Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Hadley
By: K. Cooper
Disclaimers: All main characters except Hadley belong to Joss Whedon
Feedback: Yes, please, but it’s my first time, so be gentle
Notes: Rated R, with a splash of NC-17

PART  ONE

It happened so fast that Oz didn’t know what hit him. A voice
called his name, he looked up, and the girl was upon him, throwing her arms
around his neck and kissing him, long and hard.
Oz pulled away. “Oh, my God. Hadley!” He hugged her fiercely.
“Oh, Oz, I’ve missed you so much!”
The shock was wearing off, and his self-preservation skills were
kicking in. The
quad was crowded with students. No one seemed to be looking at them, but Oz
wasn’t taking any chances. He put his arm around Hadley and guided her to a
more deserted location, by a side door to the school. He took both of her
hands in his.
“Where are you staying?”
Hadley smiled brightly. “I’ve got an apartment five minutes from
here. I moved to Sunnydale, Oz.”

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

Oz had loved two women in his young life. Willow was the second;
the first had been Hadley. They had dated for several years, since before his
sixteenth birthday, right up until he moved to Sunnydale. They did everything
together, knew everything about one another.
They had broken up when Oz moved to Sunnydale, thinking they would
never see one another again. It had felt like death to Oz when he kissed her
for the last time and climbed into the car to begin his long journey, leaving
his heart behind. He kneeled on the back seat and peered through the rear
windshield like a child, forehead resting against the glass, for a long while
after she had ceased to be even a speck in the distance. He felt bereft,
miserable, and utterly alone. He did not think he would ever know true
happiness again.
Time had passed, however, and Oz had met Willow. Finally, he felt
complete
again. It was a cruel irony that his heart would come back to him just when
he had found a new one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He drove her home and they talked for hours, Oz carefully avoiding
any mention of his relationship with Willow. He described her in loving
detail, but but called her a “friend”, and Hadley did not question the term.
He told her about his band, his classes, and his activities fighting evil
here on the hellmouth.
“Sunnydale is on a hellmouth--a door to Hell--so there are a lot of
nasty guys
around here. Vampires, demons, werewolves.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

None of this came as any shock to Hadley. She had long known of the
existence of monsters. She, like her mother and grandmother before her, had
been born with psychic ability. She didn’t know whether she had more of it
than regular people did, or if it was just that her family had learned how to
use it. She could sense things--past and future occurences, things in
progress elsewhere, even read people’s thoughts, if they were strong enough.
She also had another ability, one that was unique in her family.
She had telekinetic power, the ability to move things with her mind. These
two abilities had saved her life.
She was thirteen years old, and on her way home from a friend’s
house. It had just gotten dark, and she was still three blocks from home. As
she walked, she suddenly felt a chill, the usual precursor to a psychic
vision. In her mind, she saw a man bent over a prone form. As the man
straightened, she saw that his forehead was misshapen, his mouth and chin
smeared with blood. His teeth were overlong; they looked like fangs. Hadley
was stunned. Vampires couldn’t be real. They were just from stories.
She walked another block. Then, fifty yards ahead of her, a man
appeared. Hadley froze. Vampires aren’t real, vampires aren’t real. She kept
walking.
As she got closer, she realized that this was the man from her
vision. Frightened now, she turned and ran for the nearest house.
The vampire called after her. “Don’t be afraid. I only want to talk
to you!” Hadley could hear his thoughts, however, and what he was thinking
was a bit different. Ahh, I love it when they run. I feel just like a cat
with a ball of yarn.
Hadley reached the door. It was locked. She pounded and screamed
for help, but no one answered. The house was dark. No one was home. She ran
to the back yard, hoping for a back door. She found one, but it was locked,
too. She tried the garage. Finally, an unlocked door!
She slipped inside and crouched behind a dusty old car. After a
moment, the door opened, and the vampire entered. He paused and sniffed the
air loudly. “Oh, where, oh, where, has my little dog gone? Oh, where, oh,
where, can she be,” he sang as he rounded the car.
As he walked past the peg board, Hadley lifted two fingers and
pushed with her mind, and tools began raining down on the vampire. Hadley ran
like hell. She was nearly home when she heard him behind her. Stupid bitch. I
am going to tear her throat out. She pushed and sent some trash cans flying
into him. She pushed again and released the neighbors’ vicious dog from the
back yard, but the dog took one look at the vampire, then ran the other way.
Finally, she reached her front walk. She turned, and with a big
push, she ripped the mailbox post out of the ground and aimed the pointy end
at the vampire’s chest. It hung suspended in the air, but when the vampire
tried to go around it, it moved with him.
“You stay right there and don’t move, or else we’re gonna find out
whether
wooden stakes really kill vampires,” she said, backing toward the front door.
She was surprised when he did not even try to get into the house
once she’d let the post drop. “Vampires cannot enter a home without an
invitation,” her grandmother explained.
Hadley was shocked. “You mean you knew that vampires were real?”
“Of course. They have very strong thoughts. I hear them all the
time.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
Her grandmother patted her hand. “We figured you’d find out soon
enough, dear.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“A couple of little vampires don’t scare me.”
“Well, it’s more than a couple......”
“Demons, I’ve studied up on. I’ve talked to a few of them, too.”
“ The demons here usually don’t just talk to you.”
“And werewolves? Really? I’ve never met one of them before.”
Oz shifted uncomfortably on the couch. “That’s the other thing I
needed to talk to you about. I am one.”
“One what?”
“A werewolf.”
Hadley narrowed her eyes. “That’s not funny, Oz. You are kidding,
right?” Oz
shook his head silently. Hadley closed her eyes, leaned her head back against
the couch, and breathed deeply. “What happened?”
“Do you remember my cousin, Jordy?”
“How could I forget? I still have the scar from when he bit me.”
“Well, he bit me, too.”
“He is such a...” Her voice trailed off and she stared at him.
“Jordy? Jordy’s a....”
“Yes.”
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God!” She stared in horror at the faint scar on
her arm.
Oz turned her face toward him. “No! It’s OK. It happens pretty
fast. You’re not... infected.”
“Is it awful?” She looked so beautiful, so fragile right now. Oz
wanted to protect
her. He shook his head.
“No, it’s not so bad. It’s not fun, but it’ll be OK. I’ll live. I
just have to lock myself in a cage for the night when there’s a full moon.”
“A full moon. So, that’s for real, huh? What about the silver
bullet thing?”
Oz winced. “Honestly, I’m hoping I never find out.”
Tears welled in Hadley’s eyes, and she clung to him for a moment.
“I’m so sorry, Oz. I should have seen it.”
“Well, you told me I was coming down with something. Besides, you
must’ve told me a million times that Jordy was the devil incarnate,” he
teased.
She laughed despite herself, then was quiet for a moment. “What
would a
werewolf do? You know, if it weren’t locked up?”
Oz took her hand. “It would eat people.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Is there any cure?”
“Not yet, but Willow’s working on it.”
“Willow’s the witch, right?”
“Right.”
“I can’t wait to meet her. She sounds great.”
“She is. About Buffy......Have you ever heard of a vampire slayer?”
Hadley sat up very straight and looked at Oz. “Buffy is a slayer?
Wow. You’re just full of news today. I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never met
one. I thought they might just be a legend. Wow. When do I get to meet your
friends?”
Oz was dreading that encounter. “Maybe tomorrow.”
Hadley sighed and snuggled up to him. “I think Sunnydale is going
to be a very
interesting place to live.”
Oz nodded slowly. “It’s getting more interesting all the time.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day was Saturday. Oz headed for Devon’s house to practice
with the
band. The rest of his life was so complicated at the moment. When he played,
he was able to disappear into his music and clear his head. He needed that
right now.
He let himself into Devon’s garage and stopped short. Red,
shoulder-length shag, black tank top, white jeans--yep. It was Hadley, all
right. “What’s she doing here?”
“She’s our new singer,” Devon said, plugging in the microphones.
“Why do we need a new singer, and why didn’t I get a vote?”
Devon leaned closer, lowering his voice. “She’s really good, and
look at her, man. We’re gonna have guys lining up around the block to see our
shows. Besides, we all wanted her, and majority rules, dude.”
Oz clenched his teeth. The one place he could get away from the
constant debate raging in his head: Willow, or Hadley? He had to choose
between them. But how could he choose? He loved them both.
Hadley hugged him. “Surprise! Isn’t it great? It’s going to be just
like it used to be: you and me, working and playing together.”
“Yeah. Great.”
It was pretty great. Oz had forgotten how good it felt to perform
with Hadley. She really had an incredible voice. She also had great timing,
and she knew how to work the stage. She slid seamlessly into the band,
harmonizing with Devon, flirting with the drummer, dancing with Oz while he
played. It felt so natural to be with her.
When they arrived at the Bronze that night, Oz was jittery. He
blamed it on
caffeine, but in reality, he was terrified of letting Hadley and Willow meet.
He was sure they would know instantly what was going on and instead of having
two girlfriends, he’d have none. Between witchcraft and psychic abilities, he
knew he was a goner.
“At least I will have died for love. A romantic death, and one of
the more pleasant ones,” he muttered to himself as he set up the equipment.
Hadley was in the bathroom touching up her makeup, and he hoped like hell
that she wouldn’t run into Willow in there.
Buffy, Willow, and Xander arrived shortly before the first set. Oz
gave Willow a
quick hug and kiss, and prayed that Hadley would stay in the bathroom.
“Oz, buddy, what’s the word?” Xander said, acting as cool as
possible while
holding Cordelia’s diet soda with the bendy straw.
“The word is ocelot,” Oz said, totally deadpan.
“All right, then. Very good.”
“So, what’s this I hear about a new singer in the band?” Buffy
asked.
“Yeah, who is she?” Willow asked, adjusting Oz’s collar.
Here goes nothing. “She’s an old friend of mine. We used to be in a
band together back home. She is really talented, and really sweet. I think
you’ll like her.”
Buffy furrowed her brow. “Uh, Oz.....Considering that the
demon-to-human ratio
around here is, like, two-to-one, I would be putting my friend on the first
bus out of here, if I were you.”
Oz laughed. “Oh, Hadley can take care of herself, believe me.” He
looked toward the stage and saw Devon adjusting the microphone stand. “Well,
it looks like my talents are needed elsewhere. The world awaits the
expression of my unique musical gift,” he said, giving Willow a quick kiss on
the cheek.
“Have a good show,” Willow called after him, eagerly.
Mooning over him already, Xander thought irritably. Oz was a great
guy and all, but Willow was way too good for him; anyone could see that. He
had been happy for her at first. Finally, she and Xander both had someone.
They could double-date, talk about their love lives. Lately, though, watching
Oz and Willow kiss, hold hands, and generally worship one another, he had
begun to look more closely at his relationship with Cordelia, and found it
lacking. Cordy was beautiful and sexy. Girls like her didn’t date guys like
him. He was lucky to have her, he knew that, but Willow and Oz talked, and
thought, and dreamed. He and Cordy mostly just made out. Willow and Oz were
in love; there was question there. He was attracted to Cordelia; she made him
laugh (not always intentionally, but, hey, a laugh is a laugh, right?); he
even enjoyed her company; but he didn’t know if he loved her. When he really
watched her, really paid attention to how shallow and rude she could be, he
wasn’t even sure that he liked her all that much.
He remembered all the missed opportunities; all the times his hand
had brushed Willow’s, the times they were alone in his room together, the
times he’d caught her watching him out of the corner of her eye. He hadn’t
thought of her as girlfriend material then. She’d just been Will, his friend,
his confidante, the one person he could talk to and trust not to ridicule
him. How stupid he’d been. All that time, while he’d been hoping, and
wishing, and praying for a girlfriend, for someone who would love him, Willow
had been at his side. Now she had blossomed into a beautiful woman, and it
was Oz’s love that sustained her now. Nothing would ever be the same again,
and Xander had no one to blame but himself.
Oz played the opening notes, and slowly, from the darkness at the
rear of the stage, the new singer stepped forward. High-heeled black boots,
black leather pants, and a clingy black chenille sweater cut just low enough
to set a man’s heart racing, wavy red hair with flecks of gold
throughout.......Xander swallowed hard. How could Oz have described this
girl merely as “an old friend”? She was a goddess.
Hadley walked slowly forward and began to sing. She sang softly,
breathily, eyes closed, head slightly back. She stopped at center stage for a
moment, head bowed. The tempo picked up, and Hadley opened her eyes, looked
out into the audience, and let loose. She slid down the empty microphone
stand, amd back up again, “Showgirls”-style. She and Devon sang together,
looking deep into one another’s eyes like lovers. They danced together,
swaying like snakes, then spinning in circles. She took a running start and
leapt off the stage, into the audience, dancing with girls and guys alike.
“Wow,” Willow said, watching Hadley rub up against one of Sunnydale
High’s star jocks. “Wow. She is really....friendly. And limber.”
Buffy toyed with her straw. “I think I’ll reserve comment until all
the votes are in.”
“Who’s the big slut?” Cordelia asked, setting her tiny handbag on
the table.
Maybe my future wife. “She’s in Oz’s band now,” Xander said, not
taking his eyes off of Hadley as she danced with a tall, black-haired Goth
chick. Cordy cleared her throat angrily and he tore his gaze away and put his
arm around her.
“And she’s not a big slut,” Willow replied. “She’s a friend of
Oz’s.”
Cordelia started at her. “Oh, right,” she said sarcastically.
“Because no guy would want to be friends with a big slut. Guys hate slutty
girls, right, Willow?” Willow looked slightly alarmed.
Buffy glared at Cordy. “Pull your claws in, Cordelia. You don’t
want to waste all that perfectly good venom when she can’t even hear you.”
Cordelia looked offended. “Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it.
I mean, look, she’s dancing with a known lesbian.”
Xander’s head swiveled around. “Where? Who is a known lesbian?”
Hadley made her way toward their table. She paused at Xander, then
passed him and began singing to Willow. Willow looked almost frightened.
Hadley grabbed her hand and began to dance. After a moment, Willow began to
follow her lead. She was actually pretty good; she caught on quickly and soon
she and Hadley were moving together, smoothly, seductively.
Oz froze for a moment. He didn’t know whether he was more nervous
or turned on by this display.
Xander knew. His mouth hung open while his brain struggled to
process the sight.
The new goddess, with the gold-flecked hair and the body-hugging black
clothes and the really nice breasts, and Willow, his best friend, the girl he
loved more than he would probably ever love any other woman in his life, if
only he’d realized it sooner. Willow, with her long, red hair, beautiful
milky skin, sweet smile. And, hey, now that he though about it, she had nice
breasts, too. He couldn’t believe he was staring at Willow’s breasts.
The song ended and Hadley hugged Willow and went back to the stage.
Willow turned to Buffy, in a daze. “Wow, Willow, you looked pretty hot out
there,” Buffy said.
“I did?”
“You were smokin’! I’ve never seen this Soul Train side of you
before.”
“I know. It’s kind of weird. When she grabbed my hand, I just
felt....compelled to dance.”
“Maybe she’s a witch, too,” Xander interjected. Buffy and Willow
glared at him.
“Or maybe not.”
Cordelia shook her head. “She’s not a witch. She’s a slut. I’m
telling you.”
“Cordelia!” Buffy and Willow said in unison.
“Just calling it like I see it,” Cordelia muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike and Angel watched from a dark corner of the Bronze. Spike
chewed his thumb. “Is she a new slayer, do you think? She’s got the moves.”
Angel watched her leap around onstage. “I don’t know. Three slayers
seems a bit much, even for Sunnydale.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three
slayers seems a bit much.....
Hadley froze. There were vampires in the room. She made her way
over to Oz. She stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck, her lips
against his ear. “We’ve got vampires in the crowd.”
He turned to look at her. “How many?”
“I’m not sure. At least two--I can hear them talking.”
Oz looked grim. “We’d better get Buffy.” He edged toward Devon. “We
need to
wrap up the set, man. We’ve got trouble in the crowd.”
Devon signalled the other members, and the song came to a
quickly-improvised end. “We’re going to kick it for a few, and then we’ll be
back to rock!” Devon turned to Oz. “OK, man, go fight crime.”
Oz took Hadley’s hand. “There’s something I forgot to tell you. The
Mayor of
Sunnydale is recruiting an army of vampires to try to kill Buffy and Faith.”
“The mayor?”
“He’s not a very nice guy.”
“I gathered.”
They crossed the room to where Buffy and her friends were
standing. “Buffy,
we’ve got a problem. Vampires.”
Buffy looked around. “Where?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, then, how do you know---”
“I’ll explain later,” Oz said impatiently. “Let’s go find them.”
They spread out, Oz, Willow, and Hadley together, Xander and
Cordelia with
Buffy. The Bronze was awfully crowded, and there were a lot of faces they
didn’t
recognize. Hadley, of course, didn’t recognize anybody; she was going
entirely on
instinct.
“This way,” she said, pushing through the crowd. She scanned the
faces at the tables...there! “That guy,” she whispered, pulling closer to Oz.
“Him? That’s just Angel,” Willow said soothingly. “He’s a good
vampire.”
“Oh. Whoops,” Hadley said, as Buffy joined them.
“It’s just Angel,” Oz said.
Hadley shook her head. “There were two of them, at least two.”
Angel rose. “Spike was here earlier.”
“Is Spike a good vampire, too?” Hadley asked, puzzled.
Xander spoke up. “Spike is sort of a so-so vampire.”
Angel chuckled. “Don’t let him hear you say that.”
“Well, sorry about that,” Hadley said.
“You didn’t have any way of knowing......Wait, how did you know?”
Buffy
demanded.
Hadley and Oz looked at one another. “Let’s go outside.” Oz led the
way to the door.
Once outside, Buffy turned to Hadley again. “OK, so what’s the big
secret?” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not from the Council, are you?”
“The Council? Um, no. I have some...abilities that most people
don’t have.”
“Such as.”
“I’m psychic--I can see the future or the past, and sometimes I can
hear what
people are thinking. Vampires especially.”
Xander looked interested. “You mean you read Angel’s mind?”
“Yes, sort of. He and his friend were wondering whether I was a
slayer.” She
turned to Angel. “I’m not, by the way.”
Angel nodded. “That’s what I figured.”
“I also have telekinesis.”
Willow was delighted. “That means you can move stuff with your
mind! I can do that, too. Little stuff, anyway.”
Hadley smiled. It was nice to be a freak in a town full of them.
Buffy looked suspicious. “Not to be rude, but come on. Mind reading,
tele-kuh-something-or-other. This is a bit much to swallow.”
Xander leveled a stare at her. “Says the slayer as she stands here
with a vampire, a witch, and a werewolf.”
Buffy winced. “Good point.”
Hadley suddenly looked up, eyes wide. “We’ve got company coming.”
Angel sniffed the air. “She’s right. I can smell them.”
Faith ran around the corner, about a dozen vampires hot on her
heels. “Hey, B! Just the girl I’ve been looking for.” She tossed Buffy a
stake, turned, and began to fight.
Buffy and Angel stepped into the fray. Cordelia hid behind Xander.
Oz reached for Hadley and Willow’s hands, but Hadley shook him off. She edged
closer to the battle, and looked around for a weapon.
There were pallets stacked by the back door to the Bronze.
Concentrating hard, she lifted one and pulled it apart. Jagged boards, full
of nails, hung in the air. She set one spinning like a fan blade, then aimed
it at a vamp heading her way. It cut right through him and he turned to dust.
The board struck a glancing blow to another vamp before falling to the
ground. The vampire turned, snarled at Hadley, and charged. “Look out!”
Willow screamed.
Oz squeezed her hand. “It’s OK. She knows what she’s doing.”
Hadley raised two boards, arranged them in the shape of a cross,
and brought them to hang in the air in front of her. The vampire ran right
into the cross, and his flesh began to burn. He howled and ran, but the cross
followed him, attaching itself to his back. The vamp tried desperately to
dislodge it as his back began to smoke. Suddenly, he burst into flames and
fell to the ground. The cross detached itself and impaled another vampire
before falling to rest on a pile of vampire dust.
There were three vampires remaining. Buffy and Angel had stopped
fighting and
were watching Hadley’s antics. Faith staked a vamp and looked up at the
display. “What in the hell? Hey, what’s with Carrie over there?”
“She has powers,” Angel said simply.
“I stand corrected,” Buffy said, watching as Hadley, just for a
change of pace,
lifted the two remaining vampires and threw them at the boards, instead of
the other way around. They burst into puffs of dust.
Hadley shook her head to clear it. ‘Is that all of them?”
Faith gave a hearty laugh and put her arm around Hadley’s
shoulders. “This is my kind of woman. You’re like MacGyver with the pallets,
there, girl.” She and Hadley went back into the Bronze. Oz let go of Willow
and followed them.
Angel looked at Buffy. “Shall we?”
Buffy shrugged. “May as well.” They went inside, with Cordelia
following behind. She turned at the door. “Xander, are you coming?”
“You go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.” He looked at Willow.
“Are you OK,
Will?”
She nodded. “I just.....She’s just.....Wow!”
“I know. She is definitely a whole lotta wow. You know, you were
pretty wow
yourself, out there on the dance floor.”
“Really? You really think so?”
“Absolutely. You were very sexy out there.”
“Sexy? Me?” Willow smiled hugely. “I love you, Xander.”
Xander smiled, somewhat sadly. “I love you, too, Will.”

PART TWO

On Monday, Hadley met everyone in the library after school. She impressed
Giles by
knowing the names of all the major demons and understanding the Dewey Decimal
System.
“You know, Giles is really kind of hot,” she said to Faith, who
sat beside her on a table.
“Very crush-worthy old guy,” Faith agreed. “Hey, you’re new in
town. You and I
should go out and meet some guys.”
“Well, I’d love to go out, but---”
“But she’s got so much to do, getting settled in here. Maybe some
other time.” Oz grabbed Hadley’s hand and pulled her off the table and over
to the stacks.
“Hadley, you’ve got to watch out for Faith. She’s kind of wild.”
Hadley gave a throaty laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Yes, Mr.
Werewolf. I’ll stay away from that big, bad slayer.” She kissed him.
Oz knew he should pull away, but he didn’t. She slipped her tongue
into his mouth, burying her fingers in his hair. He leaned forward, pressing
her back against the shelves, crushing her breasts against his chest. One
hand went to her waist; the other clutched her hair, first pushing her face
forward to deepen the kiss, then tilting her head back as he kissed her
throat. The hand at her waist slid down to her ass.
“You check this row, and I’ll check the next one,” Giles said. Oz
jumped back
guiltily. Giles and Xander were entering the aisle.
“Oh, Oz, Hadley, hello,” Giles said, looking at them a little
strangely, Oz thought. “Xander’s going to be working in this row. Would you
like to help him, Oz? This would be a perfect time for me to show Hadley
around.”
Hadley smiled brightly. “That sounds like fun. OK, Oz?” Oz nodded.
She squeezed his hand and followed Giles around the corner.
Xander scrutinized Oz for a moment, then took a book off a shelf
and began
leafing through it. “You have something you want to tell me?” he asked,
keeping his eyes on the pages.
Oz thought for a moment. Xander was Willow’s best friend; could he
be trusted? Oz wasn’t sure. On the other hand, he could certainly use
somebody to talk to.
“Xander, can I trust you to keep this just between us?”
“Well, I don’t know. Guess that depends on what it is.”
Oz nodded. “OK, then, let’s do it this way: If you tell anyone what
I tell you, I’ll
kick your ass. How’s that work for you?”
Xander gulped. “That sounds fair.”
“OK, well, here’s the thing,” Oz said, beginning to pace. “Hadley
is more than just an old friend of mine.”
“Yeah, I gathered that.” Oz looked his way threateningly. “OK,
shutting up now.”
“Hadley was my girlfriend for a couple of years. I didn’t think I’d
ever see her
again after I moved here.”
“Are you in love with her?”
There was no hesitation. “Yes. You know, she worked all through her
senior year and took two jobs after she graduated so she could move here to
be with me. How could I not love her?”
“And you’re in love with Willow, too.”
Oz nodded wearily, head hanging low. “I thought I’d never see her
again! It never even occurred to me that she might do this. She gave up so
much--her family, her friends. There is no way I can hurt her. I can’t break
up with her.”
Xander studied Oz’s face: brow furrowed, jaw set. This was a man in
love, and in pain. “Can you break up with Willow?”
Oz flinched, as though he’d been struck. “I.....I don’t know.”
“Are you sleeping with her?”
Oz looked up. “Who?”
Xander raised his eyebrows. “Who? Well, that’s an admission of
guilt if ever I
heard one. Hadley.”
“We’re not now. I mean, we haven’t since she came to Sunnydale.”
“Good. Don’t. Until you figure out what you’re going to do, it’s
hands off.”
Oz nodded. “I hear that.”
“Oz? Oz?” It was Willow’s voice.
Oz and Xander exchanged glances; then, Xander held out his hand. Oz
took it and they shook hands slowly. Oz, still holding tight to Xander’s
hand, said, “I will still kick your ass if I have to.”
Xander nodded quickly. “I didn’t doubt it for a moment.”
Willow came into view at the end of the aisle. “Oh, Oz, good. I
hate to break up whatever it was that you were doing in here, but it’s after
five. We’ve got to get you to your cage.”
Oz swore silently under his breath. “I’ve got to tell Hadley. She’s
never seen me change before. I’ve got to get her out of here.”
“I’m on it,” Xander said, putting his book back on the shelf. “You
go to your
cage.”
He found her in the office with Giles. She was sitting in front of
the desk, laughing merrily at something Giles had said. “Sorry to
interrupt......Hadley, Oz is going to be changing soon.”
“Changing?” She looked at him blankly. “Oh. Changing. Into a
werewolf.” Xander could see the blood draining from her face. She stood up.
“OK, what can I do?”
“He wants you to go home.”
Hadley looked at him incredulously. “I can’t go home and leave him
like this. I
have to see him.” She pushed past him and ran out of the office.
Giles took his glasses off. “Well, I think we’d better--”
“I think you’re right.” Xander and Giles headed for the cage.
Hadley stood with her fingers threaded through the wire mesh of the cage. Oz
was already locked inside.
“Please, Hadley, go home. I do not want you to see this.”
“Oz, I don’t want to leave you.”
“The best thing that you can do for me right now is to go home.
Some very freaky stuff is going to be happening any minute here, and I want
you to be safe at home when it does.” He lowered his voice. “I love you,
Hadley, and you love me, so trust me here, OK? Go home. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”
Hadley sighed. “OK, Oz. Can I just hug you first?”
Oz shook his head. “I wish you could, but it’s not safe. When it
starts to happen, it happens fast. You can hug me all you want in the
morning.”
Xander came forward and put an arm around her gently. “Come on,
I’ll take you
home.”
“Here, take my van,” Oz said, holding out his keys. Suddenly he
gasped, and began to change.
Hair began appearing on his hands and face. His nose and jaw
extended until they formed a snout. Claws forced their way out of his flesh.
Hadley screamed. Xander turned her to face him and hugged her
tightly against his chest. In a moment, the transformation was complete.
Xander slowly released Hadley, who turned and looked at Oz with a
heartbreaking mixture of terror, anguish, and pity.
She approached the cage timidly.
“Oz? Oz, are you OK?” She raised her hand to touch the wire mesh.
The werewolf snarled and flung itself at her, slamming into the mesh. She
screamed again and jumped back, then stood frozen, almost catatonic, as the
man she loved hurled himself against the wall of his cage again and again in
his attempt to rip her to shreds.
Willow made a sympathetic noise and went to Hadley. “Hey, it’s OK.
He’s just
doing his wolfy thing right now. In the morning, he won’t want to eat you
anymore, I
promise.” She patted Hadley’s arm.
Hadley looked from the werewolf to Willow to Xander, then back to
the wolf.
“Xander, will you take me home now?”
“Sure, let’s get your stuff. Come on, let’s go.” Xander swung her
purse strap over his shoulder and put his arm around her tightly, afraid she
might collapse.
“Poor thing,” Faith said when they were out of earshot. “She was
really whacked out about Wolfboy.”
“Yes, well, Oz is the only person she knows in Sunnydale. Imagine
how
frightening it must have been for her to learn that he is a werewolf,” Giles
said, neatly
covering for something that he suspected he never wanted to find out about.
Faith nodded. “I have got to take her out and find her a man.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander sent Hadley to change into her pajamas. She came back in
sensible
up-to-the-neck flannel. Xander tucked a blanket around her and sat beside her
on the
couch, holding her. She was silent for a long time. Then she said, sleepily,
“Xander, will you stay with me tonight?”
“Well, I have to relieve Willow on Ozwatch, but I’ll stay until
then.”
She snuggled back against him, and soon, she was sleeping. Xander
could feel her breath on his arm. I think I’m in love with this girl. No, I
can’t be in love with this girl; I’m in love with Willow, right? And what
about Cordelia? Damn these hormones! He rested his chin on the top of her
head and dozed off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She woke with a start. In the dream, she had been surrounded by
vampires and werewolves, and her powers had been gone. Oz, Willow, Xander,
Buffy, even her own family, were all monsters, all wanting to kill her.
She sat up slowly and looked around. Xander was gone. She went to
her room to change.
By the time she got to the school, the sun was coming up. She found
Xander asleep in a hard, wooden chair, head back, mouth open. Oz was curled
up on the floor on his side, himself again.
The keys to the cage were on the table next to Xander. She opened
the cage and entered. Taking off her jacket, she covered Oz’s nude body, then
snuggled up behind him, stroking his hair and watching him sleep.
Oz rolled over, eyes still closed. “Will--Hadley!” he cried,
sitting up, and waking Xander, who fell out of his chair. He hugged her and
looked at Xander. “Where is everybody--Buffy, Willow?”
Xander got up from the floor, looking in all directions for Willow.
“Not...here
yet?”
Oz breathed a sigh of relief. He hugged Hadley again, kissed her,
and took her face in his hands. “Are you OK? Did I scare you?”
Xander stepped into the cage. “She did great. That’s a real tough
girl you’ve got there.” Hadley’s grateful eyes met his for a moment, and he
felt a twinge in his heart. He tossed Oz a bundle. “Here, put your clothes on
before you have an audience.” He sat down heavily in a chair, facing away
from the cage, listening to Oz and Hadley’s hushed declarations of love, and
wondering whether he would ever just be happy with what he already had.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy and Faith were training that afternoon, and they invited
Hadley to come
along. Oz took advantage of this time to be alone with Willow. She was
working on a
spell in the chem lab.
“What are you working on?” he asked, stroking her hair.
“Anti-werewolf potion. We have got to de-wolf you. Poor Hadley was
so upset
yesterday. You should have seen her!”
“That’s why I wanted her to go home. I knew she would be freaked
out when I
changed.”
“She is really beautiful.”
Well, that came out of nowhere. “Yes, she is.”
Willow wrung her hands nervously. “I mean, a guy could really go
for a girl like
her, right? She’s beautiful, and talented, and sexy, and she can make them
float--”
“Willow, Oz said, touching her cheek, “I love you. I will never
stop loving you. I
need you to live.” Willow kissed him happily.
He smiled at her. “Let’s de-wolf me anyhow, though, OK? All that
fur makes me itch.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Buffy and Faith sparred, Giles instructed Hadley on some
martial arts moves that he found particularly effective in fighting vampires.
Xander watched and tried not to drool.
Suddenly, Angel burst into the library. “The mayor’s army is on its
way.”
“How many?” Faith asked, heading for the weapons locker.
“About fifty,” Angel said. “They’re planning to search the school
room by room
and kill anyone they find.”
“Willow and Oz are in the chem lab,” Xander said anxiously.
“I’ll get them,” Buffy said.
“No. Hadley and I will go. You stay here and get ready.” He held
out his hand to Hadley. She accepted it cautiously.
“Hey, wait a minute, there, Speedy. Nobody leaves the party without
a favor,”
Faith said, handing each of them a stake. “Knock ‘em dead, guys.”
“Yeah. Right back at you. Come on, Hadley.” He led her down the
hall toward the chem lab.
They were almost to the door when they saw the first vampire. He
was checking rooms at the other end of the hall, and gave no indication of
having seen them, but Hadley sensed that he had. “We’ve got to hurry,” she
said.
Xander opened the door and pulled her inside. Oz and Willow turned
to face them. “Oh, hi, guys. What’s going on?” Oz asked, looking at Xander
and Hadley’s linked hands.
“There are vampires in the building,” Xander said, parting the
blinds to look out
the window. “Angel says about fifty. The mayor’s army. They’re hunting Buffy
and Faith, but they’re hoping to kill a lot more people along the way.”
“We have to get out of here, now,” Hadley said.
“Wait.” Xander flipped one of the stools over and broke off two of
its wooden legs. He handed one to Oz and one to Willow.
Hadley collected two fire extinguishers from the boxes on the wall.
“What do they have around here that we can use as a weapon?”
“The Bunsen burners!” Willow exclaimed. She grabbed several
burners, attached to tanks of natural gas. “Instant blowtorch.”
Hadley picked up a metal yardstick from the chalkboard ledge. “I
could have some fun with this.”
“All right. Arsenal complete. Let’s go.” Xander opened the door
cautiously and
edged out into the hall. He motioned for the others to go around him, and he
backed
down the hall, stake at the ready.
They turned the corner and found four vampires waiting. They turned
the other
way, and found four more coming up behind them.
Xander was in control. “Firepower,” he said to Oz and Willow. To
Hadley, he said, “We spray, we run.” He opened fire with his fire
extinguisher, blinding the vampires behind them. Hadley followed suit. Oz and
Willow lit their Bunsen burners and shot flames at the vampires in front.
Then they ran.
They were shocked at the scene in the library. There were at least
forty vampires ganging up on Buffy, Faith, Angel, and Giles. Three vampires
held Faith while a fourth tried to bite her. Two vamps had Buffy pinned to a
table. Angel was in hand-to-hand combat with two more. Giles was surrounded
and was trying to hold them off with streams of holy water from a mister
bottle. The remaining vampires were trashing the library, pulling books off
shelves, breaking up furniture.
Xander heard a noise behind them and whirled around. Six of the
vampires from the hallway had survived the fight and stood, smoking and
foamy, between them and the exit. “Well, so much for my fleeing idea. I guess
we’d better fight,” he said. He sprayed the nearest vamp in the eyes, and Oz
staked it.
Hadley looked around. Faith seemed to need help the most at the
moment. “Let’s stay together,” she said to Willow, who dutifully followed
her. There was a crossbow lying on the floor. Hadley picked it up and fired
at the vamp who was trying to bite Faith. The other vampires saw her appear
through a veil of vampire dust. One let go of Faith and charged. Faith
flipped the two remaining vampires to the floor. Willow handed her a stake
and she finished them off. The charging vampire was keeping his eyes on the
crossbow, so Hadley brought her stake out from her back pocket and he ran
right into it.
“All right, four down. I am gonna be so horny by the time this is
over with,” Faith laughed, and ran off to fight alongside Buffy.
“Giles needs help,” Willow said. Hadley handed her the crossbow and
tossed the metal yardstick into the air.
“Giles, duck!” she cried, as she pushed and sent it spinning in a
blur toward the crowd of vampires surrounding him. Giles ducked and the
yardstick decapitated four vampires.
“Oh, my,” Giles said, looking a bit nauseous.
Oz and Xander had finished off the hallway vamps. The vampires who
had been
vandalizing the library were eager to take their places. Oz lit them up with
the Bunsen
burner-blowtorch, and Willow shot them with the crossbow.
Buffy was at the top of the stairs, battling three vampires.
“Buffy, jump!” Hadley
shouted. She pushed and a heavy bookshelf began to tip. Buffy jumped over the
railing and the shelf pinned the vamps to the ground.
“Thanks,” Buffy said, brushing herself off.
“Don’t mention it.” A vampire swung at Buffy, and Hadley used the
kick Giles had taught her to fell him.
Buffy turned and staked him. “Very nice. You learn fast.” More
vamps
approached, and Buffy turned and fought.
Hadley headed for the weapons. A nasty-looking vampire got in her
way. Using her telekinesis, she flicked him away as though he were a fly. He
hit the wall of the cage and crumpled to the floor. She staked him as she
walked by.
She got her own mister bottle of holy water. As she exited the
cage, she picked up one of the long stool legs Xander had brought and
wondered idly if she could stake two vampires at once with it. She gave it a
try; she could. “Go, Hadley! Shish kabob!” Faith cheered.
Hadley stepped up and sprayed Faith’s opponent in the eyes. When he
was blinded, Faith staked him. “Loving this fight!” Faith said. Hadley came
up behind Angel and sprayed the two vamps he was fighting. He staked one, she
staked the other. Angel headed for Buffy. Hadley surveyed the scene. There
were about fifteen vampires left. Everyone was fighting in pairs: Buffy with
Angel, Oz with Willow, and Giles with Xander. Faith needed her, she decided.
Faith was doing pretty well for herself, having just taken out two
vampires of her own with a two-handed stake job. Another vampire rushed her.
Suddenly, he shot up into the air, courtesy of Hadley. He hung there,
struggling. “He’s so helpless. I almost feel sorry for him,” Faith said to
Hadley. “Almost.” She staked him.
A vampire foursome approached them. “Oh, please. Can’t you see I’ve
got my girl with me here?” Faith mocked them. Hadley lifted all four, slammed
them against the ceiling, then back to the floor. “The staking is easy
tonight,” Faith crowed, doing just that. She looked around. “Is that it?
Damn, I was having fun.”
They all looked around the library in stunned silence. Books were
scattered,
shelves tipped over, and vampire dust was everywhere.
“Well, I suppose we’d better tidy up,” Giles said. He began to put
the books in a neat pile. Faith began to pick up weapons.

PART THREE

When the library had been restored, they headed home. Oz was concerned
about Hadley; she had used her telekineses quite a bit, and she became very
weak and tired when she overdid it.
When they reached her apartment, Hadley made dinner. She felt
strangely
energized--hungry and horny, as Faith said. They discussed the battle while
they ate, and Oz told her more about the mayor’s plans to kill the slayers
and become all-powerful.
Oz insisted on cleaning up, and she felt that her heart would burst
from loving him as she watched him putter around her kitchen, wiping things
with a rag, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, wrapping the leftovers for
the fridge. She couldn’t wait any longer; it had been so long, and she wanted
him so badly.
She turned out the kitchen light, and took his hand. “It’s clean
enough.” Oz was a little surprised when she led him past the living room and
into the bedroom. She disappeared into the bathroom, and almost instantly
reappeared, looking very different. She was barefoot, and wore an emerald
green satin nightgown, hemmed at mid-calf. Her hair was down now, gently
flowing over the spaghetti straps of her gown. At her neck, a silver cross
hung, suspended from a black cord.
Oz sucked in his breath. Her body had changed a little while they’d
been
apart--breasts a little fuller, legs a little longer. He wished that he had
been there to watch those changes happen.
She walked past him and climbed into the far side of the bed. She
held the covers open and looked at him expectantly. He hesitated for a brief
moment, then kicked his shoes off and got into bed. She clicked off the
bedside lamp. The room was still dimly lit by the living room light, tendrils
of which snaked weakly down the hall.
They lay on their sides, each watching the other, staring into one
another’s eyes. Oz kissed her abruptly, his hand tangling itself in her
hair. He rolled on top of her, kissing her frantically, his tongue probing
her sweet mouth. Her hands went to the back of his head, and she forced his
mouth down harder on hers.
She couldn’t breathe under his weight, and she didn’t care. She
slid her hands
down his back, and up under his shirt. She gripped his shoulders and dug her
nails in a little as they kissed. He gripped her head tighter, kissed her a
little deeper. Her nails traced a lazy pattern on his flesh as she slid her
fingers up and down his back. She worked her hands between them and began to
unbutton his shirt. He raised his body off of hers just slightly, to make the
job easier. When it was unbuttoned, he shrugged it off easily.
Pressing his body against hers once again, he began to move his
hips in slow
circles, grinding against her. She gasped as he hit just the right spot. I
love him so much. This was so incredible. The way he kissed her, the way he
touched her--he remembered exactly what she liked. It was as if they had
never been separated.
He tore his mouth away from hers and kissed a trail down to her
neck. There he licked, bit, and sucked until she thought she would die from
the need of him. He kissed his way down her chest and nibbled her breasts
through the thin fabric of her nightgown, still rubbing his erection against
her. She drove his head down harder against her breast as her orgasm hit her.
She writhed on the bed as wave after wave of pleasure tortured her sweetly.
She cried out his name and stroked his hair gently as the waves subsided, and
she floated, like a feather, back to earth.
Hadley pushed him gently off of her, rolling him onto his back.
She bent over him and slipped her tongue into his ear. His entire body went
rigid with pleasure as her tongue flicked in and out, stopping for a moment
to bite his earlobe. When she thought he had suffered long enough, she licked
a long, sinuous trail down his chest to the waistband of his jeans. She
rubbed her face against the rough denim, feeling his hardness on her cheek.
Impatiently, she unbuttoned his jeans and pulled the zipper down.
As she reached inside, he caught her wrist. “Wait,” he said, breath
coming quickly from his arousal. “I have to tell you something.”
She steeled herself. This could not be good news.
Oz pulled himself into a sitting position. She hugged a pillow to
her chest and
waited.
“When I moved here, we didn’t think we would ever see each other
again. We
called, we wrote, but we really never expected to be together again. That’s
why we broke up, right?” She nodded lethargically, biting her lip hard.
“When I got to Sunnydale, I decided to make a fresh start. I had to
start my life over again.”
“Oz...Are you telling me that you don’t love me anymore?” The
question was
barley audible; she didn’t have the strength to talk.
“God, no,” Oz protested. He started to reach for her, but thought
better of it, and pulled his hand back. The gesture did not go unnoticed. He
doesn’t even want to touch me. God, what did I do?
“I love you just as much now as I ever did. Maybe more. That’s part
of the
problem. See, after I’d been here for awhile, I met this girl.”
Hadley inhaled sharply. The blood drained from her face and she
felt lightheaded. So this was it. She had gotten to Sunnydale too late. She
had felt uneasy since she had arrived; she had known that something was
wrong. When Oz had told her that he was a werewolf, she had assumed that was
what was bothering her. She had never dreamed that he would.....
Oz swallowed hard and went on. “I was lonely, and she was a really
great girl.”
Hadley closed her eyes and covered her mouth with one hand. “Oz,
did you sleep with someone else?”
“No, but....I have a new girlfriend.”
Hadley’s eyes flew open in shock. It was even worse than she’d
feared. It would have hurt for Oz to have been with someone else, but
this...this made her the other woman!
She shot off the bed. She had to move around; she would surely
explode if she sat still any longer. “Who is she, Oz? Do I know her?”
He nodded, eyes downcast. “Willow.”
Her eyes widened; her mouth hung open. Of course. Willow. Willow is
sweet,
Willow is smart, Willow is great. Had he talked about anything else since
she’d arrived? Her breathing became more labored; she was nearly
hyperventilating. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she fought them fiercely.
“Does she...know...about me?”
“No. I didn’t know what to do when you got here. I couldn’t break
up with either
one of you.”
“Why not?” I’m a hysterical woman, she thought giddily.
Finally, Oz met her eyes. “Because I love you both.”
She honestly didn’t know whether that made her feel better or
worse. She walked listlessly to her dresser. Her arms felt leaden, too heavy
to lift. By sheer force of will, she opened the drawers and pulled out some
clothes.
She dropped them on the bed and sat down heavily. She stared
straight ahead, and did not look at Oz. “Why did you stop me? Why did you
pick now to tell me? Are you not attracted to me anymore?”
Oz moved closer to her, but still didn’t touch her. “I’ve been
dishonest long
enough. I couldn’t make love to you under false pretenses. I don’t want to
hurt you any more than I have to. I wish there was some way I could not hurt
you at all.”
“Willow. This is going to hurt Willow, too.” Hadley could picture
Willow, her face tearstained, running away from Oz into the black,
vampire-infested night. Was that a vision, or her imagination, she wondered.
Oz was concerned. She looked odd--sick, maybe. He had expected her
to be upset, but this was something more. “Hadley, are you OK?”
Her head whipped around and she stared at him incredulously. “No,
I’m not OK! Are you insane? I’ve been away from you for so long. All I’ve
wanted is to touch you, to smell you. And finally, finally, I’m here, in your
arms--and you tell me you’re in love with Willow?”
The tears forced their way out and she covered her eyes with her
hand for a
moment. She wiped the tears away clumsily with her fist and stood, pulling her
nightgown over her head. She wrestled a short-sleeved white turtleneck and
black jeans onto her naked body. “This is all my fault,” she said, sliding
her arms into the sweater. “I should have told you I was saving to move here.
I thought it would be such a nice surprise, that you’d be pining away for me,
and you’d be so happy to see me--”
“I was happy to see you. You have no idea how much I missed you,”
Oz said
quietly, fastening his jeans and standing. “I was pining away for you, too. I
was miserable until I met Willow.”
His words brought pain, like a thorn piercing her heart. She adored
Willow, was grateful that Willow had eased his pain...And yet, why was his
pain assauged so easily, she demanded. Why was it not unthinkable to him, to
find another mate so quickly?
A sob escaped her, and she clapped a hand over her mouth and turned
away from him. Tears coursed silently down her cheeks as she struggled to get
her pain under control.
“I never wanted to replace you, Hadley,” he said, louder this time.
“I thought I had no choice. I thought you would never be mine again.”
Oh, Oz, I was always yours. Her heart screamed its agony; it was
beating as if trying to escape the confines of her chest. Her throat hurt,
her eyes hurt, her head hurt, but most of all, her heart hurt. She bent and
snatched her boots from beside the bed. “I thought you’d be sitting here
waiting for me. It never even occurred to me that you might find another
girlfriend. I am such an idiot!” She jerked the zipper on her boot up with a
violent motion.
“Hadley, this is not your fault. When we were writing and calling,
I should have
told you about Willow. I should have told her about you. But things would’ve
been
different, then. Our relationship would have changed, and I was being
selfish. I wanted
you to still be in love with me, because I was still in love with you.”
Hadley knew that she would suffocate if she did not get out of that
apartment,
where Oz’s words hung in the air like a dark cloud. She turned and ran to the
living
room. Oz ran after her.
“Where are you going?” he asked, as she lifted her keys from the
table.
“I have to breathe. I can’t breathe in here.” Oz started after her.
“No. Stay here. Or go home. Don’t follow me. I can’t do this right now.” She
was down the stairs and out the front door before he could reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She didn’t know Sunnydale very well yet, so she drove aimlessly for
a long time. There were quite a lot of graveyards and mortuaries, she noted
ruefully. Eventually, she stopped the car in front of a park-like cemetery,
complete with benches and rosebushes.
She walked the winding path, which circled several mausoleums, at
the top of a small hill. Heading down the path again, she sat down on one of
the benches. Her
thoughts were so jumbled, she couldn’t even begin to consider what to do
about Oz.
She leaned forward, elbows on knees. As she sat, she began to feel
a tickle at the back of her neck--the hair standing on end? She could sense,
more than feel, him, approaching quietly behind her.
“Go away,” she said, not turning around. “Just leave me alone.”
His voice floated out of the darkness. “Sorry, luv, I’m afraid
that’s not possible.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oz stood on Willow’s front lawn, looking up at her bedroom window.
The rest of the house was dark, but Willow’s light was on. She was probably
practicing her levitation spells, he thought fondly. He could imagine her
sitting, crosslegged, on her bed, hunched over a musty old magic book, hair
falling into her eyes.
He picked up a pebble and threw it at her window. It connected
solidly. Willow
came to the window and a smile spread across her face when she saw Oz. She
held up a finger--One minute--and disappeared. Oz went to the door and
waited.
After a couple of minutes, the door opened. She smelled like
toothpaste, and Oz thought she had brushed her hair before she came down, as
well. He found this eager preparation adorable, and wanted to savor every
sight and smell and sound of her, for after he said what he had come here to
say, he might never be this close to her again. He took her in his arms and
kissed her for a long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hadley laughed silently, an angry laugh, filled with pain and
longing. She turned to look at the approaching vampire. “Look, pal, haven’t
your little friends told you about the new girl in town? You know, has
powers, makes things float, kills vampires dead?”
He came around to the front of the bench and clambered up, sitting
on the backrest with his feet on the seat. Her eyes traveled up his boots and
jeans to his leather jacket and short blonde hair.
“You know, the Billy Idol look is way over,” she said, with as much
sarcasm as she could muster.
He looked truly hurt. “Hey, you know, I am getting really tired of
that crack. This is my look, and it’s a bloody good one, if I do say so
myself. Which I do. I can still make the ladies swoon. That’s bloody good for
a man more than two hundred years old, if you ask me.”
“Ladies tend to do a lot of swooning when a vampire attacks them,”
she said wryly.
“True, true. Most people are afraid of vampires. How is it that
you’re not?”
Her eyes met his challengingly. “Knowing that I can kick your ass
gives me a
surprising amount of self-confidence.”
Spike looked down at his boots, and chuckled. “My, you do have
knackers on you, don’t you? No lack of self-esteem there. Are you sure you’re
not a slayer?”
“Positive. I am just lucky enough to have some God-given talents,
which I use to make you, the undead viewing public, a little less un and a
little more dead.” She cocked her head and looked up at his chiseled
features. “So, what’s the deal? Did you come here to discuss the relative
merits of a slayer versus a girl with TK, or did you come to try your luck
against me?”
Spike laughed and rubbed his hands together. “ All right! Now we’re
getting
somewhere!” He looked up and down her body, with her close-fitting jeans and
sweater. She was clearly not even wearing underthings. There was no place
she could be carrying a weapon. “And you without your stake,” he said,
mock-pityingly.
She stood and pushed her hair back. “I think I can scrounge
something up. You ready?”
Spike jumped off the bench. “Ready.”
She held her hand out. Spike took it. “Ultimate fighting all the
way, baby,” she
said, stepping forward with her right foot and flipping Spike over her
shoulder. He hit the ground with a thud and scrambled up again.
“You’ve been training with the slayers,” he complained. “Unfair
advantage!”
“Tell it to the referee,” she said, waiting for his next move.
He rushed at her, dropping to the ground at the last moment and
rolling toward her, trying to knock her off her feet. She had anticipated
this move, however, and she jumped neatly over him. She turned to face him
and kicked him squarely in the chest as he tried to stand. He fell back,
cursing.
Spike leapt to his feet and circled her warily. He had suspected
that he knew this girl; now he was almost sure of it. He made a couple of
false starts toward her. He was actually a bit frightened, the fact of which
annoyed him to no end. He had never been afraid of a mortal before, much less
a girl. He hadn’t even come here to kill her; he just wanted to find out if
she was the girl he thought she was. She didn’t know that, though. This girl
might actually kill him.
It was one thing to fight a slayer; they had to actually get
somewhat near a guy in order to kill him. This girl could just look at you,
and you’d fly straight into traffic.
This vamp’s thoughts were not coming in as clearly as usual,
despite her close proximity to him. Too much emotional stress, she knew; too
many thoughts bouncing around in her head. Normally, she would meditate to
clear her mind. No time for that now, though. She tried to harness her pain
and anger for use against her opponent.
He edged closer and her foot flicked up and out, catching him on
the shoulder,
knocking him back a few steps. Giles’ kick again. This was kind of fun, she
thought,
smiling a little.
She sensed that the vampire planned to fake left and go right. She
went right and hit him. He was shocked that she had countered his move, but
recovered quickly, hitting her squarely on the jaw. She drew back to hit him,
but he grabbed her waist and tackled her.
“Ha! Didn’t see that one coming, did you, missy?” He tried to get
to his feet, but she pulled him back down and rolled on top of him. Pinning
his arms, she looked around for something to hit him with. He bucked his
hips, knocking her off balance. She rolled off of him, and they wrestled in
the grass.
Brilliant! I haven’t had a good fight in ages. I feel just like a
cat with a ball of
yarn.
That thought came through loud and clear. Hadley’s eyes widened.
Then she
jabbed her knee into his crotch, rolled on top of him again, and pushed with
her mind. An arrangement of flowers, held upright with a flimsy wooden stake,
pulled out of the
ground and came to her.
She ripped the flowers off and tossed them aside. The stake was
pathetically thin, but it was sharp, and it would have to do. She pushed the
point into Spike’s chest, not quite hard enough to draw blood. “Sing,” she
demanded.
Spike, still writhing in pain, thought that he must have misheard
her. “I beg your pardon?”
“Sing! ‘Oh, where, oh, where, has my little dog gone’--sing it!”
“Bloody Christ, you’re off your head,” he said, trying to sit up.
She pushed him
back.
“I said sing!”
“Bugger off.” She raised the stake threateningly. “Oh, all right,
all right. Oh,
where, oh, where, has my little dog gone? Oh, where, oh, where, can she be?”
he sang sullenly. “There, I sang your little song. Are you happy now? I feel
like a wanker.”
She stared down at him in astonishment. “You’re the vampire who
chased me
home when I was thirteen.”
“Right. I thought that was you. How have you been?”
“You killed Laura Sheppard. She was in my class, you prick.” She
stood up. “Now, I don’t want to kill you anymore. Now, I want to kick your
ass.”
Spike scrambled to his feet and kept well back from her. “Look, I’m
sorry about your friend. I wasn’t in touch with my feminine side back then.”
She shot a furious glare his way. “I didn’t come here to kill you. I just
wanted to find out if you were that little girl. A man doesn’t run into too
many little girls who try to stake him with mailboxes. When I heard about
you, I thought you must be that little girl, and I wanted to see you.”
“Why?”
“You fascinate me. Hellmouth or not, this place has been bog
standard ‘til you got here. You know, no one else has ever gotten away from
me, unless I let them. After you dropped those tools on my head, I really
wanted to kill you, too. I’m Spike, by the way.”
“Spike? Spike the so-so vampire?”
“What?” he exclaimed angrily. “You must be joking. A little thing
like you, calling me a so-so vampire?”
Hadley tossed her hair and met his eyes. “Come on. Let’s see what
you’ve got.”
Spike ran at her and she stepped aside. She pushed and uprooted a
small tree. There was not much to work with in a cemetery. She certainly did
not want to pull up a headstone. The tree floated in front of her. She aimed
the leafy end at Spike, and branches began slapping at him. He put his hands
in front of his face and tried to defend himself, but it was difficult to
fight a tree. He just ended up scratched and with sore hands.
Swinging the tree around, she hit Spike’s midsection with it. It
whipped around
behind him and hit him in the kidneys. Spike went down.
While she waited for him to get up, she surveyed the area, looking
for something else to play with. There was a white cross about a foot high
driven into the ground nearby. She brought it to her. Excellent--a cross and
a pointy thing all in one.
Spike got to his feet somewhat reluctantly. Oh, bloody hell, now
what? Sighting the cross, he decided that maybe he had better find a weapon
as well.
He headed up the hill. Hadley chased him. When he had almost
reached the top, she pushed and sent him flying into the side of a mausoleum.
He stood up, rubbing his back. “You are going to owe me one hell of a massage
when this is over.”
“Yeah? Try and collect!” As he rushed at her, she pushed and he
floated straight up into the air. She had let him get too close, however, and
he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her up with him.
“I could drain you right here, and you’d be helpless to stop me,”
Spike said
smugly.
“I’ve still got this,” she said, holding up the cross.
“Good point. All right, then, luv, why don’t you just put us down
gently, then.”
She gazed into his eyes for a moment. He really was beautiful, she
realized. An evil and foul hellbeast, yes, but beautiful nonetheless. She
wondered if he would try to kiss her. She wondered if she wanted him to.....
They dropped abruptly and hit the ground hard. Hadley had lost her
concentration and stopped pushing.
She lay on her back, the wind knocked out of her. She had dropped
the cross when she landed. Spike slid his body over hers, pinning her to the
ground. He pulled down the neck of her sweater.
“I win.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow was just staring at Oz. She wouldn’t speak, wouldn’t cry,
wouldn’t hit him.
She just sat staring. Hadley had been so distraught; Oz was very worried
about her, and their relationship. Willow wasn’t saying a word, and Oz was
terrified. It wasn’t just that she was a witch and could make him burst into
flames or turn him into a rat like her friend, Amy. She wasn’t moving, was
barely breathing. She is in honest-to-God shock, he realized.
“Willow? Willow, please talk to me,” he begged. “Willow, come on,
please.”
Hadley. Cordelia was right. Hadley is a big slut... No, she’s not.
She had him first. I stole her boyfriend. I’m the big slut. I have to give
him back to her. I have to give him back.
She blinked and came back to life. Oz watched her anxiously.
She walked to the door. “You belong to Hadley, Oz. Go back to her.”
“Willow--”
“Please leave, Oz.” She held the door open. He looked at her as he
walked by, then turned.
“Willow, I--”
She closed the door in his face. She locked the deadbolt, slid the
chain. Then she leaned against the door, and cried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike bent over Hadley’s neck as he pulled the sweater aside. He
squinted.
“What’s that?” Then he gave an exasperated sigh. “You’ve got a cross around
your neck, there, luv.”
“Yeah. Surprise!”
“Would you kindly remove it?”
“Why don’t you remove it?” she asked, challenging him.
“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny. Come on, now, take the cross off. It’s
only fair; I won,
you know.”
“You won? You haven’t drunk from me yet.”
Spike worked a knee between her thighs. Pushing off of her a bit,
he let go of the turtleneck, and it sprang back up to cover the cross.
He stroked her hair and looked down into her face. “Game over. It’s
a tie.” He
lowered his mouth and kissed her. He hadn’t put his fangs out, so his mouth
felt like any other she had kissed. His breath was not fetid and sour, as
vampire lore claimed. He tasted like cinnamon sugar, she thought.
His hands played across her body--her breasts, her hips, her face.
He flicked his tongue lightly across her face, and around her mouth, before
plunging it in to tangle with her own.
She felt him unzip her jeans and pull them down. The cool grass
chilled her skin. He pulled his own off and removed his shirt and jacket. He
looked down at her with such tenderness; it was hard to believe that he was a
vampire. He slid into her, going deeper with each thrust. He kissed the
bruise that was forming on her jaw from the blow he had struck her earlier.

She ran her hands over his face, her fingers memorizing every
curve, every angle. She touched his hair, then pulled his head toward her
face. She licked his neck, his ear, his shoulder. He had wonderful shoulders,
and a gorgeous, tight ass. She reached down to
squeeze it, pulling him deeper into her.
Spike picked up the pace as his mouth returned to hers. She
wondered what his fangs would feel like against her tongue. She pulled her
mouth away, and bit his neck and shoulder gently. Then she sat up a little,
pulling her sweater off over her head. Spike started to speak, but she
covered his mouth lightly. Gathering the cross and black cord in her fist,
she yanked, breaking the clasp. She tossed the cross away.
Lying down again, she looked up at Spike. “Do it.”
Spike shook his head. “It’s all right, luv. You don’t have to do
that.”
Her eyes held his. “I want to feel it. I want to feel you inside of
me.”
Spike nodded. “I’m not going to drain you. I’ll just take a bit.”
His fangs appeared, and there was the malformation of the forehead
she
remembered. He kissed her throat over and over, and finally, slowly, he
pierced the skin and began to drink.
It was the most incredible experience of her life. It hurt, but in
a good way, she
thought. He continued to make love to her as he drank, and she didn’t know
whether it loss of blood or pleasure that was making her lightheaded.
His tongue continued to work on her neck as he drank, and she
relished the
constant pressure of his fangs penetrating her skin, as he moved in and out
of her below.
Oz’s face flashed into her mind, and she pushed it aside. How could
her life be any more fucked up? The man she loved had turned out to be a
werewolf with another
girlfriend, and now here she was, in a cemetery, making love to a vampire .
He could
easily kill her now, she reflected. She had tossed aside the only thing
protecting her--the cross--and she was far too weak, and aroused, to do any
serious damage with her TK right now. She hoped that if he drained her, he
would at least have the decency to put her clothes back on her body.
The thought of Spike draining her somehow pushed her over the edge
into orgasm. I am a very sick girl, she mused as Spike came inside of her.
He withdrew his fangs immediately, but continued to thrust, more and more
slowly, until, finally, he stopped altogether.
He licked her wound to clean it. Vampires were really quite clean,
and the
punctures would heal quickly.
She looked up and kissed him, running her tongue across his fangs
as she’d been longing to do. They felt incredibly sensual; she wished all men
had them.
He gave her a final kiss, and pulled away. The fangs disappeared.
“You never told me your name.”
“It’s Hadley.”
Spike smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Hadley.”
The sky was beginning to change. “It’ll be getting light, soon,”
she said. “You’d
better get home.”
“Come with me.”
She looked at him in surprise. She’d thought that certainly this
would be a one
night stand. “I can’t come with you. I’ve got to go to my own apartment.” She
began
dressing.
“Then I’ll come with you.”
Hadley almost laughed. Who was this earnest and needy fellow?
Surely not the vamp who had fought her so ruggedly, then made love to her so
thoroughly. “You can’t come with me, either. My boyfriend might be there. Or
my ex-boyfriend. Whatever he is.”
Spike did not look pleased. “What boyfriend? You just got to town,
for God’s
sake.”
“He was my boyfriend from back home. I moved here to be with him,
but he has a new girlfriend. Already.”
Spike buttoned his shirt. “Who is he? What’s his name?”
“Oz.”
He started to laugh. “Oz? That little wolf-thing? He’s four feet
tall!”
“He is not! Besides, it’s not the size that counts, you know.”
“Is that so? Well, you seemed to be enjoying something a bit larger
quite a lot just now.”
She couldn’t help but smile at him. She really liked him. He was a
lot of fun. “I’ve got to go.” She straightened his collar, and kissed him one
last time.
“You know, once a vampire feeds on you, you are linked to him
forever.”
“Well, right now I’ve got to un-link myself and go home.” She
removed his arms
from around her waist.
“You’re sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“I’m sure.” She turned and started to walk away.
“Well, all right, then.” He paused for a moment. “When can I see
you again?”
She called back to him over shoulder. “I’ll be singing at the
Bronze Friday night.”
Spike nodded. “I’ll be there.”
“OK.”
“OK.” He gave a little wave. He watched as she walked down the
path, and
disappeared into her car. Then, he turned and headed home, whistling
cheerfully.

PART FOUR

Oz was on the steps when she arrived home. He was leaning against the
wall, asleep. As she climbed the stairs, he jerked awake. Seeing her, he
stood up and studied her face hopefully.
She walked past him and unlocked the door, leaving it open as she
entered. Oz
followed her in uncertainly. He stood by the door, fidgeting, not knowing
what to do or
say. She ignored him, fixing herself a drink, and sat down on the couch.
“Shut the door.”
He complied, then crossed the room and sat next to her. She stared
into her drink. “Did you talk to Willow?” He nodded. “And?”
“She told me to go back to you.”
“I’ve been thinking about this all night.”
Oz waited. And waited. “And?”
She looked at him now. “Why did it have to be somebody so sweet and
wonderful? Why couldn’t it be someone I could hate?”
Oz shrugged. “Sorry. I guess that’s just not my taste.” He reached out,
hesitantly, and ran his fingers up and down her arm.
“How is she doing?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t cry, or yell, or anything. She just said that
I belong to
you, and then she kicked me out.”
“I think the three of us need to talk about this.” She looked at the
clock. “Go home, take a shower, change your clothes. I’ll meet you in the
quad. We’ll catch her in the library before school.”
He stood, then paused. “Hadley, what about us?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Oz nodded. Then he left the
apartment,
closing the door quietly behind him.
Hadley went into the bathroom and stripped off her grass-stained,
sex-scented
clothes. She dropped them on the pile of clothing she had shed for Oz
earlier. She felt a little pang, and kicked the clothes out the door,
shutting it against the memory. She checked her neck in the mirror. The
punctures were already beginning to fade. The thought of Spike drinking from
her sent shivers coursing through her body. She stepped into the shower to
cool off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hadley and Oz entered the library, and found Willow seated at the
table, with
Buffy, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles crowded around her. Buffy, who had her arm
around Willow, looked up at them. He expression was a mixture of compassion
and contempt.
Giles cleared his throat. “I think we should give Willow, Oz, and
Hadley some
privacy.” Xander and Cordelia walked to the door, Cordelia shooting hateful
looks
Hadley’s way.
“That OK with you?” Buffy asked. Willow nodded silently. Buffy hugged
her. “I’ll
be right over there.”
Oz and Hadley sat down, Oz at the end of the table, Hadley across from
Willow.
Nobody spoke.
“So now what?” Willow asked.
Hadley sighed. “I don’t know. This is a first for me, too.” She took a
deep breath. “I guess Oz has told you that I was his girlfriend until he
moved here, and that I didn’t know he had a new girlfriend...”
“He didn’t tell me about you, either,” Willow said, glaring at Oz.
“I know,” Hadley said. “You know, if I’d known about you, I never
would’ve--”
“Oh, me either,” Willow cried. She jumped up and hugged Hadley over
the table.
“I’m sorry.”
"I’m sorry, too, Willow.” They sat down. “I really like you a lot. I
think we have a
lot in common. I was hoping that we would be friends.”
Willow nodded eagerly. “We will be. We do have a lot in common,”--here
she
glared at Oz again-- “and we could have so much fun. I could teach you to do
spells.”
“I’d like that.” There was a long silence. “So what do we do about Oz?”
Willow looked away. “He was yours first. You should keep him.”
Hadley noticed Willow stealing glances at Oz. “No, Willow, this isn’t
about who
had him first. This is about who he belongs with now.”
Oz was looking at Willow. Willow gazed back at him, blushing. Hadley’s
heart
broke just a little. She stood up. “Oz, can I talk to you for a minute?”
He followed her over to the counter. She looked into his eyes and
forced the words out. “You belong with Willow.”
Oz was shocked. “What? Why?”
“Look at her, Oz!” He looked over at Willow, who had been watching
him. She
turned away quickly, embarassed at being caught. “She needs you. And you need
her.” Oz turned back to face her. “You and Willow have a connection that you
and I have never had. You belong together. It’s meant to be.”
Oz looked solemn. “Are you sure?”
Well, you must be. I didn’t exactly have to twist your arm. She
nodded, her throat closing. “You know it’s true. Now go tell her. Go make
this right.”
“Will we still be friends?”
Just go already, before I cry. “We’ll always be more than that.”
Oz stepped forward, stroked her hair, and kissed her gently. His lips
lingered on
hers for a moment. Then he stepped back, gave her a sad smile, and went to
Willow. The tears rolled freely down Hadley’s face as he sat beside Willow,
talking quietly. She threw her arms around him and looked over his shoulder,
smiling gratefully at Hadley.
Hadley scrubbed at the tears with her hand. She had done the right
thing. She
turned, passing Buffy, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles, who were staring at her
in wonder,
and walked through the doors into the hall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She didn’t know how long she had been sitting on the school
steps--fifteen
minutes? Thirty?--when Buffy climbed up and sat beside her. They did not look
at one
another; Hadley continued to look up at the sky, and Buffy looked up as well.
“That was a really nice thing you did for Willow. Thank you.”
“He belongs with her. I know that...But, God, it hurts.” The tears
started again, and Hadley blinked furiously.
“You know, Angel and I were lovers once...”
“Oz told me. He was too happy and he lost his soul because of some
gypsy curse.”
Buffy closed her eyes for a moment. “Now, we can’t be together. He’s
right here,
but I can’t hold him. I can’t kiss him...Every day, I have to see him, and
he’ll never be
mine again.”
Buffy and Hadley sat in silence, watching the clouds roll by.

THE END

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