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Title: The Master Willow
Series: The Return Of Wicked Red
Author: psimetis
E-mail: psimetis@hotmail.com
Rating: NC-17
Feedback: if it pleases you, do :).
Summary: This Chapter: Kitten vs. The Bad Minions. Pfft Pfft. With Dru. And
Kendra Too
Chapter 13
“Wills would call herself and Xand the Slayerettes,” Buffy shared,
as she ate another spoonful of a much appreciated chocolate pudding snack Tara
had snuck into the hospital room for her. It was nearing evening, and Buffy
had already told Tara some of her fondest memories of her best friends, as she
lay flat and incapacitated in the bed. “They were my original Scoobies.
Then there was Oz, Cordelia, and then Larry and Amy. It was funny because Wills
and Xand were mortal enemies of Cordy since they were pre-schoolers. Cordy was
a mega bitch and leader of the coolest chick clique at Sunnydale High. Wills
and Xand liked to say they were co-presidents of the ‘We Hate Cordelia
Chase’ club. I think I was the treasurer.”
Tara smiled. She took the now thoroughly cleaned pudding container from the
prone girl.
“Funny, I guess...” Buffy trailed off, pain and sorrow clouding some
of the fondness that had been in her hazel eyes. “I guess that’s why
when they got Turned they both tore out Cordelia’s throat first.”
Tara’s smile faded, and she took Buffy’s hand.
“I staked Xand a month ago, before we took out the Master,” Buffy
confessed, her eyes intense and faraway. “He was really strong. It was
really hard having to stake him, but at the same time, all I could see was my
Xander shaped friend and also see how incredibly evil he had become. I mean
really evil.” Buffy turned her eyes to Tara. “It makes me wonder how
you can stand to be with Willow.”
“This Willow...” Tara hesitated. She hardly understood the complexities
of this vampire herself. “After what you’ve told me, this Willow s-seems
to resemble her Willow shape very strongly.”
“How can that be?” Buffy whispered, emotions conflicting in her face.
She held Tara’s hand tightly.
“I don’t know. But she said some things to me that first night, which
make me think she’s been through alot. Things that taught her t-to control
her demon impulses. D-develop other strengths.”
“It only makes her sound more dangerous,” Buffy asserted. The more
dangerous vampires were the cunning ones. And Willow was practically a genius
before she was Turned. Buffy loosened her fingers when she realized she was
holding Tara’s too tightly in her worry. Slayer strength.
“I-I know,” Tara agreed. “But not to me.”
“Tara....has she hurt you at all? Has she...I don’t mean to judge
you or anything. I totally know that if you had tried refusing her nothing would
have stopped her, short of dusting.” The Slayer took a breath. “Has
she...has she done anything?”
“No Buffy. She hasn’t hurt me at all. She’s been very good to
me.” Tara blushed and looked away.
“Okay,” Buffy finally acknowledged. She’d only known Tara a short
while, but in that time she never felt the older girl lie to her. Although the
assurance made her relieved, it also made the Slayer even more wary. Wolves
in sheeps’ underwear and all that. Buffy smiled. “That good, huh?”
Tara just blushed harder. She regarded the Slayer from beneath her eyelashes.
“Does it bother you? My being with someone...like that?”
“Okay, honest? Majorly wigged. But I’ve kissed Angel, yet another
undead person we both know, so who am I to talk.”
Buffy stared wistfully at Tara then. “So I guess Wills is a major evil
hottie now, huh?”
“Something like that,” Tara grinned, the one corner of her mouth sneaking
up in that unique, sensual manner that was all Tara’s own. Buffy couldn’t
help smiling back.
“She was,” Buffy began, and then her face scrunched up suddenly, as
another, more intense emotion overtook her. Her hazel eyes grew wide and began
to glisten. “She was very sweet, you know? When I saw her at the water
fountain that first time, and Cordelia had ripped into her, I just saw something...really
special.”
Buffy stayed silent a moment, lost in cherished memory. What sorrow she had
tampered down since her best friend’s death now rose, and her voice shook
with the truths she had finally discovered, held so deep.
“What I’ve realized now was so precious. She was what I was meant
to protect. She was what I was fighting for.”
The tears fell, and Tara wiped them gently from the Slayer’s pained face,
knowing she was finally grieving for her lost friend.
“I...I wish...God, I wish I had told her I loved her.”
* * *
Tara sighed, the melancholy after her visit with Buffy still wrapping her with
its sadnesses. Hearing about the Willow she never knew and who was now lost
to this world, had grieved her as well. She had not wanted to appear upset in
front of Buffy, so she had waited until she’d left the Slayer’s room
to cry a little in the hospital lobby. God, she hadn’t known.
She hugged herself as the night air chilled her slightly, and watched patiently
as the cab driver whose cab she’d taken, radioed in his blown tire and
waiting fare. They were at the edge of the park, and Tara definitely felt that
this was not a good place to be at. Even as she gave the surroundings another
cautious look, she heard something metal-like, grate ominously.
“What was that?” she asked, listening hard.
“Ma’am?” the cabbie asked in return, rising slightly out of his
open car door to regard her. He had his radio mike in his hand. Tara stood on
the park sidewalk on the other side of the cab.
“I heard--oh my god, look out!!”
A vampire, full demon face on, rose suddenly from an uncovered manhole behind
the cabbie. Before the cab driver could turn around, the creature had already
leapt behind him, snarling.
“REPULSE!” Tara commanded, gesturing, and the vampire immediately
flew back. More of his brethren emerged from the sewer manhole--very quickly.
Tara thought it prudent to as quickly jump for the cab’s passenger cab
door. The cab driver, unfortunately had other ideas.
“W-w-wait!!” Tara yelled, as the cab immediately reversed, pulling
the door handle away from her. The cab hightailed it away from the curb in a
smoking mess of burnt and broken rubber.
“Oh! That’s j-just not--” Tara nearly stamped her foot as the
cowardly cabbie’s rear lights bade her farewell. Then she saw the menacing
hulks of several vampires rush for her. Tara turned and ran.
One vamp she could handle. Up to three, she could handle. But never had she
faced a gang of them all by herself before. She had always been too smart to
be caught in such a situation, but now the Hellmouth odds had stacked against
her. Tara ran for the trees--wood was her friend, and she badly needed some
at the moment. Two vamps raced ahead of her, cutting her off. Tara whirled abruptly
and gestured.
“Repulse!” she cried, barely forcing back the four that pursued her.
She spied a branch, snatched it with her magic, and sent it hurtling behind
her. She hit at least one of the vamps blocking her way to the trees. She missed
his heart, giving the vamp a bloody hole in his chest, but the second one she
didn’t. As that one fell to dust, she felt a fist whistle in the air behind
her. Instinctively she stepped into the blow, ducking under it even as she came
up into the vampire’s body. It was a trick she’d learned dealing with
her brother Donnie, even though the move tended to fuel his drunken rages further.
“Ignite,” she whispered, and pushed the vampire as hard as she could
into the three behind him. Tara felt the heat from the flames that erupted upon
his arm. As the vamp screamed, lighting up like a Molotov cocktail, Tara turned
to make her escape. That was when a harsh grip clamped on her arm and threw
her roughly to the ground. She struggled to get up, then backpedaled as a fist
flew for her face. She saw stars.
When Tara came to, she heard male voices yelling. For a moment, she thought
she was back home on dad’s farm. She felt cool earth and grass beneath
her hand. No. No, this was still the park.
“--you fuck up! Are you newly risen or something?! That’s a Master’s
Pet, her mark’s radiating power! You don’t eat a fuckin’ Master’s
Pet!”
“Shut the hell up!” Tara heard shoving. “So what if you used
to serve Aurelius, that Order is gone! All of them are gone! Her Master’s
probably staked and she managed to get loose. She put a hole in me, so I’m
eating her!”
Tara heard more shoving. As her vision began to clear, she thought it best to
make herself quietly scarce.
“Stay down!” she heard snarled somewhere above her, and felt something
hit her face again. Tara collapsed and stayed down. The kick that came next
to her side was really--unnecess--ary--oh god--
Tara curled up. This was really bad.
* * *
Dru was running. Actually, she was more of a ‘sweep effortlessly across
the ballroom floor and give the sir a curtsy’ type of athlete. Dru did
not like to run unless in dire circumstance. Doing so from the new smelly thing
in town quite hurt her vampire pride, but this smelly one was really persistent--annoyingly,
single-mindedly so. Although Dru had spent decades giving such odious creatures
the slip--while her Spike, in contrast, persisted in trying to kill them--this
particular one was not letting her go. Dru was annoyed. And not only that, the
stars were extremely agitated and Dru hadn’t the moment to pause and find
out what was the matter. They did whisper of what directions to take through
the trees, so she followed. As she ran, she saw some fledglings come into view.
Bad, bad birdies! screamed her stars.
The minion who had picked up Cubby by her honey hair, exposing her neck, no
longer had a head himself by the time Dru’s clawed hand finished swiping
through the air the head once inhabited. Dru wrapped an arm around Cubby and
snarled, demon faced, challenging the remaining minions. She then pointed.
“Behind you,” she hissed. Surprised, the vampires glanced back. A
small, powerful, young black woman was racing towards them, stake in hand. The
minions roared and ran to engage her.
“Is that--what?” Tara said, disorientated, as she watched the young
woman swiftly counterattack the vampires.
“New Slayer,” Dru whispered in her ear. She attempted to help Cubby
up.
Tara cried out in pain and Dru immediately stopped moving her. It never failed,
someone always had to kick her, right there. She clutched her side.
“We must go,” Dru whispered urgently. She attempted to pick Tara up
again, then stopped. She stared curiously at Tara’s mouth.
“What,” was all Tara could say when Dru’s mouth descended on
hers.
She felt the swirl of Dru’s cool tongue as it easily found entry into her
surprised mouth.
It sought out the bloody wound from where the first blow had forced her inner
cheek to rip against her molars, and then retreated to cleanse the split on
her lip from the second blow. When Dru finally raised her head, Tara felt thoroughly
kissed. The young woman stared dumbly, not sure what to think.
“Was roight,” Dru smiled wickedly, as she effortlessly picked up Tara
in her slender arms. “Cubby’s verrry yummy.” Her body stiffened
then, and her face snarled. Tara swiveled her head to look and saw the new Slayer
rapidly approaching.
“W-wait!” Tara cried out, hand out to block the upraised stake. The
intense, young Slayer stared in surprise.
“If you have not noticed, dat is a vampire!” the Slayer stated forcefully,
moving into a new position as Dru also moved. Tara swayed in the elder vampire’s
arms. The Slayer’s thick accent was intriguing. Tara guessed that maybe
it was Jamaican.
“Yes, but--she’s a friend! My very--good friend, and I would be really
sad if you s-stake her, so please don’t,” Tara pleaded, as the Slayer
once again tried to move around Dru. The elder vampire easily countered. Tara
was getting dizzy.
“Woman, I can’t believe what you are saying!” the Slayer looked
amazed and was obviously getting frustrated. Her dark eyes narrowed. “You
be on somet’ing,” she concluded. “You won’t be sad for your
‘friend’ long.” she feint a lunge and Dru stepped easily back.
Tara couldn’t see Dru, her focus entirely on the aggressive, stake wielding
warrior before them, but she was certain the elder vampire was taunting in some
subtle, silent way.
“I swear, I’m not high!” Tara protested. “Look, I’m
a witch, a-and we can have vampires for friends.” Actually, Tara had never
heard of that happening in actuality, but historically, supposedly--
“A-and I also know your predecess-ss-s--” God, her stupid mouth. Tara
took a very deep breath. “I know the Slayer before you. She’s s-still
alive and at the hospital. L-let’s just go over there, it’s only a
few blocks, okay?”
* * *
Tara was seated once more in the hospital lobby, and she was finding this recurring
situation pretty tiresome. She didn’t want to be admitted again. All she
could think about was her student insurance bill. The new Slayer--Kendra--was
speaking to the Watcher, Giles, who thankfully was visiting Buffy when the wary
threesome consisting of the new Slayer, the witch, and the vampire had entered
the building. That had been quite an experience, getting the other two to the
hospital without either killing the other. Kendra was not much for open-minded
tolerance, Tara quickly learned. Buffy was as much a ‘see evil, kill evil’
kind of girl, but she had the capacity to listen--a little. She felt Dru kneel
beside her and touch her hurt side.
“How bad is it?” Tara whispered. Dru smiled, cat lidded, up at her
as her hands spanned the hurt area. Tara felt a penetrating, cool sensation.
“Nothing t’ knit,” Dru reassured, and then Tara felt a deep warmth.
“Just a big bruisey. Inside too, but nothing popped and swelly.”
“Oh good. I want to go home,” Tara sighed. Willow was on her way.
She and Dru had retrieved her shoulder bag where she had dropped it, and Tara
had called Willow on the cell the red haired vampire had given her. To say that
Willow was extremely upset by the little she had heard of the night’s events
was an understatement. Dru planted a soft kiss on Tara’s lips, which effectively
brought the witch out of her musings.
Oh god, was her blood some, some aphrodisiac? Dru kissed her again!
Tara felt a large shadow loom over her.
“Tara.” The shadow was Angel’s. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” Tara nervously assured, and attempted a smile. Ouch, her
lip.
“Kendra explained what happened,” Angel said, his concerned look taking
in Tara’s more apparent injuries. He was incensed. The minions who had
blatantly disregarded a Master’s claim merely sentenced themselves to very
slow deaths. In this instance, Angel was actually sorry the new Slayer had been
so thorough. However, since that left Willow with no actual perpetrators to
punish, that would mean she would set her attention upon the entire undead population
left in Sunnydale--as any Master worth her undead salt would.
“Willow will take care of it,” Angel stated.
“Yes,” Dru agreed, as she caressed Tara’s bruised face. “Precious
will be very thorough,” the elder vampire added with dark glee.
Tara merely looked from one vampire to the other, bewildered. She thought all
of her attackers had been dusted.
“This is already healing,” she heard Angel say, his large, cool hand
reaching to cup her chin. A gentle thumb touched the split of her lower lip.
Tara’s surprised eyes darted to Dru, who only looked secretly smug. Tara
swallowed.
First Dru kissed her, and now Angel was touching her. Maybe she should ask Willow
a bit more about what being a Pet means--like maybe she was more a-a-a ‘Family
Pet’?
Tara’s heartbeat accelerated and Angel dropped his hand. She heard Mr.
Giles call for Angel. Kendra, by the Watcher’s side, was looking...very
perplexed. And annoyed. And was staring perplexed and annoyed right at her.
Tara watched with relief as Kendra left the lobby with Angel, whom the new Slayer
regarded very warily. Mr. Giles approached her.
“Tara,” the older British man addressed softly. His glasses glinted
under the florescents as he gazed down upon her. His handsome features only
contained concern, and kindness.
“I must say, child, you’ve certainly placed yourself in a very interesting
circumstance since we last saw each other,” he continued in his patented,
understated manner. Tara fully smiled despite the pain of her lip. She was very
glad the Watcher did not seem disgusted by her current ‘circumstance’.
She valued the older man’s opinion highly.
“Y-you’re not offended?” she asked softly, checking to make sure
as she watched the man’s warm, pale eyes.
“Surprised, yes. Deeply worried, yes, but I can never be offended by anything
that concerns you, Tara, unless it were mistreatment of you.” The Watcher
knelt and took Tara’s wrist that was encircled with her slave bracelet.
“Though I’ve heard you’ve entered this arrangement willingly,
I’m certain it is your way of handling a situation that really, in actuality,
left you no choice. You are a very brave girl. I pray for the very best for
you.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Tara whispered, despite the lump in her throat.
Her eyes filled with grateful tears.
Giles stood and patted the girl’s shoulder reassuringly. He had always
been an emotionally conservative man. What comfort he had offered Tara was not
in his usual character, but the young woman seemed to evoke such emotional response
from him. It would perhaps be useful if he could show the same towards Buffy,
but then, Buffy was Buffy.
Now, if only the vampiress hovering around Tara would stop regarding him like
he were American prime rib. How very disconcerting.
A blast of cool air suddenly disturbed the small group, as the double doors
of the hospital entrance burst open. In strolled a slim, black clad figure whose
long leather coat whipped behind her. Cold, furious, green eyes flashed in a
pale, slender face, and bright red hair waft in her wake. The newcomer had eyes
for only one person.
Willow had arrived.
* * *