TITLE: Never The Twain (Part 7/31)
AUTHOR: Zahir
ARCHIVING: Just ask is all.
RATING: PG-13
COUPLES: W/T (kinda), B/R, X/Ay
SPOILERS: Up to and including "Restless." Along with some stuff from the first season of "Angel."
NOTES: This is an AU in which Willow never completed the Soul Restoration Spell on Angelus. As a result, Faith never worked for the Mayor and Tara is a vampire.
FEEDBACK: You're kidding, right? Please!
DISCLAIMERS: I'm just playing with toys that belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I promise not to break them and to put them back when done. Hopefully, they won't sue me.

* * *

From the shadow of the trees, Tara watched as Riley left the house, the Summers home. Not surprisingly, those parting from him at the door were Buffy Summers and her mother. She waited as the soldier (ex-soldier?) went to his car. One minute later, he was gone. And Tara herself had edged near enough to the front window for her to listen.

In the living room was what Tara thought of as The Core Group. Buffy herself, with Xander and Giles. And Willow. Buffy's mother was headed upstairs, obviously tired. Faith, looking exhausted, went ahead of her.

Neither Wesley nor Anya were anywhere to be seen. Somewhat amazingly, all of the Core Group appeared jazzed. They might have just awakened after a week's sleep instead of returning from a no-holds-barred combat with dozens of hellish monsters. Xander was even loading a video tape for them to watch--the first of a small pile. Clearly, none of them planned to sleep anytime soon. Indeed, all were settling down with popcorn.

Tara left them to their movie-fest. Winding her way through the (mostly) deserted streets of Sunnydale, she pondered her own behavior. She clearly found Willow attractive. Alright. There was no threat in admitting that. But more than attractive? Yes, that held several dangers. For one thing, demons and humans rarely mixed well. When they did, the demons in question were almost never her own type--predators who fed on something inherent in human flesh. In her case, blood. Beyond all the problems inherent in theoretical human/vampire relations, there were the difficulties involving this specific human and this equally specific vampire.

Willow was a friend to not one but two Slayers. Plus she showed signs of being a powerful witch.

Meanwhile, Tara herself was not simply a vampire. She too had some skills in magic, but more importantly she was the favored get of an ancient and powerful being with definite plans for her. Mentally comparing Willow to her sire made Tara shudder inside, at least slightly. The Apostate was--awesome. And evil.

It added up to making any fascination she felt for the red-haired witch a terrifically dangerous complication.

As Tara walked in the night that was her home, her ally and her feeding grounds, she pondered complications. What they might portend. Their costs. And what might--might--make such costs a worthwhile price she'd be willing to pay. Her walk back to the Apostate's lair took far longer than usual.

* * *

"Doesn't it seem kinda--too much?" Willow tried to relax in the seemingly vast space in the back of the limo. She nearly succeeded.

"C'mon, Red. Relax, already!" Faith and Buffy were seated across from her. Weirdly, both wore identical military fatigues. The ponytails (since when did Faith wear ponytails?) were a another touch that just seemed wrong.

"Yeah, you don't want to be late for class," added Buffy.

True. But Willow found it hard to concentrate on Film History. For one thing, was a limo really the way she wanted to show up on the first day? And for another, the tinted glass was more like shiny black marble. Nothing at all was visible through it, making the interior of the limo somehow more unworldy. So she cracked open a window for a peek.

Glare. Near-blinding white light. Only a few details to be made out before she rolled the window up again.

"Uh...guys?"

Both Slayers looked at her, each identically cocking her head to the right.

"Any reason we're going to class via Death Valley?"

Faith looked at Buffy. Then Buffy looked at Faith. "We don't know yet," they said in unison. Both resuming looking at Willow.

To her horror, Willow was late to class. She tried to sneak in, which wasn't too hard since the lights were out and the projector running. On the far wall flickering images of a movie were visible. That made sense.

If only the movie did.

A black and white image of Adam was in what looked like an equally black and white castle, surrounded by cheesy lab equipment. Wesley and Riley, in lab coats, stood to one side. The latter held Buffy in his arms. She was wearing a long elegant negligee.

"You go," grunted Adam on the screen, gesturing to Buffy and Riley. They made their way out. "You stay." He pointed to Wesley and another figure--a woman in long robes and weirdly high hair, tiny bolts sticking out of either side of her neck. Somehow the fact this woman was her mother didn't upset Willow so much as the fact she hissed.

"We belong dead," grunted Adam, throwing a switch and blowing up the castle.

Then the light came up. Willow blinked, certain she'd seen something scurry from behind the screen just as the credits had begun to roll. But then the nature of classroom registered, taking all of her attention for now.

She was on a soundstage, with a set in one corner and the rest filled with lights, cables, cameras, etc. The school desks of course didn't belong. But strutting in front of them all was Giles, in cavalry boots and a beret. "Right everybody! Enough homework. Time to shoot the climax of our film! If we get it right the very first time, then we'll be able to secure funding for the rest. If not, I'm afraid you'll all have to sell your kidneys on the black market. Any questions?"

Oz lifted his hand for recognition. "No, Mr. Osbourne we are not going to do THE WOLF MAN." Oz put his hand down. "Right! Then lets prepare. Everybody hide. Save for our star, of course. And the make up and costume people. Ladies and Gentlemen, a big hand for the lady upon whom all our hopes and dreams of happiness rest--Willow Rosenstein!"

Everyone burst into applause.

"Uh...that's Rosenberg...guys?" At a gesture from Giles with his riding crop, Harmony and Cordelia picked up Willow's chair and carried it over to the makeup area, with Willow in it.

"Do you think she's up to it?" inquired Harmony.

"Of course not," answered Cordelia as she put a sheet up to Willow's neck. "She's just pretending like always."

"Maybe that'll be enough." Harmony was now applying foundation to Willow's cheeks.

"It had better be. We'll all die if she screws up even the tiniest little bit."

Willow was speechless at this last. She tried to talk but couldn't. And she could feel her eyes getting bigger.

"So one flub of one line..." asked Harmony.

"...and thousands of innocent people suffer horribly." Cordelia nodded.

"But, but...Why?" Willow finally found her voice. "I mean, if so much is riding on this, shouldn't you be showing me a script?"

Cordelia and Harmony looked at Willow as they might a pair of not-quite-right shoes.

"Okay," said Harmony. "One hint."

"You're the lead in a great and wonderful love story."

"The kind of love that overcomes all obstacles."

"And neither of you so much as breathes in the direction of anybody else."

"You can that, right?"

Willow knew what to do now. Panic. In fact, she was just about to try fainting when Cordelia and Harmony pulled off the sheet and stepped away so she could see herself in the makeup mirror.

She was sheathed in black and red, including a far-too-tight corset that managed to create quite a bit of cleavage. This was an outfit she'd seen--in fact, worn--once before. Likewise they'd paled her skin and attached some kind of prosthetic to her forehead. Willow couldn't remember them doing that. But they must have. Just as they must have put in yellow contact lenses in her eyes and slipped fangs into her mouth. Otherwise, why would she look like a vampire?

"PLACES!" bellowed Giles.

Anya scurried up, Xander in tow. "Gotta get our star to the set!" said Xander happily.

"I could've played the lead, if only you hadn't slept with the director" hissed Anya.

"Wait! I didn't! Did I?" Willow was pulled along to what looked like a Victorian-era bedroom. The huge four poster had translucent red curtains. Buffy and Faith were escorting someone else onto the set. Tara. Only Tara was in a remarkably sheer white nightgown. Remarkably sheer. Able-to-be-remarked-about enough Willow could almost see her... No, she actually COULD see...

Giles put his arm around Willow.

"Ah! The star at last!"

"Giles? Anya just said something. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't true."

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "You know, you can't possibly hide forever. Everyone already knows." Then he turned to everyone else and started speaking through a megaphone. "All right, everybody! This is it! Our long-awaited remake of the 'The Wizard of Oz' is about to begin." Willow gaped at him. "I personally think all the added gore and explicit sex scenes will make it irresistible as a family picture. Let's get rolling."

"Giles!" begged Willow. "I haven't even seen a script!"

"Don't worry it'll all come to you," he said without focusing on her. "Just slink your way over to the bed, and bite your willing victim who even now eagerly awaits her demon lover."

"Oh. So I don't have any lines?"

"Not in this scene. But you have all of them in all the others. Hop to it!" As he was saying this, Giles placed Willow in a specific spot on the set, aiming her towards the bed. He then hurried off to check with Xander, operating the camera, and Oz doing sound.

Willow waited. She looked at the bed, and waited. After a moment or two, she began thinking about the scene and what she'd do. How to part the curtain. What Tara might look like, strewn across the sheets. Nightgown open at the neck. She allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to see desire in the vampire's face. Desire for her. Of course, for the purposes of the movie it was Willow who was the vampire.

"LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!" Giles commanded.

Okay. This was it. Willow did her best attempt at slinking. In fact what she did was pretend to be her vampire self. Not too hard. The distance to the bed was not great, but every step seemed a mile at least. She hesitated at the curtains. Through them she could make out a shape, reclining on the bed. Tara. Waiting for her. For Willow. Her demon lover who would feed from her. Willow put one hand on the curtain, feeling the texture, its weight. Allowing herself a few moments to dwell on the fantasy, Willow imagined what it would be like, to pull Tara into her arms, to leap onto that body. Running her fingers along the curtain, she found the opening. Waiting for me, waiting for me, she thought to herself. Her hand gripped the curtain's edge. A tiny moan. From where? The bed.

Waiting for me.

In one tug, Willow pushed aside the curtain.

Tara's dead body lay sprawled on the sheets, a wooden stake protruding from between her breasts. It looked obscene.

Some kind of dark, ragged figure leapt at Willow.

"Guy! Help me! Help!" she managed to gasp out as the strong figure pinned her down. It bit into her neck. And from that point a weary coldness spread through her body. Willow felt as if she was aging, withering, losing all of...what? Something important, that was certain. As she ceased struggling, faint echoes of despair were in her mind.

From a distance, she heard Giles say "Cut! Print!"

* * *

Tara watched Willow. She seemed distracted. The Slayers and their Watchers were off in the corner of the Bronze, talking with Doyle. Although they didn't really trust Tara, she realized they were willing to listen to her. So maybe her introduction wouldn't compromise the halfbreed with them. But Willow, getting a drink, wasn't looking at them. Her eyes were on Xander and Anya, dancing.

"Are you alright?" Willow almost jumped. Tara hadn't meant to startle her.

"Oh! Yeah. Pretty much. I'm okay. Just..."

"What?"

"I had a really, really weird dream."

"Was I in it?" Tara nearly kicked herself for saying the first thing that came to mind.

"You were, yeah. I was a vampire and you were my victim. Only it wasn't realistic. All Hammer Horror-ish with the cleavage and stuff."

"Cleavage?"

"Yeah. There was cleavage."

Tara could feel the ghost of a smile on her lips. She changed subjects. "Any idea when Buffy's boyfriend will be back?"

Willow nodded. "Tomorrow."

"Good."

"So I guess me and Faith'll be spending more time together. We're the unattached ones. Except Faith's kinda a loner. And she doesn't really get the stuff I like."

"Like witchcraft."

"For instance." She made no move to leave Tara's side.

After another few moments, Tara got up the nerve to ask "Would you like to dance?"

TO BE CONTINUED