"...Willow, would you head to Anya's apartment and see if she will let you have the book about this Xena? Buffy, why don't you patrol in the meantime. You can work out some of the..er...grossness of this dream," Giles suggested.
"Got it. Stomp evil now, take all the showers later," Buffy said, her mouth still forming a disgusted pout just thinking back to her strange dream. She then shuddered again and made a 'bleach' noise.
"Willow, I can give you a ride to the apartment and then back to the dorms," Xander offered. He then saw Buffy, Giles and Willow all give him a look and he rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, everyone. I'll wait in the car." Willow smiled and the two of them headed for the door, but not before Xander turned and playfully added, "Oh, and Buffy, if you need any help with the second part of that fantastic plan of yours... You know what? On second thought, I'm going to stop right there because two women mad at me is all I can take right now."
"Thanks for having the self awareness for stopping," Buffy smiled.
"Our boy is growing up!" Willow chirped.
"Tell that to Anya when you see her," Xander said, "Oh wait. Don't tell Anya I even started saying that. Wow. I am becoming a real boy."
"All of you. Out. Now," Giles stated, taking time to rub his glasses with a cloth, and soon, Buffy, Willow and Xander left the Magic Box. Buffy said her goodbyes and left to slay the forces of evil, while Xander and Willow made their way to Xander's parked car.
"So, with Anya. Stick your foot in your mouth again, huh?" Willow asked Xander in her usual calm and reassuring manner.
"Willow, my oldest and best friend. Have you ever known me not to stick my foot in my mouth?" Xander asked, rhetorically. He gave her a half-smile and started up his car, "Little known fact. An ancestor of mine was literally patient-zero of foot-in-mouth disease and it's clearly been passed down from generation to generation."
Willow gave him a long look from her passenger-side seat and raised her eyebrows. Xander took a moment before he stepped on the ignition to glance over at his longtime friend and exhaled in a huff. His tone turned serious, "Anya was just talking about the future. Our future. A wedding, a litter of kids, the whole nine. It was all laid out in front of me. Then I thought back to the stellar example my parents set for the most dysfunctional marriage ever and I freaked. Said the wrong thing and she stormed out. Which is usually fine for most guys but when your girlfriend is a centuries-old former demon that happened to specialize in the misfortune of weak, commitment-phobic men, well, flowers may not be the solution for this problem. You know? Oh, and she keeps in touch with her Vengeance Demon pals. I didn't mention that."
"Xander, you and Anya will be fine," Willow said, as Xander pressed on the gas. The two were soon driving though the streets of Sunnydale on their way to Anya's apartment, "It's obvious that you both love one another. Just give Anya a night to cool off, and apologize in the morning. And trust me. You are already a better man than your father could ever dream of being."
"Thanks, Will. That means a lot," Xander said. He then smiled and his face scrunched up in mock disgust, "So back at the Magic Shop, you said you like puns. Puns? I mean..."
Xander never got to finish his sentence. From his driver side window there was a stark white and black flash that soared past the side of the car and in an instant, Xander and Willow could feel both left tires being slashed. Xander, involuntarily slammed on the breaks and turned to make sure Willow was alright. Willow, meanwhile, was already peering outside the car in all directions to see what could have damaged the car so quickly.
"Did you see that?" Xander asked, panic clear as day in his voice, "There was something on the side of the car! It moved so fast!"
"Shhhh!" Willow whispered frantically. Her big, worried eyes were darting all around. The sheer silence that had followed this sudden attack only added to the fear and anxiety both were feeling.
The silence was pierced by a high-pitched, inhuman shriek and the passenger door was ripped off its hinges as if it was nothing by a woman with chalky white skin, glittering golden eyes and swollen, crimson lips. She wore a black, revealing outfit and a cape flowed behind her. The look on her face was sinister, and she barred her dangerous, razor-sharp fangs for both to see before she slashed at Xander with her black taloned hands. Xander doubled back in pain, his cheek already barring the bloody scrapes of the creature's attack.
Willow saw what had happened to Xander, and turned to look at the pale woman who had now concentrated her mad, evil eyes on her. The woman let a low growl escape her throat before she lunged forward once again, this time making short work of the seat belt that held Willow into place with her sharp black fingernails. Willow then felt the creature's vice-like grip on her arms and she was pulled suddenly out of the car. Xander had lurched forward to try and save his friend but it was no use. The woman was far too strong.
Willow felt her body fly out of the car and into the cool Sunnydale night when she felt her will rise up and her eyes go pitch black. She uttered an incantation and suddenly, a large glowing ball of light was pushed out of her hand and into her attacker. Willow felt herself hit the pavement in a hard, merciless thud and barely saw the creature fly backwards through the blinding ball of energy. She forced herself to get up and immediately ran to the other side of the car to check on Xander. He had two nasty-looking slashes on the side on his cheek, but other than that, he was fine. Wasting no time, she helped him out of the car and the two of them started to run away from the scene of the attack.
"What was that thing?" Xander asked, looking all around him for the next attack to come. She tossed him a stake from her purse.
"I don't know," Willow called, "a vampire of some sort? It had fangs."
The two proceeded to run down the street and back toward the Magic Box. They were closer to it than they were Anya's apartment, and they knew that if nothing else there could be weapons there that could help defend them from such a creature. At least they thought there were.
++++++++++
In the meantime, Xena picked herself up from the Sunnydale front lawn she had been blasted into by the redhead's sudden burst of magic. She looked up and, with her keen Bacchae vision, saw the two fleeing away from her. A dark smile formed on her puffy lips and Xena thought back to the surge of energy that had momentarily delayed her in her mission to ensnare this Willow Rosenberg. Such raw, untamed power she possessed. Xena's eyes grew lidded and a tingle of pleasure seeped through the loyal Bacchae's pussy at how her Lord and Master could harness the fledgling witch to his own gains. Xena then thought back to Lord Bacchus' orders for her. To find Willow so she could be made into one of His children! Xena's focus shifted back to the two escaping mortal forms and she snarled before flying into the night sky.
++++++++++
For a moment, the exhilarated feeling was shared by both Xander and Willow that the redhead's burst of magical power had been enough to either defeat the horrific creature that had attacked them, or at the very least weakened it so they could escape to the sanctuary of the Magic Box. They were quickly approaching the lights of downtown Sunnydale. It wouldn't be long now until they would tell Giles what had happened and he would figure out a plan. Just as it had always been since they had met Buffy and began to fight evil.
Willow took one look over at Xander, and smiled a hopeful grin. He was still bleeding from his cheek, but they would soon take care of that. Xander smiled back. It was a warm, sincere smile of a longtime friend. It would be the last time Willow would ever see Xander as a human.
The same high-pitched shriek from before could be heard, and without warning, the creature from before soared down and grabbed Willow and pulled her back up into the sky. A black cape was wrapped around her as the pale woman spun her into the air. Fear surged through Willow and all she could hear was the frantic calls of Xander growing softer and softer below her. She tried to wrestle her arms free. To once more blast this creature with every bit of magic she had, but her hands were pinned at her sides. It had all happening too fast.
"My, my," the woman holding her high in the air spoke in a low, purring voice, "Such power you possess, young one. My Lord and Master will help that power grow and flourish once you become one of us! You shall become a powerful Bacchae witch!"
"Bacchae?" Willow asked nervously, putting the pieces together. Buffy's dream was once more a prophecy of things to come.
"A loyal follower of Lord Bacchus. His will be done," Xena murmured in a reverent tone. The one-time Warrior Princess twisted Willow in her arms, careful not to drop the mortal woman. She held Willow's body with one arm and the back of her head with her free hand, coiling her taloned hand in Willow's red hair and yanked hard. This exposed Willow's neck to the Bacchae, and with a loud snarl Xena viciously sank her fangs into the Wicca's throat.
Xena enjoyed the swift flow of hot blood gush its way into her mouth. Willow felt the unbearable pain of having the life source draining out of her and she cried out helplessly. Soon, however, a strange tingling sensation began to spread throughout Willow's twitching and convulsing body. The redhead tried so hard to keep the names and faces of Xander, Buffy, Giles, Dawn, and above all else, the love of her life, Tara, in her thoughts but in her mind they started to drift away. Thoughts of friendship and love were soon replaced by an unending sense of loyalty for Bacchus and a maddening thirst for rich, pulsating blood, and Willow couldn't help herself as she moaned in utter rapture at what was happening to her. All the while, deathly pale skin spread across Willow's body and her incisors slowly lengthened as her lips grew more and more crimson and swollen.
She was becoming a Bacchae.