Chapter 4:
Misplaced Fury
Stevenson Hall"So what do you want to do about Faith?" Willow asked. "We can't just let her go off after Xander..."
"We get her focused on finding Buffy, hopefully she'll cool off by the time we run into Xander."
Willow looked at Faith and then back to Tara, "I don't know about that Tara..."
"Neither do I but it's not like we can keep her out forever either."
"So how are we going to find Buffy now if we couldn't find her all this time before?" Willow asked unsure how they were going to find their friend.
"I don't know. I just know that we have to try..." Tara trailed off.
"Okay," Willow pulled a map out of the drawer and placed it on the table. Reaching behind her neck Willow unclasped the necklace and pulled it free. The amethyst gleamed brightly as she laid it on the table. "Okay then. Let's find Buffy." Willow said mustering all her confidence as she cleared her mind.
Willow started to reach for the chain when Tara's hand picked up the necklace first and held the necklace over the center of the map.
Tara closed her eyes, "Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt... I beseech you to aid me in my search for a Warrior of Light." A silver glow surrounded Tara as she spoke, "Her soul is lost in a forest of darkness and I ask for your light to guide me to her before she is lost forever..."
The amethyst began to swing in a circle for several seconds when a tiny ball of white light appeared near Tara's hand. Slowly the ball of light moved around the map and then headed away from Sunnydale, where the ball came to a halt and sank down until it touched the map. A short flash and the ball disappeared, but on the map there was now the symbol of a bow and arrow. Leaning closer Willow saw the mark on the map was about 15 miles outside of town.
"Do you think..."
"It's the only thing we've got and maybe she decided to help us out...Plus it'll get Faith far away from Xander right now..."
"Let's grab Faith then and get out here Willow."
"So when are we gonna wake her up," Willow said in-between grunts as she helped Tara carry Faith out of the dorm. "I really don't want to carry her the whole way."
"Let's wait until we're out of town first." Tara replied.
"You just better be right about this Red." Faith growled angrily. She was still angry over the two witches using magick on her and then dragging her around out here. Faith stopped suddenly as she heard someone crying just up ahead in the darkness.
Faith saw Willow keep walking and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Wait up Red. Let me check this out. K?"
"Faith, she's been my best friend longer than you've even known her. I'm not staying behind till it's safe." Willow said stubbornly.
"And if she's hurt and doesn't recognize you Willow? You'll just be in the way..." Faith trailed off as she saw Willow heading off towards where they heard the crying. "Damn, just what I need right now!"
A breeze brought the scent of a stranger and Buffy whirled around towards the scent snarling silently and flexing her clawed hands.
Willow felt something slam into her chest knocking the air out of her and pin her to the ground. Looking up Willow saw it was Buffy and it wasn't. Buffy? Willow thought confused as her mind noted the bone-white skin, red eyes, claws and... Fangs? She has fangs? Willow never finished that thought as she saw a clawed hand flash down and stop suddenly on her throat. Willow felt something wet slide down her neck, but refused to move, afraid of startling her/it/Buffy.
"B? Is that you?" Came a voice that seemed familiar somehow, Buffy looked up and saw another stranger walk into the clearing. Unafraid, Buffy stayed on top of the not-stranger, something about the girl on the ground was familiar. Shaking her head to clear it she grimaced as the stake in her back shifted.
Faith saw vamp-Buffy sitting on Willow's chest as it watched her walk towards them and stop. There's something weird here, she's sorta like a vamp and….not. "B, it's me Faith. You know me," Faith walked slowly to her left, never taking her eyes off of Buffy. "Why don't you let Will get up, she's not gonna hurt you any." Faith kept her voice level and calm.
Growling, Buffy sniffed the air several times as she heard the second not-stranger talking to her. Something about the voice both annoyed and re-assured her somehow. But Buffy got up from the one she'd tackled and stepped back. Buffy watched as the girl got up and moved away.
There was another out there as well…close…
Willow had started walking back towards Faith and Tara, the initial rush of fear having worn off when she felt something slam into her from behind throwing her forward onto the ground. Her training sessions with Buffy kicked in and Willow rolled to her left just as something slammed into the ground where she had been a moment ago. Getting to her feet Willow summoned her magick around her when she saw the creature that had attacked her the night Buffy had disappeared.
Black lightning shot out from Willow's fingers towards the thing that attacked her and Willow saw the creatures' white skin blur in the dark as she avoided it. Damn it! The creature gestured and a group of knives appeared in the air and flew at Willow. Calling up a counter-spell Willow blocked the magickal blades and absorbed them, flinging them back towards the woman. But as they neared the woman the spell shifted and changed into a barbed net that wrapped itself around her and holding her tightly.
Willow watched with a predatory grin on her face as she hovered in the air and watched her prey struggle in the net. Brushing a dark lock of hair out of her eyes, Willow smiled evilly. "Having a few problems this time?"
The figure suddenly stopped struggling and a green light covered the woman. Slowly the net began to pulse as the green light grew brighter and brighter, until it was literally throbbing with the energy it was absorbing.
Willow put a hand over her eyes to block out some of the light that blinded her, There's no way she can get out of that! When the net suddenly shattered into a million pieces and Willow saw the woman was now free. "Uh oh!"
"Okay little Witch, that was cute but playtime's over!" Gabrielle snarled. Gesturing with one hand she used the other to block the hasty attack from the Witch. As Gabrielle drew the final symbol a cage suddenly appeared around the Dark Witch, trapping her. Flying full speed Gabrielle waited until the last moment to drop the spell and slammed into the Dark Witch, her claws slicing into the Dark Witch's arm and stomach.
Gabrielle watched with satisfaction as the Witch plummeted towards the ground and slammed into it, not moving.
Buffy closed her eyes in pain and grabbed her head as the voice in her head started talking again. "KILL THEM, KILL THEM!" The man's voice repeated over and over. Buffy fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes as she struggled against the urge to kill, it was wrong somehow.
Tara had watched Faith as she was talking to Buffy and started to move towards them when she saw Buffy grab her head in pain and fall to her knees. Without thinking Tara ran towards them and was on her knees next to Buffy her arms holding her close, "It'll be okay Buffy, I'm…we're here now."
Faith had reached Buffy first and paused when she saw the stake in Buffy's back and the blood all over her back. Tara had reached Buffy and pulled her in a close embrace, holding her and talking to her softly. Faith watched as Buffy seemed to relax and moved behind Buffy where Tara could see her.
"Tara, we need to get this stake out and bandage that wound. But once I touch it…" Faith trailed off, not needing to explain. Faith saw Tara nod she understood.
Tara moved back so she could see Buffy's face, gently she brushed her fingers through Buffy's hair, "Buffy, you know you're hurt and we can help you but it's going to hurt…I need you to trust me and not fight. You have to let Faith pull the stake out," Tara watched as Buffy shook her head no. "Yes. Look at me. We have to do this to help you. You have to trust us. We only want to help you..."
Finally Tara saw Buffy nod and her muscles go taut in anticipation of pain. Looking over at Faith Tara saw her shake her head, "You have to get her to relax Tara, if I try and pull it now it'll only do more damage..." Tara nodded her head she understood and looked at Buffy again.
Well talking isn't going to do it...and we don't have a lot of time. I hope Willow doesn't see this... With that last thought Tara leaned in close and kissed Buffy softly on the lips, hoping to distract her when Buffy suddenly opened her mouth and deepened the kiss.
Faith frowned, angry over Tara's little distraction, but Faith saw the muscles in Buffy's back relax and grasped the stake and pulling it out swiftly. As she pulled the stake out Buffy screamed in pain and Faith pushed the bandana against the wound and felt Buffy tense up again.
As Faith looked at the bloody stake in her hand a look of cold fury crossed her features before it was covered up. "Hey Tar..." Faith started to say when she felt her Slayer sense go off, standing Faith had a glimpse of blonde hair before she felt a hard blow to the back of her head and darkness swallowed her.
Tara heard Faith voice trail off, when she stood up and suddenly crumpled to the ground. Where Faith had been standing a tall woman with dark hair and eyes stood looking down at her. Tara felt her blood run cold under the gaze of this woman, but before anything could happen Tara heard a snarl and Buffy was standing up in front of her, shielding her from the other woman.
Tara nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind her suddenly, "If you're thinking of trying anything else, witch, I wouldn't." Came the cold voice behind her. Looking behind her Tara saw another female vampire with the same bone-white skin and red eyes, but this one had blonde hair and was shorter.
The blonde vampires hand snapped out and grasped Tara by the neck and Tara felt herself suddenly unable to breathe. Struggling, Tara grabbed the hand at her throat trying to pull it away and slowly Tara saw her vision start to dim as she gasped for breath.
Gabrielle held the witch by the throat and cut off her air, "Bitch! Did you think you can just go and hurt our Childe and nothing would happen?"
Gabrielle saw Buffy charge her suddenly and dropped the witch as she brought her hands up to block Buffy's attack. "Buffy! It's okay! We're here now and no-one's going to hurt you anymore!" Gabrielle yelled as she did a backwards flip to avoid Buffy's charge.
Kneeling Xena looked closer at the young woman she had knocked out, Why does she seem familiar? Xena wondered briefly when she saw Buffy charge Gabrielle who was holding another blonde by the neck and the pieces suddenly fell together. Leaping up into the air Xena landed in front of Buffy. "Stop!" but Buffy continued her charge and barreled into Xena who grabbed Buffy's hands and dropped to the ground, her legs shooting out catching Buffy in the stomach and throwing her.
Xena watched as Buffy charged her again, waiting until the last moment Xena dropped down and her foot swept out knocking Buffy's feet out from under her and she tumbled to the ground. Wrestling Buffy onto her back, Xena maneuvered herself on top of Buffy with her knees on Buffy's shoulders and her hands held Buffy's wrists.
Xena waited as Buffy continued to snarl and fight underneath her. Damn she's strong. If she wasn't in this bad shape she'd be dangerous. Xena opened up her link with Buffy and fought the initial savage and feral images in Buffy's mind, projecting thoughts of love and safety over and over. Slowly Buffy stilled underneath her, "Buffy it's okay. The girl is all right...you protected your pack mate. But you have to come with us, if you don't both members of your pack will be in danger."
"Danger to pack-mate?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. But it'll be okay, I'm going to get up now."
Xena turned toward the blonde girl and walked over to her, shifting into her human form as she stopped. "Are you okay?" Xena asked.
Rubbing her throat, "Yeah. Can you help her and why is she so out of control? Can you help her?" asked Tara.
"You're one of Buffy's friends, aren't you." Xena said as she saw the girl nod yes.
"We're going to try, but it's complicated. Do you know what happened?" Xena started to ask when she heard Gabrielle call her name. Turning "Yeah?"
"We're all set to go Xe." Gabrielle replied.
Xena nodded and turned back to the girl, "What's your name?"
"Tara. Tara Maclay."
Xena nodded, filing the information away before disappearing into the dark. A glance to her left and she saw Gabrielle carrying an unconscious Buffy. "It's too late isn't it Gabrielle?"
"Wait! Too late for what?" Tara called out as Buffy and the two vampires disappeared into the night. "Maybe we can help," Tara trailed off. Turning back Tara walked over to Faith to check on her.
Faith opened her eyes and saw Tara looking down at her, Wincing, "Ow shit!" Gingerly Faith reached back to her throbbing head. "What happened? Where's B?"
"She's gone and remember that vampire, Xena? I think she's the one who hit you and came to get Buffy."
"Damn," Struggling to get up Faith fell back down to her knees. "We've got to find B."
"I think she's okay, but following them might be a problem Faith."
Confused Faith looked at Tara, "Huh?"
"They sorta flew out of here, I don't think we're gonna find a trail to follow..."
"Where's Willow?" Faith asked, wondering what trouble the redhead had gotten into.
Tara's hand shot up to her mouth, "Oh my Goddess! I completely didn't think..." Shooting up Tara ran back to where she had seen Willow last. "WILLOW!"
Seeing a crumpled form on the ground Tara ran over to her love. Carefully Tara moved Willow onto her back when she saw Willow's normally red hair was now black as midnight. "Oh Goddess, Willow...what have you done?" Reaching down to her belt, Tara pulled out her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1 as she saw the bloody wounds. Brushing her fingers across Willow's forehead, "You're gonna be okay love, just hold on cause helps on the way."
Xena looked down at the now sleeping Buffy. "What could have pushed her this far Gabrielle?" Tenderly Xena brushed a lock of golden hair from Buffy's face, "I know she was struggling..."
"I'm not sure Xe, it must have been something serious though."
"Can we still do the spell?"
Shrugging, "From what I've read, yes. But there's still the problem a human has to cast it...and not many would be willing to deal with the consequences."
"Maybe...maybe not. Stay here with Buffy, I've got someone to see." Leaning down Xena tenderly kissed Buffy's cheek, "And you Little One...hang on." Xena said softly. With that Xena disappeared out of the house into the darkness outside.
Continued in Chapter 5
