Author's Note: Believe me when I say that I didn't intend to drop off the face of the earth and for that I am sorry. Life threw me a couple nasty curve balls and these stories became forgotten. Now I am back and wishing to complete them. I intend to finish Willow: The Crow and hopefully get around to The Lost Warrior.

Special thanks to my Beta Reader, Sapphire.

Willow: The Crow

Chapter 6

Buffy raced down the sidewalk along the streets of Sunnydale running as fast as her legs could carry her, knowing that her mother's life hung in the balance. The cult members holding her mother hostage threatened to kill her if she didn't follow their instructions to the letter and on time.

High above her, invisible in the night sky was Willow's spirit guide, the crow. Willow told her that whatever the crow sees, she can see it too. Buffy had to admit that the crow gave her the creeps, but now that black bird was her guardian angel. She was counting on it to keep tabs of her whereabouts and to bring the Scooby gang to the rescue when the time came.

After checking another street sign, she realized she was one block from the corner of Louis and Newbury.

Then up ahead, a shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree and onto the sidewalk, blocking her path. For a second, she thought he was a cult member plotting an ambush but her Slayer instincts told her otherwise. Also, the demonic features and fangs were just one more clue as to who it was. Not breaking stride, Buffy barrelled straight at the vampire.

It growled in amusement at the petite figure running up to him. "Hello lunch. What's the rush…"

That's all he got out before Buffy cuffed him with a good right hook, knocking him flat on his back. Barely breaking stride, she sidestepped him and continued on her way to her destination.

O-X-O

At Giles home, Xander anxiously paced back and forth in the living room, before looking at Willow again who was sitting on the couch. Her eyes were nearly void of life as she focused all her efforts on tracking Buffy, by using her spirit guide as a surveillance bird in every sense of the word.

Willow suddenly let out a faint cry, her body tensing. Alarmed, everyone now turned their attention to her, wondering what happened.

"What's wrong?" Xander asked, hurriedly sitting back down beside her.

"A damn vampire looking for a meal…" Willow whispered as her eyes stared ahead, seeing something only she could see. "He tried to stop Buffy."

"Is she all right?" Giles asked.

A smiled crept across her lips. "She plowed right over him." Then she frowned with worry. "He's getting back up… I think he's going to chase after her."

"That's the last thing Buffy needs." Tara said.

Willow's brow tightened in concentration. "He won't get far."

O-X-O

Glaring in rage, the vampire started to rise to his feet to chase after his escaping prey when he heard a high pitch screech coming directly from behind. So loud, it sounded like a runaway death train. Terrified, he looked behind just in time to see the huge wingspan of a crow, aiming to try and take his head off.

The vampire flinched and ducked down as the crow shot over him. When the night crawler looked up from his crouching spot on the sidewalk, the bird was gone and so was the blonde girl.

"The hell with this!" He grumbled before standing up and heading off in the other direction. Getting knocked down by a girl was bad enough but getting his head nearly taken off by an attack bird? He decided to return home and not to press his luck. Tonight was not his night.

O-X-O

Buffy finally reached the street corner as instructed, and glanced about the darkened houses lining the streets at this late hour, wondering to herself. Okay, I'm here. Nowwhat?

"Slayer."

She turned to the sound of the voice but saw no one.

"Come closer Slayer."

The voice was coming from a nearby sedan. As Buffy approached, she noticed a tiny two-way radio resting on the roof. She walked up and grabbed the radio, trying to control her anger as she spoke into it, pressing the talk button.

"I'm here."

"Get in the car. The keys are in the ignition and a map with directions are on the passenger seat. Drive to the area shown. And Slayer, do hurry." The voice over the radio taunted.

Walking around the car and opening the driver side door, she slid into the driver's seat. After closing the door, she noticed the map on the passenger seat as described and a camera mount on the dashboard, pointed right at her.

Buffy muttered under her breath. "Cute, and probably to be sure I don't bring any hitchhikers."

Glancing at the map, she then started up the car, flipping on the headlights and drove into the night. High above, the crow continued to follow her.

O-X-O

The map led her out of town to an abandoned open-mine pit. As Buffy drove, she didn't encounter any other cars along the road, which hit home as to how far out of the way this place was. It was isolated, far from prying eyes and any possible help. All the while, the Slayer prayed that Willow's 'better half' stayed with her. If not, this might end badly for her and her mother.

When Buffy reached the open-mine pit, the front gate to the shutdown mine was opened as she pulled in off the road and onto its grounds.

"You're on time," Buffy heard Nick's voice over the radio. "Drive straight ahead and park next to the yellow shed. You can't miss it."

Buffy obeyed as she looked left and right but she couldn't see anything beyond the headlights of her car. They were watching her. The Slayer realized and was at their mercy just as long as they had her mother.

As told, Buffy spotted the yellow shed and she parked along side of it. She grabbed the radio and spoke heatedly into it. "I'm here. Now what?"

"Get out of the car and to your left, walk in that direction." Nick ordered.

"Then what?"

"Just get walking Slayer."

Buffy looked outside of the car and could see only darkness. "Its pitch black out, how I am supposed…"

Suddenly, every light in the mine-pit switched on. Seeing the way lit now, Buffy murmured into the radio. "Never mind."

Stepping out of the car with radio in hand, she walked in the direction given, her eyes scanning to the left and the right, suspicious of everything and expecting to be attacked any moment. After walking two hundred feet, she reached the edge of the open-pit mine, which stretched out before like a giant sunken stadium. At the bottom she saw several spot lights set up on the floor of the mine pit. There she spotted an eighteen wheeler tractor trailer parked down there and in the middle of the mine floor she saw a figure lying prone and unmoving.

"Mom!"

Abandoning all thoughts of her safety, Buffy raced down a haulage road used by big dump trunks to remove rubble and the ore they were mining. Running as fast as possible, the mining road zigzagged left and right before Buffy reached the bottom of the pit, several hundred feet down.

Drawing closer, Buffy could clearly see the person lying, unmoving on the rough stony ground now. It was her mother but there was a sack covering her head and her right ankle was chained to a heavy steel post rammed into the ground.

Throwing the radio aside, Buffy dropped to her knees beside the still form of Joyce Summers. "Mom!"

Ripping the bag off her head, Buffy was relieved to see it was her mother and she was still breathing. She tried to shake her awake. "Mom!"

Joyce barely responded to Buffy's attempts to wake her. Her mother appeared to be drugged. The Slayer realized she had to get her out of here. Buffy grabbed the chain that was secure around her ankle with a heavy padlock and tried to break it but it was too strong. She then got up and went to the steel post the other end of the chain was attached to and heaved on it, trying to pull it from the ground but it refused to budge.

Suddenly, Buffy heard laughter coming from the radio that she had tossed away moments before, laying just a couple of feet away. Nick's voice taunted her.

"Unless you have the strength of a bulldozer, you won't be removing that post or breaking the chain anytime soon."

Buffy ignored him, and kept working on the chain with all her might. Again, Nick's annoying voice sounded over the radio. "I'm not sure if you can hear me Slayer but look up to your left."

With a frustrated sigh and unable to free her mother, Buffy glanced in the direction she was told and spotted seven brown robed figures standing on the upper ledge of the mining pit.

Slowly, Buffy released the chain and walked over to the radio, picking it up and speaking angrily into it. "Yeah, I can hear you Dick and I hope you can hear me. I've made some mistakes in my life and the biggest one was not letting Willow go after you."

Looking down at Buffy from the top of the mine pit, Nick chuckled saying into the radio. "I was meaning to ask you that. How did Willow return from the grave? Was it magic?"

"Go and ask her yourself." Buffy growled. "But you know what, even if I don't make it out of here, I'll take comfort knowing that she'll still be here to deal with you Dick."

"How very mature of you to resort to name calling," Nick laughed. "Do you see that tractor trailer behind you?"

Buffy turned and looked at the eighteen wheeler parked just a hundred feet from her before asking into the radio. "Yeah and let me guess, there's something inside meant for me?

"You are a smart little demon hunter."

"Gee, thanks Dick." Buffy replied sarcastically. "Coming from a murderer, that means absolutely nothing."

"I'm going to enjoy watching the Volbalt devour you whole."

"Dick, being devoured by a demon might be better than listening to you for the rest of the night. Are you planning to talk me to death Dick?"

"Listen to me you little bitch…"

"No you listen, Dick!" Buffy hissed into the radio while glaring up at him. "You are a coward and a murderer who picked the wrong victim! Believe me when I say she's coming for you!"

"Are we still talking about Willow," Nick laughed. "Is that supposed to scare me?"

"I would be. I'm a Slayer and I don't kill humans. I wouldn't say the same thing about her."

Nick chuckled. "After we're done here, we'll be long gone. Your time is up."

Buffy silently hoped that Willow's bird was able to follow her and the cavalry was on its way. For now, she had to stall as long as she could.

"In that case Dick. I have one thing to tell you…" Buffy started to say when she heard the welcoming sound of fluttering wings. Still holding the talk button on the radio, she turned and saw Willow's spirit guide perched up on the steel post right next to her. Never had she dreamt that creepy crow bird of Willow's would look so wonderful. That means she and the others are not far behind.

The bird actually made eye contact with her and the Slayer had to smile before saying out loud to it. "Oh, I love you!"

Up on the ledge of the mine pit, Nick gave a puzzled look to the rest of his cult members. He could honestly say that he didn't expect to hear Iloveyoufrom the Slayer over the radio. He was uncertain as how to respond. "Uh, that's nice to hear but you are still going to die."

From behind them came the sound of an approaching car roaring up the gravel yard as it skidded to a halt just thirty feet from them, leaving them in the glare of its headlights. They all turned as several figures jumped out of the vehicle and lined up in front of the car. The headlights were still on, making it impossible to tell who they were but Nick already had an idea.

A familiar voice came from one of the figures obscured by the glare of the car lights. It was almost a sweet singsong voice with a hint of menace laced with it. "Which one of you goes by the name of Nicky?"

"Willow Rosenberg," Nick said aloud, recognizing her voice. "Welcome back to the Land of the Living. I'm curious what deal you struck to make that happen."

Buffy's rescuers were now all lined up in a row facing against the cult members, five against their seven. The car headlights still made it impossible to see them clearly. They were just black outlines but he could tell that Willow was in the center of the group, directly in front of the car when she spoke.

"A girl never gives away her secrets Nicky but I will tell you this. If you and your little boy band surrender and confess your crimes to the authorities, I promise to only mildly beat you to a pulp."

"That's it," The leader of the cult laughed. "Just confess my crimes to the police? What if I and my followers refuse?"

"Then you are all going to die by my hand, sliced wide open and screaming like you did to me."

Nick paused for a moment, lifting his right hand to his chin. "In that case, I will carefully consider your generous proposal."

After a second, he sighed. "Fuck it." Nick then pointed his right hand at Willow and a bolt of lightning leapt from his finger tips, striking her. He watched with satisfaction as the woman fell into a crumpled smoking heap.

Tara and Anya were to the right of Willow and the young witch cried. "Willow!" She tried to go to her aid but the former vengeance demon stopped her.

"Wait," Anya whispered to her. "Trust me and just wait. They're the ones that are going to die and they don't even know it yet."

To the left of her, Giles and Xander looked briefly at her fallen form with concern but didn't move to go to her aid, instead wisely followed Anya's advice and kept their attention on the cult members facing them.

Nick glared at the Scooby gang in disgust. "You think you can make demands to me! I'm the one who discovered the Slayer's true identity! I'm the one who saw the true potential of the Vobalt! I clued in to the existence of the Initiative long before any of you! In the end I will harvest the power of the Hell Mouth under Sunnydale itself!" He threw up his hands and shouted. "I will crush you all like insects!"

Then a singsong voice with a hint of menace answered back. "Bored now!"

"Huh?" Shocked, Nick went to cast his eyes back on Willow's still form on the ground just before something struck him in the right shoulder like a fist. He was knocked flat on his back from the impact before feeling the enormous pain. Looking, he was shocked to see a handle of a knife protruding from his shoulder with its blade buried inside him.

Confused and grimacing in pain, he finally looked back towards Willow and saw her simply standing back up as if nothing had happened. Her right hand was still extended in his direction when she threw that dagger at him. It was impossible! He hit her with everything he had with that lightning bolt. Even if she wasn't human, there was no way she could recover that fast. Even the strongest of demons wouldn't be able to shrug that attack off so easily.

"Today is not a good day to be bad guy, Nick." Willow whispered.

Xander was unable to resist from chiming in. "Oh, someone is going to get it."

Nick struggled to stand. "What the hell are you?"

Stepping forward, Willow moved out of the glare of the car headlights and at last, Nick and his cult members could finally see her face and as he expected, Willow had changed. Her natural red hair was now jet black, and her face… Nick blinked in disbelief. It was white with her eyes and mouth highlighted in black and when she sneered at them, it pretty well made her the scariest thing to have ever walked in Sunnydale simply because she, whatever she had become, was after them now. Willow now stood within ten feet of the cult members.

Crouching and with his only good remaining arm, Nick fumbled for his right pocket in his robe with his left hand, pulling a small remote device. He yelled at his followers.

"We worked too hard to come this far to fail now. Stop her!"

All six of his followers paused, unsure what to do. Willow was far in the lead now, with Xander, Giles, Anya and Tara standing just twenty feet behind. In her left hand, down by her waist, Willow held her katana, still in its sheath.

Willow looked at the cult members and spoke in a seductive voice to them. "What's wrong, boys? Not used to your victims facing you. Oh, I can fix that."

Xander's jaw dropped as Willow turned her back on them before she said aloud. "Okay, take your best shot!"

Three cult members took her up on that offer and moved to attack. They drew long bladed daggers from her robes as they charged at Willow exposed back. Her weapon was still sheathed, leaving her defenceless. Or so they thought.

Xander opened his mouth to scream, to warn her but Willow looked at him and merely winked. Then he watched in one elegant move, she drew the katana in a single smooth stroke like she had practiced it a thousand times. Willow then spun her entire body clock wise with the cutting edge of the blade extended outward. Crouching slightly, she continued her spin as she ran the blade across the abdomens of the three attacking cult members.

Their horrible screams filled Xander's ears as the katana's razor sharp blade sliced their stomachs wide open. Their insides and the three cult members, to which the insides belonged, fell to the ground as Willow now stood over them, her sword dripping with their blood.

Xander blinked, it all happened in seconds. He was awestruck and terrified all in the same breath. Willow cut them down like wheat stocks and wielding that weapon like a samurai from all those martial arts movies he used to watch.

He heard someone vomit and he looked to his right and saw Tara doubling over. He couldn't blame her. Killing vampires is clean when they turn to dust but killing humans especially with a bladed weapon, is messy and ugly. Strange, he thought he would be happier seeing Willow dealing out justice to her murderers but he didn't feel like celebrating much. It also did little to dampen the anger he still felt because Willow was still dead. After this, regardless who wins her spirit guide will be taking her back after her mission is done. Nothing they do will change that.

Glancing past Tara, his wife, Anya watched with keen interest. Xander could also understand why, being the Crow is about vengeance, righting wrongs and this was in perfect step with her former past as a vengeance demon. She felt a kinship with the crow. Although, Anya's idea of righting wrongs is geared more towards cheating men.

Looking to his left and standing next to him was Giles who stood silently, watching with a passionless expression. Of all of them, Xander was worried about the ex-watcher the most. Ever since his 'mind-meld' with Willow, he had become a little withdrawn. Seeing Willow's final moments from her point of view, affected him deeply, regardless of his denials.

Years ago, Giles became a sort of a surrogate father to them all and he felt the same way about them. Now, one of his adopted kids was brutally murdered and he was given a window seat as to how it happened. How would something like that mess with someone's mind?

Xander had no idea how Willow exactly died and she wasn't telling and he really didn't want to find out but Giles knew first hand. The fact he watched Willow slice three of them down and he didn't so much as flinch bothered Xander. Giles was always the voice and pillar of calm reason but now, he was a monument for cold indifference and Xander didn't like it.

"Bitch!" Xander's attention was brought to Nick, as the cult leader cursed Willow.

"Oh, Nicky," Willow called out to him in a belittling and teasing voice. "Do yourself a favour and don't run. You'll just die tired."

"You fucking bitch!" Nick yelled again in pain as he pulled the knife from his shoulder and threw it on the ground. "You think you can beat the rest of us?"

"Nicky, don't make me cranky. You wouldn't like it when I'm cranky." Willow smirked and snapped her fingers at the remaining three cult members. She never even bothered to look at them before saying. "I'm giving you three a head start. Get running!"

The three robed figures just looked at one another before all hurrying off to escape. Willow just smiled at Nick. "Oh look! Us just became just you."

Nick was beside himself in rage at the betrayal his followers had so easily executed. His shoulder was hurting as blood slowly flowed from it, staining his brown robe… and this resurrected thing before him was now making a mockery of him. "You bitch!"

"You are so smart, Nicky! Yes, keep insulting the dangerous undead woman with the sword, why don't you." Willow now glanced to the rest of the Scooby-gang. "Go and catch the rest of his stooges. Nicky Boy here is all mine!"

Willow stepped over the bodies of the three slain cult members and towards Nick, twirling her sword. "Oh, how I have waited for this moment."

"You think you got me!" Nick raged as he backed away before pressing the button on the remote. "Think again!"

Meanwhile, down in the mining pit, Buffy was trying to figure out what was going on as she continued to try and free her mother. After Willow's birdie showed up, she saw the glare of headlights of an approaching vehicle shining behind Nick and his cult members. She assumed and hoped it was Willow and the rest of her friends finally arriving. Nick and his followers then moved out of sight. After a minute, she heard what sounded like a lightning bolt and Nick shouting something before he screamed. Then even more horrible screaming followed that one.

A minute later, Buffy saw a figure appearing at the ledge of the mining pit again. It looked like Nick and another figure that was stalking him and twirling a sword. It was Willow! The cavalry had arrived!

She suddenly heard a buzzing and a loud clicking sound coming from the eighteen wheeler behind her. Turning, Buffy saw the rear doors to the trailer section of it popping open slightly. Then everything was silent before the doors exploded off their hinges as this huge and ugly demon beast leapt from the trailer.

It roared and hissed as the monstrosity looked left and right before focusing on the Slayer who placed herself between it and her still unconscious mother. Buffy just stared up at it, eyes wide and jaw slack in shock and horror. The rough sketch in Giles' occult book didn't do the Volbalt justice.

Reaching behind, Buffy pulled a large bowie knife from the hidden sheath concealed under her jacket. She looked at her knife and then to the huge creature she was facing, before summoning up her situation in two words.

"Oh shit!"