A/N So now we come to Tuesday October 20th 1998. This was the episode 'Beauty and the Beasts'. A student appears to have been mauled to death and Oz-Wolf is a suspect. It turns out to be an abusive asshole who Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde'd himself. The actual full moon, which I tied to Cordelia's second transformation (not the first since I didn't think of that until her second, darn it), was two weeks ago. On the show, it happened while Oz was Oz-Wolf. Since Cordy's transformation cycle doesn't match up, neither she nor Xander suspect her. None of the others either, but the recent presentation will make them wonder about werewolves, so Cordelia and Xander will get to see how the others deal with the possibility of a werewolf. Also, Angel comes back. Personally I'd like to leave him out of it. I know a lot people thought his and Buffy's relationship was romantic. I thought both he and Spike were obsessed with her. It never seemed romantic to me. My opinion, I'm entitled to it. I know a lot won't agree.
Giles sat at the library table reading the newspaper. An article had him concerned. It described an actual animal attack, not at all like the supposed attacks of vampires that were usually blamed on animals. No sign of the animal itself had been found and that was equally concerning. The tracks of an animal shouldn't be that difficult to find.
When Xander wondered in during his free third period to see if Giles had anything else for him to move, Giles showed him the article, asking him for his opinion, based on his Soldier knowledge.
After taking a moment to be awed by Giles asking for his opinion, Xander looked at the article. Then frowned, "Giles, it says this happened in the woods, but they found no animal tracks, that's weird. Also, they don't mention what kind of tracks they did find. It doesn't actually sound like an animal attack, maybe someone faked it, tried to make it look like animals did it. Either a vamp is trying to pretend they didn't do it or I'd say a human did it. Or they didn't print all the info, sometimes cops withhold stuff so they don't get copycats and stuff. We should check out the body itself. We've broken into the morgue before. Getting a look at the body might tell us if we have a clever vamp, a disturbed human or an actual animal."
"You're getting good at presenting logical arguments, I was thinking similar thoughts. It just doesn't seem to match anything we've dealt with before. Something new to consider. Please let the others know when you see them. After classes lets out you can collect Faith and all of you can go check it out.
"Sure, Giles. Giles, thanks for you know, giving me a chance. I appreciate it."
"No problem, my boy, I'm sorry it's taken me this long to realize your need and ability to contribute."
Xander headed to the cafeteria to meet up with the Scooby Gang.
"So Giles has a new mystery for us to try to unravel. There was an animal attack in Miller's Woods. On the surface it looks like a genuine animal attack, not one just being called that. But there's some missing info. No signs of animal prints mentioned in the article and no speculation as to what kind of animal it might have been. Current theories include vamp getting creative, human getting creative or unknown creature we haven't dealt with before. Giles wants us to check out the morgue after classes are done and examine the body, see if there are any clues to point us in a direction of a culprit. So we grab Faith and head out, any objections?"
"Oh, if we find any samples, I can do an analysis in the chem lab," Willow said eagerly.
"Something new, huh? Well, at the very least, we should determine if this is something in our jurisdiction or something to leave to the cops. So yah I'm in."
"You're not leaving me out, Doofus, I'm coming too."
"Same."
After classes let out they all headed over to pick up Faith, who was expecting them since Giles had called her earlier and they drove over to the morgue.
"You guys do this often, break into the morgue, I mean." Faith asked.
"Well we've had to do it a few times. Actually it's not so much breaking in as just opening the door. They don't lock it. That's Sunnydale for you, hot and cold running vamps." Xander answered, from the backseat as Cordelia drove. The others having piled into Oz's van.
Once inside, Willow began looking for samples to collect, while Buffy and Faith kept watch for any early risers. Xander did a visual inspection, searching through his Soldier knowledge to see if anything kicked in.
Cordelia frowned, something about the smell was off. It smelled human, but with some weird under tone, maybe whoever the attacker was, they were sick or maybe high, 'great,' thought Cordelia, 'an actual gang member on PCP.'
Willow looked excited as she found a few strands of hair and used a small forceps to pick some up and put it in a small pouch. "You know, maybe this is a werewolf, like from Giles' presentation."
"Not a werewolf," Xander said absently, "no full moon tonight, it's two weeks until the next one."
Xander moved his hand toward the slash marks, moving his fingers apart to get and idea of whether it was human, vampire or animal. "I don't think an animal did this," he said, "I'm not sure a vampire did either. These marks are too shallow for claws either of them can sport. And too far apart for claws on a paw. Maybe a human with metal claws or some type of creature we haven't seen before."
"Well, it could be one of those werewolves that are in control of their transformations or one of those witches that know how to transform or one of those people that make deals with demons." Willow said.
"I hope never to meet a human that willing makes a deal with a demon. That is a different level of scary." Xander said. "Get everything you need, Willow?"
"Yes, I can analyse this in the chem lab. We can go now."
They headed back to the school, while Faith and Buffy went patrolling.
Once there, Cordelia pulled Xander away to tell him her observations, he nodded, "that jives with what I was thinking, it seems to lean more towards human getting creative, than anything else. We should talk to Giles."
They headed for the library to fill Giles in.
"Giles, Willow is analysing a hair sample she found on the body. I don't know how long that will take her. The slash marks on the body aren't deep enough to be an animal, plus too widely spaced for a paw and I don't think they're vampire either, they're too neat for that. I'm leaning towards a human getting creative in some way, maybe with metal claws, short and strong."
Just then, Willow came in, "the hair's human, but it's got a chemical I can't identify in it, maybe some kind of drug."
"That fits with Xander's observations as well, he believes a human made the slash marks, perhaps with small false claws." Giles said.
"If the cops are thinking the same thing, it would explain why the article was incomplete. They're withholding that information to avoid copycats and use it to identify possible other victims. We should check out the woods after school, see if we can spot any unusual tracks." Xander said.
"Excellent idea. I will be at the shop after school tomorrow as a delivery is being made. Come over there after your done. Why don't you head home for now. I'll see you all tomorrow."
"After school tomorrow, I'm meeting Amanda and Sherry for my first healing session. We're doing it at my place since my parents aren't home and they said I have to rest afterward. So I'll see you guys at school the next day." Willow said.
