Chapter Eight

Swaggering and drunk, Willow and Harmony made their way back to Harmony's hideout when they caught a flash of fur dash in front of them, tripping up the totally smashed Harmony.

"Hey fuzz ball!" Willow slurred. "Watch where the fuck you're going!"

The flash of fur turned a distorted canine-like face up towards the two, sniffing the air around Willow and circling her, then sitting down at her feet and looking up at her, almost whimpered with forlorn and pleading eyes. He was intoxicated, here she was, different but the same, would she turn him away too?

"Aww, a werewolf!" Harmony exclaimed and leaned over to pet it, but it snapped at her hand and she drew back, then it looked back to Willow.

"Why does it like you so much?" Harmony asked,

Willow stumbled and knelt down to come face to face with the werewolf "You're a cutie aren't you? Do you wanna come work with me? You can be my pet."

Oz growled and lowered his head.

"One gang of vampires/demons/ooglies?" Buffy said

"Check," replied Xander.

"One dorm of missing dead frat boys," Buffy said looking around the empty, bloodstained building.

"Check," replied Riley shining his flashlight in a corner.

"One loose psycho best friend doppelganger?" Buffy said

"Check," Xander said, finding one body with a massive bite taken out of its neck.

"One best friend in the hospital?" Buffy sighed.

"Not check," Willow said walking into the dorm, looking a bit tired but otherwise okay. "But one government experiment still running around, big check. Is anyone else worried that Adam is going to find this little gang of hers?"

"Sunnydale is like a box of chocolates," Xander said, "you never know what kind of evil each little day has in store." He looked down seeing the previously dead body at his feet stirring. "Like this little nasty."

"I'll get him," Buffy said, walking over to the dazed vampire and staking him before he had a clue as to what was going on.

Willow glanced around the room, "Do we have any idea where we go from here?"

"Well we need to work on finding Vampire Willow but that's easier said than done," Riley said.

"Try the Bronze, maybe someone there will have seen her. I mean it seems like that's where she'd be since that was the big vamp hangout there," Willow said. Buffy noticed she seemed antsy and looking around more than usual.

"Tara isn't here," Buffy said.

"And she wasn't in the waiting room," Willow said.

"She's probably in her room. You should go check."

"No,.. I… I should help you guys look for.. um… me."

"No, Willow, besides if she has your clothes we might accidentally stake you," Xander said. "And that would get messy. You've had enough trips to the hospital today, Wil."

Willow looked to Buffy again, trying to gauge what she was thinking but couldn't find anything. Willow looked away and ran back towards Tara's dorm. She knocked on the door and found that it swung open and the lights were off.

Willow stepped tentatively into the room, "Tara?"

She didn't hear anything.

"Tara?" She called again. She looked down and saw Miss Kitty Fantastico's eyes glowing at her from the dark. The feline gave a soft mew then turned and jumped onto the bed, where Willow heard a whimper.

"Tara?" Willow whispered stepping closer to her.

"No stop!" Tara shouted, sitting upright, starting out of a nightmare, a cold sweat made her face shine in the light from the doorway, tears filling up her eyes, Willow could see her chest rising and falling frantically through the fabric of her nightgown.

"Tara, it's just me," Willow said walking over to the bed and sitting down. "I promise."

Tara curled her knees to her chest and looked at Willow, studying her, studying her aura, then nodded and looked down.

"Are you okay?"

"I-it was j-j-just a dream," Tara said softly.

Willow placed a hand on Tara's cheek, she felt the other girl flinch but not pull away. "Can you tell me what it was about?"

"A m-m-monster."

"What kind of monster?"

"A… t-t-tricky one."

"What did the monster do to make you cry?" Willow said moving her hand from Tara's cheek to her hand and squeezed it gently. Tara was silent. "In the dream," Willow felt a little relieved when Tara gave her hand a light squeeze in return.

"It h-h-hurt me… i-i-it touched m-me… it m-m-made me think… i-i-it was someone…else and… I b-believed it… I l-l-let it touch me and… I sh-shouldn't have… i-it had c-claws.. and f-fangs… like a d-dr-dragon… and…" Tara began to cry softly.

Willow reached up and brushed Tara's tears away. She didn't flinch but looked up into Willow's eyes.

"Th-then… I w-w-woke up," Tara whispered.

Willow looked at her, "I know what would have happened if you had stayed asleep." She squeezed Tara's hand. "A beautiful goddess on a white horse would have come, not a prince because princes are overrated, and would have slain the dragon and rescued you and… she would have taken you somewhere where you would be safe and you make all the pain go away."

"Wh-what would the g-g-goddess look like?" Tara said looking up into Willow's eyes.

"Hmn…" Willow said.

"L-l-like you?" Tara said leaning her head on Willow's shoulder.

"Would you have liked that?" Willow said putting her arms comfortingly around Tara and felt her nod against her shoulder. "Good."

Tara closed her eyes as she felt Willow's soft hands stroking her hair, "And… I would h-h-have felt a little s-s-safer in the goddess's arms."

"The goddess would feel bad because she couldn't protect you sooner." The redhead smiled sadly as she looked down at the blonde.

"I.. I'd k-know it wasn't the g-g-goddess's fault."

"The goddess would want to know what she could do to make you feel better."

"W-would the g-g-goddess sit and watch over me?" She opened her blue eyes and looked up into Willow's which were glimmering with frustrated tears.

"Yes, she would," Willow said, helping Tara lie back down and covering her with the comforters. Willow got up to close the door then lay down next to Tara and stroked her hair until she fell asleep.