"Where's Willow?"
Xander blinked, frowning down the visitor trying to elbow her way into his apartment.
"Where I come from, we have this crazy custom of saying 'hello' or 'good morning' when we have the audacity to come pounding on someone's door at eight in the morning on a Sunday," Xander practically growled, glaring down at the slight figure of the Executioner. She glared back up at him, arms folded over her chest. Xander caught the laughing grin on the face of Micah, the Nimir-Raj, behind her, as well as the apologetic look from his Ulfric. He also saw a flash of violet eyes right behind Richard, signifying Nathaniel's presence as well. Xander couldn't see Jamil and Shang-Da, but he knew they were there. No one wanted the Ulfric this close to Willow without his bodyguards. Some of his fellow wolves were still very frightened by his Wills, proving the extreme intelligence of the group. After all, who in the right mind wouldn't be a little scared of Willow?
Looking down at Anita, Xander felt there was at least one. The brunette was actually stepping right up to him, trying to get into his face. He rolled his eyes, turning to gaze at the men behind her.
"All these super creatures following you around," Xander scoffed. "Damn, you remind me of Buffy. But then again, Buffy was less annoying, and had some manners."
Her nostrils were flaring by the time he stepped back. He ignored her, trudging into the living room without so much as a backwards glance. He heard the others follow, picking up the silent tread of their feet with his now enhanced hearing. He had a lot of those enhanced abilities now that he had joined the ranks of the furry, and they weren't all that pleasant. He had woken up this morning extremely hungry and his nose picking up the scent of food.
The scent led him right to Willow's bedroom.
Scared shitless for half a second, Xander had contemplated calling Richard, or one of the other wolves. But he had managed to calm down, remembering that his wolf had wanted to eat Willow the night before, but he had restrained himself then and he could do it again.
He had cleaned out the fridge in the attempt to fill his appetite. They were going to have to go shopping again in the very near future. There was not a piece of meat left in the apartment.
"Where's Willow?"
"Man, you are rude!" Xander rolled his eyes, turning to face his visitors. "She's sleeping."
Anita clenched her jaw, eyes going to Willow's closed door. Xander tensed, grabbing her arm as the woman stepped in the direction of the door.
"Don't you dare," he snarled at her.
"Xander," Richard called out warningly.
"Sorry Boss Man," the dark-haired man smirked. "But she is not going in there. My Wills, she's a hell of a witch and the best of the best friends, but she is, right down at the centre, a human. And she has not had much sleep over the past three days. In fact, I think the total amount of sleep she has gotten is about six hours, about four to five of those today because I haven't woken her since we got back. And just like me, you're not going to wake her."
"We need to discuss D'Zanon," Anita hissed out through clenched teeth. Xander rolled his eyes.
"We can discuss D'Zanon," he informed her. "As in, all of us in the room right now. In case you have forgotten, I'm kind of involved in all this as well. I understand that Willow is also a very big part of this, but you are not going into her room. Willow can be filled in later. Much later."
There was no room for argument in his voice. His face wasn't any different from what people were used to, relaxed and carefree. But his eyes told another story, a very dangerous one. He would start something over Willow's rest, he really would. Unfortunately for Xander, Anita hated to lose pissing contests, as she liked to put it. Things could get very ugly, very fast.
And Richard wasn't going to let it come to that. He exchanged a look with Micah, the wereleopard nodding only slightly in agreement. He placed a restraining hand on Anita's arm, leading the small woman to the couches. Xander followed Anita with his eyes, relaxing his stance only once she had consented and sat down.
Dark brown eyes went back to the others in the room, actually lighting up in good humour when they landed on Nathaniel.
"You, on the other hand, can go right in," Xander declared. "She'll probably enjoy your company, but keep it PG man. I haven't learned to control all these senses yet and I do not need to hear anything like that."
Nathaniel started, shooting the young wolf a smile. He had always liked Xander, enjoyed his rather odd sense of humour. But now that he had angered Anita, Nathaniel wasn't so sure he could take Xander up on his offer. Even though the whole reason of his presence was to see Willow, the whole atmosphere of the apartment was too tense.
So he slid his violet eyes to his Nimir-Ra, seeking her permission for this. His act seemed to relax her, made some of the tension go out of her body. She gave the barest of nods, tilting her head in the direction of Willow's door.
Nathaniel gave a grateful smile, striding to the door without even glancing at anyone else.
"And send Bob out, would you?" Xander called after him. He nodded, opening the bedroom door and stepping in. The room was dark, but he could see well enough.
Hissing greeted his ears, but he had spent enough time with Bob by now to know the serpent wasn't angry or irritated in the least.
"Hello Bob," he murmured, reaching a hand out to pet the feathery scales of the serpent. Bob gave another piss, one of slight pleasure, before it flew past him. He waited until Bob was outside before closing the door quietly behind him.
Bob continued his way out into the living room, floating slowly over to Xander, pausing to hiss a bit at Anita. The brunette just glared at the serpent, watching with cool eyes as it wrapped itself around Xander's arm.
"How in the hell did you get a license to keep that thing?"
Xander smirked, settling down in the armchair across from her.
"I don't know. Willow must have threatened to shoot up city hall," he replied snidely. "Oh wait, I forgot, she's not you."
Richard nearly choked on his laughter.
*****
She was sleeping, rather peacefully. Nathaniel tossed a look behind him, wondering if he should just leave her to sleep.
A slight change in her breathing alerted to the fact she was wakening. He was immediately apologetic, blaming himself for it. Didn't Xander say that Willow was exhausted? He should have just stayed outside.
"Xander?" came the mumble from the tangled web of sheets on the bed.
"No, it's Nathaniel," he replied, approaching the side of her bed cautiously. He stopped when he was near the head of her bed, watching as she shifted around so she could see him. Confused green eyes met his own, a ghost of a smile coming over her face.
"Hey," she greeted in a bit of a whisper.
"Hey," he returned, sinking down to kneel by her bed. He stretched a hand out, brushing hair from her forehad. "You should go back to sleep. Xander is pretty worried about you."
She nodded, giving a big yawn as she pulled the covers tighter around herself.
"He has a tendency to do that," she murmured, eyes half closed. "I tried to call you after we got back. Just wanted to let you know everything went just fine."
"Zane gave me the message," he assured her. "Maybe I should get out, leave you to your sleep. You looked exhausted."
She grinned wider, one eye cracking open to look at him.
"I do need sleep," she agreed, propping herself on her elbow. "But I wouldn't mind a nice human pillow."
"Human pillow?" he repeated with amusement in his tone.
"Yeah," she nodded, hand grabbing his wrist and tugging lightly. "They're the best kind. All soft and so warm. And great for hugging."
He laughed at her ramble, allowing himself to be pulled into bed beside her. She moved the covers, allowing him to scoot under the covers. He paused to toe off his shoes before climbing in, wrapping his arms around her. She settled herself in his side, head going to rest on his chest.
"Nathaniel," she murmured sleepily.
"Yes?"
"Is Anita out there?"
"Yep."
"D'Zanon?"
"Yeah, bad news she said."
"Is there ever any other kind?"
He chuckled before stilling.
"Xander made her kind of mad."
"Doesn't surprise me. They're talking?"
"Yeah."
"I should be out there."
"You should be sleeping," he amended. "The information isn't going to change in the few hours that you can catch up on your sleep."
She sighed, body relaxing a bit more. Her eyes fell shut, no longer able to keep them open. She was tired, very tired. Nathaniel's plan had merits, many merits.
"Good idea."
And then she drifted back to sleep, clutching her warm human pillow tightly.
*****
Part Fourteen
"I will bite you, so just sit down already."
Richard didn't know whether to laugh or admonish. And if it came down to admonishing, he honestly didn't know who he would have to admonish.
First there was Xander, who kept snapping at Anita and throwing threats the Executioner's way. And then there was Anita herself who kept trying to barge into Willow's bedroom to forcibly drag the redhead out of bed. Both fully grown adults were acting like children, so logic dictating that he just laugh and ignore it.
But he didn't think that would help any. Bob was being even more of a nuisance, hissing and flicking its tail at Anita whenever the brunette woman even looked in the direction of Willow's door.
"Listen," Anita started off bitingly. "We can't just sit around-"
"Then get on with it," Xander interrupted. "But you are not waking up Willow. She's worn out and needs her rest. Whatever is going down with D'Zanon will probably require a lot of her strength. Therefore, having her fall over in sleep at his feet would be not be helpful in the least. So, sit down, and get to talking. Willow will join us when she does."
Anita was went still, glaring death at the man. Richard sighed, leaning back in his seat and wondering how to diffuse the situation. The overall problem came from Anita's perception of Xander, not seeing his as a front runner in this whole demon mess.
But no matter what Anita thought of Xander, it didn't change the fact that he WAS a front runner in all this. Hell, there were three main characters, and Xander was definitely one of them. Just because the other two were more powerful didn't mean that Xander was any less important. It wasn't just about Willow and the consequences of the redhead's actions. It was about both of them and one very angry demon.
"Maybe we should just get on with it," he ventured finally, giving Anita a meaningful look. "After all, we're all very much a part of this mess. We should be working together on it."
"The Ulfric is right," Xander nodded, absently holding a cracker out to Bob. The serpent hissed happily, floating away from its position in front of Anita to accept the food. Xander smiled at the serpent, sticking a hand out to tickle underneath its chin.
"How the hell did you manage to tame that thing?" came the sudden question from Micah. Xander grinned, stroking some of Bob's scales before answering.
"We didn't tame him," the man shrugged. "Feathered serpents aren't wild by any means. They're usually very docile creatures, unless they happen to be guarding something or someone. Then they can get downright vicious."
This last part was added with a meaningful glare in Anita's direction. The brunette just rolled her eyes, glaring at the serpent for a bit.
"Fine," she muttered. "Let's get this show on the road."
Richard gave a sigh of relief, shooting a mildly disapproving look towards Xander when the man coughed, making a sound that sounded faintly like "finally". The young wolf just grinned at his Ulfric, shrugging off the frown with a laid-back attitude.
"So? What do we have on the big bad?" Xander prompted. Anita arched an eyebrow at his words, irritation showing on her face. No doubt Xander's rather easy-going and humourous attitude wasn't helping to convince the Executioner of his ability to help the situation. But Xander didn't seem to care, waiting patiently for the woman to begin.
"We have good news and bad news," Anita started off, pulling papers and such from her bag. "The good news is, after checking around and such, I've discovered that D'Zanon is not flesh at the moment."
"That is good news," Xander muttered in relief. He noticed the looks coming his way and he shrugged.
"When purebloods come into flesh, well, they come with a lot of it," the man explained. "Sometimes over 70 feet of it, covered in scales and with very large teeth, but I digress. Please continue. You said there was bad news?"
Anita shook herself, obviously muddling over the 70 feet comment but deciding to save it for a later time.
"Well, the bad news is, he might be on his way to flesh," the Executioner revealed. "From what I gathered, D'Zanon must be using an intermediary on this plane. Someone who is obviously relaying his messages to others, sending attacks your way. And that someone could also bring D'Zanon into flesh. The problem is, we don't know who the intermediary is."
"Paris?" Richard ventured.
"No," Anita shook her head. "She never had that kind of power. She might have had an idea as to who it was, but she couldn't have been it. And she's kind of out of the picture right now. Even if she was able to tell us, which she's not, being dead and all, I doubt she would even know who it was. I mean, this person had to be careful not to let anyone know their role. Anyone wanting to stop D'Zanon would only have to stop the intermediary to win."
"So, this intermediary, what are we looking for?" Xander asked. "Human, witch, lycanthrope, vampire, what?"
"Someone with magic, that is without question," Anita answered. "And well, that person would have to have an extension knowledge of black arts, and of you and Willow."
Richard frowned.
"How come?"
"Well, the magic is directed at them," Anita answered carefully. "Meaning that whoever is directing it knows enough of them to be able to pull it off without Willow sensing them."
"Wills did say she felt like something was off," Xander mentioned suddenly. "A couple of days ago, before we went car-shopping. She said she felt like someone was watching us or stalking us, but didn't know who."
"That would make sense," Anita nodded. "This intermediary knows how to make this work without letting Willow know exactly what is happening or who is doing it. They've got to have some sort of previous experience with her and her magic. That's the only explanation."
Richard turned to Xander.
"You know any one like that?" he demanded. Xander gave a bitter laugh, turning exasperated eyes towards his Ulfric.
"You want the edited version, because it's a long list. A very very long list."
*****
Willow knew she should just get up and go face all the people in her living room. Anita had important information, stuff involving D'Zanon and how to stop him, if he could be stopped. So, logic dictated that she get up and be responsible.
But she was just too comfortable!
It was all Nathaniel's fault really. He was just too warm and soft a human pillow for her to just let go. And he smelled so nice, a bit like vanilla which she guessed came from the shampoo he used on his long and lovely hair. God, she loved that hair. It was just so long and soft and just so Nathaniel!
See? All his fault, being as enticing as he was. There was no way she could force herself to get up and go join the others. Not when sleeping in her bed, Nathaniel all curled around her, was the other option.
All his fault.
"You still sleeping?"
The soft whisper caused her to crack one eye open, looking into a lovely swirl of violet.
"No," she pouted. "But can we pretend for like another five minutes? Or five hours?"
He chuckled, a delightful rumbling coming from his chest. She took that to mean 'yes' and she closed her eyes again.
She would get up and be responsible, eventually. But right now, she was busy being comfortable and warm. And with a very nice man to cuddle up to.
A girl get chances like this often. One had to bask in them whenever they got the opportunity. Responsible could wait for another few minutes.
She was basking.
*****
Part Fifteen
"Where did Anita go?"
Xander looked up, shooting a bright smile Willow's way. The redhead returned his smile, yawning slightly as she tried to pat down her rather rumpled hair. A quick glance around the room seemed to make the witch self-conscious, a blush coming to her cheeks in a way Xander hadn't seen in a long while.
It was comforting to say the least.
Nathaniel was right behind her, an arm swung casually around Willow's waist with his chin resting on her shoulder. His violet eyes were also roaming the room, a quick grin shared with Micah before sobering when looking towards Richard and the bodyguards.
"She was called away," Richard answered, shooting the redhead a concerned look. "Are you feeling better?"
"Well, I'm not about to pass out, if that indicates better," the redhead shrugged, making her way to sit on the couch next to Micah. She smiled briefly as Bob came floating her away, curling around her left arm before nestling his head in the crook of her neck.
Nathaniel perched himself on the arm of the couch, just next to her, expectant look on his face.
"Did she tell everything?" the leopard inquired. Xander nodded, sighing as he picked up a notepad from the coffee table.
"Short version, D'Zanon is not yet among us, but there's someone trying to help him along," the new wolf shook his head, shooting Willow a meaningful look. "Someone we know."
The redhead frowned, confusion evident on her face.
"Anita says that the intermediary would have knowledge of you and your power in order to hide from you," Micah offered.
"And Xander is making a list of all possible suspects," Richard added, leaning back in his seat. "Anita was called away by Bert. Apparently she forgot that she does not have the night off."
Willow nodded, leaning into Nathaniel as she gave the matter thought. Her green eyes traveled to the only silent members in the apartment, grinning slightly at the bodyguards. They looked kind of sulky and broodish. Reminded her of Angel.
"You guys hungry or something?" she asked suddenly. "Cause you're pouting an awful lot."
No response, from them at least. Richard grinned while Nathaniel and Micah tittered. The wolves in question just looked her way, eyes empty. She raised an eyebrow, giving Xander a mock glare.
"Have you been a bad host while I was napping?" she demanded. Her friend only shot her a smile.
"Not my fault," he protested, raising his hands in defense. "These guys are so stoic they could give Deadboy a run for his money."
There a light giggle and a disapproving look.
"Don't call him that," the redhead warned him. "Is there any food to offer, Mister Gluttoness-Wolf?"
Xander had the deceny to look sheepish as he reached for the phone.
"I'll order a pizza," he mumbled, tossing her a grin. "Don't turn me into a rat. It'll get confusing around moon-time."
She rolled her eyes, ignoring the curious glances from Richard and Micah. Instead, she reached over, plucking the notepad up from where Xander had left it. Her eyes roamed over the list, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips.
"Xander, why is the Watcher's Council on here?"
The dark-haired man shrugged, covering the receiver with his hand.
"Because they're evil," he replied before turning back to ordering the food. Willow shook her head, turning to face the others in the room.
"They're really not," she assured them. "Well, not in that sense of the word. They shouldn't be on here."
"Okay, fact number one, the intermediary needs to have good knowledge of you and your magic," Xander ticked off on his fingers, pizza taken care of. "In case you've forgotten, during the whole Glory thingy, they kind of studied all of us and took notes. Fact number two, this person has to have access to the books and magic to pull this off, and the Council so has that-"
"And fact number three, they have to be evil," Willow interrupted. "The Council may be irritating, but they generally aren't evil. Remember the whole part where they live to keep the world safe from demons?"
Xander pouted, taking the list from her possessively.
"They stay on the list," he insisted. "I don't trust them."
Willow sighed and shook her head again. Richard could barely keep from laughing, this sounded like a very old argument.
"Okay, who else?"
"Amy," Xander read. "Figured she might be mad that you knocked off
her dealer. D'Zanon might have the mojo she needs to get her fix."
Willow nodded, waving off Richard's questions.
"You better add his other clients as well then," she muttered darkly. "Not likely, but there's still a chance."
"Okay, and then we have the Sisters of Jeh."
Willow frowned.
"The who?"
"You remember, senior year?" Xander prompted. "You had to close the Hellmouth again because the purple and blue chicks tried to end the world?"
"Oh yeah," Willow gave a short laugh. "I remember."
"You closed the Hellmouth?" Micah blurted out.
"On more than one occasion," Xander piped up happily. "And then there is our favourite not-so-friendly schizo vamp Druscilla. As well as the remnants of the Initiative, which I say is a good possibility."
"We wiped the Initiative out," Willow pointed out.
"But they're still out there," Xander pointed. "And I think we can all agree that the people in charge were definitely all about raising the big bad."
"Fine, who else?"
"Glory followers, if there are any left," Xander checked off. "And respectively, those medieval guys if they are any left. I figured they just might be bitter. Um, leftover Mayor followers, again if they are any left. And that's all I came up with."
Willow nodded, frowning thoughtfully at Xander.
"There's someone missing," she mused. Xander nodded, glaring down at his list.
"There's more?" Richard blurted out, tone incredulous. Willow nodded, still frowning a bit.
"But I can't quite remember," she murmured. "It's on the tip of my tongue."
"I know," Xander muttered. "I've been trying to find out who. Hard to remember all the nasties we've come across in our lives."
"How on earth did you manage to stay alive for so long?" Micah asked, shaking his head. "You were so young."
"We had Buffy," Willow shrugged. "And the Slayer does wonders for your chances of survival, especially in Sunnydale."
"And the G-Man always had the skinny on the bad guy," Xander brought up. "Always found out what we were facing, even if it took a little while longer. And man, when he wanted to, he could kick ass like no one's business. Scary too, when he wanted to be, especially in his Ripper moments."
"That's it!" Willow jumped up, startling all those around her.
Xander frowned.
"What's it?" he asked confused. The redhead pointed to the list.
"The person we're missing," she informed him. Xander just frowned some more.
"You think Giles-"
"Not Giles," Willow rolled her eyes. "But an old friend of Giles.
Or should I say, an old friend of Ripper's?"
It dawned on Xander suddenly.
"Ethan Rayne!"
*****
Part Sixteen
"What is she doing?"
Xander shot a look towards Micah, his expression indicating that it should be obvious what Willow was doing. But the leopard missed the look, focusing all his attention on Willow as the redhead worked away at her computer.
"Is that even legal?" was Richard's question. Again Xander responded with just one look. Richard saw it and interpreted it to mean that he really didn't want to know.
"How do you know what to look for?" Nathaniel brought up, sitting on Willow's right side and watching as she typed rapidly on her keyboard. At that, Willow spared a small smile, turning her attention just a bit away from her computer to answer.
"I am a witch you know," she reminded him. "And I do have quite the extensive knowledge of the black arts. In order to pull off even half the stuff that this intermediary is doing, he's going to need supplies and a lot of them. By checking all the stores that I know to have the materials necessary, I can pinpoint his activities."
"'His'?" Richard repeated, arms folded across his chest. "So you decided that it is this Ethan guy?"
Willow shrugged, turning her full attention back to the computer and letting Xander answer that question for her.
"Well, we can't say for certain, that's why Wills is checking up on the magic shops," the dark-haired man replied. "But the more and more we think about it, Ethan just comes to the front. I'm surprised we didn't think of him sooner."
"Well, he has been gone for a little while," Willow mused. "I mean, the last time we saw him was back when he turned Giles into a demon."
"Exactly," Xander nodded, ignoring the curious looks of the others in their apartment. "But I thought he had been arrested by the Initiative. Now, I know that whole organization went bust, but they never released all those dangerous hostiles they encountered. I thought Ethan was high on their list of dangerous guys and therefore still in detainment."
"They couldn't have kept him there long," Willow responded. "I mean, Ethan's not from this country. Eventually, and I'm assuming especially after the Initiative debacle, the army would have gotten tired of wasting resources on containing him and tried to ship him back to Merry Old England."
"Which would give him, with his knowledge of magic, the perfect chance to escape," Xander shook his head. "But, if he did manage to escape, wouldn't Riley have told us?"
"What if Riley didn't know?" Willow speculated. "I mean, the army looked bad enough after that whole Adam incident. No doubt admitting that they lost a foreign prisoner that they were holding illegally would not only raise a few eyebrows, but also land them in heaps of trouble."
"What are you guys talking about?" Richard finally interrupted. "The army? What's the Initiative?"
"Long story short, the army set up a secret base on the Hellmouth to control the demon population," Xander hurriedly explained. "Unfortunately, the person in charge, one Professor Walsh, was a complete and total whack job. She used her position at the Initiative, and the ample array of demons held there, to construct a Robo-Demon thingy called Adam. Of course Adam turned out to be evil, killed his maker, and tried to take over the Hellmouth. But we so stopped his metal ass."
"Well, Buffy stopped his metal ass," Willow clarified. "But we were all joined in a spell that made her superhuman-ER."
"And all this happened when?" Micah asked.
"About three years ago," Xander replied, leaning back into his armchair as he smirked at the Nimir-Raj. "We were nineteen and we took on the US army. And won."
"Xander, try not to gloat," Willow admonished him distractedly. "We signed all those papers saying that we wouldn't."
Xander gave an unimpressed snort at that, settling back into his seat and turning a teasing smirk on the bodyguards.
"You boys ever going to say anything?" he needled them. "Because stoic aside, this is getting ridiculous. You've been here for hours and not a peep. That's just wrong."
"You talk too much," Jamal informed the young wolf. Xander chuckled, folding his hands behind his head in a picture of self-satisfaction.
"I get that a lot," he returned smoothly, jerking a bit by the knock on the door.
"Pizza," Willow reminded him from her spot in front of the computer. Xander smiled sheepishly for a second before going to answer the door. Willow kept her eyes on her computer, frowning quite a bit now.
"What's wrong?" Nathaniel asked her in concern. Willow shook her head, still frowning.
"Whoever did this is covering his tracks well enough," the redhead sighed. "They visit several different shops, picking up just enough of the materials so as to not raise alarm and pay only in cash. Real simple, and the tellers probably wouldn't remember them from any of their other customers. Real smart."
"Have you checked motels and stuff in the area?" Xander asked. Willow shot him a look.
"You seriously think Ethan is stupid enough to log in under his own name?" Willow asked him. "Besides, it really depends on what kind of place he's staying in. Most cheap motels don't keep electronic copies of their room reservations. We won't find him on the web."
"Oh well," Xander gave an exaggerated sigh. "Magic it is."
Willow grinned at that, nodding slightly at the curious shifters around her.
"Magic it is."
*****
He shuffled around his motel room clumsily, nearly tripping over his
own suitcase. He cursed a few times, really unhappy that he had to stay in such a cramped and dirty dive. He should be set up in one of the largest, most luxurious hotels in the city, but no. He was stuck here just so no one would be able to detect him.
The things he did for his job.
The man gave a sigh, flopping down on his bed. He idly wondered if he should go out for a drink tonight. His employer had warned him against public outings for things that weren't fully necessary, but he was bored damn it! There was only so much time that a person could spend locked up in one crappy room and still manage to keep his sanity.
Or whatever was left of it from before anyway.
He knew that some level, it was too much of a risk for him to go out. He should just keep to the plan, going out only in the wee hours of the morning to get supplies and occasionally change motels so that no one would be able to track him. That was a solid plan, especially since his contact in the wolf pack seems to have fallen silent over the past few days. That could mean only one thing.
She was dead and he was now on his own.
So, he should stay inside and behave himself. But of course it was a losing battle, he's never been able to behave himself before, why start now?
He rose up in bed with a devilish smirk on his face. One drink couldn't hurt. After all, who was going to know? Certainly not his employer, as he wasn't exactly on this plane of existence. Really, no harm could come from him leaving his room and going out for a night cap.
He was whistling a jaunty tune by the time he had finished dressing, feeling uplifted for the first time in a long time. It hadn't been the best idea to take this job, but he had and now he had to deal with it. But he had no idea when he took the job that it would take so long. He wasn't one for big elaborate schemes that took careful planning and whatnot. He was more for making a big splash, all at once, and running away while chuckling over the mayhem caused.
Of course, his method hadn't really been working for a few years now.
He shrugged on his jacket with ease, snapping up his room key and wallet as he headed for the door. He felt cheerier than ever, turning the knob and preparing to step out into the night.
He never expected to find them there, the two of them, smiling at him so sinisterly that he actually felt fear shoot up and down his spine. The redhead was the one drawing most of his attention right away, but the low growling from the boy was distracting as well. From the sounds of that growling, the first step of the plan had gone off brilliantly. Except now the boy was free and most likely to rip out his throat in a rage.
"Hey Ethan. Long time no see."
*****
Part Seventeen
"You know, I always knew you were a bit reckless. But I never figured you to be suicidal."
Ethan Rayne looked up into the hard green eyes of Willow, deciding to stay there for the moment. Even though he knew Willow was the one to be most afraid of, looking at Xander was not an option right now.
The man's eyes were flickering with the amber colour of his beast and Ethan was pretty sure that Xander would rip his throat out given half a chance.
He was stuck. He could admit that right now. He was stuck and by the looks of it, dead meat. He remembered all the other crap he had pulled on these kids and knew none of it compared to this. Before when he messed around with them, he had to deal with Ripper and the Slayer. Those two, though they liked hitting him, would always back off in the end. They didn't want to have his death on their hands.
Ethan wasn't so sure that these two would care all that much about it.
"Miss Rosenburg, Mr. Harris, try not to lose your tempers," he started off weakly. "I'm sure if we just all sit down and talk this through, we can come to-"
Whatever he had to say was interrupted when Xander snatched him up by the throat. The man's eyes were completely amber by now and there were low growls coming from deep inside his chest. Ethan faltered for a second, looking desperately towards Willow for some help and finding none there. The redhead actually looked amused at his predicament, green eyes dancing in joy as Xander cut off his air supply.
When in the bloody hell did these two get to be this scary?
"Ethan, we're not in the mood to be dicking around with you," Xander warned him, grip tightening just a bit around his throat. "Now, you have two options here: you tell us what you know or we beat it out of you."
"Well, you see there's a bit of a problem with that," Ethan rasped, clawing at the strong hand at his throat. "If I tell you, D'Zanon will kill me."
"Well lucky you," Willow murmured, stalking closer to the both of them. Her green eyes meet Ethan's and he watched in horror as they bled black.
"D'Zanon might kill you, but you should be more worried about us," she snarled. "Because you won't kill you. Hell, we'll make it our business to keep you on the brink of death for the rest of your miserable life."
Ethan felt himself turn cold, shivering on the inside at her threat. Xander could only laugh, jerking the man forward until he was face-to-face with the werewolf.
"Now Ethan, would you like to reconsider your options?"
*****
Anita was very unhappy.
Firstly, Xander had been really annoying when she went to see him and Willow that morning. The brunette never actually got to talk to Willow because of that brat and it wasn't sitting well with her. Xander may be a werewolf now, but no way was he going to be the one to shut down D'Zanon. As much as it pained her to say it, Willow was the only person she could see capable of doing that.
Secondly, Bert called just before Willow woke up, demanding that Anita come into the office. Apparently she had missed one too many days of work and her appointments were tired of being pushed back. So she left Willow and Xander's apartment to head off to a night full of cutting open chickens and raising the dead.
The joys of being her.
And finally, the last and worst thing that could have happened did. Richard and Micah, she was giving both of them equal blame in this, had let Willow and Xander run off on their own to handle the situation. Anita would have thought the way those two handled Paris would have clued either alpha into the fact that they weren't the most controlled duo. If this Ethan guy really was the intermediary for D'Zanon, they would be lucky if there was anything left of him by the time they got him away from Willow and Xander. Those two were downright sadistic when they wanted to be, especially Willow. Anita remembered what the witch had done to Paris, and with a smile on her face no less.
And Richard thought Anita was a monster.
All of these things amounted to a very unhappy Executioner. Anita knew she had to get between Willow, Xander, and this Ethan person-especially if she wanted the chance to stop D'Zanon for good. Anita just wasn't sure that Willow and Xander were objective enough to realize that right now. Ethan was most likely the cause of all the pain they had gone through in the last week or so. And as much as Anita didn't want to admit it, if they wanted to kill Ethan they would have a damn good excuse.
Which was why she was going to run interference.
*****
"Oh Xander, just hit him."
These were the words that greeted Anita and Sylvie when the two finally found where Willow and Xander had stashed Ethan. It was in a dive motel, a different one than the one that Ethan had been staying in. In fact, it was almost all the way across town from that particular motel. The only reason they had even been able to find the three of them was due to Ethan's overwhelming fear. Several wolves had picked up his scent from his old motel room and two eventually tracked him down just before dawn. Ethan's scent had been strengthed by his fear, causing even the wolves who found him to tremble. They had wasted no time in calling Sylvie, the wolf in charge of this particular hunt, and let her know where the man was and what was happening to him.
Anita had nearly flown down to the hotel at the news of that.
Meeting up with Sylvie in the parking lot, they had managed to make their way to the room just in time to hear Willow's short command to her friend. And they enetered the room just in time to see Xander land a punch right on Ethan's face.
"Oh, hello."
This was coming from Willow. The redhead sat perched on the one bed in the room, her legs dangling over the edge as she watched Xander and Ethan on the other side of the room. The man, Ethan, was tied down to a chair. He looked scared, tired, and not as bloody as Anita would have expected him to be. Xander stood over the man, hands clenching and unclenching in barely contained rage as he looked down at the man responsible for his own few days of torture at the hands of a psychotic werewolf.
"You have to stop this," Anita commanded, walking further into the room. She saw Sylvie slowly start in Xander's direction and decided to go to Willow herself. The redhead was watching her approach with an interested expression, giggling when Anita told her to stop.
"Are you crazy?" the witch asked gleefully. "We haven't even started yet. Have we Xander?"
"Not yet Wills," the man agreed, shooting Sylvie a threatening look. "I don't want to fight you, but don't even try to get between me and this man. We're not going to kill him, we just want him to talk."
"And he seems to be a bit stubborn about it," Willow continued for her friend. A devilish smile struck her face.
"Hit him again Xander."
"No!" Anita barked, but not quick enough. Xander landed another quick jab on Ethan before Sylvie was able to reach his side. The man in the chair moaned and then shook his head.
"You didn't hafta to do that!" he roared in indignation. "Fine, if you must know, he's not flesh yet."
"That's a start," Willow murmured, getting to her feet and pushing past Anita to stand right in front of him.
"Now Ethan, I want you to listen to me because this is very important," the redhead whispered to him, voice dangerously low. "What is D'Zanon planning to do next?"
"Well, other than becoming flesh, I don't know," Ethan shot back with a smirk. Xander growled, turning away from Sylvie and raising his fist again.
"Oh, don't do that!" Ethan cried, flinching away from the irate werewolf. "I'm telling the truth. He's trying to become flesh, and now that I'm not around to help him, it's just going to take longer."
"It won't stop?" Anita asked alarmed. Ethan chuckled weakly at her question, giving Willow a pointed look.
"They thought it would stop?" he snickered, turning back to face Anita. "It doesn't ever stop pet. I hadn't done everything he needed to become flesh, but I did enough of it. He's strong enough to find someone else to do it for him now. He'll be flesh in two weeks tops."
"What does he want?" Xander demanded. "We know it's just not to kill us. If that was the case, Paris would have killed me, not turned me. What is the big bad demon planning?"
Ethan was quiet. Willow sighed and turned to Xander once more. The werewolf landed one more punch, right to Ethan's gut, before Sylvie was able to pull him away again.
The redhead smirked at the gasping noises Ethan was making. Anita moved to stand between her and the man, but the redhead gave her such a deathly glare that Anita backed off almost immediately.
She watched helplessly as Willow knelt before Ethan, stopping once she was eye-level with the man. She laid a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly enough to draw his attention her way. He looked up, frightened to find her eyes had gone black once more.
"Ethan," she demanded, her voice becoming deep from her gathering of her magic. "What is D'Zanon going to do?"
The man shrugged helplessly, pushing back against his chair in a vain attempt to put some space between him and Willow. But the witch just followed, gripping his chin tightly and letting her hair turn as black as her eyes.
"Tell me!" she demanded. Ethan gave a choked sob, knowing for
certain he was over his head this time. He had no choice but to submit.
"He's going to steal your power," Ethan replied in fear. "He wants it in order to build another statue, like the one you destroyed. And then he's going to use Xander as a sacrifice to make his goddess flesh and then set her loose on the world."
Willow snorted, pushing back away from Ethan in obvious disgust and letting her hair and eyes return to their normal colour. She looked at the shocked Anita, shaking her in disappointment.
"Apocalypses so last year."
*****
Part Eighteen
�I don�t think-�
�Well that explains a lot.�
�Xander!�
Xander Harris grinned at his best friend; looking not the least bit repentant about the barb he had just shot Anita�s way. The Executioner herself had almost had enough of his unique brand of pissing her off, her shooting hand edging closer and closer to her gun.
�It�s a miracle you haven�t been shot yet,� Anita growled out at the younger man. Xander just grinned again, giving her an audacious wink and chuckling at her irritated look.
�What can I say? I�m the guy with all the luck,� he grinned. �Unless you think back to the whole being kidnapped and turned into a werewolf against my will thing. Or that time that Dracula put me under his trance thingy. Or when I almost became a fish-man. Or-hell! I�m not lucky at all! Damn it! This butt monkey role just won�t go away.�
Anita arched an eyebrow at that, to which Willow just waved off with a disinterested look.
�He has this thing where he insists the world wants to make him the butt monkey,� the witch explained with a roll of her eyes. �It�s so not even true. I mean, some of us have been through worse than he has. Heck, Buffy�s died twice for the world. I�d say the Slayer is really the world�s butt monkey. She always gets the raw end of the deal.�
�But she gets superpowers,� Xander complained, his voice going up a level. �I mean, until the whole wolfieness that I caught from Psycho-Paris, I was just your average Joe.�
�Xander, you were never average.�
He grinned, tilting his head a bit as he regarded his friend curiously.
�Now did you mean that in a bad way or a good way?� he wondered.
�I meant it, let�s leave it at that,� the redhead returned smoothly, turning her attention to Anita again. �You don�t have to be here. I am going to break about a zillion laws here. You don�t have to witness it if you don�t want.�
�You don�t have to do this period,� Anita tried to reason with the witch again. �This whole plan of yours is ludicrous! You�re going to get ourselves killed, and that�s exactly what this demon wants.�
�Well, I guess Christmas is coming early for him this year,� Xander grinned. �Because regardless of whether or not we make it, we�re going to do this. It�s our fault anyway.�
�My fault,� Willow corrected him primly. �I tried to end the world.�
�Yeah, but I stopped you, so he�s pissed at me as well,� Xander reasoned. �Not that me saving the world was a bad thing. It was actually one of the best things I ever did, ever will do. One of the things I�m good at. You know, besides running away and being a butt monkey.�
�Can we get off the butt monkey topic?� Willow sighed. �That just brings very disturbing images to mind.�
�Why Willow,� Xander mock-reprimanded her. �Get your mind out of the gutter.�
�It�s not in the gutter,� Willow retorted. �It can�t be. Your mind is there so much that it has taken up all the room.�
�Hardy-har-har,� Xander made a face at his friend. �You know, I�m actually for your crazy plan. Maybe you should be nice to me.�
�Why start now?� she tossed back with a grin. Anita barely suppressed a shriek at the obvious detraction from the subjection at hand. Shutting her eyes, the brunette counted down from ten and then tried to broach the topic again.
�At least let me call for help,� Anita suggested. �I mean, having Richard and Jean-Claude here would tip the scales in our favour-�
�Or in his,� Willow cut her off. �I�m not sure what kind of spell D�Zanon is going to use. And if he gets by me enough to suck away all my power, I don�t want the three of you standing nearby providing him with a second meal. He gets by us, you and your group will have to be the ones to stop him.�
�Willow, this isn�t the best way to do this!� Anita protested again. �Can�t you see that? Don�t you care that you might die? And if you don�t, don�t you think others will? What about Nathaniel? Did you think about him?�
Willow sighed again, rising to her feet and giving Anita a small, almost patronizing smile.
�I know you don�t get it,� she began, talking as if she were explaining the matter to a small child. �But in the end, none of that matters. I did something very bad a while ago, and I have to deal with the consequences of that. I brought this down on my own head, and now I have to fix it. I know you�re like the big hero around here, and that you want to fix everything to give all your little shifters and vampires a happy ending, but sometimes you have to understand that life doesn�t always turn out that way. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice, you have to make decisions that others won�t like, or even hate you for. But in the end, you have to make them.�
�I do know that,� Anita grounded out between clenched teeth. �I�m not some amateur Willow. I know that when it comes down to the line, decisions have to be made for others-�
�Then why don�t you see it now?� the redhead countered. �I think it�s sweet that you�re worried about us, even if it�s more about Nathaniel and the others than us. But you have to know-D�Zanon is a real risk. And like it or not, he�s declared war on Xander and me. We�ve just decided to meet him at the final battle before it could be dictated to us.�
�You make it sound so simple,� Anita shook her head. �But it�s not. Real demons, they�re something else. But the ones tainted by mortality are worse. Prayer or faith doesn�t affect them. They�re just evil, and they�ve got damn bad intentions. You need help on this.�
�I need for you to cover me,� Willow corrected her. �I don�t need you for the spell or anything connected to it. I need you to be there in case Xander and me can�t get the job done. It doesn�t get any more simple than that. We�re the first line of defence, you�re the second.�
�But he wants you and this just plays into his hands!� Anita roared, her dark eyes flashing with anger. �You can�t just hand yourself over to him so easily.�
�I don�t plan on making it the least bit easy,� Willow interjected, her own eyes beginning to dance with irritation. �I plan on taking him down. But I�m not getting over cocky on this. You�re my backup. What more do you want from me?�
�A little common sense couldn�t hurt,� Anita snarled. Xander snorted, giving the woman a measuring look.
�You�re just mad because you�re not the big player in all this,� he stated shortly. �Sorry to break this to you honey, but none of this has been about you-Ever. A big bad made its way into your territory but it doesn�t give a flying fuck about you and yours. It wants us, so let us deal with it.�
�This is not a pissing contest,� Anita retorted.
�Then stop making it into one,� Xander shot back, getting to his feet at this point. �Look, we know we make you angry. We do things differently, and we don�t really listen to you. But none of it is about taking anything away from you. We�re not trying to be the next big thing here, we�re just trying to make things right. Now, after this is over, maybe we can all sit down and talk our issues through. But right now, we need to deal with Mr. Let�s-End-The-World. Though why he�s trying, I have no idea. I mean, it�s been tried, and we so stopped the hell of it before. Why do bad guys even bother anymore?�
�I don�t know Xander,� Willow grinned. �Maybe they all have short-term memory loss when it comes to us. After all, more and more come up against us, thinking that they can win. When really, they can�t.�
�And here I thought you weren�t going in overly cocky,� Anita rolled her eyes. �Fine, do it your way. I�m not going to like it one bit, but fine. Do you need anything before I go wait on the end of the world?�
�Well, you could leave Ethan behind so we could pound on him some more,� Xander suggested with a grin, gesturing to the man trussed up in the corner of Willow and Xander�s living room. Anita gave the younger man a look, clearly signifying how she stood on that. Xander gave an exasperated sigh, snapping his fingers wistfully.
�Darn,� he lamented. �Really wanted to hit him some more.�
�Richard will take care of him,� Anita assured him. �He brought some pretty heavy magic into the pack through Paris. Our mighty Ulfric isn�t the least bit happy about that.�
Xander gave a delighted chuckled, waggling his eyebrows at Ethan.
�If you thought we�re bad when we�re angry, wait until you get a load of Richard.�
Ethan�s eyes widened in pure terror.
*****
Willow sat in the middle of her carefully constructed circle, trying to even her breathing to a calm level. Xander patrolled outside the circle, eyes flashing with amber as he regarded the set up before him. They were alone, in an isolated part of the woods. The lupanar was far away from this place, so even a werewolf wouldn�t be able to reach them in time to stop Willow�s spell. Because once she got going, there was going to be a whole lot of magic in the air. Magic that could prove very tempting for some creatures . . .
�We�re sure about this right?� he asked cautiously. Willow nodded, not breaking from her breathing exercise.
�Super sure, right?�
She nodded again. Xander nodded himself, wiping his sweaty palms on the legs of his pant.
�Great,� he muttered. �It�s great to be sure.�
She smiled through her breathing, pausing to wink at her friend before she launched into her chant. Her voice was low, the Latin just tumbling softly from her lips. Xander continued his stalking of the outer magic circle, trying vaguely to decipher the few words he could make out from his friend but coming up with nothing.
He always did suck at Latin.
The wind picked up and his skin began to tingle in the oddest way. He knew it was the magic, felt it radiating from his friend. It spilled out from the circle, currents running over his body that caused him to suck in a deep breath to calm his beast. He knew his eyes had gone completely amber and he didn�t want to alarm Willow should her eyes fall on him. But he had to force them open, to watch for any signs of danger. Anything that would stop his friend from doing what she needed to do in order to stop D�Zanon.
He heard them coming before Willow even finished her spell. He smirked to himself, actually amused at the level of secrecy they were trying to uphold. He wanted to yell out to them, to rile them up just a bit. But any yelling might distract Willow, and that was definitely out of the question.
Xander turned back to his friend, watching her enter the final few words of her spell. Her eyes were open now, black as tar, completely devoid of any light at all. Her hair was starting to tint that colour, streaks of black lining her face.
The air before her started to shimmer, as if reality itself were stretching right before them. The scenery beyond the shimmer began to warp itself, stretching and elongating in ways that weren�t natural. They seemed to correct themselves after a second, returning to normal after the shimmer began to take on a more solid shape.
He was tall, fairly large. About the size of the Judge, from what Xander could make of the materializing mass. As its form became more and more defined, Xander could even make out skin colour.
Hmm, did figure D�Zanon to be a blue demon. He was kind of banking on red. He didn�t know why, it just seemed like red would be more appropriate for the guy. It had on some sort of armour, which he had been kind of expecting. Most demons came with some sort of body armour, usually black. D�Zanon was no exception, its armour actually coming with a few spikes here and there. Its face was large and creased with many lines. Its skin was drawn tight over these lines, giving it an almost plastic appearance.
On a scale of one to ten, Xander gave the guy an eleven for ugliness.
The demon completed its transformation, coming fully into the world with a loud *pop*. Willow started, backing up slowly from the creature that she had summoned and brought into flesh. It was momentarily distracted, taking in its surroundings in mild curiosity before its eyes fell on her and him. A hideous grin cracked his features, revealing a set of frightening white teeth.
�You fools,� it spat, a triumphant look crossing his features. �You�ve sealed your own fates this time!�
�Don�t be so sure.�
The voice came from somewhere behind Xander. He turned, seeing the gathered group emerge from the trees forming a solid line of defence against the large blue demon. A smirk tilted his lips as his eyes fell on Anita, standing ready with her gun pointed at D�Zanon.
�What took you so long?�
*****
Willow rolled her eyes. Leave it to Xander to mock Anita even at a time like this. Really, once they got out of this, she was going to have a talk with him about timing. As in, this was not the time for him to be annoying.
There was a demon that needed to be killed.
D�Zanon let out a roar of fury, the sound echoing off the trees and deep into the forest. Willow smirked, seeing his obvious displeasure with the minor army that had shown up to meet him. Guess he wasn�t expecting such a large welcoming party.
Nuts for him.
The redhead back-pedaled, putting ample room between her and the creature. She barely registered all the shifters that flew by her, intent on stopping the demon before it got very far. She could see D�Zanon, tossing the wolves back one by one as they struck at it, having troubles but not really threatened by these creatures. Willow grinned to herself.
She wondered what it would do if it knew that there were about two hundred more shifters waiting in the wings.
Willow tried not to look as Xander threw himself into the battle, not wanting to be distracted by her fear for her friend. She felt hands grasp her shoulders, pulling her to her feet. She looked into the hurt violet eyes of Nathaniel.
�You didn�t tell me,� he pouted. She gave him a small smile.
�That�s because I knew you would be here regardless,� she told him, cupping his cheek tenderly. �That and Ethan still had a strong connection to D�Zanon. Didn�t want to expose too much in front of him, didn�t want D�Zanon catching on too soon.�
�Catching onto what?� he asked. Willow grinned wider this time, shooting a look over her shoulder at where D�Zanon stood fighting a volley of werewolves and wereleopards. She turned back to Nathaniel, giving him an impish wink.
�Take me to the vamps.�
*****
Xander saw Willow head off with Nathaniel, knowing she was heading for the final phase of the plan. He turned back to the fight, taking a blow right to the chest from the demon and ending up being tossed about ten feet backwards. He hit the ground with a grunt, hearing another one follow his own. He looked up, seeing Stephen on the ground not far from him. He pulled the other wolf close, whispering softly in his ear.
�You don�t have to kill him,� he whispered to Stephen. �Just keep him occupied.�
�Why?� Stephen demanded, giving him a curious look. Xander just gave a wolfish grin, patting the wolf reassuringly on the back.
�Because Wills so has this.�
*****
�You want me to what?�
Willow rolled her eyes, taking a moment to glance where Anita stood firing bullets at D�Zanon whenever she could get a clear shot. The woman would be so opposed to the redhead�s plan, that�s why Willow wanted her distracted while she did this.
�I need your help,� she finally replied, turning to give Jean-Claude a good look at her black eyes. �I can�t stop him in the form he�s in now. But I have the advantage of knowing his whole plan, and that�s why we can still win this. He won�t be taken down in a physical fight.�
�You risked an awful lot on this Willow,� Jean-Claude warned her. �What if we had not shown?�
�Please,� Willow grinned, giving him a goading look. She nodded her head Anita�s way.
�Like she would have stayed out of this.�
*****
Anita didn�t know where Willow had gone. She had seen Nathaniel rush to her side quickly and help her run off behind the legion of advancing shifters, but lost track of her after that.
Anita looked up at the demon, seeing the way it was wearing down a bit, but not enough. It wasn�t that affected by this attack. The only reason why there weren�t dead shifters everywhere was that the shifters themselves were being careful about how they took the blows from the creature. Either way, they weren�t winning this fight. Anita looked for Willow again. Didn�t the redhead say she had a plan or something?
Because now would be a good time for it.
*****
Richard felt the beginning of it flare up through the marks. At first he thought it was Anita, pulling out yet another frightening trick to defeat their latest foe. The events with Chimera were fresh in his mind so he was a bit shocked to pick Anita out of the crowd, looking just as bewildered as he was.
Well, if he wasn�t doing it and Anita wasn�t doing it, that left Jean-Claude. Who Richard had last seen with Willow . . .
The Ulfric snorted to himself. So that�s what her plan was. She had banked on Anita showing up despite her warnings to stay away. Willow had known it and then planned her attack around that.
Smart little witch.
*****
D�Zanon snarled in the faces of those shifters throwing themselves at it. A hand reached out, gripping one of the wolves by the neck. Its grip quickly released after another wolf bit its arm until it let go. D�Zanon let out a roar; knocking both offending wolves almost twenty feet back.
The sounds of her chanting reached its ears almost immediately. D�Zanon turned, seeing that the witch had managed to get herself behind it. She was attempting some sort of vanquishing spell, a weak one at that.
D�Zanon let out a roar of amusement, reaching the witch quickly and grasping her by the arm. Another quick movement of its limbs sent all the near wolves crashing into the ranks behind them, starting a chain reaction of collapse.
D�Zanon returned its attention to the redhead, kneeling over so its lips were near her ear.
�This is the price you pay for defiling my goddess.�
It reared back with its fist, plunging its claws into her abdomen, causing her to gasp in shock. D�Zanon threw back its head, growling with triumph as it sucked the witch�s power away from her. The magic began to fill its body immediately, a great sense of power washing over the demon.
And then it realized the problem.
D�Zanon dropped the witch, stumbling back from her as it tried to fight the magic now coursing through its body. Willow fell to the ground, bleeding from the wounds on her stomach, but a triumphant smile on her face.
�Got you twice now, you bastard.�
D�Zanon roared with rage, red eyes filling with immense hate for the witch. It tried to move closer to her, but found its limbs incapable of movement. D�Zanon sank to its knees, feeling the undesired magic wash over its entire body, finding its centre at its heart.
The demon gave one more roar before it exploded into a thousand pieces.
*****
Epilogue
Jean-Claude had agreed to her plan quickly. It hadn�t taken much convincing, since he could see the fruitlessness of a physical attack just by the way D�Zanon was waving off the wolves as mere annoyances, not threats. The Master of the City had seen the good in her suggestion, though he hadn�t been sure he wanted to give her such power over him.
�Fine then,� she had stated. �Send Asher to hold Xander. If I do anything to you, of the bad variety, tell Asher he can kill him.�
That sealed the deal, for even the vampire knew the deep-seated love she had for her best friend. They had made their way quietly behind D�Zanon while the fight raged on. Jean-Claude hid in the shadows while Willow made sure her presence was felt. As soon as the demon turned on her, the witch had grasped his hand, sending him a final mental reassurance.
*This will work. *
And it had. She had tricked the large demon not once, but twice. First, she made it believe Ethan was calling it to form. And though D�Zanon hadn�t been upset by her appearance there, that hadn�t been the end of her plan. The witch had planned for Anita�s defiance of her wishes, expecting the rather large army to show up like it had. And she had used that to her advantage as well.
When D�Zanon reached to draw her power out of her body, Willow latched onto Jean-Claude�s essence and warped the exchange. What D�Zanon had actually been drawing out of Willow had not been the magic of a witch, but the cold death of a vampire.
She had killed D�Zanon by filling him with death. It was a neat trick.
Anita, of course, had been furious with the witch. Being left out of the loop had not pleased the Executioner one bit. And she had liked it less when Xander told her rather rudely to just deal with it. Those two still weren�t getting along, though no one ever expected them to in the first place.
Willow, she was still too much of an enigma for everyone involved. Jean-Claude had congratulated the redhead on her defeat of the demon and then promptly asked her to discontinue her work with the Circus. She hadn�t been all that surprised. Willow had too easily been able to access his essence, to steal his life, well un-life, force and use it for her own means. The Master of the City didn�t want anyone with that kind of power over him too close by.
At least he let her stay in the city. Though she did have to come in to report to Jean-Claude every now and then, giving her promise of neutrality now that she was in his city.
He probably wouldn�t have been able to chase her out even if he wanted to. Richard, upon the end of the battle, had told-not asked-Willow that she would be the pack�s new vargamor. She hadn�t really contested the matter, knowing she owed Richard a lot for not demanding more of her after she basically tortured Paris on lupanar grounds. Even though she had used the flimsy excuse of extracting revenge on Xander�s behalf, she knew that if he had wanted to, Richard could have pushed the issue and gotten her into a hell of a situation.
Besides, she liked all the little wolfies. They were kind of cute, shifted or not. That and she owed Richard for taking care of Ethan. The little bastard wouldn�t be causing any more grief for them for a little while. Kind of difficult to cause problems when you�re in government custody for being an illegal alien.
Xander adjusted to life as a werewolf the same way he did everything else, with a cutting sense of humour. While he was still offending some people, Xander was quick to learn the whole business of the pack and who not to offend. Though Anita never did seem to get very high on that list.
He kept his employment under Jean-Claude, stating quite happily that he had to be the breadwinner now that Willow was unemployed. That earned him a whack on the head from the redhead, after which he sheepishly apologized. But he did stay on at Guilty Pleasures, his beast liking being around so many others of supernatural origins.
Though he still refused to strip for Jean-Claude.
Willow, well, she was okay. More or less anyway. She was still kind of dealing with the after effects of what she had done. After all, none of this mess would have even started if she hadn�t gone off the deep end like she had after Tara�s death. The aftermath of D�Zanon�s death brought a much more sullen attitude to the witch, one that alarmed Xander so much that he called in an old friend of theirs called Giles. The man had arrived and stayed only one week before Willow was able to resume a somewhat more cheered attitude. She hadn�t completely gotten over it, but she was in the process of doing so.
Nathaniel helped in that department a lot. The wereleopard could not be forced from the witch�s side unless it was for work or obligations to the pard. He all but moved into Xander and Willow�s apartment, something neither owner minded but Anita hadn�t been too sure about. But after a while, even the Nimir-ra had to give in and admit things seemed to be working out for Nathaniel, so why jinx it?
All in all, not happily ever after, because that was myth created some odd hundred years ago to make people feel better. There were still hardships and often heartaches. Things were still argued-like Nathaniel�s need for pain during sex. Willow would not give in, refusing to hurt her �kitten� as Xander called him in any way. There had been disputes over that, even arguments. But an understanding was reached, involving a minor amount of handcuffs and whips.
But let�s not get into that. All you need to know is that it ended, kind of happily too. What more could you want out of a story?
The End