Chapter Seven



The rest of the day went smoothly, Darry attempted to make herself useful and helped Buffy clean around the house. Mid-afternoon, Darry went to the Magic Box to help Anya. Around 4:00, Darry left the shop.

As darkness settled in the corners of the cemetery, Buffy gave a bored sigh and set her Slayer's Bag on the dusty ground. She had been patrolling since 5:30 and she hadn't seen a single thing that gave Sunnydale its 'high mortality' reputation. Buffy was bored. You'd think something, anything, would want to come out of its hiding spot and spice up the evening.
She'd even take a visit from Spike over the boredom she felt at that moment. With another sigh, she stooped and picked up her Slayer's Bag. She turned to go when she heard a snap in the woods to her left. Buffy whipped her head to face the sound, already her adrenaline pumping. It was probably just a squirrel or a rabbit.
Still, Buffy gripped the stake in her hand and walked into the woods in the direction of the sound. Another twig snapped over to her right; Buffy jerked her body toward the sound. She startled a rabbit from its hiding place among brush and twigs. There was another snap, this time behind her, and the rabbit took off as though it was running for its life. The rabbit bounded through the woods without a second thought.
Buffy watched the rabbit, confused by its hurried and frightened retreat. Buffy turned in the direction of the snap. There was a louder snap, unlike the one before. This snap sounded like tree branches being broken instead of just twigs.
Using the better half of her brain, Buffy decided to make a retreat until she had a better weapon. Luckily she had a crossbow in her Slayer's Bag. Buffy slowly and silently walked toward the edge of the woods.
Just as Buffy neared the cemetery, there was a loud snap and something moved to the left of Buffy. Buffy turned to see what was moving. The bunch of trees in front of her snapped and with a roar a creature leapt out at Buffy.
The creature tackled Buffy to the ground; the Slayer landed with a jaw-jarring thud. Buffy was stunned for a second but recovered quickly. The creature had Buffy pinned to the ground. It wasn't until now that Buffy was able to get a good look at the creature.
The creature was a werewolf, though this one was a lot larger then Oz and was colored differently. The fur of this werewolf with a light brown, a color that Buffy knew she had seen before but didn't have the time (at the moment) to place. The werewolf's claws were like talons and were at the end of large, heavy paws. The werewolf's body was long, slender and lithe; its back legs were powerful and rippled with sinew. It's tail whipped out behind it like a whip. The werewolf's face was fierce looking and matched its disposition perfectly. Its snout was long and its long razor sharp teeth were bared. Its ears were scarred but were none the less good a hearing.
The werewolf growled and inched its face closer to Buffy's neck. Buffy struggled against the creature's power but found it hard. Buffy knew that if the werewolf bit her and she survived, she would become a werewolf as well.
The werewolf howled and Buffy could feel its hot breath against her neck. With a roar of rage, Buffy head-butted the werewolf. The werewolf leapt back, surprised by Buffy's attack.
Buffy jumped to her feet and brandished her stake; she didn't want to kill the werewolf but she also didn't want to let the animal run lose. The werewolf roared again and leapt at Buffy. This time the Slayer was ready and leapt out of the animal's path. The werewolf turned faster then any animal Buffy had seen and was once again facing her. The animal leapt at Buffy again and tackled her; Buffy drove the stake into the werewolf's left foreleg.
With a yelp of pain the werewolf backed away from Buffy and, favoring its injured leg, ran off into the woods.
"Damn." Buffy muttered. However, she wasn't as worried about the werewolf attacking anyone since it was injured. However, you could never be too careful in Sunnydale.

The rest of the night, Buffy patrolled for the werewolf; she put Spike on alert and put out a warning for Willy and everyone at his bar. However, she doubted that anyone would care if there were an injured werewolf running lose in Sunnydale. Most of the patrons of Willy's Bar killed people as well.
Buffy finally entered her house as the sun was rising. She was a little sore from being tackled by the werewolf; the thing had strength, Buffy had to remember that for the patrol tonight.
She put her Slayer bag on the pullout bed. She did a double take and saw that the bed hadn't been slept in. Everyone in the house deemed it better to leave the bed down for the day since it was doubtful they could get it out again. That is, unless Darry was a Slayer.
Darry hadn't slept in the bed last night, where was she then. As if to answer Buffy's mental question, Darry stumbled into the room with a bandage wrapped around her left arm. Darry looked up at Buffy with a look of surprise on her face.
"Buffy, hi." Darry said.
"What happened?" Buffy asked.
Darry looked down at her arm. "Oh, I was making myself a midnight snack and I cut myself. Silly me." Darry said and smiled at Buffy.
"Oh." Buffy muttered.
"Where have you been?" Darry asked, trying not to sound too noisy.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Buffy countered.
Darry looked down at the bed and saw why Buffy was asking the question: the sheets were perfectly flat without a single wrinkle.
"I was up with Dawn, helping her with her homework. By the time we were down, it was nearly five; she fell asleep so I came downstairs. I came downstairs, decided to fix a snack and I cut myself. I was dressing the wound when you came in." Darry answered.
Buffy shrugged, buying Darry's story. "Well, I'm going to change. I'll be back down in a minute." Buffy said and walked up the stairs, leaving Darry alone downstairs.