Werewolves, Sorcerers and Grenade Launchers: Part 2
by Jared Cantrell
Part Two

The sorcerer drew from his robes the vial of virgins blood that he had prepared for this very moment. He continued to chant his horrible spell, nearing the moment when he would pour the blood upon the circle and finish the incantation. But suddenly a noise from behind startled him. He knew it could not be the Slayer. His augeries had ensured him that she would not be able to act in time to stop him, that his precautions would prevent her interference. Still chanting he turned in the summoning circle to see the commotion.

The werewolf was upon him before he could even think to bring up his defenses. So intent had he been on the spell that he had paid no attention to the warning magics that would have normally warned him of the impending danger. A spell of defense came to his lips but it was too late.

The sorcerer's head went flying from his shoulders with a mighty swipe of the beast's claws and a fountain of blood from the open neck. The vial slipped from the nerveless hands and shattered on the floor. As the virgin blood made contact with the circle, the lines lit up with a blue glow and Willow and Cordelia were forced to avert their eyes from the bright flash of light that followed.

In the silence that followed the girls blinked their eyes and looked around the cavern. The headless corpse of the sorcerer lay within the unlit circle. The glow that had pervaded the lines and runes had disappeared with the sudden flash of light. The werewolf lay unmoving nearby.

"Oz!" Willow screamed in grief.

The wall near the steel door burst inward in a shower of bricks and dust. Buffy clumsily leaped through the opening, shortsword in hand. She slowed to a limping hobble then stopped altogether as she took in the scene. Xander and Giles came in quickly behind her.

"Well, my work here is finished," Buffy spoke sarcasticly. Xander quickly strode to Cordelia's side while Giles tended to a weeping Willow. He untied the dark haired girl and she flung her arms around his neck. After a few moments of hugs and kisses she stopped.

"Xander, is that a rifle between us or are you just really glad to see me," she weakly joked between kisses.

As soon as Willow was untied, she started to run towards the unmoving werewolf. Giles caught her arm and held her close.

"No, Willow! Wait! He's still transformed!"

"Oh my God. Is that Oz?" Buffy asked as she limped to Willow's side.

"Yes," Willow answered, her voice strangely dead, as if she had already assumed the worst. "He saved us."

Giles hugged her to him. "But what was he doing here? This was the second night of his transformation. He should have locked himself up."

"Those zombie guys came for me and Cordelia in the Bronze parking lot. Oz was-was just getting ready to go-" Willow muffled a cry and tried to continue. "They came out of nowhere and grabbed Cordelia and me. They had guns but Oz didn't care, he just jumped on them and started beating them. And-and that's when they started beating him. And they wouldn't stop. They wouldn't stop!" She buried her face in Giles musty jacket and let loose all her grief.

Buffy put her hand gently on her friend's shuddering shoulder.

"Oh, Willow."

"I can see quite clearly what happened," Giles explained for the crying girl. "When the full moon came up, Oz's tranformation began, just as the sorcerer was in the midst of his spell. Wait a moment... Look!"

Buffy turned from her friend to the two bodies lying on the other side of the room. The werewolf had vanished to be replaced by the naked form of Oz, who was moaning and struggling to get up.

"Oz!" Willow exclaimed as she broke free from Giles and raced to his side. He rolled over and she grabbed him in a fierce hug.

"Oh, hey Willow," Oz spoke groggily trying to sit up. Then he noticed the headless corpse lying near him.

"Whoa! Did I do that?!"

"No, no! It's okay, Oz! He's a bad guy."

"Oh, well, if he was a bad guy, then alright." Then he noticed himself. "Say, Willow. You know I've thought about being naked with you... but it generally didn't involve an audience."

Suddenly Willow seemed to notice his lack of clothing as well.

"Oh! I-um-I-um... Oh. I'll just turn my back."

"I'd appreciate it more if you could find me something to cover up with."

"Here we are," Giles said walking over to a wall with several robes hanging from it. He pulled one down and tossed it over Oz. "This should suffice."

"Thanks."

Everyone politely averted their eyes as he pulled the robe over his head. After a few moments Giles turned back as if struck by some new thought.

"Oz, I wonder why you transformed back? The sun isn't supposed to come up for another eight hours or more."

"Hmm. Hadn't really thought about it."

Cordelia and Xander had broken off their embrace when Xander noticed a number of boxes stacked up at the far end of the cavern. Cordelia walked over to the rest of the group and noticed Oz.

"Yeah, and your face doesn't look like ground beef anymore."

Giles mentioned that he had an answer to that. "I believe it has something to do with the amazing recuperative powers of the werewolf. You see, they can only be killed by silver bullets but normal forms of damage can still harm them significantly. So to make up for that, they heal at an accelerated rate. So during the short time that you were a werewolf, you must have healed the damage that had been done to you in your human form."

Oz seemed surprised as he shakily stood up. "Hey, and he didn't even use a globe. Whoa!" He started to fall over but Willow grabbed him and supported him. "Thanks."

"Anytime," she smiled at him her tears quickly drying.

"Hey, guys! You gotta take a look at this stuff!" Xander's excited voice came from the other end of the cavern near the crates he had gone to investigate.

"What did you find Xand?" Buffy called as she walked over to him, her limp noticably lessening. Cordelia followed her.

"Enough guns to start World War Three!" He started to pull items from their crates to show his friends. "M-16's, Galil rifles, M-4 assualt rifles with silencer attachments, undermounted grenade lauchers, Glock 17 pistols, which are very nice buy the way! M-9 pistols with silencers, MP-5 submachineguns, also with built in silencers. This guy was really big on special ops gears and-oh my god! A Heckler and Koch PSG-1 sniper rifle!"

"Let me guess," Cordelia seemed decidely unimpressed. "It's got one of those silencer things."

"How'd you know? Plus, teflon coated bullets for the rifles, and a enough grenades for the launchers to blow up the high school! This is so great!"

"Xander," Giles worried voice cut in. "You don't plan on blowing up the high school, do you?"

He thought for a second.

"Not unless Miss Beakman gives me an 'F' for the year. Which is a distinct possibility." He grabbed a nearby duffel bag and began to load various rifles, pistols, and boxes of bullets into it. They all watched in shock as he calmly and methodically checked each weapon. He took two of the pistols he had called Glocks, loaded them, and put them in his waistline.

"Careful you don't accidently hit anything vital, Xander," Cordelia warned impishly. Buffy laughed and turned to everyone else.

"We'd better get out of here in case the police heard Xander blowing up the mansion upstairs. Besides, the mall closes in twenty minutes." Seeing no reason to stay, they all began to file through the hole Buffy had made. Behind her, Xander looked down at the pistols he had tucked into his pants, then reached for two concealing holsters. He put the pistols into them then and clipped them to his belt behind his back.

"Hey guys, wait up!" He struggled getting the duffel bag on his shoulder, grabbed his rifle, and followed them. "Cordelia, would you mind helping with-"

"I don't _think_ so, Feeble Weapon!"


The front door of the mansion opened up a crack and Buffy peered out at the front lawn.

"No cops," she whispered back to her motley crew. "I think its safe." With that she opened the door and stepped out, the others following her. She stopped abrubtly at the edge of the porch. "Whoa. Something verrryy weird is going on."

"I'll say. Where is my car?!" Giles looked out in disbelief. "I parked it right outside the mansion."

Xander stumbled out onto the porch with his bag full of guns.

"What? You mean I have to walk back to town carrying this thing? I'm never gonna make it! I'll die!"

Buffy raised her hands in protest.

"Now wait a second. That's the least of our worries. Giles, about what time did we go in there?"

"Oh, I would say around nine p.m. or so."

"And how long were we in there?"

"I would guess no more than a half hour. Yes, half an hour at the most."

"And what time does it look like now?"

"Hmmm, yes. I believe I'm beginning to see your point now."

The sky above them was no longer the deep bluish black that a late night sky should have been. Instead, the eastern horizon had taken on a pink and orangish hue.

The ground beyond the house also looked different. In a perfect circle around the mansion, the grass was the vibrant green one would expect after the weeks of rain they had been receiving. But beyond the circle, all the grass and trees were dead and barren.

"What's going on?" Xander dropped his bag and walked out on to the lawn. Willow followed him with Oz in tow. Looking up she searched the sky.

"If its dawn, the moon shouldn't have set for hours yet, but its nowhere. The moon's gone."

Cordelia walked down the porch steps to Xander and held on to his arm.

"Okay, I'm getting scared now. I mean, the evil villian's dead! Time to go home and call it day! You know, cut to commercial. 'Stay tuned for next week's episode!'"

Buffy scoffed in disgust. "I only wish my life was like that."

"Maybe that Old One he was trying summon came through!" Willow fretted. "What if it already ate the town and we're the only survivors?!"

"Well, we're not going to figure anything out here," Giles tried to calm her down. "We'll just head back into town and go from there."

Cordelia began to get frantic.

"Look around at everything! How do even know there is a town left?! What if Willow's right? What if we're all that's left?!"

"It's no use becoming all distraught until we've determined just what is going on. I'll admit, it all does seem rather odd, but we need to get some facts. Very well, if you are all ready we should begin walking. Sun's just coming up. We should reach the town in under an hour or so."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Xander went and retrieved his bag with Cordelia hanging onto his arm.

"Oh, suddenly I'm not 'Feeble Weapon' anymore?" he laughingly teased her. but she was not in the mood for it.

"Just shut up and tell me its okay! This is weird, Xander. I'm scared. Not that I'm gonna die or anything. Its just, my home, my family."

"Hey," he gently reassured her. "Everything's gonna be okay. You'll see."


"Okay, we're screwed!" Xander exclaimed after they passed the third dark and deserted business. "I mean, no people, no lights, no cars, anywhere!" Suddenly he stopped and slapped himself in the forehead. "Damn! I passed up a perfectly good chance to use a double negative! I'm paying too much attention in class."

Cordelia hit his arm hard and he winced in pain.

"God! You can't even be serious at the end of the world!"

Giles looked around as they walked down the empty street. They had passed through the outskirts of town with its all-night diners and gas stations, every one just as deserted as the last. No lights were on, and no cars drove through the streets. In fact, no cars could be seen anywhere. When he pointed these things out Willow corrected him.

"We saw that old junked Chevy in Bannion's Field back there."

Oz chuckled. "That thing's been there since before I was born. No way anybody could have gotten it moving."

"But she does have a point. It is the only car we've seen so far. We certainly haven't seen _my_ car."

Buffy walked in front of them all, her limp almost completely gone. She looked over towards the easter horizon and began to slow.

"Okay, Giles. Another time question. How long have we been walking now?"

He checked his watch. "About forty minutes now."

"Very good. Now don't you think the sun should have come up by now. I mean the sky still looks the same as it did when we first came outside. That weird pre-dawn twilight kinda thing."

"Yes, you're right. Hmm... I propose that we all go directly to the library first. Obviously something is afoot here. There I can check through my books and try to find some answer to all this. I am very much convinced this has something to do with that summoning spell."

'Duh,' Buffy mouthed to herself.

Willow began to look at Oz funnily when he started to unexpectedly sniff the air around him.

"Snff, snff, snff."

"Oz, what are doing?"

"There's something following us. Snff, snff. Is that perfume you're wearing?" Willow smiled and Buffy stopped in her tracks, ear cocked. After listening for a moment she agreed.

"Oz is right. There's something behind us."

"Thank god, people! Finally." Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief but Buffy only shook her head.

"No, not people. Things. Like four legged things. They're following us. How far to the school from here, Giles? I don't know exactly where we are."

"We're about a block from the back entrance through the baseball field. A five minute brisk walk should do it."

"Then lets start getting brisk. C'mon!" Buffy led them into a fast walk down the street.

The group hurried through the dark and deserted streets towards the school. Behind them, those without super senses could begin to hear the sounds of pursuit. An odd frightening howl pierced through air and startled everyone.

"Alright! They're not just stalking us anymore! Everybody run!" Buffy let Oz and Willow lead the group as she dropped back to the rear to deal with their pursuers when the came upon the fleeing company. The moments ticked by as they ran haphazardly through the streets. Xander was keeping up despite the weighty bag he carried. It was Cordelia that was slowing them down. She had been captured in dress heels and she could not run fast in them. Eventually she abandoned them for barefeet but that was little better. Xander stayed by her side fearfully glancing over his shoulder for signs of the creatures that chased them. The wind shifted and Buffy swore.

"Dammit! They're flanking us!"

In the front of the group, a shadowy dog-like creature burst from the bushes. It's eyes glowed green and its movements were like a strange cross between an insect's percision and a cat's grace. A barbed tail swished behind it. It's hunt mate leaped out beside it. An animal growl escaped Oz's throat as he pushed Willow behind him. His robe began to tear and he started to grow in size. As the two creatures leaped, the werewolf's clawed hands reached out, swatting one of them to the ground and catching another by the neck. Then the whole group was beset by the pack of monsters.

Two more beasts leaped out behind Oz, targeting Willow and Giles. Buffy, shortsword still in hand, sprang to their defense. To the party's rear, she could hear the fast approach of a large number of the things.

'First things first,' Buffy thought to herself. She dove at the first one bringing the blade down on the creatures neck. At first she met resistance from the armored shell that seemed to cover their bodies, but her blade bit through and with a fountain of black ichor, the creature collapsed and began to spasm in it's death throes.

From Xander and Cordelia's position she could hear the muffled sound of suppressed gunfire from Xander's rifle. In front of her, Oz, in his werewolf form was battling his two monsters. From what she could make out he seemed to be more than holding his own. She heard the sickening crack as he crushed the neck of the beast he had caught in his hand. The other one was leaping towards him and he had to ward it off with the body of the dead beast.

In front of her, her second monster seemed to be eyeing her wearily now that she had killed it's partner. Suddenly it let out a peircing wail and retreated into the bushes where is had come from. Oz's remaining creature backed off from the werewolf and followed the other's lead.

"Alright Xander! I'm impressed! You're not Feeble Weapon anymore." Cordelia praised Xander as he ejected his spent clip and reached down into his bag for a new one. Buffy looked back and saw the work he had done. Four shadowy monster corpses littered the street twenty yards behind them.

Xander seemed perplexed as he reloaded the rifle.

"What?"

"All the monsters you just killed. I mean, you were almost cool!"

Xander looked back towards where Cordelia was pointing and started in shock.

"Whoa!... Huh." He looked at his rifle then looked at the creatures littering the ground. "Yeah, I guess I did."

In the meantime, Oz had collapsed again, transforming back into his human, and very naked self. Willow kneeled down next to him helping him to wake up. His eyelids fluttered open and he looked into her eyes.

"I'm naked again, aren't I?"

"Mmmm," she nodded, smiling a little.

"This is becoming a little embarrasing. Don't suppose you could hand me what's left of my robe?"

"Sure," she replied, reaching for the remnants and handing them to Oz, not making any great effort to avert her eyes from him. He blushed as he wrapped the cloth around his waist.

"*cough cough*," Giles politically cleared his throat. "I do believe we should get inside as quickly as possible. Those things might come back."

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