Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me but to their respective
creators and producers. 
Takes place in Buffy time-line just before "Becoming" 1 & 2. Due South
time could be any time between "Burning Down The House" and "Call of the
Wild."

A Nice Night For a Slaying


Chicago

Willow Rosenberg shivered. She definitely wasn't in California anymore.
She was in Chicago, the Windy City. Make that the Windy, COLD city.
Visiting relatives with her mother. Boring relatives. She had slipped out
of the house when no one was looking.  Unfortunately, she was now lost,
and it was getting dark. *At least with this not being Sunnydale, I'm
unlikely to run into any evil undead creatures.* Unfortunately, she still
had to worry about evil ALIVE creatures.

A large red and white flag caught her eye. Must be the Canadian Consulate.
There was a man standing outside, dressed in red. She approached him,
seeing that the name tag on his lapel said "Constable Turnbull." "Can you
help me?" she asked him. "I'm lost." The constable didn't say anything.
"Excuse me? HELLO?" Still nothing. 

"Don't try talkin' to Turnbull, there. He's playin' at being a statue,"
said a voice from behind her. A blonde man approached her, a white
wolf-dog at his side. Willow stepped back a little.  "Hey, it's okay, I
don't bite," said the blonde man. "And neither does he." He showed her a
badge. "Vecchio, Chicago PD." Vecchio?  He didn't look Italian. He was
much too blonde and fair-skinned. *Maybe he's adopted* Willow thought.
Actually, he was kind of cute. Reminded her of Oz, in a way, especially
the hair. The wolf whined a little and wagged its tail. "Oh, and this is
Diefenbaker. He belongs to my partner, I was just takin' him for a walk
while Fraser works late. Anyway, you said you were lost?" 

Ray Kowalski, currently undercover as Ray Vecchio, had stopped to pick up
his unoffical partner, Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP. He discovered a
lost-looking young woman attempting to talk to Turnbull, which was
obviously not productive. Maybe it was Fraser's influence, but he had to
help. 

"Yes. I'm not from around here. That's probably pretty obvious," Willow
sighed. "I just wanted to do a little sightseeing and I guess I took a
wrong turn or something." Luckily she had her relatives' address written
down. She showed the paper to Ray. "Do you have any idea where this is?"
she asked.

"Yeah, that's not too far from here. A few blocks. D'you want me and Dief
to walk with ya? It's startin' to get dark."

"Oh, would you? I would really, really appreciate it," answered Willow.
*Stop it, Rosenberg, you're gushing* she added to herself. 

Ray smiled. "Well, let's go see if Fraser is finished with the paperwork
the Ice Queen gave him. Maybe he'll want to come, too." 

"Ice Queen?" asked Willow.

"Fraser's boss. Also known as the Dragon Lady. Has no obvious emotions,
unless you count being perpetually pissed off at Fraser. Hence the
nicknames." 

Willow giggled. She liked Detective Vecchio, and was looking forward to
meeting his partner. 

They climbed the steps to the Consulate, ignoring Turnbull, who took no
notice of them.  Willow looked around the opulent interior, obviously some
sort of converted mansion.  *Looks like the perfect place for vamps to
hang out* she found herself thinking. 

Ray led Willow down a twisting hallway to an office. "Yo, Fraser, you done
yet? Time to play Good Samaritan." They stepped inside where Willow came
face to face with the most gorgeous man she had ever seen, *Oh my goddess,
do they make all of them like that in Canada?* she asked herself.
Constable Fraser was the epitome of 'tall, dark and handsome.' He wasn't
dressed in red the way Turnbull was, but wore a brown uniform. Tall,
well-built, wavy dark hair and blue eyes a girl could lose herself in. It
was true that Buffy's ex-boyfriend, Angel, was also very handsome, in a
dark, brooding sort of way. However, Constable Fraser was not, as far as
Willow could tell, an undead blood-sucking creature of the night vampire
like Angel was. Angel who had tried to kill her, Buffy and all of their
friends. She realized Detective Vecchio was speaking and shook herself.
"Constable Ben Fraser, this is - sorry, I didn't get yer name." 

"Willow Rosenberg, from Sunnydale, California," Willow responded.*Also
known as the Hellmouth* she added mentally. The Mountie stood up and
offered his hand, "Pleased to meet you," he said, then turned to his
partner.  "Yes, Ray, I am finished here. What kind of assistance does the
young lady require?" 

"I'm lost," said Willow, her voice squeaking slightly. She cleared her
throat. "Detective Vecchio was going to walk me back to the house where
I'm staying. Protect me from scary people and ... things." 

"Any particular scary things?" asked the Constable, his blue eyes showing
concern. 

"Oh, no..just...things. Night things. Things that come out at night." *I'm
babbling* thought Willow. 

"Such as vampires?" asked Fraser. Willow almost choked. "Maybe," she said
noncomittally. 

"Oh come on, Fraser, ya don't mean to tell me ya believe in /vampires/, do
ya? They're fairy tales, scary stories someone made up to frighten the
peasants in ancient Europe." 

"Actually, Ray, almost all cultures of the world have vampire legends.
Even the Inuit," said Fraser. 

"Yeah, Fraser, well according to you there's an Inuit story for every
occasion," Ray replied. 

"There is," was the Mountie's reply.

"Even vampires?" asked the detective skeptically.

"Actually, there /are/ Inuit vampire legends," Willow spoke up, then
blushed. "I've read them.  Researching vampire legends is, um, a hobby." 

Ray gave her a look that said *You have some strange hobbies* but he
didn't say anything.  After all, he was friends with Benton Fraser, who
had his own strange hobbies, such as bobbing for trout. "Well, let's get
going, then, and hope no vampires attack Turnbull while we're gone." 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in
your philosophy,"  Fraser quoted. 

"Did you just call me Horatio?" asked Ray.

"He's quoting Shakespeare," Willow put in. "Hamlet. Horatio and Hamlet are
talking about seeing Hamlet's father's ghost." 

Ray shook his head. "First vampires, now ghosts. You'd think it was
Halloween or something.  Fraser, if you see any ghosts, I do /not/ want to
know about it, okay?" 

Fraser saw his father's ghost quite often, but had no intention of
mentioning that to his partner.  "Understood, Ray," he said. He put his
hat on. "Let's take Miss Rosenberg to her destination." 

Willow followed the two men from the Consulate. She could hardly believe
the way things had turned out. She arrived in Chicago, bored out of her
mind, without even her laptop to amuse herself. She was forced to visit
some of her mother's most boring cousins. She went for a walk, got lost -
and met up with two fascinating and attractive men.  The only thing that
could possibly spoil it would be - she felt the skin prickle on the back
of her neck. Uh-oh.  *Vampires.* She glanced nervously around her. *This
is not Sunnydale. There are no vampires here.*

Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. A trio of vampires
suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, blocking the sidewalk. One of them
sneered at Willow. "Well, well, Miss Willow Rosenberg. Thought you could
escape the Hellmouth, did you? Well, Angelus misses you. He wanted us to
bring you his greetings." 

"You know these people?" asked Ray.

"They're vampires," said Willow. "There are a lot of them where I come
from. I had no idea they would come after me here. Their leader is a -
former friend of mine." 

"And I thought I had strange friends," said Kowalski, drawing his gun.
Fraser glanced at him.  "Surely, Ray, there is no need for violence.
Perhaps if we find out what this 'Angelus' person wants, these ...people
will leave quietly." 

"Constable Fraser," said Willow, her voice betraying only a slight tremor,
"they're vampires.  The only thing they do quietly is kill people. And
guns don't have any effect on them." 

"We'll see about that," said Kowalski. The vamps approached menacingly.
Fraser spoke. "As you can see, the young lady is with us. We are police
officers and we are duty-bound to protect her. Now, if you will tell us
what business you have with Miss Rosenberg, then we can make a decision
about how to proceed." 

Another of the vamps spoke this time. "Our /business/ is to kill her," it
said. "And if you two goodie-goodie cops get in the way, Angelus won't
mind if we kill you, too." 

"In fact, it would be our pleasure," said the third vampire.

"Oh dear," said Fraser.

Vampire #1 lunged forward, followed closely by the other two. Ray fired,
but the bullets thudded harmlessly into undead flesh. He slugged the
vampire and momentarily stunned it.  "Fraser!" shouted Ray. "Take her and
run! I'll hold these guys off until you're safe." 

"I can't leave you, Ray!" replied Fraser.

"You have to!"

"I can take care of myself!" responded Willow.  While Ray and Benton tried
to fight the vamps hand-to-hand, Willow spied a construction site full of
scattered bricks and boards. Hoping the two men could keep the vampires
occupied without becoming meals themselves, she ran to search for
appropriate stake material. She grabbed a couple of two-by-fours, then
wedged them under some bricks in order to break the ends off and hopefully
form a pointy edge. Then she spied some construction stakes. "YES!" she
shouted, and grabbed them up. She ran to where Fraser and Kowalski were
still wrestling the vamps. "Constable Fraser! Detective Vecchio!"  she
called to them. 

"Miss Rosenberg, get out of here while you are still able!" said Fraser. 

"Nuh-uh, I have experience with these bloodsuckers, you don't," she said.
She tossed the stakes to him. "Take one of these and stab him straight
through the heart. You too, detective." She kept one for herself and
approached the third vamp, who seemed to be hanging back, amused by his
partners' battle with the Mountie and the detective. Willow got the
impression that he wasn't terribly bright, even for a vampire. He smiled
toothily at her. "Decided to submit quietly, little Willow?" Willow smiled
sweetly back at him and approached slowly, concealing the stake under her
heavy winter coat. "Maybe," she said. "I've always wondered what it would
be like to become one of the undead." As the vamp was about to sink his
teeth in to her neck, she whipped around, grabbed the stake and dusted the
vampire in one quick motion. 

Fraser and Kowalski stared open-mouthed at the small heap of dust that
used to be a vampire, then realized they still had two monsters left to
deal with. Following Willow's example, they quickly staked the two vamps,
leaving only two little piles of grey dust. 

*Now I guess I have some explaining to do* sighed Willow to herself. 

Ray Kowalski shook himself both mentally and physically. "What just
happened here?" he asked. 

"It appears we were attacked by vampires, Ray," replied the ever-sensible
Mountie. 

"I know that's how it /appears/, Fraser, but that's impossible. There's no
such thing as vampires," replied his partner. 

"Yes, there is such a thing as vampires," Willow announced. The two men
stared at her. She looked at her watch. "Look, can we go somewhere and
talk about this - indoors? I'm freezing." 

Fraser looked at his partner, then back at Willow. "Back to the
consulate?" he suggested. Ray shrugged and Willow said, "Okay, as long as
it's warm." 

Once they were back in Fraser's office, where the Mountie had provided
some hot mugs of tea, Kowalski turned to Willow and said, "Well?" 

Willow swallowed and took a deep breath. "Okay, I realize this is going to
be hard to believe.  But you did see them. The vampires. And there are a
lot more of them, but not here, at least I hope not. But in Sunnydale,
where I'm from - they're everywhere. Sunnydale was built on something
called the Hellmouth, some sort of portal to what Christians would call
Hell.  Vampires, demons, monsters - they're attracted to the place. They
congregate there. And the thing is, in Sunnydale, no one notices." 

"Wait a minute," interrupted Ray. "You mean nobody *notices* that there
are vampires and whatever all over the place?" 

"It's true," said Willow. "My friends and I, we make it a point to look
for them and slay them, but most people just stay inside after it gets
dark, and don't even think about why." 

This time it was Fraser's turn to interrupt. "You say you and your friends
slay vampires - what do you mean by that?" 

Willow thought for a moment then began explaining what she'd heard many
times from Giles, Buffy's Watcher. "In every generation there is a Chosen
One, a girl, who is born with the ability and mission to slay vampires.
She usually develops a lot of extra strength and some psychic sensitivity
when she hits adolescence. My best friend, Buffy, is the Slayer. She
taught me and a couple of our friends how to stalk and kill vamps. So when
we're not studying or hanging out at the Bronze, we help Buffy patrol. " 

"And who is this Angelus dude that the ones outside were talking about?"
asked Ray. 

"He's a vampire but he is - WAS - different. Some gypsies put a spell on
him that gave him a soul, and he was a good guy, and he was Buffy's
boyfriend, but then he turned bad again. I found a spell that would
restore his soul, make him the way he used to be....and now he wants to
kill me to get the spell away from me and make sure I don't use it. I'm a
witch, " she added. 

Kowalski shook his head. "Vampires, witches, hellmouths. If I hadn't seen
it. I wouldn't believe it. I'm still not sure I believe it." 

"It's okay, detective. Maybe it would be best if you just forgot all about
it. I'm going back to Sunnydale tomorrow. There won't be any reason for
Angel - Angelus - to send any more vamps up here.  He won't even know his
cronies didn't succeed until I show up back home like nothing happened and
they don't show up at all."

"What will happen when you return to Sunnydale?" Fraser inquired. "What
will you do about Angelus?" 

"I guess one of three things will happen. One, I'll cast the spell and
Angelus will be back to being Angel, a nice guy. Two, Buffy will kill
Angel. Three, Angel will kill Buffy. Or maybe I'll wake up tomorrow
morning back in my own bed in my own home in Sunnydale, and I'll realize
this was all a bad dream, Miss Calendar isn't dead, and Angel isn't an
evil soulless bloodsucker."

"Miss Calendar?" Benton queried.

"She was a teacher at Sunnydale High. She belonged to the gypsy clan that
put the curse on Angel. She had the spell to restore his soul...and he
killed her for it. But he was interrupted before he found it, which is how
I was able to get it." 

"Are you sure you want to go back there? To the Hellmouth? Couldn't you
maybe get your parents to send you to boarding school or to stay with
family somewhere? Like here in Chicago?" asked Kowalski. 

Willow shook her head. "No. I'm the only one who can do the spell to
restore Angel's soul and stop him from killing anyone else. And my friends
are in Sunnydale. And ...Oz is in Sunnydale. He's my boyfriend," she added
and blushed slightly. "I won't leave him." 

Fraser looked across at Ray. "I understand, Miss Rosenberg," he said.  Ray
returned the look.  "Yeah, I do too," he said. "You love him." 

Willow nodded. "I do," she said softly. She observed the detective and the
Mountie and the look they shared. Then she said, "Actually, Detective, Oz
looks a little bit like you.You have the same hair." Suddenly she asked,
"Where's the wolf?" 

"Yeah, where is the furry garbage disposal, anyway?" asked Kowalski.
"Dief!" he called. 

"Ray, he's deaf, he won't hear you call him," Ben reminded his partner.
They heard a bark and Diefenbaker appeared from under Fraser's cot.
"Obviously, to Diefenbaker, discretion is the better part of valour,"
commented the Mountie. 

Willow cuddled Diefenbaker, and the wolf wagged his tail happily.
"Spoiled," Fraser mouthed at the wolf, who pointedly ignored him.

"I guess I should go back now," said Willow. "My mother might be wondering
where I am. Or not." 

"Is your mother aware of your vampire-slaying?" asked Fraser.

"No, my mother isn't aware of a whole lot unless it concerns her directly.
She doesn't pay a lot of attention to what I do," Willow answered with a
shrug.

Fraser and Kowalski walked Willow back to her cousins' house. As she
turned to leave them, she stopped and said, "Um, you probably shouldn't
tell anyone about what you saw tonight - the vampires, I mean. " 

"Nobody'd believe us anyway," said Kowalski. 

"But if we do ever encounter any more of them, we will be prepared," added
Fraser. 

"Well, I hope you won't encounter any any more of them," sighed Willow.
"But, thanks for helping me find my way back here. And for fighting the
vamps with me. Um - if you're ever in California, don't come to
Sunnydale." She grabbed a notebook out of her backpack and scribbled down
her name, phone number, email and snail-mail address on a sheet of paper
that she tore out of it. "If you ever need any more information about
vampires or demons or other blood-sucking monsters, I'm your gal." 

Ray took a card from his wallet. "This is how to get in touch with me if
yer ever in Chicago again and ya get lost," he said with a smile.
"Fraser's usually hangin' around my desk, so ya can reach him there too."
Then he added, "But if someone else answers the phone and says he's
Vecchio? My name's really Ray Kowalski. Long, strange story." 

Willow smiled. "Probably not any stranger than some of the ones I could
tell." She hugged the Mountie and the detective. "Goodbye," she said. Ray
grinned; Fraser looked slightly embarrassed. "Goodbye, Miss Rosenberg,"
said the Canadian. 

"Willow. My name is Willow. Goodbye Constable, Detective. Take care of
each other," she said as she turned and went in to the house. She watched
through the window as the two men left then went and asked one of her
cousins for permission to make a long-distance phone call. After receiving
the permission, she picked up the phone, took it into her room, shut the
door behind her and dialled Sunnydale. "Buffy? Hi, it's me. Everyone okay
back at the Hellmouth? Good. Listen, you'll never believe what happened to
me tonight..." 

END