A
Altoz
Guest
It had been a beautiful day. Oz had finally summoned up the courage to bring Doug over to meet his aunt and uncle Maureen and Ken Osborne, and his cousin Jordy. To his great satisfaction, Doug hit it off instantly with his relatives. Ken wondered if Oz's new friend had served in the military, given Doug's military style mojo and level of physical fitness and asked him. Doug replied not, but he had great respect for anyone who did- which definitely checked boxes with Ken, who'd served as a US Marine in Lebanon back in the eighties. Maureen was pleased to see how well Doug bonded with their son, with much trail biking and video game playing. Of course, they worked out that their nephew was gay, but this was California and Doug seemed like an excellent choice for them. Unfortunately, it would be the last beautiful day for quite a while.
It was early evening and Jordan Osborne was happily trailbiking down the Hammerfell Park trail, He knew he shouldn't be out quite so late, but he was too exuberant after the excellent day he'd had with Danny and Doug. Doug was neat. He'd been able to fix the locking problem with the gears on his bike and he gave Jordy an excellent run at Minecraft. Danny was useless at that. Overlooking Hammerfell Park, though, Amy Madison had momentarily returned to Sunnydale, with company. She looked across at Gilbert Cain, and wondered if she was doing the right thing. She'd heard about him in the Bronze- a glorified big game hunter who targeted werewolves for eradication, making millions after he sold them in Sri Lanka on the black market. He had tried to justify it by claiming that he was 'protecting' humanity from 'monsters.' He had no reason to do so- no relatives killed by lycanthropes, no loved ones turned. Truth to tell, Amy could see inside his mind and what she witnessed shocked and disgusted even her. Cain heard voices inside his head, and exulted in skinning werewolves alive. He got a perverse thrill out of it. He had been bullied as a child and was unable to maintain himself in employment until chance inheritance had occurred and he was free to indulge his passion- or more accurately, his addiction, somewhat akin to his mother's alcohol addiction. He prided himself on not touching a bottle like she did, but her inability to provide stable discipline and boundaries for him had taken his toll. She could endure no more. She had to remind herself, the ends justified the means. And if the end was severely wounding the so-called 'Scoobies', so what if freaks like Oz and his misbegotten cousin died to achieve her goal? Although she didn't have to be around to witness it. And so, equipped by his erstwhile companion, Gib Cain took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. A tranquilizer dart impacted into Jordan's shoulder, with enough anaesthetic to fell a young wolf. A twisted smile curled around his lips as he ran toward the downed child as a full moon shone overhead.
"What is it?"
"Aunt Maureen. Jordy hasn't come back home to be caged. He knows how important it is. He's never done this before."
"Hang on. I'll get suited up and we can go and look for him together. He's probably okay, Danny. If he turned, he might be off hunting somewhere. In a few years time, we'll be able to take him over to Nevada and have Jacqueline Silverwolf cast a Mastery spell like yours. In any case, two heads are better than one. Are you all right? It's full moon outside and you turned yesterday."
"Thank you, loverman. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being you."
"Come on, we'll find him soon and we'll laugh about this over breakfast tomorrow."
And in a deserted house, a scrub-suited figure elevated a large surgical knife above a half-turned small werewolf. Instants later, there were snarls of anger, rage, fear and then pain. We will not dwell on this, or its implications.
The Ozmobile screeched to a halt, as did the battered red truck of something akin to Doom as the slayer and her other companions converged on the area:
"What is it?" Buffy asked
"Jordy's missing. My cousin. And fellow werewolf."
"Weird. We've never had any problems with him, you realise? Even during the years you were gone from Sunnydale."
"I don't think he'd go and attack anyone human, although the wildlife around here may suffer-"
And at that moment, they all heard the sound of the werewolf in intense pain. Oz gasped "Jordy!" He ripped his shirt off and headed behind the van to disrobe as Doug said to Ken and Maureen: "Look, this situation needs to be remedied. We'll get to the bottom of this and..." But he had never seen Danny like this and inwardly, even the seasoned wiccan warrior was fearful. As Ozwolf bounded into the undergrowth, he joined his partner.
Lindsey turned to Buffy: "Those two are worried about something. Doug's usually more straightforward and matter of fact than that."
Tara shivered and gasped: "There's something darkmagickal in there. Buffy, Willow, Lindsey, we have to get after them. Now."
And in the forest, Oz heard the tormented cries abruptly cut off. Panicking, he switched back to his diminutive redheaded form. Moments later, Doug broke into the clearing and handed him his spare sweatpant: "Danny, what is it? Was that Jordy?"
"Doug, he's in pain. We have to get to him and..."
From the attic of an abandoned house on Mockingbird Lane, Gib Cain, now in bloodied scrubs, aimed his rifle carefully at the form of that accursed werewolf. And then things began to spiral out of control. Doug caught sight of the rifle sight as it glittered in the moonlight and yelled: "Down, Danny! Silver bullet!" He tackled his partner and tried to deflect the bullet but it was also ensorcelled and found its substitute target- Doug Mercer, through his shoulder, near his heart. As he fell to the ground, Oz dropped to his knees and held his unconscious partner in his arms as the blood began to drip onto his sweatpants. As Buffy, Willow, Lindsey and Tara joined them, Oz looked up and said, almost inaudibly: "Help me."
For all of them, the next few hours were a nightmare. Buffy and Lindsey explained the situation to the Sunnydale Police Force, and ended up in the intensive care waiting room while Doug underwent surgery. Oz sat in a corner, his hands held over his head. Tara sat alongside him:
"Here. Coffee, the way you like it."
"Tara, what would you do? If it was Willow in there?"
"I'd join the others, use my tracking skills and make sure we caught the person who did it. And hand him or her over to the law."
"I think I'm to blame for this. It was a silver bullet they took out of him in surgery. There's a werewolf hunter in town and he meant to kill me."
Buffy sat alongside them: "Oz, don't this to yourself."
"Buddy, whoever this was, we'll catch them."
"Don't do this to yourself, Oz. You aren't to blame for any of this." Willow hugged her former partner but he seemed worlds away:
"Aren't I? If I hadn't come back here, whoever that gunperson was wouldn't have gone after me and shot Doug instead. What if he dies, Willow?"
Tara motioned to Buffy:
"I think we need to talk."
As they stood some distance away from Oz and Willow, still holding each other, Tara said:
"It's his Mastery spell. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like it's fraying around the edges."
"Are you saying Oz might...?"
"Alessandra?" Doctor Norton wearily removed her surgical mask:
"I'm not sure that you'll want to hear this. Doug is on the borderline. I think he'll pull through. And...there's something else. Watcher Institute forensics cracked the ensorcelled encryption on the silver bullet that was aimed at Doug and Oz. It belongs to someone we've been trying to locate and neutralise for ages. Gilbert Cain. The 'werewolf hunter.'"
At that moment, Oz snapped his head up and snarled: "Him?! He did this?! Jordy is missing and that bastard almost killed-"
Oz's eyes blazed red and his face became notably more hirsute. He stormed out of the ER waiting room and instants later, there was the screech of brakes.
Willow swallowed: "What's going on? Cain? Cain is back in Sunnydale? But he never did anything like this before."
Buffy ran her hand through her hair: "Only because we didn't take it seriously, or what it really meant at the time."
"I think we're partly to blame for that, Buffy. After Oz left Sunnydale the first time and we learnt he was safe in Tibet, and Cain disappeared off the radar for a while, we hoped that he'd overreached and that the problem had taken care of itself. We were bloody stupid and negligent."
Lindsey whistled: "I've never seen Oz like that before. He's usually so calm and self-disciplined. But I guess nearly losing the person you love can do that to you."
Tara was reading a transcript of Jacqueline Silverwolf's Mastery spell and bit her lip:
"Baby?" Willow asked.
"That could have been Oz's enhanced wolfsenses operating at full strength. He may have tracked down Cain's scent from the residue left on the bullet. He's near the edge, Willow. Buffy, what do you want to do?"
"Teleport us to where you think they are."
In the post-op room, Doug stirred as something appeared in his mind. Deeply unconscious, he could nevertheless sense it on his periphery:
[Douglas?]
[I think we've met before. I remember seeing you and talking to you just after Spike almost beat me to death that first time. You asked me what I wanted to live for and I replied that if it was possible, I'd want the chance to insure that the likes of him never had the chance to kill or injure anyone like that again. So then you faded away and I woke up and my wiccan abilities had activated. So this is it, huh? Okay, then, I'm ready to go.]
The figure was an older redhaired woman with black wings and an antique hat and visor net over her features. She shook her head:
[Douglas Mercer, I am not here to collect you. You will have many more decades of life before I do return to take you and the man you share your life with back to the After with me. I am Scathach, the Angel of Death, but it is in my provenance to grant mercy where it is warranted. And the Powers That Be have ordained that you continue to live. Go to Daniel Osborne, Douglas. He needs you]
Doug needed no second bidding as he hurriedly dressed. He blurred out of the hospital, intent on preventing tragedy and further heartbreak in his wake.
Elsewhere, Oz had tracked Cain down, leaving one of the doors torn off his reliable if already battered van. Hurriedly, Cain had quit the derelict property, firing blindly at the oncoming mass of fur, red wolf eyes, muscle, sharp teeth and fury inexorably running behind him. Cain didn't know Sunnydale's terrain all that well, so it might have been an unpleasant surprise when he fell down a sheer slope and twisted his ankle. Even worse for him, the slayer and her entourage had turned up above him:
"No, Mr Cain. You do not pass this point." Buffy said coldly.
"But. He's not rational. He's an animal, he'll tear me apart. You're supposed to protect the weak and innocent."
"Too bad you're neither, then, Cain, isn't it? Item. You tried to kill Daniel Osborne. Item two. you shot and seriously injured one of my best friends, so really, not in the mood. Item three, Doug is Danny's partner. Item three, the whereabouts of Jordan Osborne, Oz's cousin, an eleven year old boy."
Willow and Tara stood, warding the opposite area as Ozwolf stalked toward Cain, who backed himself against a tree. There was an acrid smell of urine.
Lindsey sat on an oak tree stump shaking his head: "Sorry, man. No escape this way, either. Do as the nice slayer says. Stay put."
"Who appointed you judge and jury?"
Abruptly, there was a flash of green light and Doug Mercer stood there, unsteady on his feet:
"Excuse me? Who appointed you executioner, shitbrain? Pardon my language, I don't particularly like being at death's door."
Ozwolf crouched and licked his lover's face:
"Danny? Look, you're perfectly entitled to rip this piece of shit's throat out. But think about it. I can go in there and get closure for all the other lycanthropes he's murdered over the last few years. Think of the families and loved ones who'll be able to finally let their loved ones go and at peace. So yeah, you can dispose of that filthy vermin over there by that tree. Whatever you decide, I'll come with you."
Ozwolf crouched once more and looked up at Doug:
"Thank you, Danny. Cain? I wish I could promise this isn't going to hurt."
"No. No, get away from me, you ..."
"Shut the hell up. And remember, some of us are takin' notes" Lindsey gestured to Willow, who had taken out her laptop and linked to the FBI website. Doug's eyes began to glow an unearthly green as Cain tried to twist and turn, anything to get away from the tall, suddenly funereal telepath who stood above him looking down at him, face like thunder. Doug pulled him up, held his hands to Cain's temple and began to pull the information out of him, as Cain sobbed and screamed and then whimpered. Still, Doug bored on as Cain stuttered names, burial sites, dates, ordinance used and pelts delivered to his pitch black market in Sri Lanka. Willow tapped in the information, located satellite photograps as the number of resolved cold cases grew, until it all came down to one.
Doug brought his face next to Cain: "All right. One last effort. Where the hell is Jordan Osborne? What did you do to him, you-" And then Doug made contact. His eyes widened and he broke contact, howling himself:
"NO!!! NO!! You filthy murdering bastard! He was an eleven year old boy, he..."
There was sobbing from the corner as Ozwolf abruptly transitioned back to his human self. Doug staggered across the clearing and took his grieving partner in his arms. Tara was also quietly sobbing to herself in Willow's arms. Lindsey stood over Cain, staring down at him in disgust:
"Unlike you, mister, we don't summarily murder people in cold blood. Well, now you get to pay for everything you did, all those people you slaughtered. Especially Jordan. Depraved, filthy sack of shit."
Buffy joined her partner as she said: "Ah, sirens and helicopters. Good. Did we do good on this?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we did, sweetheart. Even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment."
"He'll pay for what he did. I doubt whether even Wolfram and Hart would accept someone like that as a client."
"They're in enough trouble as it is. I recognised several of the locations, in the same cities as WRH bases. Oh, this will be good. But damn it, did the cost have to be so high?"
And three days later, Doug and Oz attended Jordan's funeral. Doug escorted Oz to the verge of the funeral service and turned to go.
Maureen called: "No, Doug, don't go."
"But you want family only here, Mrs Osborne. It's okay, I understand."
Ken cleared his throat: "That's right, son. Look at you, You risked your life to save our nephew and you would have gladly done so in our son's case if it was probably up to you. You remind me of some of my old Marine buddies from Beirut. We do want family only here. And you're our nephew's partner, his husband. You're grieving too, I can see it in your eyes and in your face. You're family too."
"If I'd done my job properly..." Doug started sobbing.
"You didn't murder our son, that bastard Cain did. And he's going to fry for that. Come over here, Doug, honey..." And that afternoon, a tormented and brave man found some solace on a very dark day as he held the man he loved, lost in tears and grieving for a child who would never grow up.
At Ravello Drive, Buffy had just demolished her third punching bag:
"Tara? Do you have a tracking spell for Amy Madison?"
The pregnant witch nodded: "I know. I've been working on one ever since we found out about Jordan. You know, I almost wish Anya were back here.:
Buffy brushed a stray tendril of hair back into her headband: "Cain may be about to pay for all the people he slaughtered, but that's only half the deal. One way or the other, Madison has crossed a line now. For doing what she did to an innocent child, I will make that woman pay." Buffy stalked from the exercise room, as Willow looked at her retreating back:
"I'm worried about her."
"But she's right, Willow honey. How is this all going to end?"
THE END
It was early evening and Jordan Osborne was happily trailbiking down the Hammerfell Park trail, He knew he shouldn't be out quite so late, but he was too exuberant after the excellent day he'd had with Danny and Doug. Doug was neat. He'd been able to fix the locking problem with the gears on his bike and he gave Jordy an excellent run at Minecraft. Danny was useless at that. Overlooking Hammerfell Park, though, Amy Madison had momentarily returned to Sunnydale, with company. She looked across at Gilbert Cain, and wondered if she was doing the right thing. She'd heard about him in the Bronze- a glorified big game hunter who targeted werewolves for eradication, making millions after he sold them in Sri Lanka on the black market. He had tried to justify it by claiming that he was 'protecting' humanity from 'monsters.' He had no reason to do so- no relatives killed by lycanthropes, no loved ones turned. Truth to tell, Amy could see inside his mind and what she witnessed shocked and disgusted even her. Cain heard voices inside his head, and exulted in skinning werewolves alive. He got a perverse thrill out of it. He had been bullied as a child and was unable to maintain himself in employment until chance inheritance had occurred and he was free to indulge his passion- or more accurately, his addiction, somewhat akin to his mother's alcohol addiction. He prided himself on not touching a bottle like she did, but her inability to provide stable discipline and boundaries for him had taken his toll. She could endure no more. She had to remind herself, the ends justified the means. And if the end was severely wounding the so-called 'Scoobies', so what if freaks like Oz and his misbegotten cousin died to achieve her goal? Although she didn't have to be around to witness it. And so, equipped by his erstwhile companion, Gib Cain took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. A tranquilizer dart impacted into Jordan's shoulder, with enough anaesthetic to fell a young wolf. A twisted smile curled around his lips as he ran toward the downed child as a full moon shone overhead.
"What is it?"
"Aunt Maureen. Jordy hasn't come back home to be caged. He knows how important it is. He's never done this before."
"Hang on. I'll get suited up and we can go and look for him together. He's probably okay, Danny. If he turned, he might be off hunting somewhere. In a few years time, we'll be able to take him over to Nevada and have Jacqueline Silverwolf cast a Mastery spell like yours. In any case, two heads are better than one. Are you all right? It's full moon outside and you turned yesterday."
"Thank you, loverman. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being you."
"Come on, we'll find him soon and we'll laugh about this over breakfast tomorrow."
And in a deserted house, a scrub-suited figure elevated a large surgical knife above a half-turned small werewolf. Instants later, there were snarls of anger, rage, fear and then pain. We will not dwell on this, or its implications.
The Ozmobile screeched to a halt, as did the battered red truck of something akin to Doom as the slayer and her other companions converged on the area:
"What is it?" Buffy asked
"Jordy's missing. My cousin. And fellow werewolf."
"Weird. We've never had any problems with him, you realise? Even during the years you were gone from Sunnydale."
"I don't think he'd go and attack anyone human, although the wildlife around here may suffer-"
And at that moment, they all heard the sound of the werewolf in intense pain. Oz gasped "Jordy!" He ripped his shirt off and headed behind the van to disrobe as Doug said to Ken and Maureen: "Look, this situation needs to be remedied. We'll get to the bottom of this and..." But he had never seen Danny like this and inwardly, even the seasoned wiccan warrior was fearful. As Ozwolf bounded into the undergrowth, he joined his partner.
Lindsey turned to Buffy: "Those two are worried about something. Doug's usually more straightforward and matter of fact than that."
Tara shivered and gasped: "There's something darkmagickal in there. Buffy, Willow, Lindsey, we have to get after them. Now."
And in the forest, Oz heard the tormented cries abruptly cut off. Panicking, he switched back to his diminutive redheaded form. Moments later, Doug broke into the clearing and handed him his spare sweatpant: "Danny, what is it? Was that Jordy?"
"Doug, he's in pain. We have to get to him and..."
From the attic of an abandoned house on Mockingbird Lane, Gib Cain, now in bloodied scrubs, aimed his rifle carefully at the form of that accursed werewolf. And then things began to spiral out of control. Doug caught sight of the rifle sight as it glittered in the moonlight and yelled: "Down, Danny! Silver bullet!" He tackled his partner and tried to deflect the bullet but it was also ensorcelled and found its substitute target- Doug Mercer, through his shoulder, near his heart. As he fell to the ground, Oz dropped to his knees and held his unconscious partner in his arms as the blood began to drip onto his sweatpants. As Buffy, Willow, Lindsey and Tara joined them, Oz looked up and said, almost inaudibly: "Help me."
For all of them, the next few hours were a nightmare. Buffy and Lindsey explained the situation to the Sunnydale Police Force, and ended up in the intensive care waiting room while Doug underwent surgery. Oz sat in a corner, his hands held over his head. Tara sat alongside him:
"Here. Coffee, the way you like it."
"Tara, what would you do? If it was Willow in there?"
"I'd join the others, use my tracking skills and make sure we caught the person who did it. And hand him or her over to the law."
"I think I'm to blame for this. It was a silver bullet they took out of him in surgery. There's a werewolf hunter in town and he meant to kill me."
Buffy sat alongside them: "Oz, don't this to yourself."
"Buddy, whoever this was, we'll catch them."
"Don't do this to yourself, Oz. You aren't to blame for any of this." Willow hugged her former partner but he seemed worlds away:
"Aren't I? If I hadn't come back here, whoever that gunperson was wouldn't have gone after me and shot Doug instead. What if he dies, Willow?"
Tara motioned to Buffy:
"I think we need to talk."
As they stood some distance away from Oz and Willow, still holding each other, Tara said:
"It's his Mastery spell. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like it's fraying around the edges."
"Are you saying Oz might...?"
"Alessandra?" Doctor Norton wearily removed her surgical mask:
"I'm not sure that you'll want to hear this. Doug is on the borderline. I think he'll pull through. And...there's something else. Watcher Institute forensics cracked the ensorcelled encryption on the silver bullet that was aimed at Doug and Oz. It belongs to someone we've been trying to locate and neutralise for ages. Gilbert Cain. The 'werewolf hunter.'"
At that moment, Oz snapped his head up and snarled: "Him?! He did this?! Jordy is missing and that bastard almost killed-"
Oz's eyes blazed red and his face became notably more hirsute. He stormed out of the ER waiting room and instants later, there was the screech of brakes.
Willow swallowed: "What's going on? Cain? Cain is back in Sunnydale? But he never did anything like this before."
Buffy ran her hand through her hair: "Only because we didn't take it seriously, or what it really meant at the time."
"I think we're partly to blame for that, Buffy. After Oz left Sunnydale the first time and we learnt he was safe in Tibet, and Cain disappeared off the radar for a while, we hoped that he'd overreached and that the problem had taken care of itself. We were bloody stupid and negligent."
Lindsey whistled: "I've never seen Oz like that before. He's usually so calm and self-disciplined. But I guess nearly losing the person you love can do that to you."
Tara was reading a transcript of Jacqueline Silverwolf's Mastery spell and bit her lip:
"Baby?" Willow asked.
"That could have been Oz's enhanced wolfsenses operating at full strength. He may have tracked down Cain's scent from the residue left on the bullet. He's near the edge, Willow. Buffy, what do you want to do?"
"Teleport us to where you think they are."
In the post-op room, Doug stirred as something appeared in his mind. Deeply unconscious, he could nevertheless sense it on his periphery:
[Douglas?]
[I think we've met before. I remember seeing you and talking to you just after Spike almost beat me to death that first time. You asked me what I wanted to live for and I replied that if it was possible, I'd want the chance to insure that the likes of him never had the chance to kill or injure anyone like that again. So then you faded away and I woke up and my wiccan abilities had activated. So this is it, huh? Okay, then, I'm ready to go.]
The figure was an older redhaired woman with black wings and an antique hat and visor net over her features. She shook her head:
[Douglas Mercer, I am not here to collect you. You will have many more decades of life before I do return to take you and the man you share your life with back to the After with me. I am Scathach, the Angel of Death, but it is in my provenance to grant mercy where it is warranted. And the Powers That Be have ordained that you continue to live. Go to Daniel Osborne, Douglas. He needs you]
Doug needed no second bidding as he hurriedly dressed. He blurred out of the hospital, intent on preventing tragedy and further heartbreak in his wake.
Elsewhere, Oz had tracked Cain down, leaving one of the doors torn off his reliable if already battered van. Hurriedly, Cain had quit the derelict property, firing blindly at the oncoming mass of fur, red wolf eyes, muscle, sharp teeth and fury inexorably running behind him. Cain didn't know Sunnydale's terrain all that well, so it might have been an unpleasant surprise when he fell down a sheer slope and twisted his ankle. Even worse for him, the slayer and her entourage had turned up above him:
"No, Mr Cain. You do not pass this point." Buffy said coldly.
"But. He's not rational. He's an animal, he'll tear me apart. You're supposed to protect the weak and innocent."
"Too bad you're neither, then, Cain, isn't it? Item. You tried to kill Daniel Osborne. Item two. you shot and seriously injured one of my best friends, so really, not in the mood. Item three, Doug is Danny's partner. Item three, the whereabouts of Jordan Osborne, Oz's cousin, an eleven year old boy."
Willow and Tara stood, warding the opposite area as Ozwolf stalked toward Cain, who backed himself against a tree. There was an acrid smell of urine.
Lindsey sat on an oak tree stump shaking his head: "Sorry, man. No escape this way, either. Do as the nice slayer says. Stay put."
"Who appointed you judge and jury?"
Abruptly, there was a flash of green light and Doug Mercer stood there, unsteady on his feet:
"Excuse me? Who appointed you executioner, shitbrain? Pardon my language, I don't particularly like being at death's door."
Ozwolf crouched and licked his lover's face:
"Danny? Look, you're perfectly entitled to rip this piece of shit's throat out. But think about it. I can go in there and get closure for all the other lycanthropes he's murdered over the last few years. Think of the families and loved ones who'll be able to finally let their loved ones go and at peace. So yeah, you can dispose of that filthy vermin over there by that tree. Whatever you decide, I'll come with you."
Ozwolf crouched once more and looked up at Doug:
"Thank you, Danny. Cain? I wish I could promise this isn't going to hurt."
"No. No, get away from me, you ..."
"Shut the hell up. And remember, some of us are takin' notes" Lindsey gestured to Willow, who had taken out her laptop and linked to the FBI website. Doug's eyes began to glow an unearthly green as Cain tried to twist and turn, anything to get away from the tall, suddenly funereal telepath who stood above him looking down at him, face like thunder. Doug pulled him up, held his hands to Cain's temple and began to pull the information out of him, as Cain sobbed and screamed and then whimpered. Still, Doug bored on as Cain stuttered names, burial sites, dates, ordinance used and pelts delivered to his pitch black market in Sri Lanka. Willow tapped in the information, located satellite photograps as the number of resolved cold cases grew, until it all came down to one.
Doug brought his face next to Cain: "All right. One last effort. Where the hell is Jordan Osborne? What did you do to him, you-" And then Doug made contact. His eyes widened and he broke contact, howling himself:
"NO!!! NO!! You filthy murdering bastard! He was an eleven year old boy, he..."
There was sobbing from the corner as Ozwolf abruptly transitioned back to his human self. Doug staggered across the clearing and took his grieving partner in his arms. Tara was also quietly sobbing to herself in Willow's arms. Lindsey stood over Cain, staring down at him in disgust:
"Unlike you, mister, we don't summarily murder people in cold blood. Well, now you get to pay for everything you did, all those people you slaughtered. Especially Jordan. Depraved, filthy sack of shit."
Buffy joined her partner as she said: "Ah, sirens and helicopters. Good. Did we do good on this?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we did, sweetheart. Even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment."
"He'll pay for what he did. I doubt whether even Wolfram and Hart would accept someone like that as a client."
"They're in enough trouble as it is. I recognised several of the locations, in the same cities as WRH bases. Oh, this will be good. But damn it, did the cost have to be so high?"
And three days later, Doug and Oz attended Jordan's funeral. Doug escorted Oz to the verge of the funeral service and turned to go.
Maureen called: "No, Doug, don't go."
"But you want family only here, Mrs Osborne. It's okay, I understand."
Ken cleared his throat: "That's right, son. Look at you, You risked your life to save our nephew and you would have gladly done so in our son's case if it was probably up to you. You remind me of some of my old Marine buddies from Beirut. We do want family only here. And you're our nephew's partner, his husband. You're grieving too, I can see it in your eyes and in your face. You're family too."
"If I'd done my job properly..." Doug started sobbing.
"You didn't murder our son, that bastard Cain did. And he's going to fry for that. Come over here, Doug, honey..." And that afternoon, a tormented and brave man found some solace on a very dark day as he held the man he loved, lost in tears and grieving for a child who would never grow up.
At Ravello Drive, Buffy had just demolished her third punching bag:
"Tara? Do you have a tracking spell for Amy Madison?"
The pregnant witch nodded: "I know. I've been working on one ever since we found out about Jordan. You know, I almost wish Anya were back here.:
Buffy brushed a stray tendril of hair back into her headband: "Cain may be about to pay for all the people he slaughtered, but that's only half the deal. One way or the other, Madison has crossed a line now. For doing what she did to an innocent child, I will make that woman pay." Buffy stalked from the exercise room, as Willow looked at her retreating back:
"I'm worried about her."
"But she's right, Willow honey. How is this all going to end?"
THE END