Disclaimer:  See Chapter 1.

Chapter 12

Oz's hands gripped the steering wheel.  Dee hadn't answered her phone.  He'd called her at least four times, which meant that she either didn't want to talk to him, or she had turned her phone off.

Or that she was dead.

His grip tightened.  Dee couldn't be dead.  She just couldn't.

First off, Osiris didn't want her that way.  Second, Dee was one of the most powerful slayers he'd ever encountered.  With more training, he wouldn't necessarily want to place any bets in a fight between her and Buffy.

But then, Anne was just about that good.

He was nearly positive that this mysterious vampire Dee was seeing was Anne, and he damn near wanted to kick himself for not having seen it sooner.  Osiris had managed to turn her.  No doubt, he realized the potential of a fully trained slayer.  But becoming a vampire was a voluntary process.  An exchange of blood back and forth.  He couldn't see Anne taking part in something like that.  She hated vampires, demons and monsters with a passion.  What on earth could make her voluntarily become one?

And Anne had been fully trained when they took her.

In a week, Dee might have been able to take her, or at the very least fight her into a stalemate, but not now.

But that's not really why you're worried, is it?  The voice in the back of Oz's mind piped up.

It had taken Oz almost three weeks to admit the truth to himself.

Dee didn't much care if she lived or died.  She didn't feel she had much left to live for.  Her father, the only one who had ever truly loved her, was gone.  Her mother and sister had never forgiven her for choosing her father over them.  Now, she saw herself as a killer.

Everything that had ever meant anything to her was gone.

His foot pushed harder on the accelerator, as the speedometer inched its way past 100 mph.

"We'll get there in time."  Anders soft voice wafted over from the passenger seat.  "We'll get there."

Oz couldn't tell exactly who he was trying to convince.

"Actually, I'm kinda surprised you didn't figure it out sooner."  Anne stood back, waiting for Dee to pick herself up from the floor of the parking lot.  "I mean, after spending so much time playing guest spots in each other's dreams, I'd think you'd have worked out our little connection by now."

Dee's mind was panicking.  She had no stake, and the parking lot was annoyingly lacking in wooden adornments.

And she'd seen this redhead wipe out literally dozens of demons without so much as being out of breath.

Of course, vampires didn't breathe.

"How did you get in here?"  Dee whispered.  Her lungs still didn't seem to be working right as she picked herself up.

Anne shrugged, "I was invited.  Funny thing.  The owners of this building installed a neon sign above the entrance to the underground parking.  You punch in your code, the door opens, and a bright red sign says: 'Enter.'"  She smiled, "A pretty unambiguous invitation if you ask me."

"What do you want with me?"  Dee's legs felt unsteady, and it hurt to breathe.  She didn't think anything was actually broken, but everything felt like it had been bruised in some way or another.  For the moment, it made sense to keep Anne talking until she got her bearings back.

"Me?  Nothing.  Osiris, on the other hand, he thinks you could be pretty useful to have around, if you could be turned to our way of thinking.  Me, I'd just as soon suck you dry."  Anne shrugged.  "Then, there's the prophecy."

"What?"  Dee frowned.

"Ah, Oz never told you about that.  The matching of opposites?  One of violence and fury but walking in the light, and one of peace and tranquility who knows light but walks in darkness?  Any of this ringing a bell?"

"I think you've been reading too many fortune cookies."  Dee reached behind her, and gripped her cellphone.  She had Oz's number on speed-dial, and she silently prayed that he could get there soon enough.

Oz's cellphone rang.

"Get that, Anders, I'm driving."  They were close now.  Oz had no clue what he was going to do when they got there, or even if they needed to get there.  For all he knew, Dee was perfectly fine, but somehow he doubted it.

"And I have to admit, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've got."  The voice over the phone was painfully familiar.

"Shit, it's Anne."  Anders whispered.

Oz's foot pushed harder on the accelerator.  They needed to get there now.  Where were they?  Dee wouldn't have invited her into her apartment, he was certain.  She wouldn't have got out of her car until she thought she was safe.

"Can you hear an echo over the phone?"  He asked.

"What if I don't want to join your exclusive wannabite slayer club?"  That voice was Dee's.  Good girl, Anders thought to himself, keep her talking.

"Yeah, there's an echo.  And some static too.  It doesn't sound like her reception is too good."  Anders replied.

"They're in the underground parking."  Oz realized.  Somehow Anne had managed to get in without an invite.  How she got in didn't matter.  The fact that she was in did.

"How are we going to stop her?  She's a slayer."  Anders pointed out.

Oz shook his head, "she was a slayer.  I hope Dee realizes that before it's too late."

"She's got a slayer's strength, a slayer's training, and a vampire's invulnerability."

"But she's not a slayer."

"How are we going to stop her?"  Anders asked again.

Oz reached behind his seat, and handed a large, pistol-like weapon to Anders.  "Keep this handy."

They were approaching Dee's apartment building.  Oz could see the entrance to the underground clearly.

"How strong do you think that door is?"  Oz's eyes became fierce slits.

The heavy steel door of the underground parking lot exploded inwards as Oz's Hummer slammed hard into it, traveling at close to ninety miles per hour.  The door was strong, but very few structures can stand impact of over three tons of metal driven at it at that speed.

The gigantic vehicle, just barely small enough to fit through the opening it had just forced opened, slammed full force into Anne before Oz managed to get its runaway speed under control.

Anne was caught off guard and was flung almost as gracelessly into the concrete wall as Dee had only moments earlier.

The vehicle had barely stopped when Oz was out of the driver's seat and rushing the injured vampire.  He held a large wooden cross in front of him and a large wooden stake in his right hand.

Anne was unsteady on her feet when she stood, but her voice was one of cocky contempt as she saw Oz approaching her.  "You think you can stop me with a cross and a stake?"

"Works on most vampires."  The cross in Oz's hand didn't so much as shake.

"You forget."  Anne's voice was soft, "I'm not your ordinary vampire."

With the back of her right hand, she slapped the cross away.  Then she gripped Oz by the throat, slamming him against a concrete piller, and jarring the large stake free of his grasp.

"Goodbye, Oz."  She whispered, her demonic face coming forth.

"You forgot something, too."  Oz's voice was quiet.  He couldn't get much air to move through Anne's grip.

"What's that?" Anne's catlike, demonic eyes were mere inches from his.  Her fangs were poised to sink deep into the carotid artery of his neck.

Oz actually smiled.  "Full moon," He whispered.

Since becoming a werewolf, Oz had endeavored far beyond what could be expected of any mortal man to keep the animal under control.  First, by locking himself in a cage every time the moon was full.  Then; through meditation, charms and lots of hard work; he was able to remain functional even when the moon was full.

The mental effort required to keep the animal on a leash, especially during the full moon, could only be described as Herculean.  The last time he'd seen Willow, he'd had to walk away from her because her presence made the monster stronger than his ability to contain it.  Since that day, he'd never allowed it free, keeping it tightly sequestered within him.

Now, for the first time ever, he willed the animal loose.  He allowed bars of the cage he'd concocted within himself to evaporate, to scatter in the wind as though they were no more substantial than the air.  He permitted the beast to step forth within him.

The transformation from human to wolf was nearly instantaneous.  Perhaps because for the first time ever, Oz did not resist it.  On the contrary, he welcomed the transformation.  He needed his animal side to work.

His hands and feet stretched into long, sharp claws, his face and body sprouted thick gray fur.  His canine teeth crew into long, wolflike fangs.

In moments, he was no longer Oz.  He was an animal.

Dee watched the transformation with a sort of detached wonderment.  She'd seen some awfully strange things in the last few weeks.  Never before had she seen this.  Oz, normally so calm and collected even when she'd been on the verge of killing him, became a vicious creature.

She watched as he kicked out with both feet, catching Anne in her midsection, driving her backwards.  Her grip on him slackened and Oz fell to the ground, perched on all fours, ready to launch himself forward like a coiled spring.

He drove himself forward, his claws grabbing the red-haired vampire around her midsection, and the two fell to the ground, a heap of flailing limbs.  His claws tore at her cold flesh, drawing blood.  His teeth dug deep into her shoulder, tearing a large chunk of something free.

Anne felt the claws tear into her, and she felt the blood of the vagrant she'd eaten a few hours before spilling out of her, and with it her strength.  She hadn't been prepared for Oz's attack.  He'd gambled that she wouldn't be able to handle his fierce, animal self, and for the moment, he'd won.  She needed to get away and recuperate.

Her car was parked on the street.  She could get away.

She brought her right fist, backhanded, to the side of Oz's head, just hard enough to daze him.  She didn't have time to kill him now, Dee was almost back on her feet, and there was no way she could take on a slayer when she was this badly injured.

She had an opening, and she ran.

Oz, somewhat drunkenly, picked himself up, and quickly scanned the parking lot.  Anne was gone, but Dee was near, and she looked wounded.

With a growl, he launched himself at her, only to be brought up short by a tranquilizer dart.

Anders lowered the tranquilizer gun, and quickly reloaded it in case the single dart hadn't quite done the trick.

From the street, they heard a car start up and drive away.

"She's getting away."  For a smart guy, Anders had a talent for stating the obvious.

Dee ran forward, grabbing the cross and the stake that Oz had dropped moments earlier.  She then dove into her car and started it up.

The fury in her voice was impossible to miss, "No, she isn't."