PART FOUR
It was late afternoon. Alex, Oz, Xander, Anya, Willow, and Giles were gathered at Giles' place. Buffy had stopped by earlier after staking out several of the parks in Sunnydale. Now she was going to try the graveyards that had lots of trees, then the surrounding woods.
Willow, Giles, and Anya were looking over the reversal spell. Willow would perform the spell, but Giles was translating, and they needed a third person to perform the spell, who would be Anya. Xander, not knowing what else to do, joined them.
On the couch, Oz was practicing shape shifting with Alex's help.
Oz was pretty sure he knew how to do a few things. He'd already added a mustache to his shape-shifting body and grew out his hair. At the moment, his hair was its usual length, and his lips were uncovered.
"You're doing good," Alex congratulated him. "Now, I want you to change form completely. How about we start with an eagle."
With Alex's instruction, Oz concentrated and started to change. His body became a large liquid-like mass before shrinking and taking the shape of an eagle. Then he solidified, and feathers appeared and eyes and a mouth.
Everyone was looking at him now. "Oz, is that you?" Willow asked.
For an answer, Oz decided to fly over to her. He flew off the ground and glided over to the floor in front of her.
After a minute, he flew back to his seat on the couch and changed back into human form.
He shook his head, amazed. "That was…"
"Thrilling?" Alex answered.
"Yeah."
Willow checked her watch. "Oh! Sundown's only half an hour away!"
Alex nodded. Along with the pleasures of feeling and eating and everything, he had to deal with the wolf, and its rebellion close to dusk. "We'd better get to the crypt."
Oz nodded. It was still hard to believe he'd actually see the full moon that night. He was glad that he'd be able to spend the night with Willow and actually remember it, or that he could gaze at the full moon for hours without changing into a werewolf. But he also felt guilty because Alex was the one who wouldn't see the full moon tonight. But Oz couldn't feel that bad about it. He could tell Alex was having a great time as a human being after five hundred years of living among them.
"We'll stay here and work on the reversal spell some more," Giles said, speaking for him and Anya.
"Okay, Giles," Oz said, "See you later."
Forrest walked into the room Riley was in at their Frat house. Riley sat at a table, grading papers. He was majoring in Psychology and he was a (teacher's assistant?). But he was also a part of something else. That something else was the Inniative, a top-secret government project that imprisoned demons, dubbed Hostile Sub Terrestrials, and did experiments on them.
Forrest didn't waste any time. "We've got a level two emergency. There's a briefing in five minutes."
"Let's go, then," Riley said. He stood up and the two walked out of the room.
They walked down a set of stairs. Graham was waiting at the end.
A mirror was hanging on another wall. A horizontal green line shined through it and scanned their eyes.
"Retinal scan complete."
Two doors slid open to reveal an elevator. The three entered the elevator and the doors closed behind them.
A few minutes later, they wore army attire and stood at attention near Maggie Walsch as she told them about the latest demon.
"A local bar was attacked by demons earlier today," She said. "They are believed to have short arms and long tails. The tails are the dangerous parts. There are four of them. They are believed to concentrate in wooded areas. Your orders are to bag them. Riley will assign teams."
Riley stepped forward. "A-Team, you've got the parks in the southern part of town. B-Team, you've got the Northern, and C-Team, you've got the western parks. Start in the parks, then sweep out into the surrounding forests. D-Team, you're with me. We've got the eastern side. Any questions?" No one said anything. "Let's move!"
A few minutes later, Willow, Oz, and Alex reached the gate of the cemetery where Oz's crypt was located. Coming up the other end of the sidewalk was Buffy.
"Hey, Buffy," Willow greeted her. The group stopped at the gate.
"Hey," Buffy answered. "I guess I got here in time."
"Find any demons?" Oz asked.
Buffy shook her head. "Nope. I was about to head out of town, check the woods."
"We're going to the crypt," Alex said, glancing up at the sun, which was low on the horizon.
"I'll go with you," Buffy said. "Then I'll go to the woods."
The foursome entered the graveyard and walked toward the crypt.
When they reached it, Alex started opening the gate, but Buffy put a hand on his chest, stopping him. "Did you hear that?" she asked.
They all stopped to listen, and they did hear it. It sounded like foot steps and lots of clangs. They were coming from inside the crypt.
Buffy pulled out a stake. "Stay here." She opened the gate and slipped inside.
Pressed against the wall, Buffy moved down the steps, careful not to make a sound. When she reached the end, she peered around the corner.
She could see several men, at least four. Two of them were drawing symbols on the ground with green holy chalk. The other two set up candles along the walls, even in Oz's cage.
It was time to break up the party, especially if Buffy and her friends were going to have a caged werewolf at sundown.
She stepped into view and walked down the remaining steps. "Hey."
The men stopped what they were doing. The closest one to her had been drawing the symbols. He stood up and faced her. "You've come to the wrong place, little girl."
"Other way around, big boy," Buffy taunted. She got in a fighting stance. "You can either leave like nice warlocks or you can stay and get your butts kicked."
Another of the four, one of two positioning candles, looked at the man that was helping him. "I sense great power from her. She is a Slayer. You promised us a werewolf and a shape-shifter, but no Slayer. I'm disappointed, Frauen. We all thought you could do better than that. I guess we'll just have to discount some of your pay."
Apparently angry at his decrease in cash, Frauen glared at the other man, who must be the leader. "I'll get you your shape-shifter and your werewolf," he promised. He looked at the Slayer, hunger in his eyes. "If it's a Slayer you want, I'll get her for you, too."
Then he changed. Blue scales from his head to the tip of his tail replaced his skin. Long horns protruded upwards where his ears used to be.
With a growl, Frauen, the demon, leaped into the air.
He landed only a few feet away from Buffy. Buffy kicked him in the gut. Except for falling back a few steps, the blue demon didn't seem to notice. Faster than Buffy could follow, the demon brought his head down and charged her with his foot-long horns.
Buffy just managed to duck out of the way. She fell to the ground and kicked upwards, catching the demon in the gut again.
This time, the large thing flew through the air, landed against the far wall, and slid to the ground. He got to his feet immediately and was about to leap again, when the leader brought his hand up.
The first warlock that had talked to Buffy started a chant in Latin, and the other three warlocks chimed in. Frauen smiled knowingly and changed back into his human visage.
Buffy glanced down. She was standing on one of the symbols, and it was growing.
She tried to move, but discovered her feet were stuck.
She looked back at the other warlocks just as they completed the spell.
She remained in that position. She couldn't move anything. It was as if her body had become a living statue. The only thing she could do was breathe. She couldn't move her eyes or anything else.
Her back was to the stairs, but she heard her friends' footsteps as they entered the crypt.
"Buffy!" Willow cried out.
She heard running, then a shape entered her peripheral vision. It was Oz, in Alex's body.
Frauen changed back into his demon form and made a gesture that said 'bring it on'.
Oz was in her vision now. He shape-shifted into the same demon Frauen was. But, unlike Frauen's eyes, which were blue, his were brown.
He leaped into the air, landing only a few feet away from the Frauen demon. Alex and Willow were already facing the others.
Oz landed on one of the symbols. Buffy tried to warn him, but her mouth wouldn't cooperate.
The warlocks started the chant again, but it was slightly different than before. Buffy realized why a minute later.
Oz fell to the ground. He changed back into Alex's common form, a nineteen-year-old boy, but somehow, he couldn’t complete it. Flakes of his skin stuck out in patches, and some of his hair fell out.
Alex recognized what was happening to Oz. He'd seen it before, in his five hundred years.
It was the disease, the only disease that could kill a shape-shifter. And it was taking affect much quicker than it should.
Fury rose from his chest. Forgetting he was stuck in a body that could be harmed, he rushed the closest warlock. He balled up his fist, preparing to strike.
"Alex!" Willow cried.
Alex realized his mistake just as a dart embedded his neck.
He fell to the floor, unconscious.
There was a loud bang on the door.
Xander, Giles, and Anya looked over at it. "Buffy?" Xander asked hopefully.
His answer was the door getting another beating.
"I don’t think that’s her," Anya said.
Giles went over to his chest and pulled out a crossbow. He tossed two stakes to Xander and Anya. The three backed up.
The door slammed open. A slimy green demon stood framed in the door. Its arms grasped the doorframe, and when it removed them, it left green residue on the wood.
The demon entered the apartment, followed by another one. Both raised their tails, spiked-end first, at the humans.
There was a crash upstairs, followed by several roars. Giles, Xander, and Anya glanced up the staircase and saw three demons stick their heads down into the living room.
Another demon came through the door, making a grand total of six.
Giles aimed the crossbow at the demon closest to him and fired.
The demon brought his tail around to block. The bolt collided with the tail bone and glanced off.
The demons looked at them and snarled.
"D***," Giles said, and Xander and Anya echoed him.
PART FIVE
Willow was the only one still standing. She glanced with fear at the others. She hefted the board she'd gotten outside at them, trying to look fierce.
The demon approached her, dragging a now shackled Alex. Willow tried to run, but the demon grabbed her and punched her. Willow went down, unconscious.
The four warlocks and the demon left.
Several minutes after they were gone, Buffy moved. She ran over to Willow. She shook her awake. "Willow, are you all right?"
Willow opened her eyes and nodded. Her gaze fell on the shape-shifter lying on the ground. "Oz!"
They ran over to him. Oz gazed up at them, pain in his eyes. His hair was still there, although patches were missing. Flakes of his body were sticking up in patches everywhere.
"Oz," Buffy said, "Can you walk?"
Oz shook his head.
Buffy put her arms below his knees and his neck and got up, carrying Oz in a fireman's carry up the stairs. Fortunately, he was still solid enough for this to work.
"We've got to get to Giles," Buffy told Willow. "Then I’m going out on a warlock hunt."
Giles soared backwards through the air. He glided over the counter and landed against the lower cabinets in his kitchen. His head banged against the cabinet, and he was knocked unconscious.
"Giles!" Xander cried.
Xander and Anya were surrounded by the five demons still standing. Giles had managed to slay one of them before another used its tail to send him flying. Now Xander held the crossbow, and Anya held both of their stakes. They stood back to back.
Xander fired at the demon in front of him. The demon’s tail shot up, and the bolt glanced off it.
"We’ve got to get beyond their tails," Xander said.
"How?" Anya asked. "These are the demons that used to be wizards, remember? They’re fast, and they know magic!"
The demon to Xander’s right and Anya’s left said something in a demonic language, and the others started getting excited.
With a roar, the demons charged them. Xander fired all of his bolts at the three demons he could see. He hit one, and the demon fell to ground dead. Another caught the bolt in its tail and directed it toward Xander, while the other bolt flew into a wall.
Xander dropped the crossbow and started looking nervous.
Anya faced the rest with her two stakes. One of the demons grabbed her arm with its tail and pulled. The demon yanked Anya away from Xander.
When Xander couldn’t feel Anya anymore, he got panicky. Then he heard her scream.
Anya was surrounded by two of the demons. The other two were surrounding Xander.
A short arm shot out and connected with Anya’s cheek. She dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Xander had turned in a small circle and saw his sort-of girlfriend drop to the ground.
"Anya!" he cried.
He couldn’t do anything for her, because all four demons were advancing on him now.
Xander backed up slowly, conscious that he was backing up into a corner, but couldn’t do anything about it.
He felt the walls meet against his back and looked up at the demons.
One of the demons said something in their language and swung.
As the floor rushed up to meet him, everything blackened out.
The demon leader, once a mage that swore not to kill innocents, now a demon whose first instinct was to do just that, turned to the members of the Sect of Eskigal.
"Take this one," he said. One of the demons, Han, rushed forward and slung the human over his shoulder.
"What about the two that killed one of us?" Gare asked.
"We will use this one as ransom," The leader promised. "Jaka, leave a note for the Slayer. Her watcher can interpret it for her if he wishes."
Jaka grabbed a pad of paper on the couch and started writing.
When he was finished, the leader told them, " There is a possibility that the Slayer will not trade with us. Han and I will return to the camp. Jaka and Gore, try to locate the murderers by their scents. We will meet back at the camp."
They turned and left through the broken door.
Buffy, Willow, and Oz hurried to Giles’ apartment. Buffy was still carrying Oz.
When they got to the door, it was broken. Buffy lay Oz on the concrete and told Willow, "Stay here."
She pulled out a stake and went inside.
Books lay everywhere, some ripped to shreds. The couch and other furniture seemed all right, but the table was smashed.
She noticed Anya first. "Anya!" Buffy raced over to her and checked her pulse. She was still alive.
Buffy got up and looked around, including the kitchen, and saw Giles. She ran over to his side as his eyes began to flutter.
Giles opened his eyes and asked, "Buffy?"
"Giles!" Buffy said, "Can you stand?"
Giles decided to try and had to use the counter and Buffy for support. Then he saw Anya.
"Good lord," he said.
"Buffy?" Willow called from outside.
"It’s alright, Willow," Buffy called, and helped her bring Oz inside. Anya began to stir as they lay Oz on the couch.
"What happened here, Giles?" Buffy asked.
"The demons found us," Giles said.
"But aren't they supposed to be the good guys? They are the warlocks-turned-demons, right?" Willow asked.
"They still were after they switched bodies with the demons," Giles answered. "But after their original bodies and the demon souls within were dead and burried, they lost hope and gave in to being demons."
Buffy shook her head. "The demons in the warlock bodies aren't dead."
"They were waiting for us in the crypt," Willow added.
"Is that what happened to A-er, Oz?"
Buffy nodded. "We don't know what's wrong with him. We were hoping you could help us. Where's Xander?"
They glanced around. The unemployed young man was nowhere to be seen.
"He was here with us," Giles told them.
"The demons must have taken him hostage," Anya said.
"I hope he's all right," Willow said.
"Where's Alex? Safely away in the crypt, I hope?" Giles asked.
Willow shook her head. "The warlocks got Alex." She told them what happened.
"And the demons have Xander," Buffy said.
"What about Oz?" Willow asked. "Do you know what happened to him?"
Giles glanced down at the shape-shifter on the couch. He had passed out, or at least Giles hoped he passed out. Flakes of his body stuck upwards in almost every corner of his body. His hair, as much a part of his shape-shifted form as anything else, was out of place, which was unusual.
"I believe Alex told me about this once," Giles said. "It's the only disease that can kill a shape-shifter."
"But I thought they couldn't be killed unless, you know, what Alex did to Ryana," Willow said.
"There are other ways, including this. But it shouldn't take affect this early."
Oz opened his eyes. Apparently he was still awake and in a lot of pain.
"Can you reverse it?" he asked.
"Perhaps if we brought you back to the crypt, we could use the symbols to reverse your condition."
Anya noticed a note on the carpet. "Guys," she said, holding it up. "I think it's a ransom note."
Giles took it, looked at it, removed his glasses, and gazed at it some more. "This is written in the demons' language. I've been doing some reading, and I believe this says they have Xander and are willing to make a trade for the murderers of one of their kind."
"I won't let that happen," Buffy said.
"It makes sense that the demons would go after Oz and Alex, cause they killed them," Willow said. "But why would the warlocks go after them?"
"There was this demon with the warlocks," Buffy said. "He said he'd promised them a werewolf and a shape-shifter. I think it was just another day on the demon market."
Oz shifted suddenly on the couch, and more of his skin began to peel away.
"You guys go to the crypt and try to reverse what was done to Oz," Buffy said, standing. She grabbed a tranquilizer gun and a crossbow. "I'll look for the kidnappers."
Jaka and Gore returned to the camp an hour after Han and the leader. Xander was conscious again, but he was bound and gagged to a pole in the center of the campsite. Han and the leader sat on logs surrounding Xander and were enjoying taunting him. Using a fire spell, they send fireballs at them only to stop the deadly element's journey mid-way with a few words chanted in Latin.
When the other two appeared, the leader motioned for Han to keep playing his game and stood up. "Report," he said.
"The demons that stole our bodies are still alive," Jaka announced.
The leader stared at him. So did Han, who'd stopped his fun when he heard those words.
"How can this be?" the leader asked.
"I do not know," Jaka said. "But they have one of the murderers, the werewolf, captive."
"If we could get the werewolf and the demons," one of the demons said, "Our brother would be avenged, and we could switch again."
"It would not be the same," the leader said. "We are four when once we were ten."
"I counted only three of them," Jaka said. "If we are going to become human again, one of us must die."
The leader looked at Han. "Congratulations, Han."
Han understood. "No," he said angrily. He got into a fighting stance with his tail at ready. "I will snap all of your necks before you kill me."
"Grab him," the leader told the others.
Despite his boasting, Han wasn’t very good, and he lost very quickly. Jaka and Gare had him chained in less than ten minutes.
"What direction did they head?" the leader asked Jaka.
"East."
"We will head that way then," the leader decided. "To reverse what was done to us, we must be very close to the wizards. We must kill Han then, not now."
"We have to bring him with us?" Jaka asked, disappointed.
"Don’t worry," the leader said. "When we have our bodies again, we will have lots of fun to make up for that."
"What about the boy?" Gare asked.
"We do not need the Slayer anymore," the leader said. "We'll let him burn."
Tied to the post, Xander's eyes widened. The demons laughed.
