wipes away a tear and turns to John. " You're going to tell the State police everything you know and expose everyone that was involved in Xander's murder... Wait. " She turns to Giles. " We don't know he's dead! We only have the word of this guy and he was told Xander was dead." Giles leans into John. " Where, exactly, did the Sheriff say they buried his body?" John, fearful of the small blonde girl, leads them to his car and drives them out of town. They drive for a while, John watching her every move while Buffy just stares out the window her eyes glazed and her expression blank. They come to the turn off and drive up the dirt track until they come to the cruiser. Buffy takes a wheel brace from the boot of the Curators car while Giles purloins the shotgun from the rack in the police cruiser and pumps a round into the breach." Ready?" He asks her. Buffy thumps the brace into the palm of her hand. " I want them to resist!" The walk as quietly as they can into the clearing but the sight that greets them causes John to throw up into the bushes. Even Giles and Buffy, hardened as they were, were tempted to join him as they crept forward to the butcher's yard. Giles stops and bends over to examine a footprint. He clears some grass and leaves from it and looks puzzled. " What is it Giles?" Buffy asks. Giles shrugs and calls for John to come and give them his opinion. Giles uses a twig to outline the print while Buffy examines the area." See this? This has all the signs of being a ground dweller yet the apposing toe shows that it arboreal!" Buffy picks up some rags by a mound and asks." So what does that mean for the terminally dumb amongst us?" Giles stands." Well what it means Buffy is that it's an impossible mix of ground and tree dweller. But the huge hooked claw at the back of the foot would make it almost impossible...." Giles looks at a tree and sees claw marks ascending to the top." Kattadhin! Dear god it's true!" He looks at the others. " Can't you see? It's a mixture of every animal; both tree dweller and ground pounder. Hell it wouldn't surprise me if it had wings and gills!" Buffy cries out." Giles!" He turns and sees her holding a torn blouse." This is Willow's!" She looks around and finds the dress then realises the same thing Willow did when she saw the mound. Buffy drops the torn clothes and backs away from the grave, her body shaking. She points to the dirt mound and Giles makes his way to it. He bends over and starts to scoop the loose dirt away to reveal a badly mutilated face. He then covers it up and looks at Buffy." I promise you Buffy we will find who ever did this and make them pay! But first we need to find Willow and make sure she's okay. Then we need to get Spike and get the hell out of this damned place!" She kneels by Xander's last resting place and runs her hand over it. " I knew this would happen... I told you it was dangerous loving me." She lies down on the dirt and hugs it, her tears beginning to flow." I promise never to rest until I can sprinkle the ashes of whoever did this over your grave my love." She stands up and takes the shotgun from Giles. " We'll kill this thing then I'm going to make this Sheriff wish he'd never been born!" They begin to follow John through the woods as he tries to track the monster to its lair. Giles tells Buffy." We didn't find her body and there's no blood on her clothes so my best guess is that, judging by the remains of those two men back there, they brought her here to kill her and decided to.. You know first. Then, for some reason, this Kattadhin killed them and took Willow away with it." John held up a hand and tells them." I think we're close." Meanwhile Willow is starting to regain conscious, she struggles at first then realises the monster has gone. She looks around and starts to get up. She sees jeans and a shirt have replaced her clothes, as she gets up and walks around the room Willow can hear people talking in a language she can't understand in the next room. Willow, cautiously, opens the door and an old man smiles and becomes her in." Come in little one we have been waiting your awakening." Willow looks nervously around the room and enters. " Hello I.. Uh don't know how I got her but thanks for the clothes and getting me away from that creature." Pony walks up to her and offers her a chair. " We did not rescue you from Kattadhin he brought you here." The old man looks at her. " You must be special for him to have permitted you to live. Are you from the town or merely passing through?" She looks at him and says. " No I'm here with my friends. Another friend, Xander, rang us asking if we could come and help your people. He said you were being held slaves by the townsfolk and he was going to do what he could while we travelled here. "Willow had seen the way Pony had reacted to Xander's name and turned to her. " You know Xander? Please tell me what happened." Pony turned to her Chief and he nodded. " Alexander Harris was different from any white man I have seen. Without knowing why or caring about my colour he saved me from being raped by one of the townspeople. When we told him of our troubles he didn't hesitate he just worked out a way to help free us." Tears began to fall from her eyes as she told her story. " I was with him when he stole back our Sky stone and..." She straitened in her chair as if drawing pride and strength from her tale." And I was there when the Sheriff and his men caught him....." END OF 6