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
