NEVER THE TWAIN? (Part 3/31)
AUTHOR: Zahir
RATING: PG-13
COUPLES: W/O, O/V, W/T (kinda)
SPOILERS: Up to and including S4's "Wild at Heart" and some minor ones from "To Shanshu in LA" from Angel.
NOTES: This is an alternate history in which Willow never completed the Soul Restoration Spell on Angel. From that moment on, things change.
ARCHIVING: Just ask.
DISCLAIMER: I'm just playing with toys owned by Joss Whedon & Mutant Enemy who're way too cool to sue me especially since I don't have anything they want (I hope).
FEEDBACK: Please!

"You want me to steal a piece of paper?" Faith's eyebrows lifted as she asked.

Tara nodded. She was pleased at the Slayer's reaction, how she reacted not to the idea of theft, but to the target. Much more likely to agree, then.

"Yes."

"What is it, a copy of the Pope's diary?"

"Actually, its a lost scroll inside the high security vault of a Los Angeles law firm."

Faith seemed to take this in calmly. "Why don't you steal it?"

"Their security is geared towards magic. Vampires in particular are detected instantly. I have lots more information if you take the job."

"Okay. And why should I do that?"

Silence stretched for several seconds between the two young women. Around them, the last patrons that night of the Bronze danced and chatted. For the first time in hours, nobody was playing pool. No band had been scheduled that night but even if they were it wouldn't be playing. Too late. Barely an hour before sunrise. One of the conditions for Faith to meet with a vampire.

"You owe me," Tara finally said. "Without my help you would very likely be dead. along with much of this town, including your friends."

"I'm not coming after you with any sharp pieces of wood, am I?"

" Plus you'll be paid."

"How much?"

"Five thousand dollars. And one other thing."

"Go on."

Again, Tara paused. When she spoke, there was a slight but real intensity to her voice. "Instead of you owing me--I will owe you." She leaned back, gauging the dark-haired girl's reaction. Faith herself took a sip of beer, thinking. Not rejecting out of hand. Good. Odds were good she'd agree. More than good. Excellent. Time to let her think it through completely.

"You know how to contact me." Tara stood. She weaved her way through the thinning crowd, headed for the back. Dawn wasn't that far away. She wanted to take no chances.

***

Tunnels criss-crossed the underbelly of Sunnydale to a startling degree. Old maintenance systems, abandoned fallout shelters, the occasional secret escape for old bootlegger. Tara knew them well. Most local vampires did. In fact, they acted as something of a Nosferatu highway. Usually, Tara used a different route to her lair each night. She'd been taught security by someone much older and more cunning. Tonight she made a very deliberate detour.

It was moments after sunrise when she got to her destination. Above her, the Mausoleum had been modified by someone she knew. It contained a wrought-iron cage for use three times a month. Each full moon. Like last night. Oz would be waking back to himself by now and then his girlfriend Willow would arrive to unlock him. Tara knew exactly where to stand. Closing her remaining eye, she focused all her now-inhuman senses.

Something was wrong. Not one but two heartbeats at rest drummed faintly in her ears from above. Tara took a deep breath, picking up the telltale but extremely faint order of intercourse. Yet the sun had only just risen. Oz alone had reason to be locked up last night, when the moon would change him into a mindless beast. Whoever was with him was indeed with him, inside the cage. Their heartbeats were so close Tara had trouble telling them apart. Another werewolf?

Willow. She and Oz were intimate. The curse was usually spread by a bite, but perhaps other acts could have the same effect. Or not. Love-making hardly seemed to involve self control. In a moment of passion, might Oz have bitten his lover? And this be the result? It made a kind of sense, in a way. The possibility even smacked of romance, sharing a fate and all. For that reason Tara herself had made a point of meeting every female vampire in the area. No one, after all, wanted to be alone forever. At least no one with any trace, however faint, of humanity. Tara's own efforts had been anything but successful--Sunday's sophistication had proven little more than a mask for her own unrestrained instincts. Like most vampires. Tara increasingly believed that creatures such as herself and her sire--perceivers of the world as something more than a larder--were extremely rare.

So. Perhaps for Willow and her Oz there would be a real future. This was good. If for no other reason than it meant Tara herself was not without hope of finding someone. Curious, she lingered for a few moments. What would they say to one another? She imagined for a moment what the redhead's voice would be like now, in the morning after such a night? Husky? A little girl whisper? Maybe a languid version of her regular voice?

Footsteps. Approaching. Of course--someone to let them out of their cage. But something seemed wrong...

Voices. By concentrating, Tara could hear each word.

"Willow..." That was Oz.

"Oh my God...Oh my God..." Willow. But she wasn't in the cage with Oz. Then who was?

"I know what you saw," Oz was upset. "It was...I had to--I had to lock her up with me." Oz was never upset. Until now.

Willow's voice was shaking. "I bet!"

Tara almost knew what Oz was going to say next. She was right. "She's like me. A wolf."

Of course. Oz had found another werewolf, a female. He hadn't been careless around Willow, merely...lucky? Or unlucky? For some reason Tara found her mind racing over what this might mean. Did Oz desire to mate with this other? Or now that he'd tasted union with his own kind, would he try to convert Willow? Might Willow accept or resist? Then again, perhaps they'd try to reestablish some kind of balance?

So engrossed was she with possibilities, Tara missed much of what was said.

"Girl's got a point." Who was that? Ah, the female.

"Leave." That was Oz.

"I was just saying--"

"Now." Oz very nearly growled at...Veruca. Tara recognized her voice now. The singer. Yes, that made some kind of sense. She could hear the singer leave. After a moment, Tara made a decision. She left as well, winding her way through the tunnels towards her lair.

***

Hours and hours later, Tara woke.

In the room below the clock tower of ruined Sunnydale High, she pushed on a lever and emerged from the secret compartment in the wall. Layers of curtains surrounded her on all sides, shielding out the sun. A dim glow was visible, but not enough to be anything of a threat. Tara headed down the ladder to the tunnels.

Tonight was another night of the full moon. last for a month. It would be tonight. Predators understood each other. Yes. Tonight. Reaching out with her senses, Tara sped through the catacombs. She headed for university campus, focusing on finding one of two heartbeats. Which didn't really matter since one would lead to the other. But she needed to do so before sunset. Otherwise, a priceless opportunity would be lost. Tara was not one to let such slip away. And unlike most vampires, she had a keen sense of the future. Precisely why so few potential immortals thought in such terms puzzled her, but she'd long since recognized that fact.

She stopped. Closing her eye, she focused. Yes. The tread of someone not quite human. A tread she'd heard before. Heading...where? Interestingly, she seemed to be crisscrossing the campus herself. A search pattern. No, a hunt. Which was all the confirmation Tara needed.

***

Trembling with an icy rage, Willow concentrated on her spell. Flames rose with her words, lending an eerie atmosphere to the deserted lab.

"I conjure thee, by Barabbas, by Satanas, and the Devil...As thou art burning, let Oz' and Veruca's deceitful hearts be broken."

Early in life, the red-haired girl had learned to allow few inside her heart. That way lay pain, and misery, and shattered hopes. By the time she'd been ten, a certain logic had made itself clear. Controlling others was not an option. She couldn't make others value intelligence over beauty or honesty over style. The only control she had was over herself.

"I conjure thee by the Saracen Queen, by the name of hell. Let them know no love or solace, let them find no peace as well."

Willow would have preferred to simply be incapable of feeling negative things like loneliness or disappointment. Since she could, the best option was to be choosy. To select only a small number allowed past emotional walls. None had gone deeper than Oz. So no one had the power to hurt her as much.

Already the magicks were infusing her system. She could feel it, like a pleasant fever. Or was it more like an itch, demanding to be scratched? No matter. Resolute, she lifted a picture of Oz.

Sweet Oz. Funny Oz. Betraying, hurting Oz.

"Let this image seal his fate, not to love--only hate..."

The picture headed for the flames. Once consumed, the curse would be cast. Her boyfriend (lover, friend, beloved companion) would feel at long last the full measure of her wrath. All she had to do was burn the picture. Toss it into the flames. Merely flick her wrist and release the energies building all around her. Let her hate take form.

Simply let him burn.

And suffer. Like her. Now.

Now!

Done! She deliberately put the picture aside, away from the flames. Power drained out of her. Tears welled in her eyes.

"Wow." A sarcastic voice invaded the room. "For a minute there I though you might actually play rough." Willow turned to see Veruca at the door. Shutting it.

"Sometimes you have to, you know. To keep what's yours." A feral glint shone from the blonde's eyes. "Sometimes you have to kill." With that she locked the door. Then she smiled an unpleasant smile, glancing at the window. "Well what do you know? Sun's almost down." Another smile, this one even less pleasant. Veruca looked hungry, and cruel.

The two almost circled each other for a moment. "Can't say I'm surprised you didn't go through with your little hex," Veruca sneered. The sun was fading, Willow noticed. Soon her enemy would change, become one of the most dangerous creatures on earth. A werewolf. Not even an animal. Because animals only killed to eat or defend themselves.

Or their territory.

Veruca knew it too, of course. Looked forward to it, obviously. "You" the blonde whispered, nearing Willow, "don't have the teeth!"

C-R-A-A-A-C-C-K!

The door burst open. Locks and hinges flew off. In the shadows of the hallway was a shape. A woman's shape with long blonde hair. Tara?

"Funny you should mention teeth," Tara said in a surprisingly quiet voice. She took a single step into the lab, stopping short of the sunbeams now fading across the floor.

Veruca looked at the new arrival, puzzled. Willow could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

"Hmm. Someone new to the dance?" A speculative look from Willow to Tara and back. "Looks like maybe I'm on Oz' side in more ways than one. And you're not as sweet as you pretend."

"Leave." This time it was Tara's voice that growled. Literally. Veruca nearly did a take. Then, she grinned.

"Hey, I like it rough. Gotta a feeling you do, too." The sun was fading more. Shadows increasing. Willow had no idea who would win in a fight between them. Once the sun set, both would be superhuman. Or inhuman. Weirdly, she found herself quietly cheering on the vampire. Or, given the circumstances, not so weird. Tara had never seemed interested in hurting her, not exactly.

Now the sun was gone. Veruca took a deep breath. She grinned as her teeth began to grow. Her eyes changed, going dark. When she spoke, her voice was tinged with something like glee.

"You smell funny," she growled.

Tara's face shifted, her one eye shifting from sapphire to gold. Brows furrowed, fangs erupted. "So do you."

With mutual snarls, the two demons leapt at each other.

***

Tara waited with Faith outside the Bronze. Neither said much. Both simply waited.

"Just for record," Faith finally said, "I do owe you. After last night."

"No."

"Uh...yeah! Its not like I got so many friends I wouldn't miss one."

"That's not why I did it."

Faith stopped. She looked at the vampire for what seemed like minutes. Before she could say anything a van drove up. They silently gathered their gear and got inside. The driver said nothing, simply waiting. Soon all three of them had seats. They were ready.

"Next stop, Los Angeles," muttered Oz as he headed for the freeway.

TO BE CONTINUED