Entering the library, Buffy was confronted by her watcher’s concerned face.
 
“You look all doom and gloomy, what gives?”
 
“Ah Buffy, I’m glad you are here. Yes it appears we may have a problem. According to this morning’s paper there were several wild dog attacks last night. One eyewitness account states that the dog was 6 foot tall and ran in an almost upright manner.”
 
“Uh, huh?” Buffy looked at him blankly.
 
“Buffy, tonight is the full moon. Whilst it is accepted mythology that the werewolf makes it’s appearance on the night of the full moon, it is in actual fact the night of the full moon and the two nights surrounding it, consequently last night, tonight and tomorrow night. It would appear Buffy that we have a werewolf in town!”
 
“Oh goody, should have known werewolves were real too, stood to reason I guess. Tell me Giles are trolls and fairies real too?”
 
“Well as a matter of fact…”
 
“No, don’t! Forget I asked, I don’t want to know!”  
“So what’s the deal? How do we kill this thing?”
 
“Well to kill a werewolf one would require a weapon made of silver to pierce the heart, a silver dagger, sword or more recently bullets. However you must consider Buffy that this creature is only a werewolf on the three nights of the full moon, the rest of the time it is a normal human being and may well be completely ignorant of its alter ego. I cannot in all conscience recommend killing it, however it must, for the sake of the general public, be contained.”
 
“Ok, so how do we catch this thing?”
 
“Yes that is a good question, I shall have to give the matter a great deal of thought. Now where did I leave my Stymmes compendium, I believe there was a rather extensive chapter in there on werewolves.” Giles headed for his office in search of the book, turning back to Buffy he added, “you best be getting to class, if you could meet me here after school this afternoon and we will formulate a plan.”
 
***************
 
The Scoobies convened that afternoon after school in the less than orderly Library. Books littered most surfaces, Giles had been furiously scribbling notes and cross referencing for the majority of the day.
 
“So, any luck finding the scoop on werewolf captury goodness?” Buffy flopped down into one of the chairs surrounding the large round table, crinkling her nose she pushed at one of the large musty books with one finger as if it would contaminate her. “You have enough of these old smelly books out, you must have found something out, right?”
 
“Yes, quite, once again your command of the English language astounds me Buffy!” Giles’ patience was sorely tried after a long day of research.
 
“Huh?”
 
“Never mind.” Giles sighed and seating himself on the edge of the table he began to detail what information he had come up with throughout the course of the day.
 
“I have been able to substantiate that werewolves generally tend to be solitary, to the extent that they will fight rather ferociously and often to the death with another of their kind, even another of the opposite sex, whenever they come across them. So we can be fairly sure that we are only dealing with the one animal. Now then, they are exceptionally strong in relation to their size, immune to the majority of tranquilizing agents and are not even remotely susceptible to magic. However I was able to discover one tranquilizer which has in the past prove to be most effective in the subjugation of werewolves and was able to procure a small amount through a contact of mine. I stress however that it was indeed a small amount I have enough for three darts, so we must be very certain of a clear shot.”
 
“Ok, so super strong, not big on the company and non magicy. But we can tranquilize it. Got it! Ok, so where do we start and when?”
 
“Yes well apparently they are attracted to certain scents, fear and lust being the strongest attractants. So I would suggest we start our search in and around the vicinity of the what I believe you would refer to as a ‘make out place’! Tonight, werewolves don’t change until the moon rises and it doesn’t rise until around 10pm tonight.”
 
“What I don’t get though  G’man is how this guy can be running around town all night as the big bad wolf and you know, just go about life as normal the next day?”
 
Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Xander I would greatly appreciate it if you never referred to me in such a manner again. Your point however is surprisingly valid. Apparently it is usual for the person to be completely unaware of their night time activities. It is believed a type of amnesia takes place, possibly a part of the process or merely the person’s psyche finding a way to deal with the situation. As the animal will usually return to what it considers to be it’s lair the person merely wakes up in his or her own bed in the morning blessedly ignorant of the nights proceedings.”
 
“Ok so what we all meet back here tonight and then head off to ‘The Hill’ in search of lust filled teenagers, find the wolf, shoot it and then what?” Buffy looked to her watcher.
 
“I don’t feel it is advisable for us all to go, if Spike is willing to accompany you then Spike, yourself and I should be sufficient to perform the task. If we empty the Library cage of it’s contents I believe it should be a suitable place of confinement until the morning. Once we are aware of who we are dealing with we can help them learn to adapt to their situation without endangering anyone in the process.”
 
They all turned to file out of the library.
 
“Oh Buffy, one moment before you leave.” Giles called after her. Buffy turned back to her watcher to be presented with her sword. “ I researched the runes and to the best of my knowledge they are a blessing on the wielder. It is an incredibly fine weapon Buffy. You are very fortunate.”
 
Taking the proffered sword Buffy looked up at her watcher, “yeah, I know I am!”
 
                          *******************
 
Buffy returned to the library that night with Spike to find the watcher preparing the tranquilizer gun.
 
“Oh good you’re here. We should make a start, that way we can familiarise ourselves with the area before the moon rises and be in place to intercept the creature before it has the opportunity to harm anyone. I believe our best chances of success are if you two are able to distract it whilst I shoot it with the tranquilizer, but for God sake Buffy be careful not to allow it to bite or scratch you. Spike I am assuming you are immune to it’s bite?”
 
“I’d say so, be bloody interestin’ though if I’m not wouldn’t it!” Spike laughed as the watcher fixed him with an icy stare.
 
“Yes well I am glad you are able to find the humour in the situation Spike!”
 
“Oh lighten up will you, I’m just sayin’ a werewolf vampire hybrid … it’s like something from some bloody Hollywood blockbuster innit! Don’t fret Watcher, werewolves only affect the livin’ an’ last time I checked I no longer suffered from that particular affliction!”
 
*****************
 
As she wasn’t needed for tonight’s werewolf hunt Willow had met up with Oz at The Bronze. They had spent a quiet evening listening to the band and discussing pez. Walking back towards Willow’s house Oz was telling her how his band ‘The Dingoes ate my baby’ was going to be playing at The Bronze the following Friday night. Suddenly Oz bent over double clutching his stomach in agony and making tortured groaning and gurgling sounds.
 
“Oz, what’s wrong, Oz…” Willow grabbed his shoulders trying to lift his so she could see what was wrong. Oz lifted his head and his normal features were twisted and contorted. Before Willow’s horrified eyes he started to alter, his face lengthening and hair sprouting. Deep vicious growls escaped him. For a moment, while he writhed and twisted in obvious pain as his body transformed, Willow stood transfixed. Suddenly realizing her peril, the redhead turned and bolted, leaving a half transformed werewolf in her wake.
 
Tearing into the school and heading for the library Willow could only hope that Oz/wolf had not followed her. Have to get to Buffy and Giles, that was her one driving thought. As she entered the library she discovered it to be empty, they had obviously already left.
 
After arming herself with a baseball bat from Giles’ armoury and calming herself enough to think of what to do next she picked up the phone and dialled Cordelia’s number.
 
“Cordelia, Willow. Look I need you to do something for me.” She listened to the scathing response on the other end of the line before answering.
 
“Well because you are the only one I know who has a car!”
 
“Look Cordelia this is an emergency will you just listen!”
 
“I need you to drive over to Xander’s place and pick him up and bring him to the library, tell him Oz is the werewolf and we need to let Buffy and Giles know!”
 
“No he won’t contaminate your car, well alright if it will make you feel better put a towel on the seat first, just please hurry!”
 
Hanging up the phone she settled in to wait, crouching behind the desk, bat in hand.
 
 
**************
 
After the fourth unsuccessful circuit of the hill Giles’ mood darkened even further than it had been all night, his grumbling no longer even barely disguised. Buffy frowned at him. “You’re all bad and moody, what’s up?”
 
“Yes well Buffy, contrary to what you may believe I do have interests which do not involve the supernatural and I had to break very important plans for tonight which I had been looking forward to for quite some time. Instead, here I am traipsing around in the dark with a vampire looking for a werewolf so I can shoot it, drag it back to school and lock it in a cage. And the damn thing doesn’t even have the courtesy to show up!”
 
“Don’t know what you’re complainin’ about watcher, I was watchin’ a good movie on TV, some little kid was the bloody antichrist, his father an’ this priest guy had to stop him. They were of to meet up with a guy named Bugenhagen to find out how! Now I’ll never find out how the bloody thing ends!”  
 
Spike stopped in midstep, becoming as still and silent as only a vampire could. Silently scenting the air, he turned to the slayer. “Someone over that way love, human, but with a strange scent to him, he’s movin’ pretty quietly too.”
Following Spike’s lead they headed off carefully in the direction he had indicated. They paused as a large dishevelled man entered the clearing ahead of them, gun in hand, and neck surrounded by a grisly necklace of teeth of some kind. Turing to Buffy Spike whispered in her ear that the teeth were from a werewolf, “that’s the strange scent I picked up earlier pet.”
 
Before either of the men could stop her Buffy stepped into the clearing, planting her hands on her hips and legs slightly splayed balancing her weight ready for a fight.
 
“Well well, what have we here?” The disgusting looking man leered at her making her skin crawl and causing a distinctive growl to erupt from the bushes behind her. Spinning her head quickly to pin her lover with a ‘stay where you are’ glare she then returned her attention to the hunter.
 
“Who are you and what do you think you are doing?” She challenged.
 
“I’m Kane. The big question is who are you little lady and what are you doing walking around the woods at night, don’t you know it isn’t safe for little girls to be out alone at night?” He allowed his gaze to travel suggestively from her eyes down her body and slowly back up again. This was too much for Spike and with a furious growl he erupted from the bushes to stand at the slayer’s side, followed closely by the equally affronted watcher.
 
“Well, I guess I know what you were doing don’t I love? Like them a little experienced do you?”
 
“Why you filthy minded…..”
 
“Giles, not now!” Buffy admonished him.
 
“I’ll ask you once more, who are you and what are you doing here. Also maybe you can explain to me why you have a necklace made from a werewolf’s teeth?”
 
The large man laughed. “A werewolf? I’m sorry gorgeous but I’m afraid you are mistaken, this necklace isn’t made from a werewolf. This necklace, petal, is made up of one tooth from every werewolf I ever killed, this next one will bring it up to an even dozen.”
 
“So you’re just gonna kill it?” Buffy didn’t even attempt to hide the disgust in her voice.
 
“Well, here’s the thing, their pelts fetch a pretty penny in Sri Lanka and it’s a little hard to skin them when they’re alive. Now if you will excuse me the moon will be up soon, and I have work to do.”
 
“It doesn’t bother you that a werewolf is a human twenty-eight days out of a month?” Her lip curled in a sneer.
 
“That’s why I only hunt them on the other three days.” He sneered back at her, his voice dripping with contempt.
 
“You are disgusting, you know that? You can just take your filthy trophies and get the hell out of my town!”
 
“Oh really, your town is it. And a sweet little thing like you is gonna, what? Tickle me into submission. Pout at me until I get scared and leave? Or maybe you think your two big tough men will do the job for you? Last I looked, I was the one with the gun!”
“Yeah well, look again.” With that Buffy spun, catching him in the jaw and grabbing the gun from his hands as she completed the spin. Waiting for him to recover from the kick she looked him in the eye and slowly bent the barrel of his gun around until it was shaped like a ‘U’. “Now as I said before… get the hell out of my town.”
 
Kane looked in disbelief at his rifle and the tiny girl who had just bent it double. He turned and without another word fled down the hill through the bushes.
 
*******************
Cordelia had picked Xander up from his house and true to her word she had indeed made him sit on a towel so he would not contaminate her seat. After she had relayed Willow’s message about Oz and them needing to get to the library Xander had actually even managed to refrain from pushing her buttons and having himself thrown out of the car along the way.
 
“I don’t see why I should have to come in.” Cordelia complained, “Willow only asked me to pick you up and bring you here, I’ve done my part!”
 
“I’ve already explained this once, we might need a car and as you have a car, as much as it disgusts me to have to say this, we might need you.”
 
“Well, really, if you are going to talk to me like that…..”
 
Their argument was interrupted as a large net fell across them pinning both to the bitumen of the school car park. The large man who had just hurled the net in their direction stepped out from behind a tree laughing. “Well, you two will make lovely bait, if the scent of your fear doesn’t attract him all that noise you make certainly will!” With that he clubbed each of them over the back of the head.
 
********************
They awoke in a large heavy steel cage in a clearing in the woods. The cage was suspended above the ground, a sturdy chain and padlock held the door firmly closed.
 
Cordelia yelled at the silent bushes surrounding them. “Oh, my head, someone is going to hear about this, you don’t get to just go around hitting people in the back of the head like that. When I tell my father….”
 
“Cordy, stop.” Xander cautioned her. “Remember, noise! We don’t really want to be calling wolfy to us now do we?”
 
With that Cordelia swallowed a sob and looked around, taking their situation in fully for the first time. “Oh my God, Xander, we are bait! We’re going to die, I know we are. Oh how can I be going to die in a cage with you! I will never live this down!” The frightened girl, burst into tears.
 
Xander reached out and tentatively patted her shoulder, “no, we aren’t going to die, Buffy will rescue us, you just have to calm down ok!”
 
Hiccuping and trying with no luck to slow her tears, she looked at him. “Buffy has no idea where we are, how is she going to find us before that wolf thing does. Xander I am so scared, I don’t want to die, I am way to young to die!”
 
“No one’s going to die, its ok Cordy, I won’t let it hurt you ok.” He promised with considerably more conviction than he felt. Xander moved closer to the hysterical girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulder he pulled her against his chest and stroked her back in an attempt to soothe her.
 
                                               *******************
Hours later a pissed off watcher, a tired and cranky slayer and a mildly amused vampire made their way back to the school library to return the tranquilizer gun. “We still have tomorrow night of course. We shall just have to try again then. One can only hope that no one has fallen victim to the creature tonight.”
 
“Isn’t that Cordelia’s car?” Buffy turned to her watcher.
 
“Yes I do believe it is.”
 
Hurrying into the library they discovered a sleeping Willow huddled in a ball behind the desk, clutching a baseball bat to her chest.
 
“Will, wake up.” Buffy gently shook the sleeping girl.
 
“Oh no you don’t mister, I…. oh Buffy it’s you! It’s Oz.”
 
“Lost me there Will?”
 
“The werewolf, it’s Oz, I saw him, he went all grrr-y and then all hairy and well …. it’s Oz! I came here looking for you, but you had already gone, and so I rang Cordelia to go get Xander so we could all look for you, because, well…Oz. And Cordelia said she would but then she didn’t show so I guess she didn’t and I have been here waiting and I guess I must have fallen asleep and well now you are here!” Willow gushed.
 
“Oh no!” Buffy’s turned to Spike with a look of horror. “That was Cordelia’s car outside, so she must have gone and got Xander and then come here, but where are they?”
 
“We’ll find them pet, don’t worry. Come on watcher, grab your gun, we aren’t done yet.”
 
They filed out of the Library, they had tried to leave Willow in the library insisting that she would be safer there but she had refused to be left behind. Once they reached the car Spike scented the air deeply to try to trace the missing teenagers. He followed it back towards the building only to stop as another scent joined them. “Damn, that sodding git from the woods was here. There’s blood too, not a lot but definitely fresh. I think the bastard has taken them, probably gonna use ‘em as bait!”
 
“Can you follow them?” Buffy was worried.
 
“I’ll do my best love, he’s usin’ a vehicle of some sort but I think I can still track them.”
 
They followed Spike through the ever denser woods, he had lost the trail a few times and had to double back but was fairly confident he was heading the right way now.”
 
*********************
 
Cordelia’s sobs had eased, She was sitting in the bottom of the cage, Xander seated next to her, his hand stroking her back rhythmically as he spoke soothingly, chasing away her fears.
 
“Oh no, I must look a sight, all that crying, oh God, I won’t be able to show my face for a week!”
 
“Show me.” Xander turned her face towards him and gently brushed away her hair. “You look beautiful to me!” He murmured, oh god, where had that come from, he just told Cordelia Chase that she looked beautiful!! He looked at her face as she smiled gratefully at him. Well she did look beautiful! Moving slowly he reached in to place a gentle kiss on her lips. Their eyes widened in shock before both simultaneously reaching for another kiss, slowly their kisses deepened. The world around them disappeared until they were brought crashing back to reality by a ferocious growl from the woods.
 
*******************
 
Spike heard the growl and quickened his pace, the slayer and him rapidly leaving the struggling watcher and girl behind. Impatiently he turned back to Giles and wrenched the gun from his hands, passing it to the slayer he informed them, “we don’t have time to waste, the wolf is up ahead and so are your Scoobies.” Slayer and vampire took off at full speed towards their prey.
 
They burst into the clearing in time to see Kane raising yet another gun to his eye to take a shot at the massive wolf that was launching itself at the helpless teenagers clinging desperately to each other in the suspended cage. “You get the dickhead pet, I’ll grab the wolf.”
 
They took off each after their intended victim.
 
Buffy grabbed the gun and shoved it upwards just as the hunter took his shot, the bullet flying harmlessly into the canopy above. With a right hook to the nose followed by a spinning kick to the abdomen she quickly vanquished her quarry before turning to her assess her lover’s progress.
 
Spike had launched himself at the scrabbling wolf as it fought to get a purchase on the cage in order to break in to the luscious treat within. Grabbing it from behind he struggled to hang on to the creature as it whirled and bucked. Spinning it’s head to bite him while trying to shake him off.
 
“Arghhh, bloody hell, that hurt you git. Buffy unless you want this thing to be an appetiser I suggest you hurry up an’ shoot the bloody thing!” Spike called as he saw Buffy turning after dispatching the hunter.
 
Buffy took aim, waiting for a clear shot at the wolf that would not accidentally hit her boyfriend.
Eventually after much continued swearing from Spike and a few more bites to Spike’s arms from the wolf she got her chance. The werewolf collapsed almost immediately.
 
    ****************
 
They had freed the prisoners who strangely remained arm in arm on the walk back to the school. Buffy and Spike between them had carried the dead weight of the large sleeping wolf. Once back at the library they had looked him in the cage that had been prepared and Giles settled in for guard duty and to speak to the poor boy come morning.
 
Cordelia and Xander had left in her car. Spike and Buffy had walked a very concerned Willow home after everyone had managed to explain to her that she would be no help to Oz throughout the night and would be of much more use to him rested and coherent in the morning. The injured vampire and his slayer then made their way home where his wounds were lovingly cleaned and cared for.
 
                             *******************
 
The following morning a very confused young man woke to find himself caged in the school library. Surprisingly he accepted the news that he was a werewolf rather stoically. The events of the previous evening were explained and the slayer and vampire’s status elicited merely a short, amazed “Mmm” and a nod in response.