Red Moon

by SJC

Buffy rubbed her eyes and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee offered to her. She had barely gotten Dawn and her to school on time and hadn't had a chance to try and cover the dark circles under her eyes with make-up. The fellow guidance counselor who handed Buffy the drink looked sympathetic.

"Rough night?" She asked.

"You could say that…"

She hadn't gotten more then two or three hours of sleep after patrolling all night, not to mention lugging that werewolf all the way back to-

The blonde sat up quickly, all traces of tiredness erased.

The werewolf!

She lunged for the phone sitting on her desk, fumbling with it as her hands raced to put it to her ear and dial simultaneously. Deciding to save the self-flagellation for later, she settled instead on praying that Willow was still there. Her entire body relaxed visibly as Willow's unnaturally perky morning voice sounded over the phone.

"Willow! I need you to do me a huge favor."

Despite the witch's immediate affirmation, her voice was understandably cautious.

"Sure, Buffy. What's up?"

The slayer looked around before lowering her voice to talk into the phone.

"There's a werewolf locked in the cage in the basement. I found him on patrol last night and tranquilized him. I totally forgot about it until just now."

"Oh! Do you think it was responsible for the killing?"

"I don't know. I definitely wouldn't rule it out."

Willow mulled over this latest bit of information for a moment.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know… I had planned on questioning it this morning but I woke up late…"

"No problem, want me to see what I can get out of it?"

"Yeah, I hate to have to ask you…" Buffy trailed off as both young women recalled the pain Oz's betrayal had caused.

"It was a long time ago, I'll be fine."

"I owe you one, Will."

"Hey that's what friends are for."

"Interrogating werewolves? And here I was using them for support and companionship." She laughed then quickly looked around once more. This wasn't exactly a conversation she wanted anyone to overhear.

"Funny, now get back to work!"

"Yes ma'am. And you're sure you don't mind?"

"Buffy, it's ok. I'll call you if I find out anything important."

"If you're sure…"

"Goodbye."

The dial tone sounded in her ear and she tried to send her friend some extra strength this morning. It was more then her slayer sense that told her Willow would need it.

*

Willow hung up the phone, a smile on her face from the ridiculousness of the conversation. The thought of what she had to do quickly wiped off any traces of brevity. Despite her reassurances to Buffy, this would be the first werewolf she would come in contact with since Oz and she wasn't entirely sure how she'd react. With all the tragedies since, she should be well over it.

Should being the operative word in the sentence.

With a sigh, she grabbed a glass of water and an aspirin for the headache he/she would undoubtedly be suffering as a side effect of the tranquilizers. As an after thought, she took a blanket as well in case Buffy hadn't thought to put one in the cage the night before.

As it turned out, Buffy hadn't. The naked man lying on the floor of the basement told her as much. Without giving much thought to the intelligence of such an action, she unlocked the door to the cage and walked in, spreading the blanket over the man. The scene was all too familiar and she steeled herself against the pain the memories would bring. Her subconscious ignored the turmoil in her mind and instead noticed how attractive the man was, though the observation wouldn't be reflected on until some time later.

Her presence must have woken the man as his eyes shot open in surprise. He sat up quickly, then groaned as his body belatedly offered its protest. Willow offered a small smile, trying to convey sympathy and assurance. She moved slowly as not to startle him further, and offered him the water and aspirin. He took the glass without hesitation, but started suspiciously at the small capsule.

"It's just an aspirin- for your headache."

He mumbled something incoherent and took the pill warily. Reason told him that if she was out to hurt him, she could have done it while he was unconscious, though it might have just been his desperation to quell the pounding in his brain. Either way found the same end as he tossed the muggle-pain reliever to the back of his throat, trying to work his stiff muscles into swallowing. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton and the water soon followed the path of the pill.

"Who are you?" His voice came out hoarse as he struggled to his feet, wrapping the blanket around his waste.

"Look, it's been a rough night and I'm sure we both have a great deal of questions. Why don't you come upstairs, I'll make some pancakes and we can talk this out?"

She fidgeted nervously as his intense eyes studied her. He wasn't one to judge on appearances and knew that this was no time to drop his guard, even if alone with the slender beauty in front of him. Taking stock of his current situation found him standing in a steal cage with only a wool blanket wrapped around him and no recollection of how he ended up there. His wand was lying in his hotel room with his clothes, and he found the young women's smile alarmingly disarming. Adding up the factors, the odds for survival weren't in his favor.

Despite all fact and reason, he found himself nodding his head in consent and following her out of the basement.

*

It was easy to ignore the good looking man wearing Xander's clothes while she bustled around the kitchen making breakfast, but now that the task was done she was finding it impossible to come up with any more excuses to delay the impending conversation.

With a sigh, she plopped the plate of pancakes down on the breakfast table and took a seat opposite him.

"So…" She wasn't sure exactly how to start. She couldn't very well say, "Hey, did you brutally tear someone apart with your teeth the other night? And if you did, what can we do to stop you?"

She settled for asking his name instead.

"Remus Lupin," he volunteered the information easily, "And yours?" 

"Willow."

The awkward silence reclaimed the room and she busied herself with transferring a pancake from the large tray onto her plate, trying to buy some more time.

"Pretty name," he offered politely, trying to ignore the flood of memories the word brought.

"Thanks."

Two sets of eyes wandered over the kitchen, one seeing it for the first time, the other just trying to avoid contact.

"So, been a werewolf long?"

Remus snorted at Willow's attempt to break the ice but chose to ignore the question, posing one of his own instead.

"Am I making you nervous?"

She was silent long enough for him to begin to think she wouldn't answer before she finally spoke, carefully choosing her words. It wasn't any of his business that ever since Oz, any guy other then Xander or Giles made her nervous, or that the fact that she found him attractive had as much to do with her unease as his… affliction.

"I was… hurt… by a werewolf once. I suppose I hadn't dealt with it as well as I thought."

"I'm sorry." And he found he truly was. So long the victim of peoples prejudices, he had assumed that was the reason she had avoided looking directly at him. Now though, her guarded eyes met and held his, and irrationally he found himself longing to learn what other secrets they held.

She brushed off his apology without giving it much thought. "Look, the reason you're here is that there was a murder the other night where the victim was ripped open as if by a wild animal. I'm not accusing you of anything, there are any number of other explanations, but even if you aren't responsible, the fact that you were out there alone is worrisome. Do you normally have a place where you stay during the full moon?"

"I didn't kill anyone," he told her emphatically, "and I don't need to be locked up during the full moon. I take a potion that allows me control even in were-form. It prevents the dementia normally associated with the change."

"I wasn't aware a potion like that existed."

"It's not that well known." His critical eyes were intent upon her as he came to a decision. "I want to help you."

"Excuse me?"

"This thing, that's tearing up people- I want to help."

"Good."

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