Howling At The Moon

This is a brand new version of chapter 2. I was very dissatisfied with what I had posted before so here is the real chapter 2. Still has not seen a beta reader and Jack the offer is always open. In this story after doing a lot of research about Wolverines claws I've decided to stick with the movies explanation. There is this great featurette on the DVD for the x-men origins movie that shows exactly how his claws work and I really like how it explains the mechanics. As loath as I am to admit they actually got something about their powers right in those movies so I'm sticking with it. I don't like how his bone claws look in the movie however so I am going with a cleaner looking claw for Buffy. No animal I have ever seen has claws that look as rough and gnarled as the claws in the Wolverine movies. Also a technical note in the official marvel handbook from the 90's there is a note on the claws saying that there is a small piece of calcified bone or cartilage in Wolverine's wrists that grinds against the bottom of his bone claws sharpening them every time he extends and retracts them. This is why I describe Buffy's claws as being edged like a knife.

Chapter 2: Nightmares

There was red everywhere. The deep red of the blood pouring from her neck stained her clothes and the drops of blood dripping from the end of her claws splattered the ground like morbid paint. none of these were as bad as the rage. A deep all-encompassing fury built up within the blonde slayer until her vision turned red. A faint burning sensation could be felt creeping through her veins, but all Buffy could do was look down at her bloody hands and the three bone claws sticking out of each of them. The part of her brain that wasn't horrified was actually impressed with the knife-shaped pieces of bone and how useful they could be in a fight. A scream tore through the background noise of the darkened alley and Buffy Looked up to see Angel in full vamp face getting beaten by two other vamps. The scream had come from Harmony Kendall who was standing at the entrance of the ally. The scream had attracted more vampires and one of them launched themselves at the cheerleader. Seeing the other blonde in danger something dark and primal unlocked in Buffy's brain and she leaped up to her feet and ran at the vampires claws first ripping her new weapons into the flesh of each night stalker. While not the brightest crayon in the box, Harmony knew well enough to take off while the vampires were distracted. Buffy didn't notice her departure. the fight was all she cared about. The feeling of ripping her claws through each new vampire who tried to attack her was intoxicating. Losing herself to the feeling she sliced into each new attacker.

Angel had staked his assailants and rushed to help Buffy. Grabbing a vampire who had snuck up behind the slayer Angel threw him off and turned to Buffy just in time for a clawed hand to stab at his chest impaling his heart on all three bone claws. His eyes registered the look of shock on the blonde's face before his body turned to ash.

There is pain and then there is outright agony. The image of pain on the now dead Angel's face would haunt her forever. On the edge of waking, when the world was still black, for that one second Buffy felt no pain. With the light of the room and the sting of the bright white all the pain in her body returned. Jerking up into a sitting position Buffy began scratching wildly at her arms and neck trying to relieve herself of the burning sensation under her skin. One of her nails caught the edge of an open wound and she cried out clutching her shoulder. The pain was too much, too deep and all encompassing. She just wanted it to stop.

Three concerned faces looked on the hurt slayer with worry etched onto each of their faces. Buffy had been found alone in an alley bleeding profusely from twin punctures in her shoulder. Willow had been the one to find her and the redhead wasn't sure she would ever be able to get the image out of her mind. Giles had been called and between the two of them and Xander they were able to move Buffy to Giles' house. The girl was now laying on a sheet-covered couch in the middle of the living room. None of them was sure exactly what to do. They had cleaned off what blood they could and the bleeding had mostly stopped but the wound still looked fresh and showed no signs of healing. As Buffy's assault on her body began the each reacted only to pause in wait. Neither was sure how to help and as soon as the assault began it stopped. When the slayer's finger nicked and pulled at one of the puncture wounds she cried out in pain and fresh blood seeped out of the hole.

Willow took a step forward and then another before kneeling down in front of the blonde slayer. She was about to take a wet cloth from the bowl of water next to the couch when three long bone protrusions erupted from the back of Buffy's hand. Willow jerked and let out a high pitched "Eep!" before falling back on her rear end.

"Well, that's new." The watcher said taking off his glasses. Many slayers before her had been turned into vampires, but none of them had ever displayed such a strange manifestation. It was cold to sound so analytical and he could see a dark look aimed at him from the boy but at the moment he needed to get his mind off of how much pain his slayer was in. "I don't think I've ever seen a vampire do that."

Willow turned her head to see Giles walk over to a shelf and skim the titles of several books before pulling one down. She was kind of glad that he was going into research mode and took comfort in knowing that the older man was going to find a solution. The look of hurt and pain on the blonde's face was doing something strange to Willow and all she wanted to do was hug her. Instead, she focused on what looked like bone knives sticking out of her friends hand. They were each smooth and rounded on top and came to a point. The underside was edged like a knife and looked slightly serrated. Willow wondered how they could get like that. What would cause bone to be shaped like that naturally? There were three of the long bones coming out of Buffy's right hand each about ten inches long with the one in the center being slightly longer.

A deep groan bubbled up from the small girl's chest and Willow looked eagerly to Buffy's face hoping to see her friend wake up. Slowly the blonde's eyelids opened and hazel eyes looked back at the genius girl in confusion. "What happened?"

Buffy tried shifting into a sitting position, but the claws on her right hand stabbed into Giles's couch halting her movement. Looking over at the offending hand her eyebrows shot up. "What the hell?" She cried jerking back her hand and freeing the claws. Staring down at her hand the burning sensation in her skin was forgotten. "I killed Angel."

It was a statement that left everyone speechless. Willow sat back up on her knees and reached out for her friend. "What did you mean?" The red head couldn't imagine a situation where Buffy would kill a person.

"He is- was a vampire," She said having to correct herself. Angel wasn't anything anymore, at least nothing more than dust. "Something is wrong with me."

"That seems kind of obvious." Xander had been mostly quite up to this point. All eyes turned to him with very different expressions. Buffy felt hurt and wondered if he now thought she was a monster. Willow was confused at the tone in her friend's voice and Giles stared at the boy contemptuously. Xander had the decency to look mollified somewhat though the serious look on his face remained. "I don't think those claws came from the vampire bite."

"Why do you say that?" Giles wondered setting his book down and joining the teenagers by the couch.

"Do you remember that terrorist attack in new york that was all over the news last year?" Xander asked getting up from the chair he had been sitting on. When everyone gave him vague nods that they did, in fact, remember he elaborated. "There were a bunch of pictures of the mutant terrorists in the paper, but one of them showed a guy with claws just like Buffy's," He explained. "Well not just like Buffy's, his were made of metal but he had three claws coming out of his hands."

"So you think Buffy is one of these mutants?" Giles asked while taking out a cloth to clean his glasses. "I'm not sure I have ever heard of a slayer being a mutant before. I'm not even entirely sure it possible to be both a mutant and the slayer. The slayer is a vessel for a dark force. A hunter if you will." The Brit had never really gone into detail about what exactly the slayer is to his charges before. "Much in the way vampires were created by mixing demon blood with a mortal so also did the shadow council take the essence of a hunter and bind it to that of a young girl." Walking over to his bookcase while he explained Giles began picking through his books. "I know we haven't spoken much on the matter but when you dream you relive traumatic moments in the lives of past slayers, yes?" Giles asked and glanced over his shoulder to see his slayer give an affirmative nod before he continued. "In each of these dreams is the slayer a young girl who looks remarkably like yourself?"

"Yeah.." Buffy responded her voice full of uncertainty. Looking down at her clawed hand she wondered. "I always thought I was just experiencing their lives, or deaths rather, through my own eyes." She looked up at her watcher imploringly. "But the last few weeks I've been experiencing something else. Instead of experiencing my- their death I'm seeing these." Bringing her hand up to her face, she stared at the bone protrusions not sure what to think of what they would mean to her calling. "I'm seeing the night they first discovered their claws." Slowly Buffy got up from the couch and wandered over to Giles front window. "It's connected isn't it?"

"I think so yes," Giles said putting his glasses back on and opening a small book. "Every watcher keeps a diary on the life of their slayer. This allows us to chronicle their experiences to better understand them and their struggles." Finding the page he was looking for he brought the book with him over to Buffy holding it up so she could see it. "This is an etching of a slayer named Elizabeth who was called and died in San Francisco in the late sixties."

What Buffy saw should have surprised her but at this point it only confirmed her suspicions. "What does this mean Giles?"

"Elizabeth's watcher compiled a great deal of research on past slayers and determined that the prophecy of the slayer refers to a specific girl in every generation. A girl who looks exactly like you."

"But there have been other slayers who didn't look like me? Haven't their been?" She concluded. it only made since there had to always be a slayer.

"Well yes, actually the slayer who was called when Elizabeth died was an African American woman in new york named Nikki Woods. As far as potential slayers are concerned Nikki was an anomaly." Giles began to babble and forced himself to try and keep to the point. "Ms. Woods was also a very long-lived slayer only dying after a brutal fight with a master vampire named William the bloody." Setting the diary down on a small table by the window Giles placed his hand on Buffy's shoulder in an attempt to give her some sort of comfort. "Elizabeth's watcher John Wyndam-Pryce believed that all the potential slayers in the world were a stop-gap measure to hold back the forces of darkness while the true slayer was being reborn."

"And now here I am," Buffy muttered under her breath while staring out at the night sky. "Slayers all die in combat, but I always die the most horrifically don't I?"

It wasn't really meant as a question. Both Buffy and Giles knew the truth. She had all the memories of her deaths and he had the written accounts of all the watchers who bore witness to the slayers fate.

"Um, weren't we just talking about Buffy being a mutant?" Xander spoke up not sure what had just happened between his friend and her watcher.

"Yes, we were Mr. Harris," Giles said turning to his other two charges. "Contrary to news reports mutants are not new to this world." Taking off his glasses he began to pace. "There are records of ordinary people exhibiting extraordinary abilities for millennia. The mutant phenomena only seems surprising because of the interconnectedness of the world today." Stopping his movement Giles gained a quaint look on his face as if remembering something. "I myself was fond of a very intriguing young girl who had the most fascinating mutation." He trailed off not really finishing his thought and then blushed before changing the subject. "The point is mutants are nothing new and the really ancient ones seem to have been the most powerful."

"Ooo," Willows exclaimed raising her hand and jumping up and down.

"Yes, Ms. Rosenberg?" Giles said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Willow either didn't notice or was too excited to care. "You're saying that what they used to make the slayer was a mutant!" The redhead almost squealed the end of the sentence.

"That is the assumption I am making yes," Giles said pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "There is also the possibility that the slayer essence is unrelated, that the hunter or demon they used to make the first slayer simply likes Buffy as a champion." This had the effect of drawing Buffy's attention back to the room.

"I'm not sure exactly," She said. "But it feels like this is what I am." Punctuating that statement, Buffy brought both of her hands up in front of her face making a fist with both and clenching the muscles in her left forearm causing the other set of claws to tear through her left hand. Buffy winced for just a second until she felt the skin and tissue begin to heal itself. Having forced the claws to unsheath that time the slayer could feel exactly which muscles caused them to move and how they moved through and around the internals of her forearm. Flexing both her arms again only this time trying to move the muscles in reverse all six of the claws retracted back into her hands. All four of the rooms occupants were focused on the six identical incisions between and just above Buffy's knuckles. There were small droplets of blood trailing down from the three fresh cuts but in a matter of moments all six began to slowly close back together until there were only faint traces of dried blood on Buffy's hands.

"This is not something we are going to be able to determine tonight," Giles announced crossing his arms. "We should reconvene in the library tomorrow to discuss it further."

Buffy sighed heavily. "You're right Giles." The looks she was getting from her friends was mixed. Xander still seemed apprehensive though not as closed off as he had when she first came to. Willow, however, was hard to get a bead on. She looked excited but worried at the same time and the way she kept glancing up at Buffy's eyes was doing something funny to the blondes stomach. "I am really not looking forward to the dreams I'm gonna have tonight," She said moving over to the front door.

"Do try to get some rest, Buffy." The watcher cautioned. "Mutant or not you still need a good night's sleep."

"Will do watcher mine," She said turning to smile at the older man. facing her friends, she gestured toward the door. "Want me to walk you guys home?" She offered.

"Thanks!" Willow exclaimed skipping over to the slayer. Turning toward her best male friend Willow was surprised to see apprehension on his face. "Xander?"

"Nah, I'll head home by myself." The young man said trying to make the smirk on his face seem genuine. "Need to think." He said and this time the smile seemed to reach his eyes.

Buffy was more than a little hurt, but she couldn't really blame him. Mutants were a tricky issue these days. When her powers were just mystical it was probably easier for her friend to see her as a superhero. Now he knew that she wasn't even really human. At least not homo sapien. "Its cool," She said shrugging her shoulders half-heartedly. "I'll walk you home Wills."

Reaching up the slayer grabbed her friend's hand in her own and opened the door waving goodbye to her watcher. It wasn't until they were a block away from the house that Willow spoke. "I'm sorry about Xander."

Turning slightly so she could see her friend better Buffy smiled and shifted their held hands so she could lace their fingers together. "It's ok, it's not easy to learn that someone you know is this whole other person." The slayer said squeezing her hand affectionately. "He just needs time."

"I guess so," Willow responded squeezing the slayers hand in return.

After a few minutes had gone by and Willow had shown no signs of pulling away from the slayer Buffy lifted up their conjoined hands. "Want to talk about this?" She asked trying to make sure her tone was even. Grabbing Willows hand had just seemed natural and even after several minutes it just left natural to hold it like she was.

Willow blushed but didn't move to separate their hands. "I don't know." She finally admitted, more to herself than to buffy. "Xander used to be my entire world and I thought we would be more than friends one day but ever since you moved to Sunnydale everything has changed." She looked up at the slayer not expecting to see the tender expression on her face. "earlier at the bronze when you were talking about Angel I couldn't help but think all those things applied to how I felt about you." The redhead paused and took comfort in the fact that Buffy hadn't run away screaming. "It's like you're the sun and gravity keeps pulling me towards you."

Buffy let the silence hang between them as they drew closer to the Rosenberg home. "I can't say I didn't really feel all those things about Angel, but I also felt them about you too." Shaking her head from side to side Buffy tried to clear the cobwebs from her mind and think about this situation clearly. Sure she had been infatuated with Angel but then he had turned out to be a monster. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about dusting him earlier in the night, but his absence made this connection she felt with Willow easier to understand. "No matter what I will always be your friend Willow." Stopping them she turned fully to face the redhead and gave her the warmest smile she could muster. "How about we just take it a day at a time? Neither of us is really sure exactly what this is or what we are."

"Okay," Willow said smiling back at her friend. Looking down at her watch she started to panic. "oh gosh my parent are going to be so pissed." She exclaimed pulling Buffy forward as she began to run home.

Buffy and willow both jogged up the front door of Willow's house. The redhead stopped and clutched her side with her free hand as she panted from over exerting herself. Both girls broke out into laughter at the silliness of the whole situation.

Trying to calm down Willow squeezed Buffy's hand again for what felt like the millionth time in the past twenty minutes. She could hear one of her parents on the other side of the door. "I should probably go inside now before my mom comes out here."

Buffy brought their entwined hands up to her lips and kissed Willow's knuckles in a gesture that was much braver and more forward than she actually felt at that moment. It got the reaction she wanted however as Willow let out a high pitch "Eep!" before releasing her hand and slipping through the door. After staring at the door for a moment Buffy turned and walked home. Sure she had been exposed to lesbianism before, she had been a cheerleader after all and locker rooms were surprisingly intimate spaces, but she had never really put much thought into how she felt about other girls. She supposed that the old Cordelia-like Buffy was more concerned with appearances than finding a real connection with another person.

The walk to Revello drive was spent replaying the kiss, as chaste as it was. Even when she got home and her mom gripped at her for being late she was only half listening. It wasn't until she had changed and gotten in bed that her mind started to remember Angel and the monster she had seen looking back at her in that alley.