In the next morning, for once, Pat was the first one to wake up, Willow still slumbering soundly next to her; this made the demon smirk slightly, since usually, the witch woke up before she did if there was no alarm clock to interrupt their dreams, the fact that she still was fast asleep showing her how much she had tired her out the night before.
Not that she complained, the black haired woman thought to herself as she carefully got out of bed, giving her best to move quietly, not wanting to wake her partner up; she took another moment to study the sleeping redhead, a warm smile curling her lips, before she moved to the kitchen, still making sure to keep the noise level down to a minimum as she started preparing the coffee machine, then located her cigarettes and lit one of them up after she had switched the machine on, watching how the black liquid slowly started to run through, her mouth watering at the mere thought of the coffee which soon would be done.
Just as she brought the cigarette up to her mouth again though, something in the corner of her good eye caught her attention, a vaguely humanoid shape moving in the corner of the kitchen; with her instincts kicking in, and remembering that she had seen something similar the night before at the cemetery, the demon spun around, fists already raised, ready to fight whichever being had been stupid enough to invade the apartment of a demon and her partner, one of the most powerful witches of the country, if not even the world.
To her dismay though, she found herself alone in an empty room, momentarily feeling a bit stupid; shaking her head to herself, she took a moment to rub at her good eye, asking herself if perhaps, the fact she just had woken up could be blamed for what she had seen, then allowed herself to relax again, making a mental note to tell Willow about this as soon as she'd be up – after all, it was the second time she had seen this shadow from the corner of her eye, and in Sunnydale, this probably didn't mean a good thing.
Sighing to herself, asking herself what this thing now was and why they never could have more than a week or two of peace – after all, the Shapeshifters they had dealt with as their last big adventure only had left sixteen days ago – Pat moved over to the coffee machine as it got done and poured herself a cup of the hot liquid; and just as she brought it up to her mouth after pouring in her usual rather high amount of sugar and stirring, sharp pain flashed through her brain, startling and hurting her enough to prompt her into letting out a small yelp, the cup sliding from her grasp and falling to the floor where it shattered noisily, coffee splashing everywhere.
Moments later, hurried footsteps approached the kitchen while the demon clutched at her head with both hands, groaning; and then, Willow was there and by her side, hugging her and asking her what was wrong, the alarmed and concerned sound of her voice touching the black haired woman despite the pain which still was pulsing through her head, in perfect sync with her heartbeat.
"Headache", she managed to press out between grit teeth, the pain by now so intense that stars were exploding in her field of vision, "ow, fuck, what the Hell!"
Not sure what she could do to help, all Willow could think of was rubbing her back soothingly, racking her mind for any healing spells she might know – before she remembered the pack of painkillers they had in the bathroom, but just as she straightened up to get it, the pain vanished as fast as it had begun, leaving the demon to blink in confusion, the way she relaxed at once making it obvious to the witch that her partner had gotten better again.
"Wow", Pat mumbled, running one hand through her hair, cautious, almost expecting the pain to come back any moment, "that was… intense."
"Poor you", Willow showed some sympathy, leading her to the nearest chair, making sure neither of them would step onto any of the shards the coffee cup had been reduced to when the taller woman had dropped it, "have you ever had this before?"
"No", the demon grumbled as she sat down, taking a nervous drag of her cigarette afterwards, "in fact, I hardly ever get headaches. Usually just if someone hits me in the head."
"And I suppose no one hit you in the head", Willow gave back, glancing around as if she expected an assailant to pop up; letting out a sigh, the taller woman shook her head, making her look at her again, prompting her to choose her next words wisely since she didn't want to freak the witch out.
"No, no one hit me", she reassured her, "but… Well, I don't even know how to say this without sounding dumb, but yesterday at the cemetery and today, just before the headache started, I… saw something."
"You saw something?" the witch echoed, not sure what to think of this, "what?"
"I'm not sure", the demon sighed, giving her a dismayed look, "I just saw it from the corner of my eye, it was… some kind of shadow. Yesterday I thought it was just a moving tree or something, and this morning, that it came from just getting up minutes before it happened, but then the headache started, and, well… We are in Sunnydale…"
"Good point", Willow had to admit, "did you see it well enough to describe it better?"
"It looked vaguely humanoid, I think", Pat let her know, "but when I looked at it directly, it was gone, so I'm not really sure."
"We should look this up", the witch decided in reply, "maybe look for hauntings, or demons which take on this form… Should we ask Giles?"
"I'd like to say now that this isn't necessary", the taller woman grumbled, "but, considering I saw it twice now and that it gave me a massive headache… I don't think that's a coincidence, so yeah, we should ask him."
"Just when we thought there'd finally be some peace and quiet", Willow sighed, moving to sit in her partner's lap and smiling slightly again when immediately, Pat put both arms around her, "I guess we'll never have more than a few weeks of no action in our lives in a row, huh?"
"Seems so", the taller woman agreed with a sigh of her own, "but maybe, we'll be lucky for once and it'll be solved easy."
Even though she wasn't all too sure about that, Willow nodded, then bent down to kiss her partner tenderly and hopefully reassuringly; and afterwards, they both pushed the incident to the back of their mind and focused on preparing and having breakfast together, giving their best not to worry about the new challenge which might lie ahead of them.
"This is quite worrying", Giles told Willow over the phone an hour later, after the witch had explained what had happened to her partner, "I'll look into this right after we end this call."
"You really think it's that bad?" Willow wanted to know, frowning while Pat moved closer to her and embraced her from behind, straining to hear what the Watcher was saying, "I mean, she just saw this shadow…thing and then she got a headache."
"It might not be as serious as I think now", Giles let her know in response, and she could almost hear how he took off his glasses and started cleaning them, "but I still want to look into this quickly. With the information we have so far, this might be a number of apparitions and creatures, and I'm afraid none of them are all too kind."
"Figures", Willow sighed, smiling again though when she heard Pat let out a low snort behind her, making it clear that she had heard what Giles had said, as well, "can you give us a bit more information? So we can start looking into it as well?"
"It could be a curse", Giles let her know in reply, making both Pat and her frown, "or a vengeful spirit. Possibly also just a random ghost which haunts the first place it finds. Or something sent by another entity, there are several demons which use shadow type creatures as their minions and familiars."
"I've already been cursed once", Pat grumbled under her breath, "isn't that enough?"
"Not that it's so much of a curse anymore, right?" Willow pointed out to her, prompting Giles to let out a vaguely questioning noise and quickly making her tell him that she had been talking to her partner.
"We'll look into it", she then let him know, "and call you as soon as we find anything."
"I will do the same", Giles promised her in reply, "and… try not to be too concerned, I am confident that we will solve this quickly."
"We always do", Willow agreed, "and thanks." The Brit reassured her that it was no problem, then asked her if she needed anything else; and after she had reassured him that she didn't and had said goodbye, she hung up the phone and turned in her partner's embrace, giving her an unhappy look as she glanced up at her.
"So, a number of options, and none of them all too pleasing", she then sighed, prompting the black haired woman to tighten her embrace around her, "I really don't like the thought of anyone cursing you or sending shadow-creature-minions after you…"
"Neither do I", the demon had to admit, "especially since we have no idea who might be behind this. And, well, if we're honest, the possibilities aren't exactly limited…"
"I know", Willow had to admit, looking even more dismayed than she had a minute ago; usually, she was usually quite good about ignoring the things her partner had done before she had come to Sunnydale and they had found each other, just like the rest of the group, all of them holding the view that by now, the demon had more than redeemed herself for her past, having helped with saving the world quite a few times after all, but just like when a deranged madman had been after her for killing his mother, she found it hard to ignore her bloody past now, as well.
"I'm sorry", Pat sighed, demonstrating once more how well she read her partner by now, "and I wish I could tell you this is the last time someone comes after me with a desire for vengeance, but…" She trailed off, not wanting to add what still was on her mind – namely that she had killed hundreds of people before Sunnydale and the relationship with the witch, doing it for a living and to satisfy the need for violence caused by her demonic nature.
"Maybe it's not someone who's after you personally, though", Willow pointed out after a moment, remembering this little bit of information Giles had given her, "but just some random haunting. Who knows?"
"Yeah, who knows", the demon mumbled, "but I guess we both know how slim the chances for that are…"
"…yes", Willow had to admit, "I know…" Holding back another sigh, she snuggled up to the taller woman, resting her head against her chest, letting her heartbeat soothe her a bit; holding her close to herself, Pat started caressing her back once more, her voice down to a low rumble when she spoke up again.
"Whatever it is, this time, I won't let you get hurt again. Not like when Piretti was after you", she promised, making the redhead smile slightly with how protective she was of her, "I'm not gonna leave you out of my sight until we solved this."
"Even when I have to go to college?" Willow wanted to know with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit after the not so good news they had gotten from Giles; it didn't surprise her that immediately, Pat shook her head, then told her "Not even then", prompting the smaller woman to giggle slightly, the demon smirking a moment later, as well.
"Don't you laugh", she then said, waggling a finger at her, "I mean it. I'm gonna lurk around at campus all day long. Just wait and see."
"I don't doubt that", Willow giggled, standing on the tips of her toes to press a quick, but gentle kiss on her cheek, "but just make sure no one reports you as suspicious, or starts thinking you're stalking me."
"Nah", the demon gave back, confident, "I can lurk without anyone noticing. Experience, remember? Also, don't a lot of the people know we're together anyway?"
"True", Willow agreed, moving one hand to play with a few strands of the taller woman's hair, "and it's not like you're hard to recognize. Did you know that some of the students are scared of you?"
"If that keeps them from hitting on you, fine with me", Pat shrugged, making her partner laugh once more; she shook her head, then pulled the demon down for a tender kiss, closing her eyes as it deepened, giving her best to keep her worries about whatever might be after her partner at bay, telling herself that surely, they would find out everything there was to know about this soon and that no harm would come to the woman she loved.