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Buffyfic-digest        Sunday, January 18 1998        Volume 01 : Number 087



In this issue:

       BUFFYFIC: "One Vampire's Headache," (2/?)
       BUFFYFIC: A Talk Between Friends (1/1)
       Re: BUFFYFIC: writing a slayer handbook
       BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 6 of 19
       BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 7 of 19

See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic
or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 19:25:15 EST
From: [e-mail] (Ingrid E Stanton)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: "One Vampire's Headache," (2/?)

First things firstà
DISCLAIMER: The characters of Buffy Sommers,
Angel, Giles, Spike, Drusilla, & company are the property
of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions,
and The Warner Brothers Network, and are used without
permission. The author claims no rights to these characters.

Ok. Already told you this would be a long story. Again, this
is an alternate reality, since we're seeing a new ep.
tomorow that won't jive with this story. Since this is the
second part, and I'm doing this in episode format (but not
a script) we'll be getting Angel and Buffy (humorous)
fluff, so, you know the story. If you're a non-fluff person,
move out now. If not, enjoy!

And now, without further adieu, on with the story!!!

*****
"One VampireÆs Headache..." Part the Secondà
*****

Buffy kissed at AngelÆs face and neck, finally settling
in his arms, resting her head where his heart might be. She
felt him gently stroke her hair, and she closed her eyes in
contentment. It was only 7:00, and sheÆd told her mom sheÆd
be at the bronze until ten. That was three hours to kill, and she
was perfectly happy spending every minute in his arms.
    The room was a bit grey, and dull, surely, and it was
more than a little cold, but Angel solved that problem easily. As
much as she *loved* her room, it was nice not being grounded
anymore.

Angel gently pulled away from her and spoke. "So, how did you
get out of your life sentence?"

Buffy laughed as a memory popped into her head. "My mom
came into my room and found me studying," she reported,
dripping sarcasm.

"Seriously."

BuffyÆs face scrunched up in annoyance. "Seriously!?! I *am*
being serious. I was studying for math," she pleaded earnestly,
raising her voice.

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Ok, Ok, I was daydreaming with the book open. But I *could*
have been studying."

"Right."

She smiled. "Right." She kissed him. He paused for a
moment.

"What about Giles?"

"What about him"

"Buffy, you didnÆt tell him-"

"That I was studying?"

"Oh, Buffy!"

"Well I didnÆt say *what* I was studying!"

"Buffy!" He scolded her half-heartedly.

"What," she whined helplessly.

He smiled. "I love you." And kissed her.

*******
END, PART 2. Did anyone catch SMG on SNL?
Very funny "Buffy"/"Seinfeld" crossover.


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 19:27:30 EST
From: Isis212 <[e-mail]>
Subject: BUFFYFIC: A Talk Between Friends (1/1)

Hello Everybody!

Okay, this little story is based on my certainty that Willow and Angel could
be great friends.  That is, if Angel was allowed to interact with the other
characters on BtVS.  Since his owners haven't given him permission to do
so, I have.


TITLE:  A Talk Between Friends
AUTHOR:  Aramat!
DISTRIBUTION:  Ask me, please.
SUMMARY:  Willow needs some reassuring and Angel's there to provide.
RATING:  G
FEEDBACK:  Feedback makes me happy.  I need to be happy.
DISCLAIMER:  I don't own Willow or any BtVS character.  Joss Whedon
                       and the WB do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Talk Between Friends

Willow sat at a corner table in the Bronze sipping a cola and waiting for
Buffy.  She felt strange, sitting there all alone, while the other teens in
the club danced, talked, had fun.  Watching, she felt a pang of envy.  She
should be out there right now, laughing, dancing with Xander.  Being a
normal teenager.  But she wasn't.  Instead she was sitting, waiting for
the Slayer.  Briefly, she wished things were back to the way they were,
before Buffy had come to Sunnydale.

"Wishing things were normal?"

The question, coming from a deep and very familiar voice, pulled Willow
from her thoughts.  She smiled as she looked across the table and saw
Angel sitting there.

"You guessed it," she answered.  Her smile of welcome faded and a guilty
look replaced it.  Had she just wished Buffy had never come to town?

Angel recognized the look on her face.  It was similar to the look he saw
on Buffy's whenever she thought about skipping patrol to do some teenage
thing.  The same look she got when she wished the world would save itself
for once.

"No need to feel guilty," Angel said to Willow, trying his best to reassure
her.  "You have every right to wish things were different."

Willow smiled, thankful to have someone to talk to.  As much as she
wanted to, she didn't feel as though she could just come out and tell Buffy
that sometimes she wished the Slayer would go away.  Hurting Buffy wasn't
something she was keen on doing.  Besides, Buffy had enough problems
of her own.  Taking on Willow's would be a little too much for the Slayer to
handle.

Deciding to put all negative thoughts behind her, she turned back to Angel
and changed the subject.

"So, are you looking for Buffy?" she asked her companion.

Angel smiled at the question.  "You may find this hard to believe, but my
whole existance does not revolve around Buffy," he told her.  The teasing
glint in his eyes took all the sting out of the words.  "Besides, I've already
seen her.  She's out hunting.  I had no idea she was going to be here."

If Buffy hadn't told Angel where she was going Willow figured things had
gotten pretty intense between the two.  Willow was positive Angel had beat
a very hasty retreat as soon as Buffy had given him the chance.

"Why aren't you following her?" Willow asked, a knowing smile on her lips.

Angel laughed.  It was a sound, Willow realized suddenly, that she'd never
heard before.

"I had to promise not to play Slayer protector in order to get out of her
room with my clothes still on," Angel answered.  He noticed Willow's
surprised look and frowned.  "What?"

Willow just looked at him.  "I just realized I've never heard you laugh
before," she told him, feeling more than a little silly.  "It's...nice."

Angel smiled at the compliment.  "It surprised me the first time, too," he
admitted.  "But, Buffy has a way of making me laugh."

Willow nodded, in perfect agreement.  She was always surprised at
how Buffy always managed to be sunny.  When she was around it was
hard not to be cheerful.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while and Willow found herself
thinking about Angel's life.   She thought what he was like before he
became a vampire and immediately after he'd regained his soul.  She
thought about his life now.  She wondered about his relationship with
Buffy.  The part she hinted at but never really expanded on.  She
wondered if he ever wished things were different.

When she looked up she found Angel watching her, his brown eyes
staring deep into her soul.

"You need to talk."  It wasn't a question.

She nodded.  He was right.  She needed to talk.  She just didn't know
where to start.

Sensing her nervousness, Angel spoke once again.  "How about we talk
about what was on your mind when I walked up," he suggested, figuring if
he steered her toward the right topic she'd open up.

He had figured right.

"I was sitting here, watching everyone having fun.  Watching everyone be
so normal.  And I realized that I'm not normal," she told him.  "I used to be
one of those people.  I used to be ignorant to everything that went on in
Sunnydale.  I liked being ignorant.  Ignorance was good."  She stopped,
smiling as her words registered.  "But now I know everything.  And
sometimes I wish I was in the dark again.

"I remember, before Buffy came, how perfect I found things.  I wasn't the
most popular person, I didn't have many friends.  But I had Xander and that
was all needed.  I was happy with my life.  And then Buffy came,
everything changed and I had a new friend.  And then, in the space of
one night, I became part of her world.  I became one of the priviledged.
It was nice.  I had finally realized how empty my life had been before
and knowing Buffy made me happy."  She smiled briefly and turned to
look at the crowd.  "But sometimes, when I'm sitting here, waiting for
Buffy to come back from patrol, worrying about whether or not she'll be
alive at the end of the night, I wish...I wish things were different.  I don't
really want her to go away, I just wish she was your average teenage girl."

Angel watched her as she looked wistfully at the crowd of teenagers.
She turned back to him and attempted to smile.

"Have you ever wished things were different?" she asked softly.  She'd
always been curious about Angel, about what he thought about, about
the things he did when he wasn't around Buffy.  She finally felt confident
enough to ask.

Angel took a sip of his drink as he pondered the question.

"Have I ever wished things were different?  All the time," he answered
honestly.  "Whenever I sit around my apartment all day waiting for the sun
to set.  Whenever I think about all the things I've done.  Whenever I get
hungry, but not for food.  Whenever I look at Buffy, I wish things were
different."

Willow nodded as she considered his words.  She was glad to know
she wasn't the only one who had such thoughts.  She looked at Angel,
noticed the pain in his eyes, and sighed.  Seeing things from his side
made her problems seem so insignificant.  But she couldn't help how
she felt.  She just wanted to be reassured that she wasn't the only one
who felt that way.

"Here's another one," she said focusing her attention back on Angel.
"Would you change anything about your life now?"

Angel shook his head.  "No, I wouldn't," he answered with a smile.  "If I
wasn't who I am, I wouldn't be here now.  And Hellmouth and all, there's
no place else I'd rather be."

"Because of Buffy?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

But Angel surprised her.  "Not just because of Buffy, although she's
the main reason, but because of all of you," he replied.  "It's been a
while since I've had friends."

Willow felt tears in her eyes at his words.  "That's sweet," she said
smiling up at him.  "I always knew you were sweet."

Angel seemed a little embarrassed by the praise.  "It's not sweet, it's
the truth," he stated simply.  "So, don't feel guilty about wishing things
were different.  When you think about all you have, would you change
anything?"

Willow was quiet as she thought about the question.  She thought
about Buffy and how she'd accepted her when they'd first met.  She
thought about how Buffy had always managed to be the very best friend,
taking time to listen and to just be there when Willow needed her.  She
thought about all the fun times she, Buffy, and Xander had together, even
when fighting demons.  But most of all, she thought about the two extra
friends she'd made when she'd met Buffy.  They'd become so much a
part of her life that she wasn't really sure what she'd do without them.  As
Angel had said, Hellmouth and all, she wouldn't change a thing.

"You're right, things are fine the way they are," she said in answer to
Angel's question.  Then she smiled.  "Well, maybe I'd change one thing,"
she added, thinking of Xander's crush on the Slayer.

Angel chuckled.  "It's too bad we can't make blind 16 year old boys see,"
he told her.  Willow laughed at the thought.

So caught up in their conversation, Angel and Willow didn't notice Buffy
until she spoke.

"If you two get any cosier, the gossips of Sunnydale High will be talking
about how Willow stole Buffy's sexy, if slightly older boyfriend," Buffy said
as she slipped into the seat next to Angel.  "And let me tell ya' Will, I'll
fight
dirty for my vampire."

Willow smiled and greeted her friend.  "How dirty?" she asked curious.

"I'll pull out the weapons Giles doesn't think I know how to use," she told
her friend jokingly.  "So, what are you two up to?  Bonding?"

Angel looked up at Buffy, a sexy smile, the one he reserved especially for
her, on his face.  Willow was, once again, struck by envy.  She wished
someone would look at her like that.

"Just making plans for a midnight rendezvous."

Buffy glared at him.  "You cheat, I slay.  Remember that," she told him
seriously.  She turned back to Will and smiled.  "I come bearing good
news."

Hearing this Willow perked up.  "Good news?" she asked hopefully.
"Is it Xander good news?"

Buffy nodded.  "Definitely Xander good news.  He's outside and he wants
quality time with his favorite gal."

Willow couldn't help the feeling of excitement and anticipation that
coursed through her.  Maybe Xander was getting a clue after all.

"Well gotta go, guys," Willow said as she got up from her seat.  She
turned, started to walk away only to turn back.  She gave Angel a smile.
"Thanks for the talk." That said she turned and walked to the doors.

Buffy watched until Willow was safe with Xander before turning back to
Angel.

"That must have been some talk," she said casually.

"Not really," he replied, shaking his head.  "Just helping out a friend."

Buffy smiled.  "You were worried about me," she said happiness and
amusement in her eyes.

Angel only nodded in reply.  Then he stood up and took Buffy's hand in his.
"Come on.  We've got Slayerettes to watch over," he told her as he led her
out of the Bronze.

When they stepped outside they immediately spotted Xander and Willow
holding hands and laughing as they strolled down the street.  Buffy couldn't
help the smile that lit her face at the sight.

"I've been worried about her lately," Buffy said softly as she leaned against
Angel's shoulder.  "I hope your talk helped."

Angel wrapped an arm around her.  "I hope it does, too," he whispered.
He looked down at Buffy.  He had a feeling Willow wasn't the only one who
needed a talk.  "So, how about we go to my place and you can tell me
what's on your mind."

Buffy nodded her acceptance and they walked away leaving Willow and
Xander to spend some much needed time together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, you're done reading.  Now I need reassuring.  Someone please tell
that just because fictional characters have started speaking to me, that
does not mean I'm going crazy.  If no one can give me that reassurance
then forget I ever wrote this little paragraph.  No need in everyone thinking
I'm insane.  Oh, I hope you enjoyed the story.

Aramat!

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:16:02 -0800
From: "Donald Jones" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: BUFFYFIC: writing a slayer handbook

- -----Original Message-----
From: krissy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Date: Saturday, January 03, 1998 10:28
Subject: BUFFYFIC: writing a slayer handbook


>hi.. i'm krissy and i'm thinking of writing a
>slayer's handbook... i have a rough gauge of what to
>put in.. do you think i could get help on this?
>krissy

Hey, Krissy!!! That sounds like a great idea. Count me in if you need
pointers. Or else, keep me updated!!!!
Love always,
Bev


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:31:18 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 6 of 19

See disclaimer in part one. Compliments accepted/enjoyed/ignored at
[e-mail].

*****

Ill Met By Moonlight (6/19)
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1998

Part 5

"So did she tell you anything else?"

Buffy shrugged, picking another piece of crust off her sandwich and
crumbling it in her fingers. It joined the small mountain of crumbs forming
on her lunch bag. "Nothing," she answered Xander. "But I didn't exactly get
the chance to ask. She very conveniently practically passed out right in
front of Giles's office. We got her back on the cot and foom, she was out
cold. She was still asleep when I left; Giles said to just leave her there
for the night."

Willow munched thoughtfully on her apple. She seemed to have recovered from
the night before; at least, she wasn't looking vaguely sick anymore. "Wow.
A werewolf. That's a new one, even for us."

"I could have lived without it," Buffy said, making a face and lowering her
voice, in deference to the crowd of lunch time students surrounding the
Slayerettes in the lounge. Fortunately, most of them were paying more
attention to the soap opera playing on the television in the corner than
any of their classmates. "But what's really weird is how she and Angel were
fighting."

She shook her head, still confused and deeply not happy. "Can we say hatred
at first sight? I've never seen anyone loathe anyone else that fast. Unless
Cordelia was involved."

"How about that?" Xander muttered into his sandwich. "Can't imagine anyone
not liking our friendly neighborhood vampire."

Buffy gave him a glare; he straightened in his chair and attempted to look
inoffensive, and Willow suppressed a giggle. "So Angel was really upset,
huh?" she asked, trying to draw fire from Xander.

 Buffy let her get away with it, this time. "He was beyond upset, all the
way to homicidal. He wouldn't even say anything else to me, just muttered
something about never trusting a Gypsy and started stalking around the
stacks. This chick is really messing with his mind. "

"I'm liking her more all the time," Xander cracked.

This time, Buffy ignored him, cleaning up the remains of her half-eaten
lunch and getting up from the table. "I have to go to the library and check
on Gypsy chick; Giles had a teacher's meeting and he doesn't want her alone
for too long. Will, can you cover for me if I'm late to fourth period?"

"Sure," Willow nodded. "It's computer class, anyway; Ms. Calendar will
understand."

"Yeah, she'll understand, but she'll still flunk me," Buffy grimaced.
"Catch you guys later."

******

She was dreaming. She knew she was dreaming, because none of this could
possibly be for real. But the wolf circling her in the dark alley looked
pretty damn for real. She took a swing at it with the board she'd
scavenged, her breath tearing at her lungs with the effort, and felt
splinters rip into her palm. The wolf danced back, then forward, lashing
out with one paw. She tried to stumble back, but felt the claw tear through
her jeans and into her leg. She bit back a scream and swung again and the
wolf, gloating over its strike, didn't move fast enough this time. The
board connected with a hollow 'thump' and the wolf yelped, stumbling back
against the wall.

She dropped the board and ran for the entrance to the alley, thinking of
nothing but escape. She'd almost made it when something loomed out of the
shadows in front of her. She looked up -- and found the wolf looking back
at her from dark eyes, a demon's face and a smile full of fangs.

It was her own strangled scream that finally woke her.

Sasha lay still, muscles still locked in the helpless paralysis of her
dream, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings. It had to have been a
nightmare -- but she was lying on some kind of cot in a small office, not
too different from one of the teaching assistant's offices at USC. There
were books everywhere, a tweed jacket thrown over a chair, and a teenaged
blonde looking at her with wary, suspicious eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the blonde said with a quick,
almost-sincere smile. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to
wake up."

"Wha--?" Sasha stared at the blonde in utter confusion. It had been a
dream, it had to have been. Then she tried to move again and muscles
responded -- with pain. Tearing, burning pain that radiated up her leg and
arm, almost obliterating the more minor protests of muscles that ached as
if they'd been beaten with baseball bats. It was touching the bandages on
her arm that brought reality home.

Kriston. Driving frantically in a random direction, praying her desperate
instincts were correct. The alley. Eyes gleaming in the darkness. Pain and
the impact of wood against flesh. Running to safety and finding only
something new to fear. The library, and the Englishman with the gentle
hands, and the blonde with the attitude.

And him. Angelus. Real.

"Oh, Christ, I was really praying I was going to wake up from this one,"
Sasha groaned, squeezing her eyes shut.

No such luck; when she opened them again, everything was the same, except
that the blonde -- Buffy, she remembered vaguely -- was kneeling beside the
cot now. "I know what you mean," the girl (she had to be at least six or
seven years younger than Sasha) said, with real, if reluctant, sympathy in
her green eyes. "I've had weeks like that. Actually, I've pretty much had
the last two years like that. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got attacked by a werewolf," Sasha said irritably, rubbing her arm
and shoving her hair out of her face. "My soul for some Tylenol. Or
codeine."

"I guess we can handle the Tylenol." A quick rummage through the desk
produced painkillers; Sasha swallowed four with a glass of water and a sigh
of relief.

Buffy settled herself backwards into Giles' desk chair, resting her arms
and chin along on the chairback. "You need clothes," she observed
critically. "There's some in here." She passed over a gym bag with the word
'Sunnydale' emblazoned on the side in gold; Sasha reached, and winced when
sore ribs protested. "I can't guarantee the fit, but anything's better than
what you've got on."

Sasha blinked blearily down at herself, willing her vision to focus, and
realized she was only wearing a torn, still-bloody T-shirt and a blanket,
which stopped her from taking offense at Buffy's
just-this-side-of-insulting comment. "You could be right," she admitted.
"And I don't think your principal would be happy to find a half-dressed
woman in his librarian's office. I am in a high school library, right? I
wasn't hallucinating that part?"

Buffy winced. "Snyder'd lose it. Majorly. And yeah, this is Sunnydale High
School."

"Figured," Sasha shrugged, rummaging through the gym bag and holding a pair
of sweat pants at arms length. "Not yours."

"Nah, you're too tall," Buffy confirmed. "I stole them from my mom's
closet; I don't think she'll notice for a few days. You're not going to be
posing for the cover of Vogue, but you won't be a *total* fashion
casualty."

"Oh, good, because that would just ruin my whole day." Sasha rolled her
eyes, then stood very carefully. Not carefully enough -- the room danced
and swirled, graying out around the edges. "Wow," she said faintly, her
eyes closed. "Spots. This is fun."

"Need some help?" Buffy asked from a few inches away.

"No. No, I'm fine." To prove it, she opened her eyes and began to carefully
pull the sweat pants on over the heavy bandages on her left leg. "You guys
did a pretty good job patching me up. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Buffy said noncommittally. As Sasha pulled the sweatpants
carefully up, she watched the girl settle herself back in the chair with
casualness so perfect it had to be a put-on. Her eyes never left Sasha, as
if expecting an attack at any second.

Which Sasha was going to pass on, until she had a better handle on the
situation. But before she admitted anything to this crew, she had a couple
of burning questions, like what kind of a Slayer was hanging around with a
vampire, particularly a bastard like Angelus? And what kind of Watcher
would allow it? Either this situation was beyond weird -- or there was
something very wrong. Well, something *else* very wrong.

Oddly enough, she didn't doubt the girl was the Slayer. There was a sense
- -- Sasha refused to use the word aura -- about Buffy that was different
from anything she'd ever seen. And for no reason at all (that Sasha was
going to admit, anyway) that sense meant Slayer. Which brought the topic
back around to vampires....

"So where'd Fang Face get to, anyway?" she asked, venom edging her voice at
the very thought of Angelus. He hadn't looked much like a demon, last
night, but she knew better than to trust a pretty face. Monsters could hide
within.... "Back to his coffin for the day?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "*Angel*", she emphasized the name pointedly, "had
to leave before sunrise. He'll be back tonight."

"Lovely." Sasha pulled the sweatshirt painfully over her head, working the
sleeve down past the bandage.

When she looked back up, Buffy was still looking annoyed. "What is with you
and Angel anyway, and don't just give me the Gypsy/vampire thing. There's
got to be more to it. I mean, it's not like you were the one who actually
cursed him. Were you?" The steely glint in her eyes promised mayhem and
chaos if Sasha answered yes.

Sasha got herself into a slightly better defensive position, back to the
wall and well away from the Slayer, before she answered. "Do I look over a
hundred? I don't think so. And the 'Gypsy/vampire thing' pretty much does
cover it. I'm Romani -- well, half Romani and kind of lapsed. He's a
vampire. We hate each other on general principles; bad blood between our
little groups goes back to the beginning of *time*, according to my
great-grandmother.  All he has to do to get me mad is exist, apparently."

She eyed Buffy suspiciously. "I'm surprised the same wonderful relationship
doesn't exist between the two of you. Actually, I think I'd be
flabbergasted if I had the energy to spare."

Buffy looked away first. "It's... kind of a long story," she said, her
guard dropping for the first time, if only a little. Sore subject; Sasha
made a mental note.

The teenager recovered quickly.  "I want to know about the bad blood thing.
Why do you hate each other so much? I mean, besides the fact that you guys
like playing God with Angel's life?"

"What's with this 'Angel' crap? His *life* consisted of killing people,"
Sasha shot back automatically.  "Killing members of my clan to be precise,
which qualifies him as one hell of a lot closer to the devil side of the
scales. Whatever he got, he had coming to him, and a damn sight more! "

Sasha met the girl's glare, challenging her to deny that one. Buffy looked
more than ready to give it a shot, but a cool voice intervened from the
doorway.

"Be that as it may," said the Brit from the night before, coming into the
library with a tray full of food, "The enmity between vampires and the
Romani goes back considerably before any of Angel's encounters with them.
'The beginning of time' is not actually so far off."

"Giles, right?" Sasha double-checked, fairly sure she was right. He
definitely belonged to the office; tweed pants, sweater vest, tie, glasses,
cup of tea held firmly in hand, vaguely abstracted air that didn't hide the
keen intelligence in his eyes. But it helped to be sure of who all the
players were, although the complication of a Slayer and all it entailed
hadn't been on her agenda when she'd set out after Angelus. Of course, none
of this had been what she'd planned.

"Yes," Giles answered, deliberately leaning between Sasha and Buffy to put
the food on his desk, which broke the staredown. "I'm glad to see you're
feeling better; there are some... rather pressing concerns to be dealt
with."

"Which we can't deal with until tonight, so let's get back to the Gypsy
thing," Buffy inserted firmly, clearly unwilling to let go of the topic.

Giles looked at her with a bit of exasperation and a great deal of
affection. Sasha just shrugged. "He's probably better qualified to tell it
than I am," she said, reaching for the food in an attempt to remove herself
from the conversation. "Like I said, all I know is what my grandmother told
me, and I wasn't really paying all that much attention."

"You and Buffy should get along splendidly, then," Giles said pointedly.
Buffy rolled her eyes at what was obviously a long-standing argument. "At
any rate, the legends and histories I've read -- not from the Romani point
of view, you understand, as they have written very little -- suggest that,
when the demons left our world, the human they fed on to create the
vampires was part of a clan of Romani.

"The members of the clan that remained human," he continued in full lecture
mode, taking off his glasses to polish them, "swore revenge for the
corruption of their families, and have, since that day, devoted themselves
to keeping knowledge of the vampires and how to fight them alive. Needless
to say, this did not please the vampires."

Sasha snorted at the understatement. "Is that how it happened?" she asked,
interested in spite of herself. "I just get the 'creatures of evil, they
must be destroyed' version from my grandmother. Nothing specific."

"Don't ask him for specifics," Buffy said with a roll of the eyes. "You'll
never get him to stop."

Sasha nearly grinned at the girl. "I'll remember that."

"Actually, I believe specifics would be better supplied at this moment by
Miss Lakatos," Giles said, ignoring Buffy as much as possible. Both Sasha
and Buffy blinked at him and he clarified, "The werewolf."

"Oh." Sasha swallowed. How much to admit... and how much help could she get
without telling it all? Dammit, how the hell had she gotten into this? Do
one lousy favor for family..... "Right. The werewolf. Yeah."

"Yeah, why's he after you?" Buffy asked, leaning forward against her chair.
Her eyes were far older than sixteen as they probed Sasha's face.

"I... don't know," Sasha lied, avoiding the much-too-knowing eyes as well
as she could. "I was just... in the wrong place at the wrong time." The
truth, at least, if not exactly the truth it sounded like. Her law
professors would be proud.

"You and half the people in Sunnydale." Everyone turned as two more
teenagers appeared at the door of Giles's office. The dark-haired boy in
the lead looked as if panicked was his natural state; the doe-eyed redhead
behind him just looked pale.

"Xander? Willow?" Buffy stood quickly, meeting the two before they could
come any farther in. "What's wrong? Demon in the cafeteria? Snyder's been
taken over by pod people and is being nice? What?"

No one smiled at the attempted joke. "We've got a problem," the boy,
Xander, said seriously.

"We were watching the news in the lounge," Willow broke in, her words
tripping over each other in her hurry. "Principal Snyder had just come
through so we were watching news-type stuff instead of Cordelia's soap
opera, and there was this story about how they found another, um...." She
stopped and swallowed hard. "Another dead girl. A few blocks from the
Bronze."

Sasha's ears roared, and the room spun dizzily. Dimly, she heard Buffy
demanding, "Was it the same as the other body? I mean, was it...?"

"Was it an extra from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre?" Xander completed
sarcastically. "I'm gonna say that's a big yes. And here's the fun part."
He looked in Sasha's direction, and she looked away, sickly certain of what
he was going to say. "It was another blonde, and the picture they showed
looked a lot like, well...."

He gestured at Sasha, and all eyes followed the motion. Sasha shrank back,
futilely looking for a place to hide. Dammit, this wasn't how it was
supposed to go....

"Two in one night," Buffy said flatly.

"Almost three," Giles agreed, his voice cold. "And somehow, I doubt it will
end there."

"Just why the hell does this werewolf want you so badly, Sasha Lakatos?"
Buffy demanded. "And why will he kill anyone who even looks like you to get
it?"

Sasha tried to think of a lie, any lie. But she was abruptly too tired to
care. "Because I made him," she sighed finally, her head sinking to her
chin so she wouldn't have to look at them. "He's a werewolf because of me."


- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pezhead-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"You borrow my neurons WITHOUT asking, mind you, and then you get them all
gooky with Dru-stuff.  See if I let you borrow anything of mine again."
- -- Lizbet



- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 22:32:20 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Perri Smith)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Ill Met By Moonlight, Part 7 of 19

See disclaimer in part one. Compliments accepted/enjoyed/ignored at
[e-mail].

******

Ill Met By Moonlight (7/19)
by Perri Smith
Copyright 1998

Part 6

"So, this is bad, right?" Xander paced back and forth across the front of
the library, too restless to sit still. Buffy resisted the urge to slam him
into a chair, mostly because it would have upset Willow, typing away on the
computer in search of fun information about all things furry and dangerous.
"But, last night was the full moon, so he won't be back for a month.
Right?"

"Not necessarily," Giles sighed, leaning back and rubbing his eyes under
his glasses. "The werewolf mythos is not as straightforward as the movies
would have you believe. Cases of lycanthropy can actually be anything from
panic over large dogs, to simple hallucinations and insanity, to cults
wearing wolf skins when taking victims. There are very few recorded cases
of an actual transformation from man to wolf, and those are.... Well, the
accounts are unreliable, at best. I'm assuming this is one of the latter
cases?"

"Oh, yeah," Sasha answered. She was slumped in her chair, her eyes closed
and her face lined with pain, all of it deserved, Buffy figured. "He's real
enough."

"But the full moon thing?" Buffy asked. "That's right, isn't it?"

Sasha shook her head. "The tradition behind the curse I used is one that
counts the full moon as lasting three days instead of just one. That means
the wolf gets two more nights on the loose."

"Oh. Well. That's great." Buffy shoved out of her chair and joined Xander
in pacing. It wasn't helpful, but it was better than trying to sit still
when every instinct was screaming that she *do* something. "Bad enough
Sunnydale is an all-you-can-eat buffet for vampires, now it's also a game
preserve for a werewolf with a grudge. Thanks a lot, Sasha."

Sasha didn't answer, just sank lower in her chair.

The library was closed for this little after-school discussion -- not that
anyone would have been in there anyway. Most of the students at Sunnydale
High didn't even seem to be aware the library existed, except for the ones
forced inside by reports and assignments, and even most of those preferred
to use the public library across town. There was just something about a
library sitting on top of a Hellmouth that didn't lend itself to good study
habits.

Which was convenient at the moment, when the Slayerettes needed to force
information out of a Gypsy witch. The lunch time bell has forced them to
leave earlier, but nothing was going to get in the way now.

"If we could stay on the topic," Giles intervened before blood could be
spilled. "Miss Lakatos, who is this werewolf? And why did you curse him,
for heaven's sake?"

"Because she's an idiot?" Buffy offered sweetly.

"Buffy," Giles warned.

"No, she's right," Sasha said in a low voice, still without looking up. "I
am an idiot."

She sighed, letting her head roll back against the chair. "His name is Gary
Kriston. He's pretty rich, one of the people who owns Santa Rosa,
California, and he gets off on making other people's lives miserable. My
clan came through the town a few months ago and stayed on, telling some
fortunes, doing some farm and stablework in the area, that kind of thing.
Kriston figured they were bad for business, and decided to get rid of them.
Mostly to prove he could, I guess; he's that kind of fun guy."

She rubbed her eyes, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table, which
was covered with books and various weapons, as usual. "It started out small
- -- some harassment in town, a few bogus citations and fines on the trucks,
some vandalism at the camp. Then, last month, he had the cops arrest my
cousin Greg for committing some burglaries in town."

"That's what police traditionally do to burglars," Xander informed her.

Sasha lifted her head enough to direct a baleful glare at him. "Yeah, but
false arrest isn't generally an accepted form of behavior," she said
acidly. "Greg was in camp all night, but no one's going to believe the word
of 'Gypsy vagrants' over a pillar of the community. Greg got railroaded at
his arraignment; he's still in jail. So my grandmother -- my
great-grandmother, really -- finally called me."

"You weren't with the clan?" Giles asked, leaning forward towards her. "Why
not?"

"I live in L.A."

"Reading palms? Crystal balls? Psychic Hotline?" Buffy's voice got sweeter
and more sarcastic.

Sasha smiled sharply. "School of Law, University of Southern California."

"Oh." So much for that line of attack. Buffy withdrew and regrouped. Lawyer
jokes, maybe?

"That's... not precisely usual for a member of a Romani clan," Giles
pointed out carefully.

"I'm only half-Rom." Sasha had resumed an intense study of the top of the
table. "My dad left the clan when he married my mother, to help work my
grandfather's stables. I was raised gadji, outsider, except for when the
clan came through town some years." She sighed heavily. "When my
grandmother called me back, I figured she wanted legal help to spring my
cousin, no problem. Instead, she tells me I'm chov-hani and she wants me to
cast a curse."

"Chov-hani?" Willow asked, looking up from her computer at the possibility
of acquiring new knowledge. "What's that?"

"The Romani equivalent of a witch," Giles answered before Sasha could.
"Although it's actually closer to the Spanish curandera -- a spellcaster, a
healer, a fortune teller. Usually the powers are passed down through a
family or clan."

"Pretty close," Sasha agreed slowly, eyeing Giles suspiciously. Buffy
wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of asking where he'd picked that
up. "I get it through my great-grandmother, she says, and her grandmother
before her."

"Anyway, she just kept going after me to take care of Kriston," Sasha
continued. "To get him out of our hair so Greg could get out and they could
move on. The local law types weren't doing anything to help, since Kriston
paid their salaries, so I finally just gave in. I figured I'd prove to her
this magic stuff didn't work and she'd get off my back and make the rest of
the clan help me with the damn legal stuff, which they didn't want to do
because... just because. So, someone got a lock of his hair, and I... I
cursed him." She lifted her hands in a helpless gesture with the last
words.

"Great, sic a werewolf on the world," Xander said sarcastically. "Way to go."

Sasha buried her head in her arms, which muffled her voice, but did nothing
to hide the bitter regret. "I didn't think it'd *work*, damn it! It wasn't
supposed to *work*!"

"Well, what did you believe was going to happen?" Giles asked evenly,
unmoved by the Gypsy's apparent remorse. "Did you believe you could play
with powers such as these and simply be ignored?"

"Yes," Sasha said incredulously, lifting her head to look at him. "That's
exactly what I thought. No one said anything about these 'powers' being
real, that was *not* in the fine print."

"This is not a court or a boardroom," Giles said, his voice rising
slightly. "This is a very real bargain made with a very dark power, a
bargain that became possible because you acted out of ignorance and anger.
You should not have been meddling with magic you did not understand!"

Willow winced and opened her mouth, probably to point out the little
incident in Giles's youth, but Buffy caught her eye and cut her off with a
shake of her head. Willow bit her lip and quieted.

Sasha just looked up at Giles. "How was I supposed to know there were
powers there to be messed with?" she asked tiredly. "How?"

"Your great-grandmother seems to have informed you of a great deal," Giles
answered, each word bitten off. "You knew what you were about."

"But I didn't know it was real!" Sasha exploded, shoving her chair back
from the table and shoving herself to her feet. "All my life, everyone
tells me magic's not real, it's impossible -- books, my parents, teachers,
everyone! The only person who ever said different was Grandmother, and she
spent her time babbling on about spells and cursed vampires and stories out
of a children's fairy book! Why should I have believed my superstitious,
Old Country great-grandmother over everyone else who'd told me my whole
life not to?"

She leaned across to Giles, practically in his face. "Who the hell would
*you* have believed?"

He didn't answer, but he did look away. Sasha's face twisted in pain as she
realized she was putting weight on her injured leg, and she fell back into
her seat, resting her elbows on the table so she could press the heels of
her hands against her eyes. Buffy, Xander and Willow exchanged looks, none
of them having a clue what to say.

"How did you find out it was real?" Buffy asked, for lack of anything
better. Her words echoed oddly in the tense air of the room.

Sasha didn't look up. Her voice was flat, expressionless. "When they found
his wife's body the next morning."

"Oh." Buffy swallowed.

"I've tried for the last month to figure a way out of this. Then the full
moon came and I ran out of options. So I confronted Kriston, tried to stop
him and...." Sasha gestured at the bandages. "It didn't work."

Buffy nodded. "So, you came looking for Angel?"

"Angelus, yeah." Sasha shrugged without looking up. "It seemed logical at
the time -- fight fire with fangs, or something along those lines. And if
the legends about the werewolves were true... I had to take the chance that
the legends about Angelus were also true, and that I could make him help."

"How did you find him?" Willow asked curiously. "I mean, it's not usually
that easy to find even a human person in one night, much less a, um,
vampire kind of person."

Sasha shrugged again. "I'm not sure. I wasn't even looking for him when I
got in the car. I just drove and the car steered itself in this direction.
By the time I hit Sunnydale, I knew what I was looking for and then...
Well, there he was."

Giles nodded thoughtfully. "The geas your ancestors laid on Angel -- it
seems somewhat logical that it would also provide a means of locating him
when he is to be called upon; a built-in homing signal, if you will."

"Well, I could live without it," Sasha mumbled, sinking lower in her chair
until her chin rested on her chest. "I didn't sign on for a vampire in my
head when I took this case."

"Tell me about it," Buffy sighed with reluctant sympathy.

"Look, all of this is really fascinating," Xander spoke up from where he'd
sprawled in the chair next to Willow. Giles, reminded of his presence, gave
him a Look. He took his feet off the table, but kept talking. "But it
doesn't really help deal with our little animal control problem. How are we
supposed to fight this thing?"

"Silver bullets," Willow read off her computer screen. "Well, silver of any
kind will kill them. There's all kinds of cures here, but I don't think any
of them will work too well. I don't think we could get opium and I'm not
even sure what wormwood *is*."

Buffy blinked at her bud. "Willow, where the heck are you? Www.werewolf.org?"

"No, that's an online service," Willow answered seriously. "This is
www.lyncanthrope.org. Lycanthrope means werewolf."

"Among other things," Giles corrected absently, crossing the room to read
over Willow's shoulder. Buffy and Xander imitated him; Sasha didn't move
from her huddle at the table.

"Reproach the werewolf verbally. Address the werewolf three times with a
Christian name. Hit the werewolf on the head three times with a knife. Milk
and whey for three days. Purge the colon and encourage.... Ew." Buffy made
a face. "You're right, none of this is really practical. Well, maybe the
first ones. I guess."

"Looks like the silver bullet is it," Xander shrugged, straightening up.
"Yo, Giles, got anything from like, this century in that armory of yours?
Anything that involves gunpowder?"

"Well, I might be able to improvise--" Giles started.

"No." Sasha cut him off.

"What?" Buffy turned to her with upraised eyebrows.

"No," Sasha repeated, finally looking up. Her face was still miserable, but
determined. "We can't kill him."

"Excuse me?" Buffy stalked back towards the Gypsy. "You're not exactly in a
position to start dictating terms. You made that thing, you brought it here
for us to deal with. So we're going to deal, any way we have to."

"No!" Sasha slammed her hands down on the table. "He was an officious,
overbearing bastard -- annoying, but not a killing offense. *I* turned him
into a monster, his crimes are on *my* head. He doesn't deserve to die for
*my* mistake!"

"You've got a better idea?" Buffy asked, her voice under careful control.
It was hard to be snide when she was feeling a niggling of respect, and it
didn't help that she could almost understand. She could still see Jesse's
face.... "Better than killing him before he manages to kill you or someone
else, that is?"

Sasha seemed to slowly collapse as anger drained away. "No," she admitted
hollowly. "I haven't got a clue."

"Then you'd better come up with one."

Willow and Giles flinched and Xander jumped and swore as Angel appeared
from the shadows of the stacks. Sasha lurched back to her feet, groping for
one of the stakes on the table, as Angel continued grimly,  "Because it's
sundown, the moon is up, and your wolf is going to be back on the hunt."

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perri <[e-mail]>      I *am* the Buffy Evangalist!
NatPacker-*-Horsechick-*-Pezhead-*-Cohenhead-*-DDEB2-*-AGA-*-SunS-*-CoJ
"You borrow my neurons WITHOUT asking, mind you, and then you get them all
gooky with Dru-stuff.  See if I let you borrow anything of mine again."
- -- Lizbet



- -

------------------------------

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