Series: The Willow Chronicles

Title: Stalking Death

Chapter: Three/?

Rating: R

Pairing: Willow/Buffy, Willow/Alex

Fandom: Buffy

Timeline: Two months after Wrecked

Spoilers: Nope

Beta Reader: Dark Gremlin & Kris



Notes: Think Willow meets Nancy Drew. I've decided that what Willow needs right now, is something to make her feel more important. Not magic or hacking. But something that makes a difference, but at the same time is all her own.



Summary: A classmate dies mysteriously and the police have targeted a friend for the murder. She finds herself trapped between her duty in helping her friends solve the newest hellmouth baddie, and saving a friend from an evil a lot closer to home.



Disclaimer: Not mine.









Willow stepped into the dark room, ignoring the

curiosity that was radiating off her pet, and

stuffed the lock pick set back into her pocket.



" Where did you learn to do that?"



" I taught her." replied a deep voice from

behind them.



She groaned softly. This was not what she

needed right now. She loved her older cousin

dearly, but she had no intention of dragging him

into this. " Kevin..."



The dark haired man flipped on the light. He

was still dressed in the loose black suit pants,

but his tie and jacket were now missing. The

sleeves on the white business shirt were rolled up

to

his elbow's, revealing the dragon tattoo on his

left forearm. His gun and badge were

unnervingly visible to anyone that bothered to

look.



" I had a feeling you'd pay a visit."



Alex moved in front of her mistress. " Are you

going to arrest us?"



Kevin rolled his eyes behind his black oval

spectacles. " Of course not. I just want to be

here

to make this legal."



" Oh, cool." Willow shrugged it off,

and turned to regard the room critically.



The pale beige carpet was stained with dried

blood in front of the bed. By the window,

there was white tape that roughly outlined where

the body was found. The dresser drawers

were open and bare, probably from her dumping Jaime's

belonging's into the hall. The closet was

still half open, allowing her to see the small

amount of clothing that was left. The dresser and

night tables had

visible gaps and chunks of space. The problem was

that everything else looked

normal, at least as far as she could remember

from the few times that she'd been there.



" Okay, Alex you take the closet. Kevin, you've

got the dressers." She handed

them a couple of pairs of latex gloves, then

tugged her own pair on.



" What are you going to do?"



Willow smirked mischievously at her pet. " The

beds."



Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, " Oh? Need any

help?"



Kevin coughed in response, " Can we get to

work?"



" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Spoil sport." Willow pulled

the small mag light from the inside pocket of

her leather jacket, and kneeled by the bed. There

didn't seem to be anything under it. In fact,

it was spotless, almost like someone had been

under there consistently.



She ran the flashlight over the box

springs, pausing as a brief white glint caught

her attention. She reached up and tugged on the tied

bundle.



" You found something?"



" It looks like some kind of letters."



Kevin sat on the bed, taking the thick pile of

envelopes from her. " There's no return

address."



Willow grabbed the first letter from him, her

curiosity overriding her sense's.



" Listen to this. I've lost my heart to your

beauty the first time I saw you. It draws me to

you through the crowds, until we're the only one's

left. Your soulful eyes drive me deeper into

your spell, and I find myself with no will left.

It belongs to you, and only you. Just as you will

belong to me. I will possess you. Mind, body, and

soul. My bride, the mother of my children,

my slave."



Willow refolded the letter numbly." I guess she

had an admirer. A seriously demented

admirer."



" Here's the next one." Kevin unfolded it, "

Why were you with that dyke? Don't you know

that you are mine? You will do well to remember

that, or I might be forced to teach you to

obey me, your master."



Alex scoffed softly. " Sounds like some

serious stalking issues."



Willow took the letters from Kevin, and pulled

out the last one in the pile. She dumped the

other letters onto the bed and opened the

crinkled paper.



" I saw you last night at the game. I was

watching as you kissed that fucking dyke, in

front of

the entire school no less. What the hell were you

thinking? Were you trying to anger me?

Make me put the fear of god into you? If the

coach hadn't stopped me, I would've

taken you right there. I've tried to be patient with you,

but you just won't listen. You've left me no

other choice, and you will learn that you can't treat

me like this, if it's the last thing you do."

Willow swallowed nervously, " This is dated the

night she was killed."



Kevin took the letter from her with a

frustrated grunt. " I guess you were right after

all. Now

the only question is, who's the stalker?"



" Whoever it is, is involved with the football

team." Willow said quietly. " All we have to do

is figure out who the coach was interacting with

right before half time."



" Why then?" Alex asked.



" That's the only time during

the game that Jaime had any contact with Judy."



Alex nodded. " Oh, right. I forgot."



Willow took pity on her confused cousin, and

explained. " Judy was hurt during one of the

cheerleading routines."



" I see." He put the letter's into a large zip

lock bag, " I'll take this in to be processed,

and then I'll get your friend released."



She waited silently as the pooka slipped out of

the room to give them some privacy.



" Could you talk to the football players for

me? I think they might respond better to

another student."



" Sure." Willow followed the other man into the

hall. " Kevin.."



" Will, promise me that you'll watch your

back. The D.A. isn't known for his

tolerance when it

comes to lesbians, and when he

find's out about these letters, he'll hit the roof."



" It's not like he can do anything."



Kevin turned her to face him, " I'm serious, Will.

This guy is bad news. He goes out of his way to

convict gays, even if he knows

they're innocent."



" I promise, okay? Now let's go get Jaime. I

don't want her to spend any more. time behind

bars than she has to."







" So, where's the witch?"



Buffy glared over at the vampire, trying to

decide whether it was worth staking him or not.

" I don't think that's really any of

your business."



" I guess you don't want to know what the other

demons are saying about her then."



She grabbed the bleach blonde wonder and

slammed him into the alley wall. " Start

talking."



Spike pushed her off him, making a big show of

brushing off his spotless duster. " You know

slayer, if you want it rough all you have to do

is ask."



" Spike..."



" Fine. There's talk that Whistler has taken an

interest in her, been keeping a close eye on her,

and all that."



" Why?"



" Something to do with a prophecy."



She sighed. " It always does. What is it this

time?"



" Don't know."



" Great."



She started back into the Magic Box, her mind

racing over the possibilities. What

sacrifice were they going to have to make in

order to save the world? Her death?

Torture? An apocalypse they barely stop?



" Buffy, Buffster, buddy. Which is the better

cat? Sylvester or Tom? Now think carefully."



" We have another prophecy to research."



Tara glanced up from the cash register. " What

is it?"



" No clue, except it's about Willow."



Xander dropped the comedy at the mention of his

surrogate sister. " Buffy, get the

codex and the copies of the watcher's diaries. Anya will

get the books of general prophecies. Tara.."



" I'll get the magic based books." She

interrupted as she climbed up to the loft.



Dawn pushed her homework away, " I'll help."



Buffy decided to let it go for now, they needed

all the aid they could get with this one.

What ever the future held for Willow, they would

face it together.







" But, why did he teach you that?

And what's up with a cop knowing something like

that anyway?"



Willow walked deeper into the store, " He used

to stay with me a lot when I was too young

to be home by myself."



" Yeah, but lock picking?"



Xander perked up, " Let me guess. Kevin?"



Willow nodded as she sank into

the chair between Dawn and Buffy. " Yeah."



" Well?" Alex asked.



" He used to be in a gang." Willow finally

answered.



Xander jumped in eagerly, " It was the only

reason no one ever tried to end our pitiful

existence in school. Well that, and they were

afraid the geekiness that was us, was

contagious."



" You remember the time when Harmony put

quarantine signs on our lockers?"



Xander started to laugh and leaned forward. "

And you hacked into the CDC network, and

falsified a quarantine order."



" She spent two weeks in that room with no make-

up and no clothes other than those yucky,

sweaty grey gowns...." Willow trailed off at the

blank looks from her friends. " Anyway, you'll

be happy to know that we've clear

Jaime's name."



" Actually, you did."



She shook her head at Alex's comment. " Nope,

it was definitely a teamwork

accomplishment."



" Please, you're the one that found the letters

and figured out the killer is on the football

team."



" Well, when you put it that way,

I'm a genius..." She smirked as the pooka kissed

her with a playful growl.



" Hey!! Like ewww, there's a child present!!"

Dawn said, pushing the Asian away from Willow.



Alex shot the teen the evil eye, her short

patience totally gone. " You listen, Miss.

Kleptomaniac, I may be willing to

turn my back on your stealing, but if you keep

pushing, you might find that I can push back."



Dawn got to her feet, nervously backing away

from them. " Sh-she's such a joker. We-we're

always playing with each other, ri-right? Alex?"



Willow started to get up as Buffy pulled her

sister into the back, but Alex gently pushed her

back down.



" They need to talk. Alone."



" I-I just..." Willow felt the fresh wave of

guilt swallowing her. " I need some air."



" Willow..." Alex started after her.



" Leave her." Tara said, moving in front of the

pooka. " It's better to leave her alone when

she's like this."



Alex stared at the door, torn between her need

to help her mistress, and knowing that Tara

was right. " Fine. I'll do it your way. For now."







Willow numbly walked towards the lake. How

could she have misread it? Three months of

taking care of the younger girl. Two more months

of helping Buffy with her, and she totally

overlooked it. She'd failed. Again.



She kicked the park bench. " Ouchie."



She collapsed onto the bench that had so

callously attacked her. "Great now I have a

broken toe on top of everything else."



She rubbed her sore appendage, although

it wasn't doing much good through the heavy

leather boots she'd started wearing.



" Well, look who's here."



" Chris..." She glared at her cousin's partner,

unable to stop the sarcasm. " Gee, what

happened to your nose? You hit it on something?"



" You fucking dyke. If you weren't his damn

cousin, I'd snap your neck."



She stood up to stare at the angry cop. " Oh,

don't let that stop you. You want to kill me,

then come on."



The detective glared at her.

" Don't mess with me little girl, or you'll

learn what a real man

is. On second thought..."



" Look here Mr. I take steroids and cheat my

way through college. I have had a really, really

bad day, and I'm in no mood to deal with

your bigoted, one-

celled male chauvinist

mind, so

you'd better back off before you learn what woman

power really means."



" Oh, this just might be fun after all." Chris

punched her in the jaw, sending her back onto

the bench, then grabbed her arm, slamming her

face down into the seat.



Willow whimpered slightly as she heard him

unbuckling his belt.



" Daddy told me all about how you got that dyke

out of jail. I think I should do him a

favor and stop you from meddling. Then I can go

take care of the other fag. I bet she's a real

animal in bed. What do you think?"



' Great, Rosenberg, you still don't

know when to keep your mouth shut. '



She closed her good eye, trying to hold back

the spell on the tip of her tongue. She'd

promised her friends she wouldn't perform any

more spells, and she wasn't going to break that

promise. But her levitation abilities weren't

spell based, or magic based.



She snapped her good eye back open, suddenly

very grateful that Jaime had forced her to

practice using her levitation, telepathy, and

empathy. She felt her eyes change

to silver as she

pushed out with her mind. Throwing the bastard

into the nearby lake.



She struggled to her feet, and forced her body

back towards the store. She had to get to a

phone and warn Jaime.