Kiss Me Deadly by Elisabeth

Rating: R
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Joss et al.
Distribution: Willow's Dragony Dreams: http://www.dragonydreams.com/
The Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: Yes please! It makes me happy and keeps me writing.
Author's Notes: This story was inspired by a vignette written by Aaronlisa, and has been written with her permission to expand on it. (Alternate Realities: Willow #2)
Author's Note #2: I played around with the timeline a bit during Season 2 for this story. Pretend that Willow and Oz had been dating for a month or so when Phases occurs. (Dialogue borrowed from both Phases and Becoming I & II courtesy of www.buffyworld.com)
Author's Note #3: Thank you to my tireless betas for holding my hand through the months it has taken me to write this story.
Pairing: Willow/Oz

Summary: Sometimes it's the little things that have the biggest consequences.

Willow bounced on the balls of her feet in front of the school. It was Monday morning and Oz would be showing up soon. Oz…her boyfriend. She barely suppressed a girlish giggle at that thought. She, Willow Rosenberg, head of the geek squad, had a boyfriend. And not just any Joe-shmoe boyfriend, but one who was a musician.

A small part of her still wished that Xander could be her boyfriend, but she was happy with Oz. He really seemed to like her and want to be with her. He even noticed that she was a girl and not just someone you're friends with.

Ever since they had started dating a few weeks ago, they had spent at least a couple of hours together everyday. But this past weekend Oz had to go with his parents to visit his aunt and uncle. Oz had been excited to see his little cousin Jordy, who he hadn't seen in over a year. He had been looking forward to getting to know his cousin better.

Oz saw Willow waiting for him and let a tiny grin quirk his lips. He'd missed her more than he thought he would while he was gone. He didn't know what it was about Willow that enthralled him so thoroughly, but whatever it was, he didn't care, so long as she wanted to be with him too.

Oz picked his way through the throng of students taking their time entering the school. Casually, he stepped up next to Willow, just standing there, looking out at the street. After a minute or two he finally said, "What are we looking for?"

Willow nearly jumped out of her skin when someone spoke directly next to her. She spun to yell at her spooker, but squealed instead, jumping into Oz's arms with an excited, "Oz, you're back!"

Oz wrapped his arms around his bouncing girlfriend, relishing the feel of her in his arms.

"Why'd you sneak up on me like that?" Willow pouted prettily, pulling back a little, but staying within his arms.

"Didn't think I was," he answered, knowing he had, but not planning on telling her that.

Pulling Willow a little closer, Oz dipped his head, kissing her softly. He could feel Willow smiling into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Willow still couldn't believe that there was a boy who wanted to kiss her. She knew she was smiling, but she couldn't help it. It was still so new to her. She didn't know what she'd done to deserve Oz, and wasn't really sure that she did, but who was she to complain when he was kissing her in front of the whole school.

"I missed you," Oz confessed when the kiss ended. Embarrassed by his confession, Oz took Willow's hand in his and started for the doors to the school. "So what'd you do all weekend?"

Willow followed Oz into the building. "Oh, the usual. Partied all night, slept all day…" At Oz's raised eyebrow she relented. "Okay, I went to the Bronze with Buffy and Xander and did my homework." After a beat, she quietly added, "I missed you too."

"Now that sounds more like my girl." They had reached Oz's locker and he stopped to get his books for the day.

'His girl,' Willow repeated the words in her head, loving the sound of it. As Oz gathered his books, Willow looked around the bustling hallway. There were other students at their lockers; some preening in front of mirrors, some hiding the things they didn't want teachers and parents to know they had, some just getting books. At the end of the hallway a group of football players were tossing a ball back and forth as they cruised the halls.

Deciding it had been too long since they'd kissed, Oz remedied that situation. Willow was a little self-conscious kissing Oz in the middle of the hallway at school, but as his lips parted and his tongue darted out to tease her lips, she quickly forgot. Feeling bold, Willow opened to Oz's silent plea.

Oz couldn't believe that Willow was letting him French kiss her. She usually insisted on keeping the PDA to a minimum. He usually wasn't for it either, but whenever he was with Willow, he wanted to show the world that she was with him. Slipping his tongue into her mouth, Oz eagerly explored the recesses. When he started to retreat, pulling back slightly so that they could both get some air, Willow followed, her tongue now eagerly exploring his mouth.

They were so completely absorbed in each other, that they didn't hear the football team nearing them. The distant call of, "Go long," was lost to them. Therefore, they were extremely startled when Larry crashed into them as he made to catch the ball. The jolt caused Oz to accidentally bite down on Willow's tongue.

"Hey, sorry man," Larry blithely apologized, picking up the fallen ball and tossing it back to the guy who'd thrown it.

Turning his attention back to Willow, Oz brushed a lock of hair off her face. "You okay, baby?"

Willow captured the hand of his that had been in his hair and started towards her first class. Noticing a band aid on one of Oz's fingers, she asked, "What happened? You're hurt."

"Oh, it's nothing," Oz said dismissively. "My cousin Jordy just got his grownup teeth in. Does not like to be tickled."

Three days after the incident in the hallway, Willow eagerly anticipated the full moon rising. She'd always loved gazing at the moon through the telescope her parents had gotten her for her twelfth birthday.

She could understand why people were so superstitious of it for thousands of years. She'd always loved stories of Diana when she was growing up. Maybe it was the feminist in her that found special joy in a goddess being representative of the moon - goddess of fertility, woods and forests, and of animals. Goddess of the hunt and protector of children.

For some reason, she was especially aware of tomorrow's full moon. She could practically feel it in her bones, the rising of the full moon. She brushed the thought aside as she assigned the feeling to being with Oz after their two-day separation.

Willow and Oz were nearly inseparable at school. Aside from that kiss in the hallway the other day, they weren't too touchy-feely in public. Today, however, they could barely keep their hands off each other. They even met up in the back stacks of the library before the Scooby meeting to make out, something they only rarely did.

When the voices of their friends penetrated their lust-filled haze, they straightened their hair and clothing, going out to join in the research. Willow settled in front of her computer, hoping this would be a quick research session. She was too antsy to sit still for long.

Oz kissed the top of Willow's head, running his hand through her hair one last time before saying, "See ya tomorrow, babe. Better get to Dingoes."

"Bye, Oz," Willow reluctantly said, turning her head to nuzzle into his hand for a little longer. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He couldn't resist giving her one last kiss before leaving. He didn't know what had come over them today, but he most definitely wasn't going to complain about Willow being more frisky than usual. He idly blamed it on the phase of the moon.

"I see someone's been getting smoochies," Buffy teased. Willow blushed in response. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Willow admitted, ducking her head behind the computer monitor. "There's been really good smoochies."

"So what's the sitch?" Xander asked, ready to get out of there to go meet Cordelia. She promised to borrow her daddy's car tonight…Xander's eyes glazed over with thoughts of what they would do in that car and he pulled his chair closer to the table.

"There doesn't appear to be much vampiric activity at the moment," Giles admitted, sounding way too disappointed in the other library occupants' opinions. "We'll need to keep an eye out for any mayhem Angelus may be planning, but other than that--"

"I can live with that," Buffy excitedly agreed. Turning to Willow, she asked, "Pick you up after patrol?"

"I've, ah, got plans," he admitted, still not comfortable talking about his relationship with Cordelia in front of Willow.

"Don't sound so sad about it," Buffy jested. "It'll be great. We'll be able to have some long overdue girl talk about a certain musician. I'll be at your house to get you some time around 9pm."

Buffy rang the doorbell, again. It was 9:15. She knew she was a little late, but didn't think Willow would take off without her. They hadn't even discussed where they'd go tonight.

It was times like this that Buffy really noticed how often Willow's parents were out of town. If they'd been like normal parents, then they'd be home to answer the door if Willow was in the bathroom or something.

Buffy walked around to the back of the house to see if Willow left her balcony door open. If she did, then she could either shout up or climb up to it and get in that way. She was really starting to get worried now. It wasn't like Willow to not answer the doorbell, after six rings.

Sighing with relief upon seeing the open door, Buffy quickly scaled the trellis and alighted on the balcony. Willow's parents must have been idiots, or really trusting, to let their daughter have a room with such easy escape-ability. Then again, Willow would never use this as a means of leaving the house; she was too much of a good girl to do it.

"Hey, Willow, you gone deaf?" Buffy called out as she entered her best friend's room. Only Willow wasn't there.

"Oh, God, no!" Buffy squealed upon seeing the torn remnants of Willow's outfit from that day scattered across the floor.

Her immediate fear was that someone had broken in and raped and kidnapped her best friend. It was something that Angelus would do - and he'd been granted access to Willow's home before.

Scrambling for the phone next to Willow's bed, Buffy shakily dialed Giles' number, holding back the tears threatening to overtake her.

"Giles," she squeaked out when he answered, finally losing the battle as tears slid down her cheeks. "Willow's missing."

He wasn't lost. At least that's what Spike kept telling himself. Although, the closer to dawn that it got, the harder it was to believe.

He'd prowled these woods often before that blasted organ fell on him. Then again, he'd been living at the factory at the time, not some posh mansion with more windows than any vampire lair should have. He shouldn't complain though. His room at the mansion had its own porch, by which he was able to escape the wheelchair his sire and grand-sire thought he was confined to.

What Angelus wasn't aware of, was that Drusilla had gone against her precious Daddy's order not to help Spike. No, she couldn't stand to see her childe in so much pain; so when Angelus was out terrorizing the slayer, she would slip into Spike's room and feed him - now strengthened with her own sire's blood. That potent mixture had completely healed Spike's broken back, allowing him to sneak out and create his own mischief.

Unfortunately, tonight's mischief might have a dusty ending if Spike didn't find his way out of these woods soon. He paused and scented the air. There…he thought he smelled something familiar to his right. He quickly started moving towards the familiar scent, for on its heels was the scent of sunrise.

Spike stopped short as he entered a clearing. Lying beneath the trees was not what Spike had wanted to see.

'A werewolf!' he wanted to shout in frustration, but did so only in his head for fear of drawing its attention. 'Bloody perfect.' He gestured wildly, pacing at the edge of the clearing. 'Any other surprises for ole Spike?' he mentally asked the ether.

In answer to his question, the werewolf slowly began to morph back into human form. Spike watched, transfixed, having never observed this transformation in person before.

He let out a gasp of surprise as fur receded, revealing long auburn hair; pale, creamy flesh; small, perky breasts; and long, shapely legs. Looking back to her face, Spike now knew what the familiar scent he had been following was…the slayer's little friend…the werewolf.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he muttered to himself, creeping towards the sleeping girl. Squatting down, he brushed the hair away from her face for a better view, confirming visually what his other senses were already telling him. He'd seen this girl at Halloween, dressed more provocatively than he'd ever seen her dressed before. Caught his attention, it did. Seeing her naked though…Spike wondered why she bothered with clothing at all.

Feeling the sun's rays filtering through the leaf canopy, Spike was harshly reminded that dawn had arrived. Scooping the redhead into his arms as if she weighed nothing, Spike rushed off to find the nearest shelter he could. Ten minutes later he came to a cave and made a dash for its welcome protection.

Willow had remained asleep throughout the journey, but shortly after being set down on the cold, stone floor of the cave, she began to wake. She was dimly aware of the fact that she wasn't in her bed, and she was freezing. She reached to pull a blanket back over her, but she felt nothing except her own bare flesh.

Slowly, Willow cracked open her eyes, sitting up quickly upon seeing the cave surrounding her. She was even more shocked to see the vampire watching her with amusement dancing across his handsome face.

"Not getting burnt to a crisp," he blithely answered. Gesturing to the cave, he continued, "'Here', is a cave in the woods."

"H-how did I get here? Did you kidnap me? What do you want with me? And why am I naked?"

"Didn't snatch ya," Spike said, trying to sound offended. "Found ya sleeping in the woods. You were covered in fur at the time, but that went away when the sun came up."

"Fur?" Willow looked puzzled. She didn't own anything made of fur. She was against people wearing the skins of animals. Eyeing the long, black coat Spike was currently patting down in search of cigarettes, Willow hesitantly asked, "Can I, um, borrow your coat, to cover up?"

"Yeah, well it bothers me," Willow pouted. She ran her hands over her arms, trying to warm them against the chill of the damp cave.

Spike rolled his eyes at his own softness. He made a show of taking his coat off and tossing it to Willow.

"I'll give it back, just as soon as I get some clothes." Willow hurriedly put the coat on and then stood to find her way back home.

"Um, where do you think you're going?" Spike asked, his hand on her ankle stopping her.

"Home?" Willow asked uncertainly. "I've gotta get dressed and get to school. I don't know what I was doing out here, but I've gotta go. I'll bring your coat back after school."

"Was that going to be before or after sunset?" he asked, his tone making it sound like he knew something she should.

Knowing she was going to regret going along with it, Willow said, "Before. Why? What difference does it make?"

Spike studied his chipping black nail polish, purposely not looking at Willow as he spoke. "Well, if you were plannin' on bringing it back after dark, I'm afraid you'd end up ripping it to shreds. 'Sides, never did get along with werewolves all that well."

Spike finally lifted his eyes, smirking at the look on Willow's face. Her mouth was hanging open and she blinked at him in confusion.

"I'm not a werewolf," she vehemently denied. "Werewolves are big and hairy…" she recalled Spike's words about her wearing fur when he found her. She backed up, bumping into the wall behind her and slid down until she was sitting. "No, no, no, no, no."

"'Fraid so," Spike said. "Who would have thought that the slayer's little friend was a beastie?"

"I'm not…How can I be a werewolf?" Willow asked Spike, tears filling her eyes.

"Bit? But I'd know if a giant dog-like creature bit me," Willow insisted. "And I wasn't."

"Coulda been while it was in human form. Werewolves are shape shifters after all. 'Side from the three nights around the full moon, they look like anyone else. Can even go out in the daylight. Been biting anyone lately?"

"No, no one's bitten me…" Willow's eyes glazed over as she watched herself kissing Oz in the school hallway. A football player bumped into them, causing Oz to bite down on her tongue. She gasped, "Oz."

"My boyfriend, Oz. He bit me last week while we were…" she trailed off into a blush.

"We were kissing," Willow insisted, gaining a raised eyebrow from the vampire. "But he isn't…he would have told me…we were together during the last full moon at night and he was regular old Oz."

"Maybe he just got bit too," Spike offered, getting tired of the girl's denial. He knew what he saw. How it came to happen didn't matter to him.

"I'll bring it back before dark. Promise." Pulling the coat tight around her, Willow ran out of the cave, heading straight for her house and some clothes.

"You better bring it back," Spike grumbled, lighting one of the cigarettes he'd lifted before relinquishing his coat. It was going to be a long day.

Willow ran all the way home, clutching Spike's coat around her naked body. She ran to get away from the vampire and his theories. She ran to the safety of her home. She ran in order to get clothed and get some answers from Oz.

When she reached her house, Willow realized that she didn't have her keys with her. The front door was locked, so she obviously hadn't left that way last night. She moved around to the back of the house and breathed a sigh of relief that her balcony doors were open. Climbing the trellis was harder than she remembered, but that could have been because she was barefoot and her feet hurt from running around the woods and streets without shoes.

Willow was shocked at the state of her room when she got inside. Her clothes from yesterday were torn to shreds and strewn about the floor. Although, it looked like some pieces had to be missing. She had no idea how she was going to explain to her parents about the shattered lock on the door.

'Well, duh,' Willow told herself, 'the clothes must have gotten ripped when you were all shape-shifting into a werewolf!'

Willow shook her head at that crazy notion and slipped out of Spike's coat, heading for the shower. Maybe after she was warm and clean, she'd realize it was all some kind of horrible nightmare.

Clothed and with her feet bandaged, Willow left for school, not realizing that it was a good hour before she usually got there. She needed answers, and what better place to find them than at the library?

Pushing open one of the double doors, Willow was shocked to find Buffy, Xander and Giles in various stages of pacing, sleeping and researching.

Three heads shot up and before Willow knew it, she was being crushed by Buffy's hug. Xander soon joined in, once he realized that her standing there wasn't a dream.

"I'm happy to see you too," Willow said, trying to pull out of their embrace. "Um guys, if you needed me for research, all you had to do was ask," she joked.

"Willow, we were so worried," Buffy exclaimed, taking a step back, pulling Xander with her. "I went to your house last night, as planned, and found your balcony doors open, your clothes torn, and you were gone. I thought the worst…that Angelus had you."

Willow's eyes grew large. She had completely forgotten that she was supposed to meet Buffy last night. For obvious reasons, she was a little preoccupied this morning.

"Nope, not kidnapped," she agreed, but didn't want to admit to what had really happened.

"I tried calling Oz, even went to his house, but he was AWOL too. His parents didn't seem very concerned though."

"He had band practice last night, remember," Willow suggested. Internally, she was wondering if he was a werewolf last night too.

"But that's not the worst of it," Xander spoke up. "I was…out last night, and we were attacked by a giant dog. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was a werewolf," he laughed a little hysterically.

Willow paled. She'd attacked Xander? "Oh God, Xander. Are you okay? I'm so sorry."

"Aside from a little freaked about nearly being dog chow and then finding out my best friend was probably kidnapped by the worst vampire in history, I'm fine."

"Willow, what are you doing here so early?" Giles carefully asked after having quietly observed the interaction between the teenagers. While he was greatly relieved to see Willow alive and well, some of her comments, along with her early presence in the library, had him a little concerned.

Just then, Oz burst into the library, his eyes immediately finding Willow and pulling her into his arms, and away from Xander.

"You're okay," he breathed into her hair before pulling back enough to hungrily kiss her.

When he finally released her lips, Willow quietly said, "I think we need to talk, in private."

"Um, Giles, can we use your office for a little while? Just to talk, I promise," Willow hurriedly added.

Looking between Willow and Oz, he figured that it would be best to let them resolve whatever was going on. Hopefully then the rest of them could be clued in as to what was happening.

Willow pulled Oz into the office and closed the door, much to Buffy's annoyance and Xander's relief.

"What'd you do that for?" Buffy turned on her watcher. "She was about to spill the beans."

"I thought it best to let them discuss the matter first. From the looks in their eyes, I believe that they each hold a piece to this puzzle. Once they have it sorted out, they will be better able to share it with us."

"Oh," Buffy pouted. She sat back down at the table and proceeded to glare at the closed office door.

Inside the office, Willow was kissing her boyfriend. It was like yesterday; now that they were together, they could barely keep their hands off of each other.

"I know," Oz agreed. This morning he'd woken up in the woods, naked, with no idea of how he'd gotten there. The last thing he remembered was getting ready to go to meet his band-mates, then feeling the moon rise, and then nothing.

After he'd gone home and gotten dressed, his thoughts had immediately turned to Willow. In all honesty, he'd been thinking of her since waking up, after realizing where he was. He'd gone to her house and found her tattered clothing on the floor, but a wet towel on her bed. Finding her book bag missing, he assumed correctly that she'd gone to school early.

"I'll go first," Willow started, pulling Oz from his thoughts. "So, um, how long have you been a werewolf?"

"A what?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. She sounded so serious that it would have been impolite to laugh outright.

"Because I was one last night. And you're the only person who's," she whispered the next part, "bitten me lately."

"Wait a minute, I haven't bitten…" Much like Willow had done just a short time ago, Oz suddenly remembered accidentally biting her tongue while kissing her.

"When were you going to tell me?" Willow nervously asked, her voice sounding pained at what she implied was his distrust.

"I didn't know," Oz quietly admitted. He stared at his finger, the one that until this morning had been sporting a bandage. "Jordy?" he whispered.

"What's your cousin have to do with this?" Willow asked. Her eyes followed Oz's to his finger and her eyes suddenly widened. "You think when Jordy bit you he made you a werewolf?"

"That's the only thing I can think of," Oz said. "He's the only…person who has bitten me."

They were both quiet for several minutes, each thinking about how something so meaningless at the time could be so life-altering.

"How did you know you were a werewolf last night? Do you remember it? 'Cause I have no memories of last night. Although I did wake up naked in the forest," he admitted.

Willow blushed slightly at the mention of Oz and nakedness. "Uh, no. Last night is pretty much a blank. Someone, um, kinda found me…naked in the forest this morning. He saw me change back."

"He?" Oz virtually growled. Rage and jealousy reared their ugly heads at the thought of some man seeing his mate naked. Wait, mate?

"Yeah." Willow wanted to curse herself for saying so much. But she knew she had to tell him the whole truth. "Actually, it was Spike." She winced in preparation for his reaction.

"Spike!" Oz yelled, causing the heads out in the library to lift and look towards the office. Only Giles' hand on Buffy's arm and a shake of his head kept her from barging in on them.

"Shhh," Willow tried to calm her boyfriend. "I know. I don't know why he moved me, but he did. I didn't even know he could walk again. But I woke up in this cave in the woods shortly after dawn and he was sitting there, smoking. Guess he stayed out past bedtime."

"Did he hurt you? Try to take advantage of you in any way?" He was barely able to ask this last question. "Did he bite you?" The thought of anyone else biting his girl was infuriating.

"No. He didn't do anything except give me his coat and tell me I was a werewolf. I didn't want to believe him, but why else would I be sleeping naked in the woods with no memory of how I got there, and have torn clothes on my bedroom floor?"

Willow was nearly hysterical by now, so Oz pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound all jealous. But he's a vampire, he can't be trusted."

"I know," Willow sniffled. "Unfortunately, what he said makes the most sense. And how weird is that?"

"Do you think…" Willow began in a small voice. "Do you think Giles knows of a cure for lycanthropy?"

"I sure hope so. I can't imagine having to become an animal one night a month, forever."

They started to head back to the main room. "And here I thought that tonight was the full moon, not last night," Willow observed.

By the time Willow and Oz had emerged from Giles' office, it was time to go to class. The couple promised that they would try to explain everything at lunch time and were reluctantly allowed to leave the library, a sullen Buffy and Xander following.

Willow dreaded the approaching lunch hour, but knew that she had to tell her friends the truth. But how do you tell your best friend, who is sworn to kill monsters, that you're now a monster yourself?

She and Oz entered the library together, heads held high, hands tightly clasped. There were two chairs facing the table, with Giles, Buffy, Xander and Cordelia sitting on either side.

"Feel like we're facing the Inquisition?" Oz leaned over to whisper in Willow's ear. She silently nodded her agreement.

"Please, have a seat," Giles motioned to the chairs. Still holding hands, they sat, facing their friends.

After several tense minutes of silence, Cordelia said, "Is someone going to tell us what happened to Willow last night and what that has to do with the hole in the roof of my daddy's car?"

Xander groaned at his girlfriend's tactlessness, but had to agree that he wanted to hurry up and get to the point.

"Okay, we have something to tell you guys, and it's kind of shocking," Willow said.

Noting the joined hands and remembering the way Willow had wanted to talk to Oz first, Xander's jaw dropped as he came to the conclusion that, "You're pregnant?!?"

Willow's eyes widened in surprise, not realizing how her choice of wording could have led to such a conclusion. "No! Goodness, no. Not even. I think we're werewolves."

"Pretty much, yeah," Willow answered. "Someone saw me change back this morning."

"So what makes you think Oz is one too?" Buffy asked, not sure how to react to this news.

Xander was out of his chair and had punched Oz before anyone had realized he'd moved. "How dare you start dating my best friend when you knew what could happen to her?"

Putting herself between the two boys, Willow said, "He didn't know. He just found out today too."

"Have you been bitten lately, Oz?" Giles asked, getting back to the task at hand.

"Cut it out, Xander," Cordelia reprimanded her boyfriend. She really hated when he got all protective of Willow.

"But Giles," Willow turned to the watcher. "Don't werewolves only come out the night of the full moon? Last night was the night before the full moon, traditionally known as... 'the night before the full moon.'"

Slipping into Watcher-mode, Giles excitedly acknowledged, "The accepted legend that werewolves only prowl during a full moon might be erroneous."

"Yes, I must admit I-I am intrigued. Werewolves, it's... it's one of the classics," Giles said, sounding almost giddy. "I-I'm sure my books and I are in for a fascinating afternoon."

"On that note, we need to get back to class," Willow said, strangely wanting to avoid doing research on her own condition. Normally, she would be the first to pull up a book, but she wasn't ready to hear that this might be permanent.

Willow tugged Oz out of the room, sensing his desire to be far from the foreboding books as well.

Giles was practically bouncing as the teenagers entered the library after school. There was a large earth globe with a smaller moon globe attached to it by a bar sitting in the center of the table. Once everyone was seated, he proceeded to demonstrate the phases of the moon.

"And, uh, while there's absolutely no scientific explanation for lunar effect on the human psyche, uh, the phases of the moon, uh, do seem to exert a great deal of psychological influence. And th-the full moon is, is, seems to bring out our darkest qualities," he explained.

Giles paused to make sure that everyone was following what he was saying. "Y-you see, uh, the-the werewolf, uh, is such a, a potent e-e-extreme representation of our inborn animalistic traits that it e-emerges for three full consecutive nights: the full moon and, uh, the two nights surrounding it."

"Quite," Giles dryly agreed. "And it, uh, acts on-on pure instinct. No conscience, predatory and, and aggressive."

"So, what you're saying is that Willow and I are going to turn into animals three nights every month," Oz stated, clarifying the situation.

"I-is there any way to stop it?" Willow nervously asked, tears making her voice thick. "Is there a cure for it?"

Giles' eyes softened as they met hers. "I'm afraid not. I can continue my research, but nothing that I've found thus far has indicated a 'cure'."

Willow sniffled, trying to blink back the tears. She didn't want to be a werewolf. She wanted to be a normal, human, girl. She just got her first boyfriend, after all. She was well on her way to being normal, and now this had to happen.

She started to flee the library, Giles' voice causing her to pause near the door. "Willow, please be back here before the moon rises. If we want to make sure that you don't cause harm to anyone, I'm afraid we'll need to lock you in the book cage."

Horrified at the thought of being locked up like a stray dog at the pound, all Willow could do was nod dumbly as she ran from the room.

Oz moved to follow her. When Giles called out to him too, he cut him off with, "We'll be here."

He caught up with Willow on the front steps of the school, pulling her in a hug and letting her cry on his shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair. It seemed to have the calming effect he desired.

"I'm sorry, Oz. I know we should probably stick together, but right now I just need some time alone to think. I promise I'll be back before the moon rises. Okay?"

"Yeah. I could use some time to process myself. I'll see you in a couple of hours," Oz agreed.

Willow kissed him softly before turning in the direction of her house. If she hurried, she'd be able to get Spike's coat from her house and make it back with a little time to spare.

Spike was asleep when Willow got to the cave. He looked so peaceful; and dead, lying there on his back, not breathing. Which, she told herself, he was.

She crept in, careful not to make any sound that would wake the vampire, and blanketed him with his coat. She was turning to leave when a hand closed around her ankle, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Yeah, I, um, need to get back to the library before the moon rises," Willow nervously told him.

Willow nodded. "I found my balcony doors ripped open and my clothes from yesterday were torn to shreds. When I got to school, Oz and I compared notes. He woke up naked in the woods too."

"Bet you're sorry you woke up with me instead of 'im." Spike leered at the blush that rose on Willow's cheeks.

"I don't know about that. It would have been so embarrassing if we'd woken up naked together with no memories."

"And it wasn't embarrassing waking up naked with me?" Spike quirked an eyebrow knowingly.

"Oh, it was. But that's not the same," Willow protested. "You're not my boyfriend. Plus, you were fully clothed when I woke up."

"Should think that'd be worse. I am a demon after all. Who knows what I could have done to your sweet, vulnerable body while you were unconscious."

Willow's eyes widened in shock; she hadn't thought about that. She felt her heart begin to race. "Y-you didn't do anything, did you?"

Spike let her panic for a few minutes, relishing her fear, his face a cold, blank slate. Finally, he let his lips quirk into a grin.

"I-I should really be going," Willow stammered as she inched towards the opening of the cave. "It's getting late."

"Right. You've got to get to the library," Spike smirked. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "Tell me something…Your mate going to be there?"

"Of course," Willow crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Giles is gonna lock us in the book cage so that we don't hurt anyone."

"If you're so worried about seeing each other nekkid, what's going to happen in the morning? Better yet, what do you think is going to happen between two animals, trapped together in a cage, with their mate?"

Willow paled, realizing what he was implying. She turned and ran, making her way to the library as fast as her legs would carry her, Spike's laughter following her.

Bursting through the doors of the library, half an hour before moonrise, Willow blurted out, "We can't be locked up together."

"Yes, we weren't planning on it," Giles slowly agreed, gesturing towards the large cage on the wall next to his office.

"That was some entrance, Wills," Xander said, trying to lighten the awkward silence that had fallen since Willow's arrival. Not that it had been all that comfortable before she got there. He still wasn't sure how to act around Oz. After all, the musician had gone and turned his best friend into a monster.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just kinda got to thinking. You know this girl's brain, always working. I was, uh, staring at my closet thinking of what to bring since it was likely that I'd wake up all naked again, when it occurred to me that Oz would be waking up all naked too. And while you're my boyfriend, I'm just not ready to see you naked, or for you to see me naked," Willow said turning to Oz. "Then I started worrying about what a boy animal and a girl animal would do all night locked up together in a cage and panic ensued. So, um, where'd the other cage come from?"

Pulling himself from thoughts of a naked Willow, Xander coughed and said, "Remember my Aunt Rita who works for the pound? Well, I told her that Jesse had found a wild dog that he insisted on keeping, but his mom wouldn't let him let it roam around while they were sleeping. She sold me that real cheap."

"I know, but it's the only thing I could think of. She wouldn't have believed it if I'd said it was for me 'cause she knows my parents would never let me have a dog. Yours either. I figured that she wouldn't remember that Jesse was dead, just that he was my friend."

"Willow?" Buffy questioned, speaking for the first time. She was having an even worse time dealing with this new development than Xander was. She was the Slayer after all. She should be killing monsters, not forming a halfway house for them.

"I was so anxious about the whole waking up naked with Oz thing that I forgot to bring a change of clothes with me," Willow groaned. Oz rubbed her back soothingly.

Relieved to have something productive to do, Buffy offered, "No problem. I can swing by your house during patrol and pick up some things for you. You can shower in the locker room before school."

"Willow, not to be the tiresome adult, but what did you tell your parents about where you'd be tonight?" Giles asked. "And you Oz?"

"Ah, very good." Giles glanced at the clock and regretfully said, "I believe the time is upon us. If you don't mind…" he gestured to the cages.

Oz pulled Willow into his arms, feeling her shaking slightly from nerves. "It's going to be okay. I'll be right across the room," he whispered for her ears only. She nodded against his shoulder, squeezing him tighter. Drawing back slightly, Oz kissed her reassuringly.

Willow giggled as the kiss broke. With one last peck on his lips, she walked into the book cage and closed the door. She turned to see Oz secure in the other cage.

Trying not to think about what was about to happen she asked, "What about in the morning?"

Giles indicated the pile of towels and sheets. "We will be putting these up before dawn to allow you both some privacy."

"You didn't think I was going to leave you alone in here with dog-boy all night, did you?" Xander cajoled.

"Xander, you don't have to do that. It's probably going to be really boring for you," Willow said, silently grateful that her best friend wanted to be there for her.

Moving to stand right in front of Willow, Xander sincerely told her, "Hey, you're going through something big. Nothing could stop me from being here."

"Thank you, Xander," Willow said, a tear slipping down her cheek. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she gasped.

Xander, Giles and Buffy watched in a combination of fascination and horror as their friends began to grow fur, their features shifted, eyes bled to black, clothes fell in tatters. Soon, nothing remained of the humans they called 'friend', snarling wolves glared at them in their stead.

Spike left the cave as soon as there was enough shade to safely do so. The sun was setting, so he figured that by the time he reached the edge of the woods, it would be dark enough to make his way to the mansion. At least now he had a better idea of where he was, the diminishing light giving him clues as to which direction he should take.

His wheelchair was where he had hidden it in a bush outside his room. He reluctantly slid into it and wheeled himself through the doors. He paused, just inside the doorway, upon seeing Angelus fucking Drusilla on his bed.

Not losing his rhythm, Angelus replied. "I know it's been a while, rollerboy, but I'd think it's pretty obvious."

"We were waiting for you," Drusilla cooed, even as she moved against her sire. "But you were gone ever so long."

Ignoring the cries of completion coming from his bed, Spike made a mental note to burn the sheets. "Ran into a spot of trouble while I was hunting. Ended up getting too close to dawn. Had to take cover." He wasn't about to say that he had gotten lost and had had to spend the day in a cave.

"And what kind of trouble could you get into?" Angelus smirked, pulling his clothes back on.

Drusilla bounced on the bed, unashamed of her nakedness. "Did you bring me a doggie?"

"Still could have brought it home. Chained it up until the moon called to wake it up again," she pouted.

"So, what, you just came across it as it was changing back? That's hardly something to keep you out all day," Angelus said, bored already.

"Ah, but the interesting part was who the wolf turned out to be," Spike smirked.

Angelus shuddered. "Werewolves in human form are rancid. Blood's tainted. Don't eat them if you can help it, princess. Besides, you'd just make it human again."

"What?" Spike asked in surprise, looking at Angelus. He'd never heard that before.

Angelus grinned at Spike's curiosity. His boy still had much to learn about being a vampire. "That's right, Spike my boy. Little known fact in the demon world: A vampire's saliva counteracts the werewolf virus in a human's blood."

"It's the honest to Hades truth," Angelus swore. "Found out myself by accident. Happened when I was a young thing, merely a decade old. Darla and I came across a werewolf in the English countryside. I was curious. I wrestled it into submission and knocked it out. We chained it up in the abandoned barn we were hiding out in. Come daylight, it turned into this ugly farmer. I'd worked up an appetite from subduing the thing, and seeing as how it looked human now, decided to have a snack of it. The thing swore I'd pay for biting it come moonrise, but I just laughed, reminding it that I had it chained up already."

"Because, that night, my boy, was the night of the actual full moon," Angelus said in triumph.

"What would you like to hear, Dru?" Angelus asked, making himself comfortable on the bed.

Spike tuned them out, thinking over everything Angelus had just told him. Apparently, he had the power to cure the slayer's little friend of her newfound lycanthropy. He wondered what he should do with this interesting bit of knowledge.

A slow, wicked grin crept over his face as he thought of what he could make her do in exchange for his bite.

Angelus went back to fawning over Dru, leaving Spike to plot out the best way to use his knowledge to his benefit.

The third night of the full moon came and went with little excitement. Xander and Giles once again kept watch over the restless, caged werewolves, trying not to jump at every rattle of the cages.

Despite Giles' insistence that there was no way to rid a person of lycanthropy once they had been bitten, Xander spent those nights eagerly reading through every book Giles had on the subject. He even went so far as to try looking things up online, but seemed to run into more fiction than fact. He didn't know how Willow sorted through all of the non-information to get to the real stuff.

He also spent a great deal of time those nights reflecting on his friendship with Willow. He still wasn't sure when she had stopped being his little Wills. Maybe it had slowly been happening ever since Jesse had died. Maybe it was when she and Oz had started dating.

He hated to admit it, but the musician was good for his friend. Well, aside from turning her into a werewolf. Trying to use Willow's reasoning that Oz didn't know he was a werewolf when he'd accidentally bitten her, Xander grudgingly forgave the other boy. Although, a small part of him would probably always hate the fact that Willow had been in a position to be bit.

Still, the redhead had seemed to come to life in the past month. She practically glowed from the attention the other boy had been paying to her.

Xander was forced to admit, to himself at least, that Cordelia's jealousy was slightly warranted. He may not have wanted to date Willow himself – and still didn't – but he also wasn't ready to watch her fall for someone else. Not when he'd been the object of her affections for so long.

Giles was very proud of the way that Willow and Oz had been handling the situation they now found themselves in. He found it remarkable that the teenagers had accepted their new status as werewolves so easily. At least, seemingly so.

While he hated the fact that it had to happen to either of his young charges, he was somewhat grateful that they didn't have to go through this alone. He had the impression that Oz would have dealt with his lycanthropy well enough on his own, but he wasn't so sure that Willow would have accepted it as quickly as she had if she hadn't had the young man to lean on.

The Watcher in him wanted to sit the teenagers down, separately and then together, and ask them about their experiences. He had a long list of questions he was dying to ask about what it felt like as they changed, if they remembered anything from while they were in wolf form, etc. He had managed to work a couple of questions in, but not nearly as many as he would have liked.

He supposed that he had plenty of time in which to ask them, though. While he understood Xander's relentlessness in searching for a "cure" for Willow (and Oz), he doubted the existence of one. Granted, werewolves were not strongly studied at the Watcher Academy, but he was certain he would have remembered having heard of a cure for lycanthropy.

Until then, he would help Willow and Oz to address any questions that they might have about their new lifestyle. And he would try to help Xander and Buffy accept the change in their friends' lives as well. Already, Xander was well on his way to acceptance, but Buffy…

Giles feared that it would take his slayer a long time to truly come to grips with what had happened to her best friend. He gave small thanks that Willow was merely a werewolf and had not been turned into a vampire. He didn't think that Buffy would be able to live with herself if that ever happened.

He would stress to her that Willow was still the same person that she had always been. There would be no great changes to her personality due to her lycanthropy. Her life would only be affected for three nights a month, not even days.

No, it just meant that Buffy would have to lock her best friend in a cage three nights in a row and watch her turn into a monster.

Giles sighed. He knew this last part would be difficult on them all. It had been heart-wrenching to watch the wolves take over the bodies of his charges these last two nights. Now there would be a lifetime of it.

Buffy aimlessly wandered through yet another cemetery. She couldn't stay in the library, not after being forced to watch her best friend turn into a beast.

She wouldn't admit it, except maybe to Giles – someday, but when she saw Willow as a werewolf, her first instinct had been to kill. Kill the beast, the monster, the dark thing in the shadow that threatened mankind. That was her job after all; she was the Slayer.

Buffy couldn't help wondering what awful thing would happen next. Would it be Xander? Would something go after him next? She'd already lost her boyfriend and her best friend. She tried to tell herself she wouldn't mind if Cordelia was the next target, but she couldn't bring herself to even joke about it silently. Whether she liked it or not, as Xander's girlfriend, the cheerleader was now a part of their group.

Spinning, Buffy staked the vampire that was trying to sneak up on her. She might be lost in her thoughts, but she could still hear when someone was stepping on every single twig that crossed their path. She wiped the dust off her coat as she listlessly continued on her way.

She was just starting to come to grips with the fact that the man she loved, the vampire with a soul who was her soulmate, was gone, most likely forever. Instead, she had to face off with the evil monster he had become – after making love to her. Her love had essentially killed the best thing in her life, replacing it with the worst thing she could imagine.

It wasn't fair, she decided. Life as a slayer was difficult. She should be allowed to have some degree of normality with her friends. She didn't want to admit that she could understand why most slayers weren't allowed to have friends and family – a life. If you had no one to care about, you couldn't be hurt when they were gone, or worse, turned into one of the things you were sworn to destroy.

Buffy could almost hear Giles' voice in her head insisting that Willow and Oz were not gone. Yes, they would still be her friends, most of the time, but it was those three nights a month that would always remind the blonde that they weren't human anymore.

Willow and Oz didn't know whether or not to celebrate their one month anniversary of being werewolves. They joked about it with their friends, trying not to acknowledge the slight frown that would cross Buffy's face whenever Willow talked about her werewolf status.

"We could have hats and balloons, oh, and finger food," Willow excitedly suggested, in response to the idea of a party for the afternoon of the night before the full moon.

"Yeah, but then you'd have a taste for them," Xander pointed out. "And no one's fingers are going anywhere near your mouth, young lady."

"You can nibble on my finger," Oz whispered in her ear, causing Willow to giggle and blush.

"Cut that out," Cordelia chided the wolflings. The two got way too much into the PDA the closer they got to the full moon. It was cute, but in a way-too-much-information kind of way.

Clearing her throat, Willow changed the subject. "So, um, where's Giles? He's not here guarding the books."

"Oh, he had this thing to do today," Buffy said. "The Sunnydale Museum of Natural History wanted his opinion on some artifact they found. He went to check it out yesterday and went back with books today. He said something about figuring out what it says before opening it."

"And he didn't take us?" Willow pouted, the idea of helping to discover some archeological find exciting.

Xander reached over to pat her hand. "We all know how you like digging things up, but if this is a paying job," he paused for Buffy to nod that it was, "it would be unprofessional for us to tag along."

"Giles didn't even really know what it was before he left," Buffy offered in support. "He was just giddy that he got to go do something museum-ish for a while. And Giles is kinda freaky when he gets giddy."

"The guard was dead and the artifact is missing," he informed the group. "Vampires."

"I cannot be certain yet, but from what I have been able to ascertain, I believe that it is the tomb of Acathla."

"It's a big rock," Spike drawled. "I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."

Spike listened with a bored expression on his face as Angelus gave him the history of Acathla. Two of the minions pulled the stone lid off the tomb and he tried not to cringe at the ugly statue staring back at him with a sword piercing its chest.

Spike was certain of one thing as he watched his sire and grandsire take maniacal pleasure from the idea of the world ending: The soul had made Angelus completely stark raving mad. Sure, Angelus had always been a sick bastard, but he'd never shown psychotic tendencies like this before.

He didn't blame Drusilla for going along with this hare-brained scheme – she had always been crazy and blindly followed Angelus' suggestions. She wouldn't see the insanity of ending the world. She only cared that it made her Daddy happy to do so.

He needed to put a stop to this. He wasn't about to allow Angelus to ruin his life, again, by taking away his source of food. What did he think they were going to eat when all of the people were sucked into hell?

Spike grinned, hoping Angelus would assume it was in response to his fanatical ramblings. He had just the ace up his sleeve to pull this off. As soon as night fell, he had a slayer to visit.

That night, Spike tracked the Slayer as she did her nightly patrol through the cemeteries. He took a demonic glee in the fact that she was distracted, most likely by what would be happening to her little friend for the next three nights after tonight.

He watched her dust a fledgling before announcing his presence with a tap to her shoulder. He received a punch to the jaw for his efforts.

"Hey, now, wait just one minute," Spike exclaimed, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I'm just here to talk," he added when Buffy pulled a stake from inside her coat.

"If you'd rather receive a sound thrashing, I'd be happy to oblige, but if you want to stop Angelus, we should talk."

"I'm talking about your ex, pet. I'm talking about putting him in the bloody ground," Spike answered in a serious tone.

Chuckling as she lowered her stake, Buffy said, "This has got to be the lamest trick you guys have ever thought up." She shook her head in disbelief as she found herself asking, "What do you want?"

"I told you, I want to stop Angel." He snickered at the irony. "I want to save the world."

"Okay. You remember you're a vampire, right?" Buffy asked, feeling like she'd stepped into an alternate universe. First Willow became a werewolf and now Spike wanted to play nice.

"We like to talk big, vampires do. 'I'm going to destroy the world.' That's just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood," Spike pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "Truth is, I like this world. You've got…dog racing, Manchester United. And you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here." He paused to take a drag off his fag. "But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real…passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I'm saying?"

"Okay, fine," Buffy said with a nod. "You're not down with Angel. Why would you ever come to me?"

Spike sighed, hating to sound like a ponce, but knowing the truth would more likely get Buffy's cooperation. "I want Dru back. I want it like it was before he came back. The way she acts around him…"

"You're pathetic," Buffy interrupted. "The whole earth may be sucked into Hell, and you want my help 'cause your girlfriend's a big ho? Well, let me take this opportunity to not care."

Buffy turned to leave, wondering why she even bothered to listen to the bleached idiot.

Buffy paused, knowing he was right, but unwilling to admit it. "And why should I believe that you'll help me?"

"Because I can help your little friend with her problem," Spike said, playing his trump card. "You know, the little redhead with the monthly problem of turning into a wolf."

Buffy spun around to face Spike again, barely restraining herself from punching the knowing smirk off his face.

"What, she didn't tell you I'm the one who found her in the woods last month?" Spike asked, feigning shock. "How did you think she knew what had happened to her?"

"What is it that you think you can do for her? She's a werewolf, Oz too. There's no cure for that."

"Isn't there?" Spike countered, raising his scarred eyebrow to imply that there was, and he knew what it was.

Buffy's eyes momentarily lit up with hope, until she remembered who she was talking to. "You're lying."

"Fine. We can talk at the library. Willow and Giles should be there researching this whole Acathla thing. She may as well be there for this."

Silently, the two enemies turned in the direction of the high school. They walked shoulder to shoulder, not wanting the other to attack from behind on the way. Luckily, it was a short trip, the uncomfortable silence wearing on both their nerves.

When they entered the library, it was to find Willow and Giles huddled together at the table, excitedly discussing what was on the paper between them.

"Buffy, you'll never guess what I found!" Willow excitedly told her friend when she saw her come in. She was halfway across the room when she saw Spike enter behind Buffy and immediately fell quiet.

"What is it?" Buffy asked, not having seen her friend this excited since before the last full moon.

"Buffy?" Giles asked, coming to stand next to Willow. "Is there a reason you brought William the Bloody with you?"

"Just Spike," he corrected, not liking the feeling that he was a fly under a microscope. He kept reminding himself that he was doing this to get Dru away from Angelus.

Willow gasped, meeting the vampire's piercing blue eyes. "Really?" she whispered.

"Why would you want to do that?" Giles asked, sounding doubtful. "And more importantly, how do you propose to do that? From the research that we've done, we have not been able to find any mention of a way to cure lycanthropy."

"Didn't have a reason to before now. Why should I go helping you when I get nothing in return?"

"By bitin' her o' course," Spike said, as if it were the most natural answer in the world.

"Here's something for your Watcher's Diaries," Spike gloated. "A vampire's saliva counteracts a werewolf's. I bite your girl here, no more wolf."

Giles and Willow wore matching wide-eyed, slack-jawed expressions at Spike's pronouncement.

Spike shrugged. "Can't until I do it, can you? It's not like I have written documentation."

"And, in exchange, you simply want a get out of jail free card for you and your lover?" Giles clarified.

"I think he'd say anything to get Dru away from Angelus," Buffy said. Then, with a sigh, she admitted, "But he also seems sincere in wanting to stop Angelus. I'm not saying we can trust him, but I think he's telling the truth about Willow."

Giles processed Buffy's evaluation of the situation and found himself agreeing with her. He nodded.

Willow tentatively spoke up. "I think that we may have found a way." She moved back to the table and the others followed her. Picking up the piece of paper she and Giles had been looking at, she handed it to Buffy.

With a nervous glance at Spike, she said, "This afternoon I found a disc that had fallen between Ms. Calendar's desk and the file cabinet. Looks like she was trying to replicate the original curse, to restore Angel's soul. It looks like it might have worked."

"You think this will work?" Buffy asked, tears of hope shining in her eyes. She might get Angel back! She'd nearly given up all hope that she'd ever have him back.

Giles couldn't help adding, "It certainly points the way. However, the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than I can claim."

"Well," Willow admitted, "I've been going through her files and, and researching the black arts, for fun, or educational fun, and I may be able to work this."

Sounding very concerned, Giles said, "W-Willow…channeling…such potent magicks through yourself, it could open a door that you may not be able to close."

Stepping up to her friend, Buffy said, "I don't want you putting yourself in any danger, Will."

"And I don't want danger. Big 'no' to the danger, but I may be the best person to do this," Willow insisted.

"Yeah," Spike laughed. "I find it right hilarious that Angelus is going to get locked back in his cage by this little slip of a girl."

"Y-you aren't going to try to stop us from giving him back his soul?" Willow asked in surprise. She'd fully expected Spike to rip the curse to shreds so that they couldn't do this.

"Are you kidding?" he asked, humor still lacing his voice. "That wanker has been nothing but a thorn in my side since he returned. The soul made him mad, livin' with it for nearly a century. I'd much rather have that pathetic, soulful Angel running around than the psychotic sod who's stolen my Princess."

Willow and Buffy stood there blinking in disbelief, hardly believing their ears. Willow was going to be just a regular girl again and Buffy was going to get her boyfriend back.

"So how do we want to do this? The sooner the better, I'd imagine. Don't want him to figure out how to awaken Acathla before this gets done," Spike reminded them.

Coming back to the situation at hand, Giles agreed. "Yes, it would probably be best if we take care of Angelus first. Then Spike, you can…help Willow and Oz, and be on your merry way. We wouldn't want the bite to weaken Willow too much before the spell is performed."

"Uh, what's this about an Oz?" Spike took a step forward. "I said I'd help the girl, not her lover."

"I kinda like you," Spike admitted. "You've got fire. Plus, you're going to be the one to rid the world of Angelus. I couldn't care less about your beau."

"Come, Willow," Giles interrupted. "Let us get prepared for the ritual. We may not have much time." In a whisper he added, "And perhaps we can change his mind when the time comes."

"Buffy, can you call Oz and Xander? They should know what's going on," Willow said as she moved to help Giles gather the ingredients they would need.

"Of course," Buffy agreed. Turning to Spike she said, "Why don't you make yourself comfortable. Don't want you going to warn him about what's going to happen."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Spike smirked. He wandered over to the bookshelves and picked a volume on demonology at random, then settled at the table to enjoy the show.

An hour later they were ready to begin the ritual. Xander and Oz had arrived twenty minutes ago and had been brought up to speed. The boys both expressed their concerns over Willow performing such a powerful spell, each in their own way. They received the news of Willow being cured of her lycanthropy much the same way.

Pulling Oz aside, Willow told him, "I won't go through with it unless he does us both."

"It's not up to you," Willow argued. "I'm not going to make you be a werewolf all by yourself!"

"Will, it's my fault this happened to you. I can deal," Oz tried to reassure her.

"It was an accident!" Willow exclaimed. "I can live with the consequences, same as you."

"Aww, a lovers' spat," Spike snickered as he approached the couple, having grown bored with reading.

Oz moved to place himself between Willow and the vampire. "Why don't you go amuse yourself somewhere else until you're needed," Oz suggested, sarcasm lacing his voice.

Stepping around the vampire, Oz led Willow over to where the ingredients for the spell were set up.

"You might want to go wait in the lounge," Giles suggested to Spike. "I don't know what will happen if you're in the same room when the spell is being performed."

"Good idea, that," Spike agreed. "Wouldn't want to find myself all soul-having when this little experiment is over."

"I'll just go and keep an eye on him," Buffy said, picking up one of the stakes she'd been sharpening. "Make sure he doesn't run off."

"Excellent idea," Giles agreed, watching the vampire and the slayer exit the room.

Willow climbed onto the table and sat cross-legged; before her sat the Orb of Thesula within a sacred circle, surrounded by candles, bones and stones. Willow cast some stones, then looked up at Giles and nodded.

"'Not dead nor not of the living. Spirits of the interregnum I call…Let him know the pain of humanity, gods. Reach your wizened hands to me. Give me the sword…" Willow intoned.

"I've waited long enough. It's Spike's loss. The world can end without him," Angelus snapped. "Bring him," he called to the minions at the back of the hall.

A man, barefoot and bare-chested with his hands tied behind his back, was dragged before the statue of Acathla.

Moving towards the young man, Angelus spoke, "I will drink…the blood will wash in me, over me, and I will be cleansed. I will be worthy to free Acathla. Bear witness…" he looked at Drusilla, "as I ascend…as I become." He morphed into his demonic face.

Willow began to feel the strain of the spell weighing on her. She paused, breathing hard, stumbling over the words. "Gods, bind him. Cast his heart from the…evil…realm."

Suddenly, Willow's head snapped back and she looked up, her eyes wide. Again, her head snapped, this time to stare at the orb. When she spoke again, it was in fluent Rumanian, as if possessed.

"Nici mort, nici al fiintei... Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el."

Angelus lifted the young man by his hair, exposing his neck. With a roar, he bit down, hard and fast. After a deep drink, Angelus dropped the man, swiping his hand through the blood as he fell to the floor, dead.

"Everything that I am, everything that I have done, has led me here," he said as he slowly approached the sword that kept Acathla dormant.

Oz, Giles and Xander watched helplessly as Willow continued to chant in Rumanian. They did not know if they should try to stop her or leave her be and hope that whatever was possessing her would complete the spell correctly.

The Orb glowed brightly as the last word was spoken, then went dark. Willow relaxed and blinked, looking around at the nervous faces of the men surrounding her.

Angelus was about to grasp the sword when he fell to his knees, apparently in pain.

"Daddy," Drusilla called, rushing to his side, dropping to her knees before him. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

Angel blinked, looking around him confused. His eyes settled on Drusilla, not processing that the concerned look she was wearing was for him. He scrambled back, seeing he was surrounded by vampires. Getting to his feet, he looked for an exit. Seeing the garden doors were open, he rushed through them and out into the night.

"I don't know. Did it work? It felt like it worked. I felt…something…go through me."

"Willow, part way through the ritual you began to speak fluent Rumanian," Giles informed her.

"I can feel it. Dru's out of her mind with worry. Only thing I can think of that would cause her to let me feel that is if something happened to her precious Daddy. Let's get this over with so I can collect her and get out of this sodding town."

Spike took a step towards Willow, who was now standing next to Oz. Buffy blocked his path before he could get there.

"Look, no offense, I'm sure you're a decent bloke, but I'm in kind of a rush and only have time to bite one of you."

"No," Oz cut her off. "You get to be normal again. You take this chance. If Angel sticks around, we can get him to take care of me, okay?"

"Then I'll wait, Angel can do me too," Willow suggested, drawing a chuckle from Spike.

"Right then," Spike said, slipping into game face. "Let's have us a snack and be on our way."

Willow looked at Oz questioningly one more time, and after his reassuring nod, stepped up to Spike. She reached around and pulled all of her hair over one shoulder, tilting her head to the side as she bared her neck.

Spike licked his lips before sinking his fangs into Willow's flawless skin. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they were forced to watch the macabre scene before them. Spike took one long draught before pulling back, a grimace detectable on his face.

"Yeah. I mean it hurt, but he didn't take much," Willow said, leaning a bit into Oz.

"Shouldn't," Spike confirmed. "Won't know for sure 'till then. But from what Angelus described, I should have taken enough to rid her of her beast."

"You're welcome," Spike replied just as softly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to see to a girl." With a swish of his coat, Spike left the library.

"Do be careful," Giles warned. "If he's still at the mansion, there will be other vampires about."

"I know, I'll be careful. I just need to see for myself if it worked," Buffy said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm kinda tired. I think I'm gonna head home," Willow said.

"Of course," Giles agreed. "You've had a busy evening. Xander and I can clean up. You did a marvelous job, tonight. And you were very brave."

"Come on, I'll drive you," Oz said, taking Willow's hand and leading her out of the library.

As the doors closed they could hear Xander's protest of, "Why do I get stuck with clean up duty?"

Spike entered the mansion to find complete chaos. The minions were standing about, not knowing what to do with themselves, there was a dead man in the middle of the room, Acathla stood silent in front of the fireplace, while Drusilla lay crying in front of him.

Walking confidently into the room, he bellowed, "What the hell is going on here?"

Upon hearing her childe's voice, Drusilla called out to him, "Spike. He's gone, the Angel-beast has come and stolen him away."

"What do you mean, Princess?" Spike asked with false concern, lifting her to her feet.

"The light came and drove my daddy away," Dru muttered. "Can't fly away, can't fly away, locked in a cage."

"Why don't we go look for him then?" Spike suggested. "We can drive around until we find him, yeah?"

Dru nodded against his shoulder, allowing him to lead her away. Spike wouldn't tell her until they were well away from this town that they weren't going back.

Buffy was several blocks from the mansion when she heard something off to the side of the road. A quick evaluation of her senses told her it was a vampire. Pulling a stake from her coat, Buffy silently approached the noisy vamp.

Angel sat huddled against a tree, looking lost and confused. He looked up when he heard his name called. "Buffy?"

Buffy looked into his eyes, seeing the familiar warmth she knew meant his soul was present.

"I…I feel like I haven't seen you in months," Angel said, holding her close. Buffy returned his hug, relishing the feel of being in his arms again, still having a hard time believing that it was true.

"I know," Buffy agreed, not able to explain what had happened yet. There would be time enough for that later.

Oz pulled the van up in front of Willow's dark house. He cut the engine and turned to face his girlfriend.

"Still kinda hurts, but I think the bleeding finally stopped," Willow answered. "Oz, I'm sorry."

"It's done," Oz reminded her. "No use debating this now. Besides, I'm better suited to the whole 'lone wolf' mentality."

"I didn't mean it like that." Oz traced a finger down the side of Willow's face. His voice turned wistful. "You're so beautiful."

Oz leaned across the short distance between their seats to kiss Willow. She eagerly returned his kiss, deepening it when she felt his tongue seek entrance to her mouth.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised when they pulled apart, both breathing heavily.

"I'm going to hold you to that, mister," Willow said, stealing another kiss. "Just, no more kissing in the halls."

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Kiss Me Deadly

by Elisabeth

Copyright © 2005

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