"Hey, Buffy." Pike smiled at her. Within seconds, Buffy had her arms around her old friend.

"What are you doing here?" she stepped back, holding him by the shoulders to get a good look at him.

"Uh, who is this?" Cordelia asked.

"Oh, sorry." Buffy turned around. "Everyone, this is Pike. He helped me fight vampires back in Los Angeles. Pike, this is Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz, Angel, Jenny, and Giles," she introduced each in turn.

"Another old friend from Los Angeles?" Xander stood up and looked at Pike suspiciously. "And you're sure you can trust him?"

"Yes, I'm sure." After what happened with Ford, Buffy would have been slow to trust anyone from Los Angeles, but Pike was the exception. Pike had been her first ally.

"It's, uh, very good to meet you," Giles shook Pike's hand. "You, uh, said you could help us?"

"Yeah. Basically… I'm your werewolf." Pike noticed Oz's bandaged shoulder. "Sorry."

Oz did not reply.

"I got bitten about three months ago. I decided to come here for help." Pike looked at Buffy. "I figured that if anyone could help me, it would be you." He glanced back at Oz. "I also guessed that the guy I bit might be with you. Thought I could help him."

"Help me how?" Oz asked.

"Tell you what it's like to be a werewolf."

"The first time I changed, I didn't remember anything. One minute I was alone in my room, the next I was naked in an alley halfway across town." Pike smiled at the memory. "But then things started to come back to me. Bits and pieces at first. Now, I remember everything that happens while I'm a wolf."

"So you and the werewolf have a connection," Giles realized.

"Yeah. And it works both ways – the wolf can eventually draw on my memories as well. That's why I didn't attack you, Buffy. The wolf remembered you."

"It didn't want to hurt her?" Oz asked hopefully. If so, then he wouldn't be likely to hurt Willow.

"It also didn't want to get its ass kicked by the Slayer," Pike leaned back in his chair. "I've seen you beat the crap out of vampires, Buffy. If there's one thing that the wolf and I agree on, it's that fighting you is a bad idea."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Buffy replied.

"So Oz isn't really a danger," Willow piped up. "I mean, we're his friends. He won't attack us!"

Pike shook his head. "I don't know. It's his first time. There's no connection yet."

"And he might go after someone else," Jenny added. "I mean, Pike didn't want to attack Buffy, but that didn't stop him from going after Oz."

"I suppose we could… lock them both in the book cage," Giles suggested.

"That should work," Pike nodded.

"So," Buffy asked Pike, "how did you get bitten by a werewolf? Thought you'd know better than to go out at night."

"Yeah, well, I'm stupid," Pike laughed. "I was out hunting one night, got attacked."

"Hunting?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." He nursed a coffee. "I guess once you've seen… what we've seen… you can't just forget about it. So I kept going after vamps even after you left."

Buffy got a look of concern on her face.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not alone. I hooked up with this one guy, name of Gunn. Good man. Cute sister." He smiled. "Anyway, he and his gang have been fighting vamps for years. They know how to do it and not die."

"Do they know about you being a werewolf?"

"No. I haven't told them. I'm kinda scared that they might kill me. And we don't have a book cage in Los Angeles to hold me."

"Well, we've got a gig in L.A. next week. Oz and I could swing by, explain things to your gang, get something set up."

"I knew you'd help," Pike smiled. He looked back at the other people in the room. "Looks like you've got your own gang here."

"Yep."

"I noticed one of them – Angel, I think – he was looking at you a lot. Are you and him –"

"Engaged." She smiled. "The wedding's next January. You're invited, by the way."

"What's his story? He's a little old to be a student."

"Vampire with a soul," Buffy deadpanned.

"Wait, did you say vampire?" The last thing Pike had expected was for Buffy to be working with a vampire – let alone engaged to one.

"With a soul," she repeated. "Angel's on our side."

Pike was still a little stunned. But he was hardly going to contradict Buffy. If she felt she could trust him, then he was probably OK.

"I can never figure you out," he said at last.

Buffy looked at the clock. "It's time."

As Cain finished reassembling his gun, he looked towards the horizon again. The sun was almost down.

Hunting – whether you were hunting deer or werewolves – was mostly patience. Cain had spent all day outside the school, waiting for sunset so he could go in and take out the new werewolf. Cain would never shoot a possible werewolf in human form, unless he had seen them change. The boy might not be a werewolf. And Cain would give him a chance.

Also, he never had to deal with the cops this way.

Cain downed another cup of coffee. Being a werewolf hunter meant spending three days of the month awake. It wasn't easy at the best of times, but spending all day staking out a high school after two days with no sleep required considerable effort – and a lot of caffeine.

Cain glanced again at the horizon. The sun was down. It was time.

Everything was set up now. Jenny and Cordelia had left, while Willow, Xander, and Giles would stay to watch over Pike and Oz for the night. Buffy and Angel were off to patrol. Buffy had taken a pager so Willow could contact her if anything went wrong.

Now all there was to do was wait for the moon to rise.

"So, anything else I should know about being a werewolf?" Oz asked.

"Well, you may start craving a lot of meat, especially after you've changed. I try to eat a lot around the full moon, so the wolf isn't so hungry."

"OK." That was actually a pretty good idea. "Any upsides?"

"Heightened senses. Especially smell. That's how I found you here. After I changed back to human, I went back to that nightclub, and tracked you here."

"Cool."

Without warning, adrenalin surged through Oz's body.

"It's starting."

Oz felt something growing inside of him. It was ancient and primal. He looked at his hands – they were covered in fur.

Then everything went black.

Xander didn't want watch the change. But at the same time, he couldn't look away. He simply stared away as Oz and Pike grew fur. As their faces elongated into snouts. As their teeth became fangs. As they turned into werewolves.

It was not pleasant to watch.

Xander saw Willow rushing out of the library, cupping her hand to her mouth. Even Giles was looking a little pale. At least when vampires changed their appearance, it was quick. Xander resolved then and there that if he ever ended up guarding a werewolf again – and he figured it was likely – he would look away when they changed.

And now the most boring part of fighting monsters – waiting.

Cain crept down the hallways of the high school, gun in hand. For whatever reason, the werewolf hadn't left yet. Maybe it was eating the stupid blond girl. Or maybe she had actually managed to restrain it. Why she would do so in a school of all places, Cain had no idea. But it didn't matter.

He picked up the sound of growling from not too far away. Rounding a corner, he saw a set of double doors. The sign above them said "LIBRARY". The wolf was in there.

As Cain considered how to proceed, he heard another sound from nearby. The sound of someone throwing up, followed by a toilet flushing. A slim, red-headed girl walked out of the restroom – and right into him.

"Oof!" Cain stumbled backwards. The girl sized him up.

"Let me guess – you're here to kill the werewolf?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Cain replied. In addition to teaching him how to hunt, his father always taught him to be a gentleman. Being polite would get you very far in life.

The girl thought for a moment, then gave him a very un-gentlewomanly punch in the jaw, knocking him to the floor.

"GILES!" she screamed, and ran back into the library. Cain scrambled to his feet. When he got there, the library doors were open, and the scariest librarian he had ever seen was standing there.

That he was a librarian – or at least a teacher – Cain was nearly certain. He was older than Cain, wearing glasses and a tweed jacket. However, he also had a grim expression on his face, and a crossbow in his hands.

"Leave, or I fire," he demanded. His accent was British. Cain recognized him as the man who had accompanied Buffy to the nightclub.

"Not a chance," Cain stood his ground.

The librarian fired. Cain's reflexes were fast, but the crossbow bolt managed to graze his cheek. His hand went to his face, and he cringed in pain. When he recovered, the librarian was already reloading.

Cain considered himself a brave man. But in truth, his ability to face down werewolves without fear came from experience. A werewolf isn't so scary after you've killed eleven of them before.

He had never faced an angry British librarian with a crossbow before.

So he ran. He found a door labeled "ROOF ACCESS". He had glimpsed a skylight in the library – that would be much better than trying to get past the librarian.

Another crossbow bolt embedding itself in the door before he closed it told him he was right.

"Willow, page Buffy," Giles ordered.

Willow put in the number as if Oz's life depended on it. Which it did.

"Done."

Willow heard the sound of breaking glass from above. She looked up, and saw Cain looming overhead.

"Up!" she yelled.

Xander raised the tranquilizer gun and fired at Cain. He missed, but it was enough to throw off Cain's aim. The bullet struck the lock on the book cage. Oz and Pike growled.

Willow didn't even think about what she was doing. She grabbed a battleaxe lying on the table, and swung it at the lock, smashing it. Oz and Pike burst out the door. Pike skidded to a halt, then bolted for the door. Oz followed.

"After them!" Willow raced after Oz, still holding her battleaxe. Giles and Xander were right behind her.

Cain would be lying if he said that things always went well hunting werewolves. There was always some complication. But never had he met people who were hell-bent on protecting these werewolves from him. And who used a crossbow anymore?

Cain followed them from a safe distance. He knew how to be stealthy, and they were more concerned about tracking the werewolves.

Sometime after they entered a forest, Cain heard the distinctive sound of an air rifle firing, followed by two yelps. He found them in a clearing, and Cain finally got a good look at his quarry.

There was the librarian, of course, still holding his crossbow. He had removed his glasses, and now looked even more fearsome. Wielding the air rifle was the same boy who had taken a shot at him at the school. And the girl who had punched him was now clutching a battleaxe. A fourth man was unarmed, but he looked no less capable than the rest of them. They were standing between Cain and the werewolves.

Who the hell were these people?

"Get out of the way," Cain demanded, pointing his gun at the wolves.

The fourth man laughed.

"What's so funny?" Cain tilted his head in confusion.

It felt like being hit with a wrecking ball. Cain flew halfway across the clearing, landing with his face down in a mound of earth. When he got up, Buffy – the blond girl who had challenged him – was standing behind him. She knelt down, picked up his rifle, and bent the barrel.

"Get out of my town." She threw the gun back at him.

When Oz woke up, he wasn't at Sunnydale High. He was in a crypt. He looked around to see Pike slowly getting up.

"Hey, what happened?" he asked.

"If I remember right," Pike got to his feet, "we got attacked by that werewolf hunter, and somehow got out of the library. I don't remember how we got here, though."

"I shot you," Xander's head poked through the door. "Sorry. Buffy and Angel dragged you here." He tossed two sets of clothes in. "Get dressed."

After they got dressed, Willow and Buffy came in.

"Morning," Buffy greeted them.

"Hey, Oz," Willow was looking directly at Oz. Buffy seemed to notice this.

"Pike, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." They walked out, leaving Oz and Willow alone. There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute.

"How you doing?" Willow finally asked.

"Not that bad," Oz replied. "I mean, at least I didn't hurt anyone last night. Still may take some time getting used to."

"Yeah," Willow nodded. "It's a complication."

"So..." he started pacing, "maybe it'd be best if I just... sorta..."

"What?" Willow looked worried.

"Well, you know, like, stayed out of your way for awhile." It wasn't that Oz didn't want Willow – he did – he just didn't want her to be afraid.

"I don't know," she said after a momen. "I'm kind of okay with you being in my way."

Oz stopped and faced her. "You mean, you'd still..."

"Well, I like you. You're nice and you're funny. And you don't smoke. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that's not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either."

Oz stood there in awe. "You are quite the human."

Willow smiled."So, I'd still if you'd still."

"Oh I'd still. I'd very still."

Her smile got even bigger. "Okay."

"Agreed," Oz replied.

"There's a coffee shop across the street. You want me to get you something?"

"Danish would be nice."

Willow walked off with a smile on her face. Then she turned around. She looked at him, then planted a kiss right on his lips before leaving again. Oz watched her as she went, a smile on his face.

"A werewolf in love," he said to himself.

Cain sat in a Fremont bar. Sunnydale had been a disaster for him. He had been defeated – not by a wolf, but by a misguided girl with superhuman strength and some very strange friends.

"Gib Cain?"

A man with a thick accent sat down next to him. He had a knowing look on his face.

"My name is Enyos Kalderash. I believe we can help each other."

Guest Stars:

Jack Conley as Cain

Seth Green as Oz

Jason Hall as Devon

Robia LaMorte as Jenny Calendar

Vincent Schiavelli as Enyos Kalderash

Milo Ventimiglia as Pike

A/N: First of all, thank you for all the reviews!

Second, I am dropping the episode titles for the remainder of the season. Next up is "Domestic Troubles", where Buffy and Angel deal with the realities of their new relationship. Following this will be two linked episodes: "Agony" and "Vengeance". After that, we have "Pilgrimage" (guest-starring Bianca Lawson), "Requiem" (guest-starring Eric Balfour), and then the finale: "Justice" and "Angel of Death".

Finally, I would like to encourage you to include speculation in your reviews. Knowing what your expectations are makes it so much easier to mess with them, which any self-respecting Buffy fanfic writer should try to do. To kick off the speculation, I am dropping one little tidbit:

We have already met the Angel of Death.