Anya had just caught Tara on her way out to a wicca group. She was vague and just said that Tara needed to come over right away, she needed to tell her something. It was a little out of character for Anya to be so cryptic. Which is why Tara arrived at the apartment as quickly as she could.
Tara knocked on the door and waited, she wasn't sure what to expect but her stomach kept tying itself into knots.
A red eyed Dawn opened the door and threw herself into Tara's arm. Dawn sobbed uncontrollably as Tara held onto her and stroked the back of her head.
"Um, Anya?" She called in looking for the woman who had called her over.
Anya came out of the bedroom, her eyes red. She tried to smile at Tara but she broke down.
Tara beginning to fear the worst moved into the apartment and shut the door behind her. She took Dawn over the couch and sat the girl down. Dawn clung to her arm, holding her with a death grip.
"Where's Xander?" Tara asked nervously, looking between the two girls. Anya just shook her head, tears still streaming down her face.
"It's not Xander." Anya managed, struggling to regain her composure. She finally took a couple deep breaths then Tara her girlfriend's fate.
"Willow's dead." Tara's eyes grew wide and she seemed to stop breathing. "I didn't see the body, but I'm guessing it was a vampire. Xander's with her right now, he's waiting for Spike to help him move...her."
Tara shook her head in disbelief, a small no escaped her lips. Then she broke, tears streamed down her face as she curled up on the couch next to Dawn, who had wrapped her arms around Tara and wasn't letting go anytime soon.
They sat there for hours, crying. The three girls jumped when the front door opened and in came Xander. His face was pale and he looked like it was about to collapse. In his arms was Willow's grimoire. He calmly placed it on the counter then turned to face the women.
"And then there were four." He thought, his lips pressed into a tight line.
All three had red puffy eyes. All three were pale and all three looked absolutely exhausted.
He sat with them and took Anya's hand. The night seemed to drag on forever.
He hadn't wanted to hang around the hospital too long, just dump the body and slink off into the night. But the doctors, and unfortunately the police, were having none of it.
"You said you found her in the cemetery?" Cop A asked, looking up from his note pad long enough to take in Spikes less then amused expression. "Sorry, we just gotta be thorough in our investigations."
Spike internally rolled his eyes. "Yes. Like I said I was taking a stroll and just came across the bird. Didn't seem right leaving her there." The two cops nodded, as if this was exactly the answer they were expecting. One of them had on over sized aviator glasses that kept catching the bright florescent lights, making Spike squint at them. "Why didn't you just call it in?" Spike shrugged at them.
The cops exchanged a look. "Doctor's say she couldn't have been dead long before you found her. She was still kinda warm."
As Spike was about to speak a loud scream sounded from down the hall. Both cops and Spike turned to see an older women with faded red hair standing outside the room they'd taken Willow into to try and revive the girl, after all they had to be able to say they did everything they could.
The older women covered her mouth with her hands, but that didn't stop the second shriek as she ran into the room. A couple nurses followed her in, obviously to comfort her. Spike felt a pang of sadness. He and the witch didn't always get along, but she was more tolerable then Xander or Giles.
"That's all the questions we got for ya' now Mr. Pratt." He'd used his real name whenever asked for it by the police. Even if they looked up William Pratt in their system they wouldn't find anything. They asked for a good contact number and he gave them a fake one before parting ways and heading down the hall towards Willow's room.
The women was huddled over Willow holding her tight and rocking back and forth. She was crying silently with the occasional howl of pain. It made Spike think about his victims, how many times was he the cause of such pain. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel guilty about what he'd done in the past. But without a soul he had little desire to repent for his sins.
One of the nurses, a small Hispanic girl came out of the room and approached him.
"You're the one who found her, right?" She asked, she fidgeted with the stereoscope around her neck, clearly nervous.
"Yeah." He said simply, just looking through the window into the room.
The nurse took a deep breath. "Mrs. Rosenburg, her mother, wanted to know if you were still here. I think she wanted to talk to you."
Talking to Sheila Rosenburg was the last thing Spike wanted to do and regretted agreeing to bring her in. This wasn't how he wanted to spend his evening. Being as sober as he was was much too painful. He didn't need a mother's grief on top of his own. He shook his head before turning back down the hall and heading towards a door with a big neon sign that said 'EXIT'. He didn't look back.
Shelia wanted a closed casket funeral, believing them to be more tasteful and she didn't want to look over and see her daughter. If she had to look at her pallid face again it would all be too real.
It was a good thing she felt this way, considering the body wasn't in the casket. Not Willow's body anyway.
Blood loss and neck injures were such a common occurrence in Sunnydale that they rarely felt the need to do autopsies. Which is why no one noticed when Willow got up and walked right out of the hospital morgue the night after she'd died. It's also why the funeral director didn't even notice that the women he was laying to rest and preparing for the funeral wasn't Willow. It was some other poor unfortunate soul. Willow's first kill.
True to her word, Aura came back for Willow and bought a treat with her.
She was about Willow's age with fair skin and auburn hair. She looked terrified, which gave Willow a sick thrill she would come to love. Willow had been in vamp face since leaving the hospital and upon seeing her the girl began to struggle and beg.
Willow forced her head to the right and dug her fangs into her jugular. The girl jerked around for a few seconds then gave up and went limp. Aura moved her head into a more upright position and began to feed from the other side. Once she was drained they dropped her body into a heep on the ground.
Aura's eyes twinkled as she looked at Willow. "I figured you'd be hungry." Aura stepped over the body and gave Willow a quick peck on the cheek. They were in an ally behind the hospital, where they receive deliveries. It was quite, the two girls alone.
Willow grabbed Aura by the front of her shirt and pulled her close. Even though they don't technically have to breath Aura's breath hitched. Her eyes narrowed and she wiggled her eyebrows at Willow suggestively.
Willow's face morphed back to normal and she flashed a bright smile. They kissed. It was deep and sweet. Willow pulled up on Aura's shirt, getting her hands up and over her bra and kneading her breasts. Aura moaned into Willows mouth, arching her back and thrusting her decent size bosom further into Willow's grasp.
Willow teased her nipples between her fingers, tugging and squeezing. Aura began to squirm, rotating her hips and pressing her full body against Willow.
"W-Willow" Aura whispered, suppressing another moan. Willow made a noise to acknowledge she'd heard her and to continue.
With difficulty she spoke, "I have an apartment...a little ways out of town." Willow stopped and dropped her hands, placing them on Aura's hips. She rose an eyebrow quizzically and she continued, "Maybe we should go back there if you want this," she cupped one of Willow's breasts. "To continue."
"Not much of a exhibitionist?" She asked with almost a cackle. She completely dropped her hold on Aura and stepped away. "That's disappointing." Aura's forehead crinkled, all playfulness and arousal gone.
Willow bent down and began undressing her prey. She'd been able to find a paper gown before walking out into the ally, but it wasn't enough if she wanted to go about town inconspicuously.
She tore off the gown and Aura took in her naked body in the dim lights. She was perfect.
She slipped the pants on first, noticing that they seemed to fit perfectly. Then she slipped the over sized sweater over her head. She could feel every fiber from the clothes on her skin. It felt amazing.
"Come on. I'm still hungry." She pulled the girl off the floor and dragged her back in the door they had come out of. It wouldn't do for her former friends to know that she was a vampire and with the hospitals policy of letting families and friends know when there loved ones had up and walked away, they'd know. The girl looked enough like her that no one should notice the dead girl wasn't her.
As they walked through they startled a hospital worker who told them it the door was for employees only and asked them to please go back out and around to the front. When he looked down and noticed that she was dragging a body he panicked and turned to run. But before he got a chance Willow reached out and broke his neck without blinking. She turned to gauge Aura's reaction, she was smiling again.
The rest of her first night as a vampire could only be described as fun if you're a raging sadist.
They'd began the night at The Bronze and after scanning the crowd they decided to claim a young couple as their first victims. Willow approached them first, she was a chubby girl with her hair in pigtails and a dorky smile on her face. Willow pegged them as just over 18 years old. She told the girl she loved her hair and that she wished she could pull off the pigtail look. The girl seemed flattered and fell into conversation with Willow easily. Aura worked over the boy, tall, lanky, acne ridden with too much hair gel. Your stereotypical poindexter. She lead him away while Willow and the girl, Misty, talked about her couponing addiction.
Willow pretended to be engrossed in the girls chatter until she bought up her boyfriend. "Hey, did you see where my boyfriend, Tyler, went? I think I saw him talking to your friend." Willow looked around and spotted them making out on the catwalk. Jealously rolled over her but she maintained her composure. Misty followed Willow's gaze and saw what was happening. Her jaw dropped open and the look of pain on her face was delicious.
Willow leaned in and whispered in the girls ear, "Do you wanna get revenge on him?" Misty pulled back and gave Willow a 'are you kidding look'. Willow smiled and grabbed her girls hand, leading her up the stairs and towards Aura and Tyler.
They weren't kissing anymore, just standing close together and talking. Willow cleared her throat as they approached. Misty couldn't keep the look of betrayal and disdain off her face. Tyler noticed, a look of fear swept his features.
"Mis, it isn't what you think." He put his hands up and took a step back, creating distance between himself and Aura. It wasn't crowded for a Thursday night, but it was still a strain to hear over the band playing below.
"Really? You weren't mouth fucking her a second ago?" She was nearly yelling.
Willow took Misty's hand again and pulled her in. "What do you wanna do?" She smiled as an evil glint shown in Misty's eye.
"I wanna hit him."
Aura reached for her and pulled her between Tyler and herself.
"Do it then." She pushed her forward so that Misty had to reach out for Tyler to steady herself. She looked up at him as she straightened up, then reached out with a flat palm and slapped him right across the face. It was a loud slap and the few people up on the cat walk with them looked over.
He stumbled back and held onto his cheek. His face was flushed red as the blood rushed to the afflicted area. She smiled triumphantly. He looked hurt and in shock, but it was to be expected.
"What else do you wanna do to him?" Willow purred. "Come on, baby, get creative."
At the end of the night both Misty and Tyler were dead. But not before Tyler was viciously beat and bludgeoned. It ended with Willow forcing Misty to drink Tyler's blood. She was crying and vomiting as she sucked on the gushing wound on his neck, torn apart by Willow.
Willow had then drained Misty. Aura watched all this with a sense of sick wonder.
"That was intense." She watched Willow drop her kill. "I've never met an animal like you." She smiled. Willow kissed her and then she left her exhibitionist side shine through.
The funeral itself was brutal. Between Shelia's broken wails and Dawn's heart retching sobs. Xander and Anya sat in the back. Xander hadn't said much since he found her two day ago, it was like finding Willow dead had taken the light out of him and Anya was afraid it was never coming back.
Tara sat one row ahead of them with Dawn leaning on her shoulder. They'd all endured so much pain and loss lately and Dawn wasn't sure if she'd be able to take it anyone. In less then a year she'd lost her mother, sister and a close friend. She wrapped herself around Tara's arm, afraid that if she let go she'd lose her too.
Next to Tara was Giles. He sat staring forward with vacant eyes. He hadn't responded when they told him the news that Willow had passed. He grunted and went back to looking slack jawed and dead. They'd dressed him up as much as they could. But he looked so unkempt it didn't matter what they dressed him up in. He still looked like a homeless person.
He'd been fine the days following Buffy's death but slowly slipped away the more realistic her being gone became. Anya kept suggesting they take him somewhere or they get him help. But Tara and Willow had felt that was abandoning him when he needed them the most. Now, Tara wasn't so sure that wouldn't be what was best for him.
A couple people asked after Buffy, the agreed upon excuse that Buffy was out of town conducting business and that she had tried to come back for the funeral but wasn't able to.
After the service everyone was invited to go back to the Rosenburg house to sit shiva, but the four, five if you include Giles, declined the invitation. Willow may have been Jewish, but she didn't practice and thus they thought it was a misrepresentation of who she was and how she lived her life. Tara said she knew a couple spells, some of Willow's favorites, that would be safe to do and a perfect way to honor and send off their friend.