Fic: The Wolf Within (1/?)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a fic I've been working on for awhile, a sort-of crossover fic
between the Buffyverse and White Wolf's World of Darkness (for all you
RPG nuts). I liked their werewolves better than the Buffy werewolves
anyway.

If you guys want to see some really impressive werewolf pictures that
were the basis for the Garou werewolves I'm writing about, I can list
some links.

Without further ado...

TITLE: The Wolf Within
AUTHOR: Erin (erin@xxxxxxxxxxx)
SPOILERS: None, really.
RATING: PG-13 at worst, because of some violence. It is a
Buffy/Willow fic, so if that bothers you, or it's illegal to even
think of a Slayer and a Witch getting it on, then just don't read it.
Or move.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss
Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
I'll put them back when I'm done, no worse for wear (but maybe a
little happier). Most of the werewolf stuff is copyright White Wolf,
such as Garou, Crinos, Child of Gaia, Glass Walker, etc.
ARCHIVE: Currently, none. Just ask, I'd love to say yes.
FEEDBACK: Constructive comments are encouraged.
SUMMARY: (Buffy/Willow) Willow discovers that there is more to her
than meets the eye, and it could tear her life apart.

Part the First

She could feel herself running, feet pounding hard against the forest
floor. The woods were eerily silent; she could no longer hear any of
the birds and small nocturnal animals that normally filled the forest
with life. She ran through the deep wood as if she belonged; not one
twig or branch was disturbed by her passing.

She ended up abruptly in a clearing, and skidded to a stop. In front
of her, two vampires grinned, moonlight reflecting in their eyes which
were dark chips of cold flint. She was surprised when, instead of
running _from_ the vampires, she leapt _toward_ them, her powerful
legs propelling her across the clearing. She watched as, mid leap,
her hands transformed. She felt her entire body shifting, growing,
and when she looked again her hands were great clawed things covered
with a thick layer of red fur.

She hit the vampire hard, her weight bringing him down easily. She
latched her muzzle -- muzzle? -- onto his neck, her sharp teeth easily
sinking into the flesh of his throat. With one savage motion, she
ripped the vampire's head from his shoulders, reducing the whole
creature to dust.

She rose to her feet, and turned to see the other vampire. She
towered over him now, easily eight or nine feet tall. She could feel
her tail swishing back and forth in an agitated manner. The vampire
paled, moreso, and began backing away in undisguised fear.

She leapt forward, faster than the vampire could react. One swipe of
her razor-sharp talons later, and the vampire was left nothing more
than dust in the breeze.

The werewolf looked up into the night sky, noticing the full moon
shining down from far above. She let out a guttural howl, a challenge
full of rage and victory...

"Willow? Willow, wake up," Buffy said, shaking her friend out of her
fitful sleep.

"Wha...?" Willow sat up, brushing hair out of her eyes. She half
expected to see her hands covered with fur, but when she looked they
seemed the same as they ever were. "I'm sorry, Buffy, did I wake you
up?"

Buffy smiled at her friend. "That's ok, it was about time for me to
get up." She got up and went to her dresser, and started laying out
clothes. "What's the matter, did you have a nightmare?"

Willow frowned, and tried to remember her dream. "It wasn't a
nightmare, at least, I don't remember being scared. It was weird
though, I thought..." She trailed off, and looked at her hands again.
Nope, still normal.

"Thought what?"

"Well, I thought," Willow chuckled weakly, "I thought I was a
werewolf."

Buffy raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Bad Oz dream?" She asked. For
weeks after Oz left, Willow had had nightmares that Veruca had bit
her, had cursed her with the same affliction that turned her and Oz
into werewolves three nights a month.

Willow shook her head. "It wasn't like that...like those other
dreams," she replied. "I wasn't just a mindless killing machine. I
was focused." She shrugged, confused. "I dunno, it was probably
nothing..."

Buffy looked at her friend, concerned. "Will, tonight is the first
night of the full moon... Maybe... Maybe we should just take some
precautions?"

"I don't know..." Willow said. "I mean, I haven't been bitten or
scratched, I don't know why I would become a werewolf now. It was
probably nothing, just some weird dream."

Buffy nodded, satisfied by that. "Yeah, probably. Let me know if it
happens again, though, ok?" Willow nodded. The Slayer grabbed her
soap and shampoo, and headed off for the shower.

Willow ran a hand through her hair, and began getting her clothes
together for that day's classes. She wasn't tired; truth be told, she
was kind of energized. Ah well, she thought, pushing the dream from
her mind, probably too many horror movies before bed.

* * *

She padded slowly through the dark forest, moonlight filtering down
through the dense trees, lighting her path. She caught the scent of
something, some foul corruption in the air. She turned in the
direction of the scent, and began loping through the forest.

She made good time, travelling on all four paws as she did. She moved
with ease, her red-furred body an indistinguishable blur. Her ears
perked up, as she heard the sound of a scuffle coming from up ahead,
where the forest bordered on one of the many graveyards in the area.
The scent of death was almost overpowering now.

Padding to the edge of the forest, she looked out on a moonlit scene:
a slight, young blonde woman was backing up, surrounded by four
vampires who were advancing on her. The blonde stopped, and brought
her hands up in a fighting stance.

The wolf let out a low growl, lips curled back in a snarl revealing
sharp, white teeth. These corruptions, these abominations _dared_ to
threaten this beautiful, courageous young woman. She would not stand
for it. Feeling the rage build inside her, she felt her form
shifting, bones and muscles instantly reconfiguring themselves to
accommodate her larger, biped state. She watched as paws became
great, clawed hands; she stood, and noted how she towered over her
previous form, her powerful muscles bunching and unbunching in
agitation.

She took two steps into the graveyard, and let out a fierce howl of
challenge and outrage. Instantly all eyes were on her, vampire and
human alike. The vampires smiled, believing her to be one of their
corrupted demon allies, no doubt. The young woman's eyes shifted
nervously from the powerful eight-foot tall form to the vampires, and
back.

One swift movement later left no room for any doubt. The werewolf
sprang forward, sunk its powerful claws into the body of one vampire,
and tore its head off with one motion. The vampire dissolved into
dust, striking the remaining vampires with panic.

The young blonde didn't waste any of the time that the distraction
afforded her. With one smooth move, she kicked at one of the
vampires, sweeping his legs out from under him and punched downward,
driving her wooden stake into his chest.

One of the remaining two vampires pulled out a wicked knife, easily a
foot long, double bladed, and razor sharp. While the werewolf was
rising, recovering from her earlier kill, the vampire stepped forward
and drove the blade deep into its right side. The werewolf roared in
pain and back-handed the vampire, sending him flying head first into a
gravestone. She ripped the knife from her side, spraying the area
liberally with her blood. Pulling herself up to her full height, she
growled a challenge to the vampire, who was struggling to his feet.

The werewolf stepped forward, and grabbed the vampire around his
throat with one of her massive hands. Squeezing, she could hear the
bones in the vampire's neck pop as they gave way beneath her crushing
grip. The vampire struggled futilely in her grasp until finally she
took pity on him and removed his head from his shoulders with her
talons.

The blonde and the remaining vampire had been watching this exchange,
stunned by the beast's power. As the werewolf turned slowly to look
at the remaining vampire, the blonde took pity on him and quickly
drove her stake through his heart, reducing him instantly to dust.

The wolf looked down at the blonde, and something tugged at the back
of her mind. The woman seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps
waiting to see what the wolf would decide to do. The werewolf dropped
to all fours and willed herself to shift back to a wolf. The injury
in her side still dripped blood, but she knew instinctively that it
would soon heal of its own accord. No normal blade could threaten her
life.

The red-furred wolf loped off into the darkness, leaving the blonde
woman behind with her own thoughts.

* * *

Willow awoke with a start. Oh wow, she thought, bringing a shaking
hand up to her forehead, these dreams are really getting way out of
control. She looked over where Buffy was sleeping, and froze.
Buffy's bed was empty, and obviously had not been slept in. Willow's
throat went dry, and she immediately grabbed the phone and dialed
Giles' number.

"Hello?" Willow heard Giles' impeccable British accent on the other
end of the line.

"Hi Giles Buffy didn't come home last night and I'm worried about her
and I think something might have happened," Willow got out in a rush.

"Ah, Willow, Buffy's fine," Giles answered calmly. "She came over
late last night, and we've been researching a type of demon. Are you
free to help?"

Willow sagged with relief. "Uh, yeah, Giles, no problem. I'll take a
shower and be right over."

"Good, good, we'll see you soon then," Giles said.

Willow placed the phone back on the cradle. She got out of bed, and
started gathering her things to take with her to the shower. Hearing
that Buffy was safe had put her in an uncommonly good mood, and by the
time she entered the communal bathroom and started the shower running,
she was humming to herself.

She started to take off her pajamas -- and froze, as she noticed a
long, pale scar running along her right side.

* * *

Willow reached Giles' house in something of a daze. Her mind kept
running over the events of her "dream"; the sense of rage and power
she had gotten by shifting into the werewolf form had been palpable,
and intoxicating. For little Willow, regular kidnapee and hostage,
the thought that she might be able to turn into an eight foot killing
machine was mind-blowing.

All the same, she thought with a shudder, what if I can't control it?
What if I turn into a vicious animal like Oz? The thought that she
would have to be chained up or risk hurting her friends was almost too
much to bear.

She entered Giles' home, and saw her two friends deeply engrossed in
research. They looked up as she entered, Giles nodding his greetings
and Buffy's eyes lighting up on seeing her friend.

"Will! Sorry I didn't check in last night," Buffy said, sheepishly.
"I ran into something on patrol, and I wanted to tell Giles about it
ASAP."

Willow looked at Buffy, alarmed that she might have gotten hurt. "Are
you ok? What happened?"

"Well, it appears that Buffy ran into a demon last night, but one that
I've never seen made mention of," Giles said, removing his glasses and
rubbing the bridge of his nose. It didn't appear that either he or
Buffy had gotten much sleep the night before. "I asked you here in
part because you were the one that spent the most time with Oz, and
are the most experienced among us regarding werewolves."

Willow's heart sank. She absently rubbed her right side, not noticing
Buffy's eyes following her movement. "Um, yeah, what did you want to
know, Giles?"

"Well, whenever Oz...changed...did he ever change into anything
_other_ than his normal werewolf form?"

Willow shook her head, the sinking feeling still with her. "No, it
was all pretty much the same. Typical werewolf, I guess." She gave a
half-hearted smile.

"Hmm, I see," Giles answered, looking down at his book. "There are,
of course, lots of references to werewolves in these books, but
nothing like what Buffy saw last night."

Willow's eyes met Buffy's nervously. Feigning nonchalance, Willow
asked, "What did you see, Buffy?"

Still watching Willow closely, Buffy replied, "Well, I'd almost
believe it were a werewolf except for a couple of things." She
started ticking points off on her fingers. "First, it could change
shape at will; one minute it was a huge two-legged werewolf, and the
next it turned into a more normal looking wolf. Second, it lit into a
pack of vampires like a rat on a bag of cheetos, but when it had the
chance to turn me into ground beef it took off. Third, neither of its
shapes looked anything like Oz."

Giles nodded at her assessment. "I've found oblique references in one
of my books to several tribes of werewolves, but the information is
very sketchy. It appears that no one has really been able to gather
any information on these strange creatures. All we've been able to
determine is that they don't seem like the same werewolves of legend."
He flipped some pages in one of his books, and said, "This passage
leads me to believe there might be more information in a book called
the Tome of Val'Garon."

Willow looked around at her friends. It felt to her like she was
under intense scrutiny, that they were watching her every move. "Um,
I'll tell you what," she said, "you guys take a nap, get some rest.
I'll go to the magick shop in town, see if they have this Tome of
Val'Garon. They're under new management since the previous owner got
vamped, so maybe they have a better selection."

Giles nodded his agreement. "I think that's an excellent idea. Some
sleep might do us good." Buffy nodded as well, still watching Willow
with a concerned look.

"Ok, well, I'll see you guys..." It was all Willow could do not to run
out of there.

* * *

Willow entered the magick shop, now called "Dream of Gaia", and heard
a small door-chime announce her arrival. A rather striking young
woman with long, raven black hair looked up at her and smiled. She
was wearing a tie-die long sleeve shirt, and a multi-color, diaphanous
skirt.

"Welcome to Dream of Gaia. My name is Nichole. If there's anything I
can do to help you, please let me know." The woman had a pleasant
voice, and it helped soothe Willow. Suddenly her fears didn't seem
all that frightening.

Willow smiled back. Something about this young woman called to the
redhead, and she felt an immediate rapport. "Thanks, my name is
Willow."

"Willow?" The woman -- Nichole -- inquired. "That's a very pretty
name." She blushed a bit, and quickly continued, "Sorry, I just like
names that are nature-oriented. I'm kind of a tree-hugger."

Willow grinned in response. "That's fine, my parents were the
hippie-type."

"So were you looking for anything specific?"

"Well..." Willow thought about the book that Giles mentioned at their
last meeting. "Actually, do you have a copy of the Tome of
Val'Garon?"

Nichole nodded, and went into a back room. Moments later she emerged,
a small, slim hardback book in her hand.

"That's a tome? That's not a tome, that's more like a pamphlet,"
Willow remarked, incredulously. "I tell you, these dark powers are
all talk."

Nichole grinned, and said, "Yeah, with them it's all 'My tome is
bigger than your tome.'" She held out the book for Willow to look at.

As Willow took the book, their fingers brushed each other by just the
tiniest bit; all the same, a shock of recognition went sweeping
through her body, leaving her weak and confused. "Do I...do I know
you?" Willow stammered, puzzled.

Nichole looked at Willow closely, a piercing gaze that Willow found
impossible to turn away from. "You dream of the Wolf," she said. It
was not so much a question as a plain statement of fact.

"I...I don't know what you mean," Willow said, her eyes nervously
looking about the room.

"Your dreams. You dream of the wolf inside you, merging with you
until you are one." The young woman's intent stare, so different than
the easy, friendly looks she was giving earlier, made Willow feel
skittish.

"I had some dreams the last couple of nights," Willow swallowed
nervously. "Dreams that I was chasing vampires...And when the time
came to face them, I turned into a..." her voice dropped to a whisper.
"A werewolf."

Nichole nodded confidently, as if she were expecting this. "That's
not unusual," was her only reply.

Willow grew visibly agitated. "What's not unusual? How did you know
what I was dreaming? And why am I dreaming this?" Her voice broke.
"_Am_ I only dreaming this?"

The woman lay a hand on Willow's arm in a calming gesture. "It's not
unusual for a Lost Cub to have dreams like that. It is the Wolf
Inside...pushing for release."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked, fearfully. She looked down at her
hands, expecting them to sprout claws at any moment. "What am I?"

"You are Garou," Nichole answered, as if that explained everything.
"You are a werewolf."

End Part 1

Erin
--
"I question the stability of a company whose future depends on
Microsoft programs being intelligent. I don't question the idea
that Office Assistants are the most advanced Microsoft technology."
-- Joel Ray "Piquan" Holveck
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx