Fic: The Wolf Within (13/?)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ok, here 'tis. I'm going to have people howling for my blood after
this one, I'm sure. :)

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, I believe my stories are being archived at the
following places:
Kim's Corner - 
http://www.fortunecity.com/village/villageplace/93/
Bill's Page -
http://members.spree.com/entertainment/kerrison29/default.htm
Gary's BtVS Fanfiction -
http://psycho.simplenet.com/fanfiction/index.mv?index+buf
Please let me know if I've left someone out, or if one of the URLs is
in error. Anyone who isn't listed here who wants to archive my
stories is welcome to, just let me know so I can add you to the list.
Thanks.
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 Thirteenth

"And it came to pass in those days that the Brothers and Sisters of
Bear, called Gurahl, heard the pitiable cries of the new creature,
Man; and in response to his pleas for help, they allowed Man to hunt
the Bear, and take Bear's flesh for food, and his skin for clothing.

"And when Man slept, the Brothers and Sisters of Bear would steal into
Man's cave and take back the clean bones of Bear. For the Great
Mother had taught them the secret of Life and Death, and they knew
they could make Bear live again for the next hunt.

"But while they were performing the Rite, the youngest of the Skin
Changers, Garou, came upon them. And he hid, and he saw the miracle
of Bear rising again from death. And he said to himself, 'The Great
Mother has given Gurahl the secrets of Life and Death, and Gurahl has
not shared them with us. Surely this is wrong.' And so Garou came to
the Brothers and Sisters of Bear, and demanded this secret from them.

"The Gurahl looked at Garou sadly, and said, 'You are impulsive, and
full of Rage, not Wisdom. You would not use the secret in a matter
fitting of the Great Mother. If you have wounded, bring them to us to
heal; if you have dead, bring them to us to raise. But we cannot give
you the secret.' With that, Garou went back to his kind, and in a fit
of Rage, told them, 'The Gurahl are conspiring with the Wyrm against
us. The Great Mother has given them the secret of Life and Death, but
they refuse to share it with us. Surely this goes against the Great
Mother's wishes!' And so the Garou were driven into a great frenzy,
and decided to make war upon the Brothers and Sisters of Bear." --
From the tales of Artur Mountainwind, Gurahl Tale-Spinner

* * *

Nichole removed some ash of some sort from a pouch at her waist.
Sprinkling it to let it float on the breeze, she said, "I ask Your
assistance, Luna, Celestine of the Moon, Sacred Guide. Light the way
for these travelers, and know that they serve Your will, and that of
Mother Gaia."

Willow's attention was drawn downward, to the ground at her feet. A
long, silvery road stretching off to the north began appearing there;
after a moment or two it solidified, a ribbon of silvery moonlight
hugging the ground.

"Stay on the road," Nichole cautioned. "It will be safest. You'll
travel fast with the spirits of Luna guiding you." She undid the
pouch at her waist, and pressed it into Willow's hand. "When you are
ready to return, do what I did, and the spirits will come to you. You
have the gifts of a Theurge, one who communes with spirits, as I do.
Born under the crescent moon, you pierce the darkness of inner and
outer mystery. Gaia guide you on your journey." With that, she
stepped back, and Chris stepped forward.

"I've taught you a lot over the past few days, but now you have to see
some things for yourself. Good luck, Willow." He bent down to hug
the redhead. Pulling back, he handed her a small mirror in the form
of a compact. "For when you want to leave the Umbra and come back."
He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, eyes memorizing her
features. "Gaia bless you," he said, and turned away. Stepping up to
Buffy, he hugged her as well. "Good luck. Keep each other safe."

Buffy nodded, and looked at Willow. "Ready?" Willow nodded, and with
one look back at the two Garou, she and Buffy stepped on the silver
road, and began their journey.

* * *

Chris and Nichole emerged from the Umbra, back to the incense-laden
storage room of the Dream of Gaia. Chris let out a long breath.
"Well, I guess I'd better get back to laughing boy," he said, grabbing
his jacket.

Nichole smiled. "I'll come over after I close the store and give you
a hand. I bet he's not exactly the best company."

"You got that right." Chris rolled his eyes. Nichole chuckled, and
he looked down at the Gaian fondly. Quickly, impulsively, he bent
down and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. Blushing, he cleared his
throat. "Well, I gotta go," he said, and practically sprinted out the
door.

Nichole, hand touching her cheek, looked after him with a bemused
expression.

* * *

Chris entered the house, throwing his keys and his jacket on a side
table. He opened up a drawer in the same table, removing a Glock 17.
He removed the clip, checked the silver 9mm rounds within, and pushed
the clip back home. He stuck the gun in his jeans at the small of his
back, and went to go check on his prisoner.

Oz lay on the floor of the converted bedroom listlessly, wrists
handcuffed to a large ring set in the floor. His untouched, and now
very cold, breakfast still lay within reach.

"What's the matter, aren't hungry?" Chris asked, picking up the plate
and tossing the food in the garbage. "How about some TV then?" Chris
walked over and collapsed in a leather recliner, grabbing the TV
remote. "I think they might be showing 'Old Yeller'." He looked over
at Oz, whose eyes were staring ahead, unfocused. "I hope you realize
what that girl is doing for you. Otherwise, you'd be facing a death
sentence." Receiving no response to this, Chris snorted disgustedly
and turned up the TV.

* * *

Nichole walked up the street toward Chris's 'safe house', her coat
wrapped tightly around her to ward off the chill. An ever-increasing
sense of dread had settled around her ever since she watched Chris
leave, until finally she closed the store early and hurried over to
see him.

The bitter wind whipped around her, reminding her more of an autumn or
winter wind than early spring. She shuddered, and walked faster.

* * *

Chris heard Oz move for the first time in hours, shifting, stretching,
testing his handcuffs. "It won't do you any good," he replied to the
restless Black Spiral. "You'll never break those things in your
condition."

"I wouldn't bet on that," a deep, grumbling voice answered from behind
Chris. In a split second, Chris was out of his chair, Glock pointed
directly at a Black Spiral in full Crinos who had materialized out of
the air behind him. Damn! Chris thought fiercely, he must've come out
of the Umbra!

The Black Spiral, eyes flashing sickly green, regarded Chris with
amusement. His eyes flicked over to where Oz lay, pulling on his
handcuffs so hard that his wrists grew slick with blood. "Little
Garou, did you think you could just hold one of ours without
consequence?" The Spiral laughed, a guttural sound.

"Go to Hell," Chris said, raising the gun. Suddenly, he felt a hard
blow to the back of his head, knocking him across the room, into the
opposite wall. He fell to the ground with a moan, gun dropping from
his hand.

"You first," an insane voice giggled. Chris raised his head, looking
at the Black Spiral that had hit him. This one looked more jackal
than wolf, his fur falling out in large patches to reveal sickly-white
hide beneath. His form shifted into Homid, and he picked up the gun
which was laying just outside Chris's reach.

Another Black Spiral who had just materialized from the Umbra walked
over to Oz, and grabbed the handcuffs which bound him. The silver
burned his Crinos hands, filling the room with the smell of singed fur
and flesh, but the werewolf didn't even flinch. With quick, strong
movements he broke the lock on each cuff and let go, allowing the
handcuffs to fall to the floor. Oz rose slowly, free from his
bondage.

"Now, I think our business is almost complete. Once we track down the
little cub and strangle her with her own intestines, that is." The
first Black Spiral laughed madly, pleased at his own joke.

Chris growled, pushing against the wall to raise himself to his feet.
"Over my dead body, Wyrm-lover," he spat, glaring at the lead Spiral.

"That's the idea," Jackal giggled, and he raised the gun, pointing it
at Chris's chest.

* * *

Nichole practically ran up the front walk, terror seizing her now.
She tried the front door, which was locked, so she was about to bang
on the door to get Chris's attention when she heard the gunshots from
inside. Before she realized it, she had shifted into Crinos and
knocked aside the strong front door like it was made of balsa.

She rushed into the back bedroom just in time to see three Black
Spirals disappear into the Umbra, followed closely by Oz. A
semi-automatic pistol lay on the ground, barrel still smoking from
use. Her eyes went immediately to the collapsed heap of a man against
the wall.

Heart frozen in fear, she ran over to Chris, feeling for a pulse.
"Thank Gaia," she breathed, feeling his pulse strong under her
fingers. Turning him over, she inspected his chest, looking for
bullet wounds.

Chris sat up, coughing heavily. "Damn," he gasped. "That wasn't
fun."

Nichole saw two bloodless bullet holes in his shirt, and she looked at
him alarmingly. Chris followed her gaze to the wounds, and shrugged,
wincing as he did so. "Damn Black Spirals ruined another shirt," he
said, pulling his shirt off stiffly. Under his shirt he wore a thin,
yet strong and flexible, bulletproof vest.

Nichole sat down with a thud. "Chris," she said quietly. "I don't
want you to ever let me complain about your love of technology again."

Chris smiled slightly, wincing at the pain in his badly bruised chest.
"Deal." He looked up at Nichole suddenly, fearfully. "They're...
they're going after Willow and Buffy."

Nichole buried her face in her hands, holding back tears. "We can't
interfere with a Passage quest, Chris." She swallowed around the lump
that formed in her throat. "The best we can hope for is that the
Spirals won't be able to track them."

* * *

Willow was still adjusting to Umbral travel; it was odd, walking on
the road that Nichole had created for them. It acted like a moving
sidewalk, assuming moving sidewalks moved at 60 miles per hour; they
could walk on it, and the landscape appeared to be moving by much
faster than it would normally.

She wasn't sure how long they had been walking, or even if time really
mattered here.

Buffy seemed to find the Umbral landscape fascinating, her eyes
capturing every detail. She was stunned by the sheer number of
spirits that seemed to interact with the physical world, and in turn
had the physical world interact with them.

Gradually, the cities and suburbs gave way to thin forests. Even
here, in the midst of the 'wilderness', the pollution banes existed;
smog banes latched on to tree spirits, who were unable to shake their
poisoning influence. Toxic banes corrupted water spirits, who in turn
corrupted animals who came to drink. Willow was sickened.

"Uh, Will," Buffy said, interrupting her dark thoughts. "You notice
anything strange?"

"In this place?" Willow laughed, more harshly than she intended.
"Wouldn't it be better to ask if I _didn't_ see anything strange?"

"That's just it," Buffy said, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully.
She hoisted her backpack a little higher on her back, and she said,
"Where are all those weird little nature spirits? It's like they just
up and disappeared."

Willow looked around, alarmed. They were traveling through a dark,
rather spooky section of forest. Buffy was right; this place should
have been teeming with life, but it was silent.

Just then, a mad, piercing howl broke the quiet and caused both girls
to shudder.

"Um, I think we should get moving," Willow said, increasing her walk
to a trot. Buffy followed suit, easily keeping up with the faster
pace. She looked around, trying to spot the source of the howl.

In the brush off to the left of the silver road, Buffy spotted
something keeping pace with them; whatever it was was big and it paid
no heed to the dense underbrush which should have slowed it down.
Crashing noises could now be heard off to their right as well, made by
similar, shadowy figures.

"Willow..." The two girls heard a hauntingly familiar voice emerge
from the darkness, cutting through it like razor claws. "Willow, I've
come for you..."

"Oz!" Willow gasped, looking at Buffy wildly.  

Buffy nodded, casting glances at the shadowy figures who still managed
to keep up with them on either side of the road. "And he's brought
friends. C'mon, Will, run!" The Slayer said, breaking into a full
run, and checking to make sure Willow kept up beside her.

The two girls ran for all they were worth, landscape flashing by,
barely discernable. A mad chorus of howls let loose then, and the
chase was well and truly on.

END Part 13


-- 
Tara: "I am, you know."
Willow: "What?"
Tara: "Yours."
----------
"So Willow's not driving stick anymore. Who would've thought?"
-- Faith
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx