Before they left for the cemetery, Buffy lectured her sister on the dangers of patrol once more, despite the fact that she had done just this every single night the couple had taken Dawn along so far and the teenager knew the words by heart now; then, the Slayer also let her friends know that she'd be fit to take over again in the next evening, making them both nod before they promised they'd take good care of Dawn, finally allowed to leave for the cemetery afterwards.
"God", the teenager mumbled as they walked away from the house, throwing a poisonous look at the now closed front door, "if she gives me this lecture one more time, I'll say it along with her. I already thought she'd never let us go!"
"She's just worried", Pat shrugged, briefly feeling as if she told Dawn that every time she went on patrol with them, "don't hold that against her."
"It gets kinda annoying though", the teenager muttered in reply, rolling her eyes when the demon smirked and reached over to tousle her hair, then lit up a cigarette before she grasped Willow's free hand with hers, asking her if she was alright – the witch had been strangely quiet ever since they had left the apartment building.
"I'm fine", the redhead reassured her at once, giving her a smile to underline her own words, "just a bit tired. College's been so stressful lately…"
"I can't wait to go to college", Dawn beamed before Pat had a chance to reply, sounding so happy that it made both Willow and the demon smile as well, "it'll be so much fun!"
"It can be quite stressful", the witch warned her in reply, "but yeah, it's fun too."
"You should discuss the hardships and fun of college later", Pat threw in, gesturing at the cemetery gate on the other side of the street, "because we're here."
Clearly eager to get going, Dawn reached to remove her stake from the inside pocket of her jacket; the demon stopped her though, suggesting that Willow and she should go first and attract the vampires with their bright clothing, pointing out that a stake in her hand would make them much less tasty to the fanged uglies waiting for them.
"Good point", the teenager had to admit, leaving the stake where it was; Pat promised them that she wouldn't let them out of her sight, then fell back as they continued walking, chatting eagerly, giving their best to appear as just two random girls who had chosen the cemetery for a nightly walk. Sometimes, Willow wondered if the intelligence of those who had been turned dropped after they had crawled out of their fresh graves; after all, by now, everyone in Sunnydale surely had to know about the things going on here, and still vampires attacked people who wandered cemeteries at night, clearly never considering the fact that one of them might be the Slayer, just waiting for them to jump her.
Shrugging those thoughts off, she briefly glanced over her shoulder, smiling when she spotted her girlfriend lurking in the shadows behind Dawn and her; then, she focused on the teenager again, keeping up the mindless small talk so they'd seem unobtrusive, making sure she wouldn't talk too loud though, not wanting to miss the typical noises of a vampire digging him- or herself out of the grave.
Not even ten minutes later, those noises came up in the distance, making both Dawn and her stop walking momentarily; they exchanged a look, then moved on a bit faster, the teenager reaching for her jacket, checking if the stake was still there and briefly feeling relieved when she could feel the wooden object sitting securely in the pocket. It didn't take long until they reached the grave, where the vampire just had finished getting out; it was a female this time, momentarily looking confused, then snarling and baring unsettlingly sharp fangs when she spotted the two girls.
"Don't you know it's dangerous to walk the cemeteries at night?" she asked, her snarl turning into a grim smile while she took a step closer to the two; moments later, she was flung backwards and into a nearby tree, a low grunt escaping her as her back connected with the wood.
Stunned, all Dawn could do was stare at Willow as the witch lowered her hand, a slightly unsettling smirk on her face; she looked at the teenager beside her briefly, then made a quick gesture with her hands, Dawn letting out a small shriek when the stake floated out of her pocket and hung in the air for a moment – before the witch flickered her fingers and the stake shot through the air, burying itself deep in the vampire's chest seconds later.
The vampire still had the time to let out a shriek of pain, then she vanished into the dust; behind them, Dawn could hear Pat's footsteps as the demon came running up to them, clearly surprised as well about what she just had witnessed.
"Why am I even coming along?" she demanded to know, sounding half shocked and half impressed, "wow, Sweetie, that was amazing!"
"I know", Willow gave back, turning to look at her and giving her a chance to see that slightly unsettling smile as well; clearly, she had expected it as little as Dawn, since her own smile faded slightly, worry replacing the surprise in her good eye.
"Are you alright?" she cautiously asked, Willow's smile widening in reply, not really looking less unsettling though afterwards.
"Sure", she stated, stepping closer to the demon and clearly forgetting that Dawn was there since she placed both hands on her chest, caressing her tenderly through the fabric of her shirt, "I'm perfectly fine. Wanna go on and look for more vampires?"
"Um, sure", Pat replied after a moment, still not all too convinced that Willow really was fine – in all the time they had been together, she only had seen her smile like that once before, and that had been when she had been under Amy's control during the whole mess with her and the devil possessing her.
"Let's go then", the redhead smirked, stepping back and grasping her girlfriend's hand; after exchanging a short, but worried glance with Dawn, the taller woman nodded, then they started moving again, not needing much time until they found yet another vampire, making it clear once more that despite Buffy patrolling and slaying in Sunnydale for years now, there still was much need for her to be around and that there wouldn't be a shortage of vampires in Sunnydale anytime soon.
During the rest of the patrol, Willow's behaviour became more and more unsettling for both Pat and Dawn; she handled all the vampires with her magic, throwing them through the air and staking them – or setting them on fire, something she never had done before, always claiming that she had her girlfriend to do that.
By the time they finally were done and returned to their homes, the demon was seriously worried; when Willow had finished off the first vampire, she had been quite impressed, but that feeling was gone, fully replaced by worry and concern.
"Are you sure you're alright?" she demanded to know once they had dropped Dawn off at the Summers' house and had returned to their apartment, the witch once more plagued by enormous hunger and raiding the fridge while her girlfriend asked that question.
"I'm fine", she reassured the black haired woman once more, then focused on the fridge again, thus not seeing anymore how Pat frowned to herself, digging through her pockets until she found her cigarettes and lighting one of them up before she spoke on. "Well, I'm just a bit worried because, well… Usually, during patrol, you're not like that."
"I wanted to do some work too for once", the redhead gave back, removing a jar of mayonnaise from the fridge, then turning to look at her girlfriend, the jar still clutched in one hand. "Usually, you and Buffy do all the fighting", she went on when her girlfriend didn't reply, "but I thought about what you said to Dawn, about how she should fight according to her strengths and skills… And so, I thought I'd do the same."
"Good point", the demon had to agree, "but you should also keep in mind that I told Dawn to be more careful, and maybe you should keep that in mind, too. You were kinda reckless tonight, that can end badly if you can't heal your wounds the way I can."
"I know", Willow gave back, not sounding as if she fully agreed though, "but I also know what I'm doing… Trust me."
In response, Pat eyed her curiously for a moment, then simply nodded, deciding not to push this topic any further; the witch's behaviour was highly unusual, but she figured that she had her reasons for it and that asking on only would lead to an argument, something she didn't want to happen at all.
"Fine", she thus just said, a bit relieved when Willow gave her a more sincere smile as an answer, then turned her back on the taller woman to finish her snack; while she got done with that, Pat made her way back into the living room and sat down on the couch there, trying to keep the gnawing doubts that something unpleasant was going on out of her mind, without too much success though.
Even though Pat still found herself unable to stop thinking about her girlfriend's weird behaviour during the patrol of the previous night, she didn't make a comment about it in the next morning, but only told the redhead to take care, making her giggle while she nodded.
"Sure", she then gave back, looking at the taller woman with slight amusement over the rim of her coffee cup, "I'm just going to college, Sweetie, it's not like there's much danger there."
"Maybe not in a regular town", Pat shrugged in reply, a bit taken aback by this reaction – normally, Willow thought it was cute when she told her that, and didn't react so patronizing.
"We are in Sunnydale though", she thus added, "so you never know."
"I'll be fine", Willow reassured her, then finished her breakfast and told her girlfriend when she'd be home; afterwards, they shared a brief kiss before the redhead left, Pat getting up and making her way to the phone the moment the door had fallen close behind her. Hoping that she'd still catch Buffy at home, she dialled the number of her house; to her relief, it was the Slayer who took the call, sounding slightly stressed though, making the demon wonder if she had managed to call just a moment before Buffy had wanted to leave for college as well.
"I'm gonna make it quick", she stated without introducing herself, figuring that Buffy would know who she was anyway, "keep an eye on Willow when you have classes together, alright?"
"Alright", the Slayer agreed at once, to the demon's relief not asking any questions; this made her wonder briefly if she had noticed Willow's odd behaviour as well or if by now, she was trusting her so much that she simply figured she had her reasons, then decided it didn't matter – the only important thing was that Buffy would keep an eye at the witch.
"I'll tell you if she does anything odd", the Slayer now added, prompting Pat to thank her before she told her she didn't want to steal any more of her time; Buffy let out a relieved sigh in reply, making the demon smirk to herself before she said goodbye and hung up, letting out a heavy breath afterwards.
It didn't feel right to make her girlfriend's best friend spy on her during the time she couldn't be around, but on the other hand, she also knew that something decidedly weird was going on with Willow; again, she started racking her brain about what might be the cause of this, asking herself moments later if Giles by now maybe had been able to find something out. Deciding that going there and asking him was as good as just sitting around at the apartment and waiting for him to call, the black haired woman quickly retrieved her cigarettes and wallet from the living room table, then moved on to the anteroom where she hurriedly put on her shoes and jacket, leaving the apartment a minute later.