Who I am...

Yay, another update from she who disappears for lengthy periods of time....
er... yeah... sorry about that by the way.

Giles glared down at the paper… as much as the British man could manage glaring in his current state of worry, at the least. “We simply must recheck every possible avenue of escape.” Xander was glaring between the librarian and the paper, teenage arrogance and his own stubbornness managing a much more apparent glower.

“I’m telling you. It’s a waste of time. I was here all night.” He insisted, already moving toward the book cage with the man. Glancing back at the Watcher, and then at the swinging doors, his eyes widened just slightly at the sight of Oz and Willow entering the library.

Giles glanced up, saw the other two students, and managed a stiff, still-worried smile. “Right. Erm. Good to see you. No need to panic.”

Oz looked over the Brit, and then his classmate, before watching the librarian with an almost blank expression, speaking in a deadpan. “Just a thought: poker- not your game.”

Giles, of course, immediately removed his glasses to begin cleaning them, clearing his throat nervously. “Now, er, keep in mind that this is really no, erm, ‘biggie’ so to say. None at all. Except to say that, if it were… er… it might concern murder… last night. A student was found m- m- mauled… in the woods.”

“Mauled.” Oz’s expression, impossibly, seemed to close off even more.

“Now, uh, much as I h- h- hate to think it, it could be the handiwork… handiwork of…” Giles stuttered, replacing his glasses with the knowledge that he couldn’t continue cleaning them indefinitely.

“Of me.” His tone wasn’t any more expressive, and Willow clutched gently to his arm.

“Not you-you. Wolf you!”

“But it’s not!” Xander exclaimed, moving back toward the book cage again. “Not wolf-you, not you-you.” He shook his head at the undeniably Willow terminology. “The room was secured, the gate was locked, the window unbreak… able… and open! And open!” His voice broke even as he trotted back into full view, still pointing in disbelief and panic at the apparently open window.

Willow’s eyes widened, her expressive nature seeming to double in the musician werewolf’s ever-more closed-off response. “Oh god…” Giles quickly moves to check the window, see if it could possibly be open large enough for the wolf to get out, if the window itself was large enough even.

Xander’s looking even more panicked as he wrings his hands, looking between the distressed couple and Giles at the window. “Not to freak. I rested my eyes now and then. That’s all.” He actually cringed at Willow’s look of betrayal and Oz’s brief flash of glare at him.

Giles gently stepped down from the window and pinned the boy with a glare, speaking quietly, slowly, so as to remain perfectly clear. “Just how long… exactly… did you rest your eyes for?”

“A little now, uh, a little then.” Xander gulped, attempting his charming, goofy smile. It didn’t work at all, of course. “But I never heard Oz leave… and he was here in the morning when I… um… when…”

Giles’s eyes widened and his voice rose in anger, finishing the boy’s sentence. “Woke up!”

He flinched again and hunched a little, attempting to sound defensive. “You could put it that way if you want to, Mr. Technical.”

Willow’s voice broke slightly in a frightened, horrified whisper. “Oh god…”

~

Buffy looked up as Faith entered the hallway, narrowly avoiding an angry Snider as she gestured for Buffy to go ahead of her into the library. She smirked a little to herself, feeling oddly good after her obligatory meeting with the school councilor. Her smile faded, however, when she saw the glum looks of those gathered there. Even Cordelia had managed to make it there before her. At least she beat Faith there… barely. Even as she sensed her fellow Slayer almost to the doors, she sighed and crossed her arms. “I’m afraid to ask.”

Cordelia looked up at her and shrugged, looking disinterested as she practically lounged by Xander, filing her nails. “Oz ate someone last night.” Buffy’s eyes widened, and then she frowned, knowing for a fact that the wolf had been locked up.

Willow’s response didn’t help much. The redhead just glared at Cordelia, exclaiming, “He did not!”

Xander looked annoyed, despite staying close to his girlfriend. “Oz does not eat people.” He frowned at the cheerleader’s eye roll. “It’s more werewolf play. You know, I bat you around a little bit, like a cat toy.” He even accompanied that with a few hand gestures, trying to mime it out. Oz lowered his head, and Buffy looked at Giles inquiringly as Faith entered, in the midst of Xander babble. “I have harmless wolf fun. Is it Oz’s fault that, you know, side effect, people get cut to ribbons, and maybe then he’ll take a little nibble and…” At Willow’s hurt look, and Oz’s lowered head, he gulped, looking yet more embarrassed. “I’m not helping, am I?”

Giles, for the nth time in how long he didn’t know, cleaned his glasses. “No. Oz may have gotten out of his cage last night.”

Oz’s tone was skeptical as he interjected doubtfully, “Or maybe there’s another werewolf roaming the woods.”

Faith looked between everyone curiously, then at Buffy, who looked almost as confused.

Giles continued. “Perhaps. Perhaps it’s something else entirely.”

Buffy only briefly looked at the other Slayer before approaching further, attempting to be comforting to her friends. “It’s okay. We’ll work together, and we’ll figure this out.” She let out a heavy breath, then frowned, trying to think. “If… if it was a werewolf, wouldn’t there have been more than one attack? There was no chaos last night… no reports of rabid dogs. Nothing like, um… when he…”

“When he first got bitten.” Faith added almost helpfully, leaning against a wall and observing. It was almost amusing, but for some reason, the heavy weight around her neck kept her from wanting to interject too much.

“Yes… um…” Giles looked between them, taking brief heart in what they’d pointed out. “Buffy, you, uh, you patrol the woods. The others can, er, check out the morgue.”

Willow looked even more hopeful, clinging to the few shreds of hope they already had. “Right! We can see if it’s a werewolf kill or not.”

“And Faith, if you would watch, um… watch Oz tonight?” Giles continued, nodding briefly to Willow before turning to raise an eyebrow at the dark-haired Slayer hopefully. In the brief time since she’d come, he’d discovered it a bit more difficult to get the girl to cooperate than Buffy. Usually the blonde’s imploring looks, or a bit of whining on Buffy’s part, got Faith to do as asked though. The brunette just nodded, ignoring Oz’s shocked look, and trying not to feel insulted at the expression.

“You’re having a Slayer watch me now? Oh, good, we’re not overreacting.” His voice was still level, but laced with aggravation and sarcasm, overlaying pain. As he moved to leave, not wanting to listen to more of these plans, Willow gave Buffy a concerned look. As she reached to touch him on the shoulders, the Slayers exchanged an unreadable glance, trying to gauge the situation. Oz turned, facing his girlfriend, and mostly ignores her attempt at a reassuring smile. “Okay, uh, you know that thing where you bail in the middle of an upsetting conversation?” He paused, inhaling and trying to keep from being too rude to her. “I have to do that. It’s kinda dramatic, I know, but… sometimes it’s a necessary guy thing.”

Willow looked pleading and understanding. “And I want you to… do the guy thing, but…” her eyes went to the clock, and his followed hers. It was almost sunset. His shoulders tensed, and looking dejected and angry all at once, the musician moved to the cage, the door squeaking in protest as he opened and closed it with a loud clang. “Oz…”

“Get away from the cage.” He grumbled, practically growling. He wouldn’t look at her, but could hear her barely squeaked what in shock. “It’s gonna happen soon… get away from me.”

Willow looked hurt by his tone, watching him turn his back to her and move to assure that the window was closed and locked this time. Biting her lip to reign in her emotions, she moved away, startled when Faith gently laid a hand on her shoulder. The brunette was looking at Buffy, unsure, before she turned to Willow and said quietly, still sounding uncomfortable being comforting, “Don’t worry Red. I’ll take care of your boy.”

~

Giles had managed to get a-hold of another tranquilizer gun, this one a bit smaller than the rifle that they kept at the library for Oz’s wolf-nights. A stake was tucked into the waistband of her pants, within easy reach, as she swung the unusual weight of the tranq gun in her left hand, leaving her right free for slaying. It just… it didn’t feel right. She didn’t know what it was, but she could almost swear, though without reason, that it wasn’t Oz that had gotten out and attacked that boy last night. When there was the slightest rustle of sound behind her, and then a moment later to the side, Buffy forgot her confused concerns and held her hand ready for the stake, or to aim the tranq gun. Supposedly, it was going to take two shots from this smaller one to take down a werewolf.

The blonde could almost make out the figure of something, someone, rushing past and away off to the side, and without hesitation dashes after it. Not a vampire. Vampires didn’t run from her like that, its movements were too erratic to be a vampire smart enough to rum from her. She steadied the gun in her hands, praying that she didn’t shoot herself with it accidentally. She was a Slayer. Slayers weren’t meant to deal with guns… they were meant to wield stakes and knives, crossbows maybe… but not guns.

She noticed the thing, figure, whatever, turning slightly, and quickly moving to rush her. Gulping, she raised the tranquilizer gun and fired a shot, praying again that she hit the mark. Whatever it was stumbled as the dart thudded into it, and as her Slayer senses screamed again that this definitely wasn’t human, she shot again, noticing the human-like body already beginning to fall. As the body collapsed on the ground, twisting slightly, she stepped forward, eyes widening. The snarling, feral creature was… Angel.


TBC