Chapter 12: Mutts

After buying a paper, Dawn stopped at a pay phone to call Jeremy and Peter answered. Dawn asked Peter to tell Jeremy that she was with Clay and had convinced him that now wasn't the time to go after Logan's killer or the mutt that had created Brandon. Instead, they were taking inventory of the damage from the night before. Of course, she didn't mention that they'd be tracking down either mutt later. She then asked about Buffy. Peter said she was still out and that Jeremy had revised the time on when she might wake up, from tomorrow to later that evening. Jeremy had suspected that it was because of Buffy's Slayer healing that her body was preparing her much quicker for her new nature than what Dawn herself had experienced.

In the donut shop Dawn picked a booth, Clay went to the counter and returned with two coffees and two slices of homemade apple pie. She pushed the food aside and spread the Bear Valley Post across the Formica tabletop. The incident at the rave party had made the front page. Brandon had been incinerated. No one had seen her and Clay drop through a second story window. No one had seen Buffy leading the mutt on a chase around the inside of the warehouse. And no one had seen her leading the mutt away from the warehouse.

"Waste of time," Clay grumbled as he read the article upside down. "There's nothing there."

"Good," Dawn said. "That's what we hoped for, so it was hardly a waste of time making sure." Clay snorted. "You're sure whoever you smelled on Logan was someone you didn't recognize."

"Yeah." Clay's said. "A mutt. A fucking mutt. Two in Bear Valley. Of all the—"

"We can't think about that now," Dawn said. "Forget how and why. Focus on who."

Clay nodded. "I didn't recognize the scent. Neither did anyone else. Meaning it's a mutt we haven't run into often enough to recognize the scent."

"Or he's new," Dawn said. "Like Brandon."

Clay frowned. "Two new mutts? One's odd enough, but—"

Dawn nodded "Skip it. You didn't recognize him. Let's leave it at that for now. See if you can hear anyone talking about last night."

At that exact same moment in Stonehaven Buffy sat up with a gasp and looked around the room. She spotted Jeremy sitting in the chair that Dawn had vacated. "Jeremy?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jeremy asked.

"We were in the warehouse at the rave trying to deal with the mutt, Brandon. I was guarding the door and he was running towards me," Buffy said. "It's gets hazy after that."

Jeremy nodded as he looked at the blonde Slayer. "It's natural for there to be memory loss just after."

Memory loss? Where have I heard about there being memory loss? Buffy thought to herself and then something clicked in her mind. She remembered that Dawn had not remembered how she had been bitten till just the other night when the memory shook itself loose. "I was bitten."

"Yes," Jeremy said. "Normally you would have been out for at least another day, maybe more. But your change from human to werewolf was greatly accelerated by your Slayer healing. I promise I will help you through this, Buffy."

Buffy let out a sigh she hadn't known she had been holding. Jeremy reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know how to tell you this Buffy. I know Logan was your friend, and the only person you and Dawn remained in contact when you had cut off all contact with the rest of the Pack," Jeremy told her. "Clay and Dawn found him sitting on the ground next to you. He's dead, Buffy."

Tears came to Buffy's eyes as she began to cry for the loss of another friend.

Jeremy watched and in an uncharacteristic move for himself he reached up and pulled Buffy into an embrace as he tried to comfort her.

Back in town Clay and Dawn had left the donut shop early and now approached the grocery store, Dawn stopped before rounding the corner so she wouldn't see the spot where they'd found Logan and Buffy.

"I can do it," Clay said, putting his hand against Dawn's back. "Stay here. I'll pick up the trail and see which way it leads."

Dawn moved away from his hand. "You can't. The scent was faint last night. It'll be worse now. You'll need my nose."

"I can try."

"No." Dawn stepped around the corner; hesitating only for a second, then propelled herself forward. When she saw the where the Explorer had been parked, her grief over Logan and Buffy came back two fold. She closed her eyes and centered herself before she inhaled, trying to block both Buffy and Logan's scents. It didn't work. Their lingering odor shoved aside all less familiar scents.

"I'm—" Dawn started. "I'm having some trouble."

"It's here," Clay said. "Faint, but I'm picking up something. Hold on a sec and I'll see if I can grab it." He made two rounds of the parking lot before he turned to Dawn. "Got it. Entrance trail is east, but the mutt exited here. Come over here and try."

Once Dawn got away from the parking spot, she relaxed. Clay stood near a mini-van. She walked to him and sniffed the air. Yes, the scent was there. An unfamiliar werewolf. The trail led across the parking lot, away from the grocery store and toward Jack's Hunting and Hardware. They spent over an hour, constantly missing the trail, looping back, finding where the mutt had turned a corner, and starting again.

The trail stopped at a Burger King that had been ostracized from its fast-food buddies on the other side of town. After another twenty minutes of circling and retracing their steps, Dawn picked up the trail again. Ten minutes later they were standing in the parking lot of the Big Bear Motor Lodge.

"Well, this was a no-brainer," Dawn muttered. "Two hotels in town. He's staying at one. Duh."

"Hey, you're the one who insisted we start from the grocery store."

"I didn't hear you suggesting anything else," Dawn said.

"It's called survival, darling. I know when to keep my mouth shut."

"Since when have—" Dawn stopped, noticing a woman standing in her hotel room doorway, making no effort to hide her eavesdropping. She walked behind a pickup truck and squinted up at the two-story building. "How many rooms by your count?"

"Thirty-eight," Clay said. "Nineteen each up and down. A main-floor entry for the bottom. A lobby entrance and emergency exit for the second floor."

"If it were me, I'd take a room on the first floor," Dawn said. "Direct room access. Easier to come and go at all hours."

"But the second floor has balconies, darling. And a hell of a view."

"First floor," Dawn said. "I'll start. Go hide somewhere."

"Uh-uh. We've played this game before. I hide. You never seek. I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but I'm beginning to sense a pattern."

"Go," Dawn said as Clay kissed her, and then ducked out of the way before she could retaliate.

Clay went to find someplace to wait as Dawn scanned the area. Starting by the emergency exit, she walked slowly down the sidewalk, pretending to study a sheet of paper she had found and allowing for generous sniffing pauses in front of each door. When she got to the end, she picked up the scent of the werewolf, heading not into a room, but into the lobby which meant the mutt had a second floor room. She looped back through the parking lot. Clay came out from behind the building before she could look for him.

"Upstairs," Dawn said.

"See, darling? No one ever claimed mutts have brains."

They headed for the front door, through the lobby and upstairs to the third door on the left. Clay grabbed the handle, twisted, and broke it with a muffled snap. After quickly making sure no one was in the room, he eased the door open. The curtains were drawn and the room was dark as they slipped inside. The room was indeed empty.

"Heads we lie in wait, tails we give chase," Clay said as he pulled a quarter from his pocket.

"We should stay here," Dawn said. "Check the place out, search for clues while we wait."

Clay rolled his eyes. "Oh fine. Just flip the damned thing."

"So what do you hope to find?" Clay asked as he looked around the room.

"Anything to explain why we had two, maybe three, mutts in Bear Valley within a week," Dawn said. "Aren't you the least bit concerned about that?"

Clay smiled. "Course I am, darling. But I'm sticking concern and curiosity on the back burner. Plenty of time to examine them both when their dead. I'm not waiting around for these bastards to go after you or the others while I try to find out what he's doing here."

"You think I'm stalling?" Dawn asked.

"No, I think you're trying to make efficient use of time," Clay said. "That's fine. I'm just saying don't expect me to be too eager to rifle through dresser drawers while that mutt's roaming our streets."

"Then go watch out the balcony or something while I search," Dawn said as he helped her look.

Clay started in the bathroom and found nothing of interest. Dawn's search of the main room hadn't turned up anything either.

"Christ, you should see the stuff in there, darling," Clay said as he walked from the bathroom. "Aftershave, cologne, and musk deodorant. If we couldn't tell the mutt was new by the way he smells, we'd know it by the way he smells."

No experienced werewolf would be caught dead wearing cologne or perfume, at least not if he had a functioning olfactory system. The very smell of himself or herself would drown out all other scents, making his or her nose useless. Both Dawn and Buffy had stopped using scented hand soap and perfume after Dawn had been bitten, for the singular reason of Dawn's improved sense of smell.

After checking out the window, Clay walked to where Dawn was going through the trash.

"I'd offer to help," he said. "But you seem to have things under control."

"Thanks," Dawn said.

"Have you checked under the bed?" Clay asked.

Dawn shook her head. "Can't. The frame's solid to the floor."

"I'll check under the mattress," Clay said as he checked under the mattress. "No ID. Just this scrapbook. I don't suppose you want that."

Dawn jumped up so fast she conked her head on the giraffe-neck lamp. Clay grinned and held a blue book out of her reach.

"Mine," Clay said as he grinned. He held it out of Dawn's range, flipping through a few pages. He then tossed the book on the bed. "On second thought, it's all yours. Happy reading, darling. I'll stand guard by the window. Give me a synopsis later."

Dawn took the book and sat on the edge of the bed. She found newspaper clippings on serial killers. At the back of the book she found an article on a certain serial killer; Thomas LeBlanc.

"Shit," Clay said, making Dawn jump. "No way. No fucking way. Drop the book, darling. You've got to see this."

Dawn hurried to the window and looked out and recognized Thomas LeBlanc from his picture in one of the articles. Next to him were Karl Marsten and Zachary Cain, two mutts they knew very well.

"Marsten and Cain? What the hell are they doing together?" Clay said. "And who's the other guy? He must be the one."

"Logan's killer," Dawn said. "Thomas LeBlanc. And I think we know who might have bitten Brandon, either Marsten or Cain. We have to get out of here."

"Whoa," Clay said. "We're not going anywhere. This is what we came for, darling."

"We came to kill one mutt," Dawn said. "One inexperienced mutt. Three against two is bad enough but—"

"We can handle it," Clay interrupted.

"With no sleep or food in twenty-four hours?" Dawn asked.

"We could—"

"I can't," Dawn said. "If you stay, then I stay. But I'm in no shape for a fight. I'm exhausted and hungry, my arm is screwed up from the dog bite and remember I'm still worried about Buffy."

"Okay," he said. "We bolt. Is there still time …?"

"The balcony," Dawn said. "We'll have to lower ourselves down. No jumping."

"Your arm?" Clay looked down at the scabbed-over wound.

"I'll live," Dawn said.

Clay strode to the balcony, shoved the drapes aside, and slid the door open. "I'll go first and catch you if your arm gives out."

Dawn looked at the scrapbook for a second before grabbing it. Buffy might need it to put a dossier together for LeBlanc. She swung over the railing and dropped to the ground. They quickly ran around the corner of the motel out of sight of LeBlanc's room and slipped away without being seen. The walk to the car was a quick one. Less than twenty minutes later they were on their way back to Stonehaven for reinforcements.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Absolutely not," Jeremy said, getting up from his chair to walk to the fireplace.

Everyone was in the study, including Buffy. Dawn held her sister's hand as she tried to unconsciously comfort her. Jeremy had told Dawn when she and Clay had returned that Buffy was awake and was indeed now a werewolf. After Dawn had visited with Buffy, she and Clay had told Jeremy and the others what had happened.

"I can't believe you're asking," Jeremy continued. "I made it clear that I didn't want this, but you took off anyway. Then Dawn calls to say you're just scouting out news about last night and somehow you end up—"

"It wasn't intentional," Dawn said. "We came across his trail. We couldn't pass up the opportunity."

Jeremy walked back to his chair. "No one is going after these three tonight. We are all exhausted and upset after last night, especially you two. If I hadn't trusted Dawn's word when she called, I would have been down there this afternoon hauling the two of you back here."

"But we didn't do anything," Clay said.

"Only for lack of opportunity," Jeremy said.

"But—" Clay started.

"Yesterday we had one mutt in town," Jeremy said. "Today, he's dead and three more have shown up. Not only that, but of those four, we have Karl Marsten and Zachary Cain, two mutts who would be enough of a problem individually."

"Are you absolutely sure it was Marsten and Cain?" Antonio asked. "Of any two mutts I could imagine ever teaming up, those two rank right at the bottom of the list. What could they possibly have in common?"

"They're both mutts," Clay said.

"My guess would be that they haven't teamed up," Buffy said. "Marsten must have something over Cain. A definite leader-follower relationship. From what I remember Karl wants territory. Has for years."

"If he wants territory, he has to join the Pack," Jeremy said.

"Fuck that," Clay spat. "Karl Marsten is a thieving, conniving son-of-a-whore who'd stab his father in the back to get what he wanted."

"Don't forget the new recruits," Dawn said. "Brandon and LeBlanc are both killers. Human killers. Someone—probably Marsten—found them, bit them, and trained them. He's creating an army of mutts. Not just any mutts, but ones who already know how to hunt, to kill. Know it and like it."

Antonio shook his head. "I still can't picture Marsten behind this. Parts of it, yes. But this thing about creating new mutts, it lacks … finesse. And recruiting Cain? The man's an idiot. A first-rate heavy hitter, but an idiot. The chances of him screwing up are too high. Marsten would know that."

"Who the fuck cares!" Clay said, exploding from his seat. "We've got three mutts in town. One of them killed Logan, another created the mutt who bit Buffy. How can you sit around discussing motivation and—"

"Sit down, Clayton," Jeremy said.

Clay hung there, twin instincts battling within him. He then turned on his heal and strode to the study door.

"If you go, don't come back." Jeremy said as Clay stopped. "If you can't control the urge, Clayton, then go downstairs to the cage. I'll lock you in until it passes. But if the problem is that you won't control it, and you leave, then you're not welcome back."

Clay turned to Jeremy for a moment and then turned and walked out the door, veering not toward the garage or the front door but heading for the rear of the house. The back door opened and slammed shut. Dawn looked at Jeremy, and then went after Clay as Buffy followed her.

The sisters followed Clay into the woods. He walked until they were out of sight and hearing of the house. Then he slammed his fist into the nearest tree. "We can't let Cain and Marsten get away with this," he said. "We can't let them think we're backing down. We have to act. Now." He whirled to face the sisters. "He's wrong. I'm so sure he's wrong."

Clay closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "He's right. We're not ready for this. But I can't stand around while Logan's killer and the mutt who bit the one who bit you, Buffy, is out there, knowing the next one those mutts might go after could be you two or Jeremy. I can't do it. He's got to know that."

Clay slammed his fist into the tree again. Then he exhaled, shuddered, and looked at the sisters. "I'm trying here. You both know how hard I'm trying. Everything in me screams to go after them, hunt them down, and tear out their goddamned throats. But I can't disobey him. I can't do it."

"We know," Buffy said. When she had heard what happened to Logan, she had felt deep down within her both the Slayer and the wolf screaming at her wanting revenge for both herself and Logan.

"I'd like to run," he said softly.

"Run?" Dawn repeated unsure what he meant.

"If neither of you are too tired. I just want to run. To do something, something with the two of you. Shoot Buffy is new to this and this would be a good way to help her learn more about what she has become."

Dawn looked to Buffy. "It's up to you, Buffy."

"He is right, I need to learn," Buffy said. "What do I do?"

Clay and Dawn looked for a place to Change as they explained Buffy how to start the Change. Once they found a clearing Clay had taken off to the other side of the thicket leaving the sisters alone. Dawn watched as Buffy took her time in making the Change. When Buffy had finished,

Dawn smiled as she looked at the blonde wolf before her. "You're beautiful, Buffy," she said. "I wish you could see yourself." Buffy nuzzled against her sister and then using her muzzle pushed Dawn away from her as if to say, your turn. Dawn nodded as she initiated her own Change, which came surprisingly easy.

The moment Dawn's Change was complete Clay barreled into her side and sent her flying. Buffy turned and looked as Dawn stood up. Clay had disappeared back into the forest. They took three steps and this time Buffy got torpedoed, crashing sideways into a bush and not seeing so much as a hair of their attacker.

Dawn and Buffy turned and started to run. Behind them, Clay burst into the clearing again and yipped on finding his quarry vanished. He turned and followed the sisters. They crouched behind a bush on either side of the path thinking they would lie in wait for Clay. Just then Clay dropped onto Dawn. Buffy was up in an instance and the three of them tussled for a few minutes, yelping and growling, nipping and kicking. Dawn managed to get her muzzle under his throat and heaved him over backward, then scrambled to her feet. Sharp teeth clamped on Dawn's hind leg and twisted, flipping her over. Buffy decided to take advantage of Clay's tactic and pounced pinning her sister. Buffy stood over Dawn for a minute. Then, without warning, she leapt off and followed Clay as they ran back into the forest. Now Dawn was it.

Dawn chased Buffy and Clay for about a half mile. They veered off the path at one point and tried to lose Dawn in the thick brush. Then the smell of rabbits drifted over on the breeze. Clay and Buffy slowed, twisting to do a double take at a pair of fleeing rabbits. Dawn picked up speed, tensed, and sprang at Buffy's back, pinning her to the ground. She turned to glance at Clay and found he was gone.

As Dawn got off of Buffy they heard a high-pitched squeal. Within seconds, Clay bounded back through the bushes, a dead rabbit dangling from his jaws. He looked at Dawn and waggled the rabbit, his eyes conveying the message with his actions: Want it? Dawn stepped forward, sniffing. Her stomach rumbled. Clay yanked the rabbit out of her reach. Tease, Dawn glared as she briefly glanced at Buffy who she could tell was laughing on the inside. Clay feigned tossing the rabbit toward Dawn, but didn't release it. Dawn gave him a baleful stare, then looked out at the forest. There was plenty more dinner where that rabbit came from. As Dawn was turning to leave, Clay tossed the rabbit at her feet. Dawn looked from it to him, expecting another trick. Instead, he rounded on her and nosed her toward the rabbit. Dawn gave Clay one final glance and then she ripped into the rabbit, gulping the warm meat in mouthfuls. Clay bounded back into the undergrowth and came back with the second rabbit; he gave this one to Buffy. He rounded on her and nudged her toward it.

Buffy glanced at the rabbit and then Clay and then she tore into it.

When the sisters awoke the next morning, they were lying alone in the dew-damp grass, wondering where Clay was. As the sisters were looking, a sprinkle of cold water hit first Dawn's head and then Buffy's. They looked to see Clay standing over them, grinning. Water dripped from his hands and glistened from his forearms. He was still naked.

"Looking for me?" he asked.

"We thought that a pack of wild dogs might have got you," Buffy said as she glanced at Dawn. She could tell why her sister had fallen for him all those years ago. He looked absolutely handsome event without clothes.

"You two looked worried," Clay said.

"We were," Dawn said. "Goddess knows what kind of indigestion you'd give the poor things."

"I was checking the pond," Clay said. "I thought we might go for a swim. First of the season. It would definitely wake us up.'

"Any food there?" Buffy asked as she felt her stomach rumble.

He chuckled. "That rabbit last night didn't quite do it, Buffy?"

"Not by half," Buffy said as Dawn agreed.

"Okay then. Here's the deal. If you two can't wait, we'll eat breakfast, and then swim. Otherwise, come swimming with me now and I'll make breakfast for the both of you afterward, anything and everything you two want."

Buffy looked at Clay and shook her head. "Why are you so friendly to me now, Clay? Till the other day you always used to call me Slayer."

Clay's only answer was a smile and a wink.

Buffy sighed, she knew she wouldn't get an answer. She looked to her sister. "It's up to you. Breakfast first or swim first?"

Dawn smiled. "I think swim first."

Clay grinned and kissed Dawn before jumping to his feet.

"Race?" he asked. "Last one there gets thrown in?"

Dawn and Buffy pretended to think it over, and then they jumped to their feet and took off. Five seconds too late, Dawn and Buffy realized they'd picked the wrong route. Dawn slowly fell behind Buffy. It seemed that the werewolf and Slayer had merged to make Buffy even stronger and faster than she had been before being bitten. As Dawn raced into the clearing beside the pond, Clay and Buffy stood on the north bank, grinning.

"Lose your way, darling?" he called.

Dawn limped over to Clay and her sister, dragging her right foot.

"Damned vines," Dawn muttered. "I think I twisted my ankle."

Buffy rolled her eyes as Dawn hopped onto the bank. Clay went forward to meet Dawn, his blue eyes clouding with concern. Dawn waited until he bent down to check her ankle, then she knocked him flying into the pond.

They stumbled back to the house later, still naked and not noticing or caring. Even Buffy, who had just become a werewolf, didn't seem to notice or care. Dawn expected that it was a result of living with her after she had been bitten that had made it easier for Buffy to acclimate to being a werewolf than it had been for herself.

"Pancakes, right?" Clay said.

Dawn nodded. "From scratch. No shortcuts. And funny shapes."

"And ham, I assume. What else?" Clay asked.

"Steak," Buffy said.

Clay laughed and put his arms around Dawn and Buffy's waists as the path widened enough for all three of them. "For breakfast?"

"You said we could have whatever we wanted," Buffy said.

"Can I get you two some fruit to balance that meal?" Clay asked.

"No, but you can dig up some bacon. Bacon and eggs," Dawn said.

"Dare I ask for a little help?"

"Not from Buffy," Dawn said. Even after two hundred years. Buffy had not improved her cooking abilities. "But I'll make coffee."

"Thanks a hell of a—" Clay started as they came to the forest's edge and stepped through to the backyard.

There, on the back patio, less than fifty feet away, stood Jeremy … surrounded by five or six unfamiliar human faces, all of which turned the second they walked from the woods. Clay growled and stepped in front of Buffy and Dawn, covering their nakedness as best he could. Jeremy wheeled around and ushered the group off to the side. It took a few seconds for them to move, and a few more for them to stop staring.

When the visitors had vanished around the side of the garage, Dawn grabbed Clay and Buffy's arms and made a run for the back door, not stopping until they were upstairs and into their respective rooms. The sisters had only put on panties and a bra before they heard Clay's door open. Expecting him to head downstairs to confront the trespassers, Dawn hurried to the door and yanked it open, only to find him holding the handle.

"Hey," Clay said. "If you're that eager to let me into your bedroom, I should offer to make breakfast more often."

Buffy rolled her eyes as she returned to dressing.

"I was—you're not—you're okay?" Dawn said.

"I'm fine, darling. Just coming to round you two up for breakfast while Jeremy gets rid of our uninvited guests." Clay said as he kissed Dawn, if Dawn had let him by he would have moved into the room and kissed Buffy as well. "And no, I'm not going out to help him. I'm in too good a mood to let a bunch of humans spoil it. Jeremy can handle them."

"Good," Dawn said.

"Glad you approve," Clay said. "So let's get breakfast going, then we can dream up a few ways to distract ourselves until Jeremy's ready to tell us how he plans to deal with Marsten and Cain."

As he leaned forward to kiss Dawn again, someone cleared his throat in the doorway. Dawn peeked over Clay's shoulder to see Jeremy there, arms crossed, a slight smile on his lips.

"Sorry to interrupt," Jeremy said. "But I need Dawn and Buffy downstairs. Fully dressed if we ever intend to get rid of these men."

"Yes, sir," Dawn said. "We'll be right there."

"Hold up," Clay said as Jeremy turned to leave the room. "I need to talk to you. I'll start breakfast. Have fun, darling. You too, Buffy." He walked out the door heading for the stairs.

Jeremy glanced at the door as he wondered. Had he heard right? Had Clay just wished Buffy, fun?

"I'm sure we will," Dawn said. "Sorry about that. The walking naked from the woods thing. We didn't expect visitors."

"Nor should you," Jeremy said, steering the sisters toward the back door. "There's no need to apologize. You both should be able to come and go as you like here. It's these damned intrusions that…"

"What is it this time?" Buffy asked.

"Another missing person," Jeremy said.

"The boy from the other day?" Dawn asked.

Jeremy shook his head as he held open the back door for them. "This time they're looking for one of the men who came on the property Friday. The middle-aged one. The leader."

"He's missing?" Buffy asked.

"Not just missing, but missing after having left a message for a friend saying he was coming here last night to check things again. Something about this place was bothering him. He wanted another look around."

"Oh, shit," Dawn and Buffy said.

"In a nutshell—exactly," Jeremy said. "On the bright side it seems your acclimating better that most newly bitten, Buffy. You even seem to have made friends with Clay."

Buffy looked to Dawn and nodded. "I think it's because of Dawn's experiences after she was bitten. Then living here for a while. I think to tell the truth it was only a matter of time before I would have asked Dawn to bite me."

"You saw what she was and wanted to experience it yourself?" Jeremy asked.

"More or less," Buffy said.

that's the plan," Dawn said.