Well Kittens here it is. Part 26 - otherwise known as the bit that should be on the end of Part 25...
I hope it lives up to the promise of the first half. A note... I have previously kept PoV's apart. Not this time.
And thanks Drakkenfyre... Wow changed AV for this little old fic*S*
Katharyn
------------------
Title:
The Sidestep Chronicle – Reasoning (Part 26)
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome.
katharynrosser@hotmail.comSpoiler Warning: Pretty limited. The story occurs in an alternate universe though reference is made to events that occur in both realities.
Summary: This is it… for Vampire Willow and Tara this is the moment.
Disclaimer: I still don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc, etc. I am making zilch from this series of stories.
Rating: 15
Couples: W/T as much as is possible right now.
Notes: Continued directly from Part 25 read it in that context. Please note the confusion between ‘it’, ‘she,’ etc is supposed to reflect the thought processes here. They are not mistakes – though they might be as clear as they might be.
Also let’s just bear in mind that the journey that we are on is one to W/T happiness and we are not even half way through this story yet… Make of that what you will… but I will spell it out if I have to or if people start jumping to the wrong conclusions. If you have persisted this long with the fic though then I doubt that you will. Lets just say that I do not see this as anything approaching the happiness I have promised.
Thanks To: Sass, who by the time that she reads this will have forgotten what she said (I redrafted this that day) but gave me something to think about. Needless to say that the other possibility you mentioned will not come to pass… what was that song from the Muppet Album? Chip Willow, Chip Willow, Chip Willow? Nah… never happen. Who’d believe in a chipped vampire? But hey, this time Sass gets the nod – even if it is a little forced. Jo, Kerry, Louise.
The Sidestep Chronicle
Reasoning
By
Katharyn Rosser
Tara opened the door; the pendant burning her throat, so close was the undead thing to her now. She stood there, looked at it – her – the vampire – Willow. Waiting for the visitor to speak – as much because she had no idea what to say as that she didn’t trust her voice to actually get it out right anyway.
“You killed Rodney?” Willow asked, looking at her. The vampire seemed sure of the answer already. Confident that there was no real need to ask.
Tara chose not to answer that. She guessed that Rodney must have been the vampire that had been following Willow. It wasn't the time… and she knew from the tone that Willow really didn’t care about her pursuer at all. Did she care about anything? Could she? Was a vampire capable of thinking about anything other than its stomach and causing pain? She had never met, or killed, one that had persuaded her the answer could be ‘yes.’ Instead she told Willow the one thing that she had never admitted to anyone - but had always been true nonetheless.
“I’m all alone,” Tara said quietly.
Willow heard her of course, the barrier that was between them - formed by her lack of an invitation to Tara’s home – allowed them to see and hear each other. And just the sight of the Kitten affected her almost as much as the sound of that voice. Stupid superstitions though that kept her out of the apartment… What sort of rule was that? That you had to be invited in…
But what, Willow wondered, would such an invitation mean here? At this moment and in this place? It would mean… acceptance. It had been a long time since Willow had been accepted…
“So am I,” Willow replied.
Tara looked at Willow, sizing up the vampire and trying to reconcile what the words might mean with the tone and the expression that accompanied them. The words… oh the words might mean so much. Kinship, of a sort. What was it they called that? Kindred spirits – alone in the dark, nightmare world that they had inhabited separately?
What would be her method of answering darkness?
The words though, ‘So am I,’ might also have meant that Willow wanted to end that state as much as she did. That she felt the loneliness… that the vampire, like Tara herself, didn’t want to be lonely anymore. Maybe it was an offer.
Maybe Willow was just hungry.
When Willow had responded to the words of the Kitten she had thought it was a good ploy. One that would get her through this inconvenient gateway and across Tara’s threshold. But that didn’t mean that her words weren’t true… and she hated having admitted it – even if it was for the worst of reasons that she had said it. Maybe not quite the worst – just her own.
Not that she was lonely though. She was alone… but never lonely. Willow didn’t much care for company anyway… except on her own terms. Her kind, her species, were predators… and predators that had no need to breed in order to recreate themselves… to increase their numbers. That meant that they
could lead a solitary lifestyle – even when if they clustered in groups they did it just to exert power.
Not to care for young or to find a
mate. Just for the power and for the hunt.
I am alone Willow admitted to herself.
Just as she had confessed it to the Kitten. Right up until that moment it hadn’t bothered her in the slightest. It wasn't like she’d ever had many people in what had passed for her life as a human. She remembered that very, very clearly. There had been Jesse, now long dead, and Xander who had followed her into this… much, much more fun-filled existence.
And even he was gone.
The only constant in her life the last few years had been that there wasn’t one. Not Xander, not the Master. After all she had been
gone, somewhere else. Some terribly boring semi-existence that she remembered – but only just. It had been nothingness; a place where the only reality was what you had brought with you. And all she had brought to it were the dreams that had plagued her.
And the dreams were of the Kitten. They always had been.
There was something here that had been a constant. Willow was finding all sorts of things out about herself.
“Let me in,” Willow said. Not asking. It was a command for both of them. ‘Let me in,’ she meant, ‘and I will take you places Kitten. I will take
us places. Delicious places where the only time is playtime. Where the only reality is what we make it… and what I make of you.’ That was what she hadn’t said. She wondered if the Kitten had got all that.
“No,” Tara replied. Still feeling the burning pendant – even though it was the last thing in her mind. She was not yet prepared to open to this vampire. Not without knowing what it-she wanted.
“Let me in,” Willow repeated insistently. “Let me in.” She was scratching at the invisible barrier to her entry. Not believing that the gesture would affect it at all, but just wanting to show the Kitten she wanted in… she wanted in and there was no way that Tara could refuse her. She couldn’t refuse. Not for long. The Kitten wanted her in as much as she wanted her to be there. Willow knew that. It was what they had been building to all this time.
“W-Will you tell me what you w-want?” Tara asked.
Willow just smiled, testing the barrier some more.
“T-tell me,” Tara repeated as she watched the vampire.
“Let me in first.” Willow looked at the Kitten. She could smell the fear, she could see it. She could, Willow knew, if she licked that pale flesh, taste it. She knew all of that. She had already indulged herself in those sensations with the Kitten when they had threatened each other with death… there had been no fear there though. “You’re all afraid,” Willow said. “Why are you afraid?”
Afraid? Tara asked herself, of a vampire at her door? One that couldn’t get in without more than a specific invitation. She couldn’t even be tricked into an invitation. That wouldn’t help the vampire get in.
She can’t touch me… Tara told herself.
Oh… but I want her to.And that was what she was afraid of… not just letting Willow into this apartment but letting her into Tara Maclay. Into herself. That was the simple truth of Tara’s fears. She knew it and she guessed the vampire outside might know it too. The dreams, the false reality she had taken comfort in, had primed her too well. She wanted what she should never have… so badly.
“Tell Willow…” the vampire continued to taunt Tara with her presence and her words.
Willow must know why, Tara thought. But she stands there, her hair shimmering… her face so angelic and pure – a brutal lie. Her skin pale as dead, vampire, flesh was. It would be cool to the touch. Cold even. A desire almost overwhelmed her, to find out… what the skin felt like. To try and warm it with her own touch…
Tara closed her eyes. “I-I’m afraid to let you into… me.”
Truth. Willow knew it immediately. She even passed up the chance to taunt the Kitten with the innuendo inherent in what she had said. She just listened as the Kitten continued.
“Y-you’re everything I hate,” Tara went on. “Everything I w-want to destroy in this world.”
“Oh no Kitten, I’m much more than that. Let me in,” and Willow thought for a moment that she was going to, but instead Tara backed away from the door – leaving it open though. Nothing said that the Kitten was going to leave her there forever… but she couldn’t just go! Willow slammed herself into the barrier in frustration, bouncing backwards. “Let me in!” she screamed not willing to accept the distance that was growing between them. Not when she had been so close to playing with the Kitten.
Tara jumped as the vampire revealed its impatience to be inside her… home. The violence, the expression on its human face was as nasty and as evil as any demonic version of it could have been. But it was honest. This vampire wasn't about to lie to her… she could sense that. Its aura was streaked with the evil it had wrought in its existence. But amidst that there was a desire… not to kill her, but to be with her. Tara hoped that she was reading that right. There was… even a hint of… no it couldn’t be that. She had to be mistaken about that – it was far too early for that. Impossible anyway. They couldn’t… vampires. Could they? But if Willow thought that she could… then that might be enough to reveal itself in the energy.
“I will,” Tara promised her, still moving away.
“I can’t come in until you invite me,” Willow told her. But the Kitten knew that. That was rule number one. A doorway across the hall opened and someone peeked out. Willow spun her head, snarled and the door was slammed shut. She looked back to Tara.
“You can’t come in,” Tara said as she walked away from the door, keeping so Willow could see her, “even if I invite you – which I do.”
Not paying attention to the words beyond the invitation she had so wanted, Willow stepped forward but found her path was still blocked, just as the Kitten had told her it would be. She should have been able to enter… any time that she wanted to now. But there was still something there. Something stopping her - which shouldn’t have been. Willow experimented, pushing her hand against an invisible barrier unlike that which barred her entrance to so many other places. Other homes.
This one wasn't like a wall… it shimmered when she touched it. It gave… the more she pushed the harder it became to move her hand any further, until finally it would give no more. The Kitten had some sort of spell in place here. That must be it, she was a witch and this was a spell intended to keep out… vampires. Fascinating in its own way but… frustrated now.
Willow was unable to do anything else now – other than wait for whatever the Kitten was doing in there. She also knew that her frustration had, maybe just momentarily, scared the witch, so she just stood there, very still, watching the patterns her fingers made against the barrier radiate outwards. Like pebbles dropped in a pond, but in bright flaring colours. It reacted to her presence and her touch… for a moment she lost herself in those colours.
But she was also watching Tara, no longer backing off slowly, as the witch had turned away from her and kept going into the apartment. Nice butt… Willow was going to enjoy exploring that up close. If not now… then soon. Very, very soon.
She was going to keep applying the pressure to this witch until she got her way. And her way was going to mean playtime for both of them. It was the only way to fly.
Tara opened the unit drawer, picked out something that she had made only a few days ago and stood thinking for a moment about what she was doing. The very fact that she had put the charm together was revealing to her. She hadn’t really considered the significance at the time. It had been pretty much a whim but somehow she had known that would be a time when she would want to allow
something like Willow in through the protection spells.
No. Not
something like Willow.
Just Willow.
So she had made the charm. It wasn’t an exact replica of the one that she wore around her own neck. This had been made solely for the purpose. And in a wrist band. It was prettier too – though why she had ever made it pretty… She held it on the flat of her palm and looked at it. No, it didn’t have to be half as pretty as it was.
Simple is best Tara. Yes sir, it is.
But I wanted this to look nice too. For her. She had always been making it for Willow. The green stone at its center… she had spent most of the day on the beach looking for one just the right shade, when a chipping from a construction site would have done just as well.
Tara had done a lot of thinking that day. About those stolen kisses. And the ones she had freely given. About her feelings every time she ran into this vampire and about all the time that she spent wondering about just what was going in her in her brain. And in her heart.
In her stomach too… something was flittering around in there. Bats maybe.
She looked back over her shoulder at Willow. The vampire was still touching her spell barrier, the colours playing over the edges of the entire apartment. Stronger where the touch came… but radiating out across all the walls and the windows.
But Willow was looking…
She’s looking at my ass, Tara realised.
And it didn’t seem so bad, even when Willow looked up from there and knowingly gave her such a filthy look. It really wasn't so bad to be viewed like that. She wanted to see something else in those eyes than lust, than cruelty or hunger. But right now… lust would do. It was a start.
Tara knew that she was about to let her enemy into her apartment… and into much more than just that perhaps. But there would have to be rules. There would have to be conditions… the vampire – Willow - would just have to understand that. There were things that should not be, would not be. And there were things that could… That she wanted…
She couldn’t be sure exactly what it was that Willow was seeking. Was it really the same thing that she was? That look, filled with lust and desire, denied it. But the streaks within the vampire’s aura. She knew what they meant. They were faint but they
were there. Willow might not even know that they existed within herself… but Tara knew that there was something there. At least the vampire thought that
it was capable of something more than just living out its desires. Even if it didn’t say it wanted to.
If she couldn’t say she wanted to…
And Tara knew that at some level one part of what she desired definitely interested Willow. Actually it was probably a pretty high level… not buried very deeply at all.
As for the rest? The important stuff…
It would take time to know. If she gave that to Willow - and Willow gave it back to her. Time… the vampire had unlimited amounts, while she had a very definite deadline, to achieve what she must. Everything that her life was for. And there – those factors were two more problems. The immortal nature of the vampire and her own heritage. What she would become in a few short months.
Not much time for a life, Tara mused, still weighing the charm.
By then she would have to be finished. Justice must have been done by that point. The Master must have been destroyed. Sunnydale must be freed. Not so long was it – a few short months – to finish up a lifetimes work. And was this really the time to risk of starting a new phase in that life…? It would be a distraction wouldn’t it? This thing that she was contemplating. By handing over the charm she would risk everything. Or perhaps not? Maybe Willow could help her…
If I ever dared to ask her to.And would she ever dare tell Willow what she was to become? Some sort of demon… Just like Willow.
Tara looked back at the charm and all that the bracelet, with its tiny green stone, symbolised. Then she forced herself to stop thinking about
that part of her future and how that might affect
this part. She had made the choice the day she had enchanted this charm. Now… this was all just looking for reasons to avoid it. She looked at Willow once more. “Let me in,” mouthed the vampire in silent contrast to her earlier scream.
Willow smiled as Tara turned around and came back towards the door. The Kitten stepped through it and in doing so forced Willow to take a step back herself. Mmmmn, the vampire mused, no ‘please.’ No ‘excuse me.’ Just pure assertiveness. Willow guessed that the Kitten was about to give her whatever it was she clasped so tightly in her hand and that it would allow her into the apartment. But first… there was resolve on Tara’s face. Willow remembered that she had once had a ‘resolve face’ of her own. Xander had learnt to fear it and her tough talking. She guessed that it might have been a similar expression to the Kitten’s now. Of course Willow would agree to
everything now… Let the Kitten have her moment. Let her lay down her terms. Let her do whatever she felt was necessary to protect herself. Tara would learn who was
assertive very soon. And learn to exist with that and what it meant for her.
Maybe the Kitten would even enjoy it. Though right now that was not essential to Willow. She wanted the Kitten to enjoy it… and that disturbed her. But she knew that her own fun was paramount. Wanting Tara to enjoy what was to come was something new for her. She still couldn’t absolutely care if this little Kitten didn’t though. She wondered, idly, as Tara prepared to speak, whether Tara was a fluffy little Kitten.
It would be fun finding out, Willow knew that for a fact. Even if it took longer than she usually liked to take.
Tara drew in her breath, preparing for destiny to rush up and claim her. Or the ground to open up and swallow her. Mrs Dubchek downstairs would certainly be surprised if it did. “Y-you need this to get inside.” Tara held up the charm and watched Willow focus briefly on the bracelet for a moment, before hers eyes came back to meet Tara’s. “You always will,” she continued. Then stressed it again. “Always.”
“Pretty,” Willow breathed, and without looking at it again her hand flashed up. Before Tara could move had hold of her wrist.
Was Willow talking about the bracelet or her?
So fast, Tara wondered at the speed but only after Willow’s touch had made her suck in her breath. How she could exist in a world that moved at that speed? She hadn’t seen the hand, just felt the fingers close around her wrist. This was a lethal creature she was facing… and welcoming. She didn’t let go of the charm though and Willow didn’t try to force her – the vampire just pulled her hand downwards. Held out her other wrist…
“Put it on me,” Willow said, wanting not to force the Kitten but just to have her acquiesce to the inevitable as soon as possible. She was getting impatient for whatever was next. She wanted what was coming. Now.
“In a minute,” Tara said and shook off the restraining hand, not deluding herself that if Willow had wanted to keep hold, or wanted to crush her wrist to pulp, she could easily have done so. “F-first…”
Willow was sort of impressed. The Kitten was obviously not easily scared – not doing what she did. Hunting vampires… but she was overcoming the fear inside her to try and delay Willow’s inevitable possession of her… body and soul… that took courage.
Soul…? She was interested in the Kitten’s soul?
Willow dismissed the thought, focused on the treats of Tara’s body and got back to it. Courage… the Kitten had courage. Especially here, outside of the protection of her apartment and without the benefit of anything that could kill a vampire. Willow smiled and cocked her head, listening graciously whilst she undressed the Kitten mentally… looking forward to when that pleasure would be a real one. Mmmmn the old Willow couldn’t have found anything like the Kitten on the Discovery Channel.
“F-first… you can’t…” Tara faded out as Willow looked her over, the cool hand with the deadly talons was again on her wrist but this time stroking the soft hairs there.
“Can’t what?” Willow asked her, moving her fingers up along Tara’s bare arm in a deliberately obvious gesture of seduction. At least Willow thought that it was seductive… she’d never had to try before.
Tara swallowed; she had to get this out. Not that she had planned it, she didn’t even know everything that she was going to say – it was just that there was something – there were things that needed to be said. Before… the inevitable. She knew that she was already lost.
“I-I’m not,” Tara started, “going to let you drink from me.” She rushed out the last part. It wasn't the most important thing… but it was first in her head.
“Then I won’t try… until you let me. And one day you will,” Willow replied. She would say anything; promise anything… just to be let in. She could kill Tara now if she wanted to… but she wanted to play. She wanted to be let in. Her hand wandered to the Kitten’s shoulder, circling the vulnerable and so easily snapped collarbone. They always went with a ‘snick.’ Then she moved those fingers along the Kitten’s neck to the pendant that hung there… she lifted it from the witches skin and Tara let out a sigh of almost relief. Willow reached around the Kitten’s neck, not knowing why she was doing it but having the strangest feeling of relieving suffering, and lifted the cord over the witches head. Putting it in Tara’s empty hand. Then her hand went back to the Kitten’s neck. Stroking.
In spite of trying to stay in control, with Willow relieving the pain of the burning pendant, the reminder of what the vampire was… it was gone. She just knew the truth now, she didn’t have to feel it. Tara rubbed her cheek against that hands as it rose, unable to resist it, and not liking herself very much as she succumbed to Willow’s cool touch. “N-no,” Tara told her. The firm tone was betrayed by her gesture against that hand but she meant it all the same. “I won’t. T-try it and I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Willow asked, starting to stroke Tara’s earlobe.
“I’ll stake you.” Even though the promise was whispered there was no hesitation in her voice, which pleased Tara, and the tone caused Willow to meet her eyes once more. Reading her just as Tara read her in return. She knew that the vampire got it. Understood. She knew that Willow realised that if she did try and feed then it would mean death – for one of them.
If Willow didn’t kill her now… or as soon as she was let in…
The feeding. That was one thing… maybe the only thing as far as being with Willow was concerned… that Tara could never, ever, submit to. That and what might follow being drained.
Willow didn’t say ‘yes.’ She didn’t nod. But she accepted that condition. Right now she would accept anything. When the day came… either the Kitten would reverse that or they would have a reckoning. It seemed inevitable given what they both were… but the only thing that was really inevitable at this moment was that the Kitten was going to let her in – and that enabled her to keep from getting too cranky at all the delays.
Anticipation was a wonderful thing… Willow had almost forgotten about it. She had been pretty much ‘want, take, have’ for so long that it was only the Kitten that had shown her what it was to look forward to something. Without even trying to.
“Give that to me. Let me in.” Willow said again, referring to the bracelet. But she still didn’t reach for the charm, instead her hand fell from Tara’s ear to the witch’s chest, resting over her heart which sensitive fingers found to be pounding as if the Kitten had run a race. “Fast,” Willow said. And it was… she knew all about the effects of terror on humans. Their hearts were always beating fast… until they stopped. This wasn’t terror though. Not in the Kitten.
Too fast, thought Tara, as Willow shifted her hand to one side. Too fast… too… much. But somehow not enough either.
She finally took Willow’s other hand, lifted it and wrapped the charm around it, moving the stone around until it was atop the wrist. It was a sign of acceptance. “T-Tell me what you want… W-Willow.”
With the charm finally around her wrist Willow pushed Tara back against the wall, hand still on the woman’s chest, but hardly resting there – more like working. No, not even working… caressing, squeezing, touching and… ohhh. The power of their connection was still as great as it had been when she had first taken the Kitten’s wrist. Or when they had first kissed. That meant that it was still so powerful that it would have taken her breath away. If she’d had any. An almost magical tingle was going through every part of her. Especially some places… She could see that the Kitten felt the same as her breathing was ragged and her chest heaved beneath Willow’s hand. More pointed reactions also coming to light. Those would be fun too… playing with those… reactions.
“Tell me what you want,” Tara said again, surer this time in her speech but even more uncertain in tone.
Willow held the Kitten against the wall and lowered her head to Tara’s neck, feeling the witch stiffen in fear of her recently stated commandment being broken… but Willow just kissed it and felt that stiffness melt away after a few long seconds. If she was going to bite though, Willow wouldn’t have done it yet… The Kitten would have relaxed too soon, but Willow had no intention of biting. This time. The vampire thrust her newly charmed hand through the open doorway and the barrier was no longer there. She changed the long kiss to a lick and was delighted when Tara sank a little, her knees must have weakened and she made a noise not unlike a purr. Willow brought her hand back and placed it under the Kitten’s arm… supporting her and wondering why she was bothering. She would have picked the Kitten up if she had to…
Truly a Kitten, Willow thought. That purr confirmed it. With the human steadier Willow let her hand fall from under the arm to place it on the Kitten’s hip. Tara had seen her dig a well of blood into that young woman in the alley. A woman about her age the first time that they had met. Just… there – where it was now. But the witch, her Kitten, didn’t seem to remember that – or care about it now. Willow dropped her hand from Tara’s heaving breast and took her hand instead, pulling her.
“Tell me what you want,” Tara said… for the last time. She didn’t need an answer as Willow pulled at her hip and her hand, turning them both around and backing them into the apartment. Tara just had time to snag the door, pushing it shut as Willow took her inside, briefly looking around to get her bearings and finding the couch.
“You, Kitten. Just you.”
------------------
Much later Willow stood in the doorway of the bedroom, looking at the sleeping Kitten. She hadn’t thought that her witch, and whether Tara admitted it or not the witch was hers now, would allow herself to sleep in the presence of a vampire. Not so soon.
But Tara eventually had and that acceptance almost, for some strange reason that Willow was not really happy with, made her feel more in control of the Kitten than the handing over of the charm. Both of them were a free pass into this place whenever she wanted it.
Play had not really commenced during the few last hours together, and even when something had looked like it might start it was not all that Willow had wanted. But it was… strangely satisfying – the lack of something satisfied her. The Kitten, seeming nervous – which Willow liked a lot – had started to
talk to her. She liked the Kitten afraid. Just a little. Not crippled by fear… but nervous was good.
No one talked to her. Conversation wasn’t her thing at all. That was not what happened usually. They should have been playing. That was what was supposed to happen.
There was supposed to be playtime which ended with a meal and a death. Instead, now, her stomach
was all growly – and she had to go eat before the sun came up. So she was leaving now. It would have been so simple to get a snack right here. Willow walked over to the bed, looking down at the Kitten in her ridiculous and modest, which she guessed was sort of the point, pyjamas. She could hear the blood pouring through that exposed neck. So close to the surface. She could see the blood vessel throb. She could smell the Kitten’s elixir.
And I don’t even want it. Not to soothe my hunger anyway.Even though she was sooo hungry… She didn’t want it.
They had talked about neutral things at first. Travels, where had they been. The Kitten, it seemed, had been all over the country killing Willow’s kind. Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York. Other places too. Willow had perked up at the mention of New York… it had always struck her as exciting. Being dead didn’t change that opinion – so many opportunities to play in so many interesting places.
But the conversation had shifted… to what they remembered of their dreams. About each other. Dreams that were sometimes alike… and sometimes so different. Different parts in the same play though. Like memories, but things that had never happened. Willow knew that she had shocked the Kitten with the things she had said at first, but she had also seen from the Kitten’s lovely face that those same thoughts had been coming to her in her sleep as well.
Five or more hours had passed like that. The Kitten had forgotten to go out and hunt… to do her brand of good and to protect the world from Willow and her kind – whilst Willow, she had forgotten her hunger. For food, or for other things… but only for a little while, only whilst she had been sucked up into the telling of tales. She had shaken her head more than once, trying to clear it, but it hadn’t worked – somehow she was just willing to sit there beside the Kitten, listening and talking.
And then had come kissage. Not licking. Not groping. Not anything much more… just kisses. When had she, ever, ever, been satisfied with so little? And she was, right now, satisfied. For now. This wasn't enough for her… and she knew it very well. But she also knew that Tara was not a kill and that meant that she had to act a little differently. She had to take care not to scare the Kitten off… it was just like stalking a wary target. Willow knew that she was going to capture her prey – it was just that she had to be careful how she went about doing it.
Besides it was a change of pace, a different kind of play. But she would get back to tradition soon enough. The Master had taught her that tradition was very important.
She looked at Tara, breathing softly in her bed where she had gone leaving a disbelieving Willow on the couch, and she knew that playtime would get back to normal… real soon. Maybe right here in this room… but there wouldn’t be any pyjama’s. She promised herself that.
Right now though… it was time for dinner.
She checked she had the charm still round her wrist and headed out into the world to hunt.
Willow, with her back to Tara as she walked out, didn’t notice as Tara opened one wary eye to see her go.
The door closed, Tara moved the stake from under her pillow and gave way to real sleep, turning over, praying that no one had died this night while she had dallied with a vampire – but at the same time knowing exactly where Willow was going. And what she was going to do.
She just couldn’t do anything about it…
Nothing she was willing to do anyway.
**********
You hear that baby? I am going nowhere.
[/i]
by mollyig » Fri Apr 26, 2002 4:57 am 
at: 4/27/02 1:48:01 am