WRATH OF THE EAGLE

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.

- Mark Twain

╟℣╢

Amy grabbed her leather duster off the chair and her notebook. She was dead tired after that bit of fighting she and the group had done with the Illuminati, mainly because of something that she hadn't been completely honest about…she had felt something, a familiar something that she felt every time before she went to…wherever the Hell she went to. Only, this time, she had resisted with everything she had. That was what got her so tired, and what made her sleep like the dead…literally.

"Hurry up," Lozen called to her, "Xander's going to be here any minute."

"Hey, Faith," Amy asked her friend, who was lying on the couch comfortably, secure in the knowledge that she wasn't about to be tortured for hours on end, "How come you don't have to go to school?"

"Lozen home schools me," the Slayer replied with a grin, "She's preparing me for my initiation."

"Into the Apaches," she asked, and Faith responded with a nod, "That is so cool."

"Benefits of being the surrogate daughter to a medicine woman," Faith stated, then turned as she heard a car outside, "Sounds like X's here."

"Yeah," Amy sighed, "Wish he got a flat for just one day. Oh, well. Bye."

She threw on her duster and made sure her book bag was squared away, before turning to the front door. As she opened it, however, she felt a burst of pain all over her body.

"AHH!!!!"

╟℣╢

"Cordy, I don't think Giles would ever down one of your ideas on purpose," Xander tried to console his girlfriend with a lie, but, they were getting so close now that she could tell whenever he lied.

"Quit lying, Dweeb.(See?) I know Giles wasn't doing that on purpose, but, it took like seventy minutes just to get him to even think about it," Cordelia said, despite her formerly better judgment, she had come to look upon Giles as a father figure, of sorts, in place of her real father, who did little more than buy his little girl prezies.

"…What exactly was your idea," Xander asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he listened and, after she was done, he had a dulled look in his eyes and said, "…That's possible."

"I know," Cordelia said, smugly, "So, do you want to go out after we get rid of the Illuminati?"

"Definitely," Xander admitted, "I've been riding us pretty hard, ever since we found the map. At least we know why Wolfram and Hart had it, now. That guy, Lindsey, must have been using it to research our group."

He stopped talking as he came within sight of Amy's house, but, he knew that silence wouldn't remain.

"You're darn right you have," Cordelia muttered, glancing down at her nails, "I haven't had a proper manicure in ages."

"Well-" he was interrupted as a piercing scream echoed throughout the entire neighborhood. Both of the car's occupants looked up at the house and gasped as they saw a flaming Amy being pulled into the house.

╟℣╢

Catherine Madison stood before the mirror, examining her beautiful new body with a sadistic glee. Her daughter, Amy, had been beautiful but, nowhere near as gorgeous as this girl. The legs of a swimmer, a robust bosom, toned abs. It was such a pity that she hid behind all this New Age clothing. A set of leather pants would do wonders for her ass.

She smiled as the thought caught in her mind. She was now even more insane than she had been in the first place. This time, though, she was not aching to join the cheerleaders…they were small potatoes when compared to what she was up against now. Now, she had set her sights upon gaining vengeance against those that she blamed for her imprisonment. While the blonde bitch, Buffy, had apparently moved on, that still left her with the idiot child who'd wanted to cut her head off, the mousy little redhead, and the Watcher, as well as her traitorous daughter. Oh, how she'd pay.

Her smile firmly in place, she focused only a small degree of her old energy, the energy that had remained inside her during her captivity, to create a pair of tight, leather pants and an equally tight, black shirt, along with a pair of designer boots. She put each article of clothing on delicately, invigorated with the sensations caused by the leather rubbing against her, sensations that she had long done without. Now, along with her desire for vengeance, she possessed a deep desire to explore those senses of lust, pleasure…and everything in between.

As she exited the luxurious flat the Mayor had procured for her, she caught sight of one of her neighbors, a gorgeous redheaded girl who was a swimsuit model. She must have been going to a shoot or on a break, for she was dressed in a yellow bikini that did many great things to her enlarged, plastic chest, with only a jacket to cover herself up. She wasn't modest, that much was clear.

As Catherine looked at her, she felt a large tingle down below…a tingle that she had usually gotten while looking at an edition of Playgirl magazine. Only, it was for this redhead. But, that didn't make sense. She was straight, not gay…

But, then again, she wasn't exactly herself. A body found things stimulating after a mind had been in control for long enough to set a pattern…apparently, this girl, Tara, had been either gay or bisexual and, as such, Catherine now found herself in the same boat. She may have been able to change these hormonal functions if she had taken possession of this body before puberty but, that wasn't the case.

Her thoughts were lost, however, as her neighbor took off her jacket, revealing every single curve and pore on her body. She felt that tingle multiply, aided by her tight, leather pants. Part of her wanted to move on, to not take any part in these feelings but, another part wanted to explore these feelings. Plus, it had been so long since she had gotten any…

She smiled and snapped her fingers, causing a small burst of magic to force itself into this girl's mind and create a single, incredibly strong impulse within this girl: obey. Without pause for thought, the model made her way down the hallway and stood before Catherine, a sultry smile on her face.

"Hello, Catherine the Great," she said in a seductive voice, "My name's Karin. May I come in?"

Catherine smiled and stood aside to let her in. She always got turned on whenever someone said her name like that and, since it was mental, it was the same in this body as it was in her own. She walked inside the apartment, knowing that she was about to have the time of her life.

Hours later, while she was sitting in her apartment, Karin would find that she had missed her shoot and had been fired from the set with no memory as to why, save for a funny looking mark on her thigh.

╟℣╢

Willow got out of the van the second it came to stop, with Oz and Giles not a step behind her, and the three raced up to the steps with speeds that would make an Olympic competitor jealous. Before they even got to the door, it was opened by a frantic Cordelia, who let them in without saying a word.

"…How is she," Giles asked as soon as he had caught his breath.

"She's coping," all three turned around as soon as they heard the voice of Lozen, who was looking as though she were incredibly tired, "She's got several third degree burns, a few first, but, other than that, she's well. She just can't go outside at all."

"…I don't understand," Giles contemplated as Cordelia led Oz and Willow upstairs to the Dhampir's room, "If she were to gain an intolerance to the sun, it would have arisen immediately…right?"

"I don't know, Rupert," Lozen answered, "Faith's upstairs with her, and Xander's at the school, she asked him to get her magic supplies out of her locker, just in case someone decided to break in. It happened before, while she was out of school last year."

"Is he bringing them here or is he storing them in the library," the Englishman asked.

"Most likely here," Lozen stated, "She'll be out of commission for, at least, a week, maybe even two. Her enhanced healing hasn't kicked in, for some reason."

Giles nodded in understanding, his mind already working to unravel the mystery before him. He sighed after a moment and put it aside, believing that Amy's safety was much more important at the moment.

╟℣╢

Amy looked up as she heard a set of footsteps come to her door. Before she thought, she moved to go and answer it, but bit back a whimper as she felt the burn on her backside spike up in pain.

"It's alright, Aims," Faith said to her with a small grin, "You stay still, and keep that ice on your gorgeous body, else it won't be gorgeous no more."

Amy chuckled at that and nodded, adding a bit more ice to her wounds as she did so. Faith smiled at her and said, "That's my girl." She turned back to the door and gently eased it open, since Amy still had a headache from the burns. She stood aside to allow Cordy, Red, and Oz entry into the witch's room.

"Try and be quiet, guys," Faith said to the group, "Aims's still got a headache from the fire."

The two nodded in understanding while Cordelia walked over to her friend and sat down in a chair, and Faith remained standing while Willow went to sit down beside her friend, respecting the witch's more urgent need to be beside her friend. Unlike the Bostonian, she hadn't been here for the Great Amy Fire.

"Hey, Will," Amy muttered to her friend with a smile.

"Hi, wicked witch," Willow said with a grin, "How're you feelin?"

"Like someone who'd just gotten out of a cast-iron skillet," Amy muttered, then, she turned her gaze against Oz and said, "Hey, Wolfie. Kill any rabbits lately?"

"Yep," Oz said with a straight face, "And all of them are for you, Amy."

"Thanks," she responded.

"…What happened," this question was asked by Cordelia, who hadn't said much of anything since arriving.

"…I wish I knew," Amy whispered.

╟℣╢

Catherine stood still, allowing her the ability to maintain her illusion as she watched the girls mill around, talking about boys, who's in with who, what's in style, and other matters that she had once found to be important. Now, as she gazed upon these girls, she found herself disturbed.

This was the so-called 'cream of the crop' when it came to today's teenagers? Her heart ached for her world.

Still, she would need at least one of these girls if she was going to accomplish her goal of revenge, particularly with the presence of two extremely powerful witches constantly nearby. If she were to be caught, it would not take them long to realize how to get the girl named Tara back into her original body. So, she needed an accomplice…and a scapegoat, should the need arise.

She watched with a sinister sneer as the girls cleared out, save one…she remembered all the times she had ridiculed her as her daughter.

Vengeance, it seemed, was in high demand today.

╟℣╢

Harmony Kendall sighed in relief as her 'friends' left the locker room. She had always wanted to be in Cordelia's shoes, to know what it was like to havethat kind of power. Now, she really wanted to give it back. It was SO difficult to keep up all the ploys, all the schemes, all for the simple purpose of getting ahead in a game.

Some days, she thought that the 'losers' like Harris, who wasn't much of a loser anymore, and Rosenberg, who was dating a guitarist for a hot band, were amongst the freest of the students. Still, whenever she thought about that, she reminded herself of the perks of power.

She sat straight up as she finished dressing, and grabbed her purse, about to leave, but…tensed as she saw someone in the corner of her eye. She had been the last one out…hadn't she?

She turned around, slowly, but not slowly enough as to inspire any amount of fear, and, as soon as she saw the girl, she released all her relief in one simple sigh, only to tense up again as she saw the dirty blonde's dress. She was gorgeous in black leather, in black PERIOD, even more so than she was gorgeous in pink.

She was competition if she went to the school. But, fortunately, she was dressed in leather, so, she might be able to make her into a slut…but, that was only if she planted the proper rumors.

"Excuse you," she said snidely, intending on cutting this little slut down to size, "Why don't you-"

"Sit," the blonde girl commanded and, before she even realized it, she had bent her knees down and claimed a seat on the bench she had been using before.

"…What," Harmony asked, even more confused than she usually was during remedial algebra.

"Be quiet," she tried to force some sound out, but, became increasingly alarmed as she discovered that her voice was inoperable. Her alarm only increased as the girl sat down beside her and grabbed her head, forcing her to look at the slut.

"…I remember being where you are," she said, more to herself than to Harmony, "Being the queen of the high school, the best at everything, with the hottest car, the hottest guy, and the whole populace under my thumb. Then," her grip tightened, and Harmony found herself gasping against the pain in her head, "I remember being at the bottom, struggling to get up to the top, to be where you are. Only to have it all snatched away, and to be locked away!"

Harmony flew backwards into the nearby wall as she felt herself propelled forward, by a woman who had seemingly used little to no strength. Great, she thought, Another Buffy Summers. She turned her gaze upward and cringed in fear as she watched the woman come forward. She stopped, however, before she could get too close, and looked down. Harmony followed her gaze and saw that her skirt was opened and, with her spread legs, the woman had a very…open view onto herself…and, more disturbing, Harmony realized that the woman liked what she saw.

The witch slowly raised her eyes until she made contact with Harmony's and, when she did, she slowly quirked her left eyebrow and licked her lips. Harmony's brain kicked in at that moment and she began to pick herself up, intending on running out of the locker room and into the protection of Principal Snyder. Before she could, however, the woman raised her hand and, before she even knew it, she knew nothing at all.

╟℣╢

Catherine smiled as she saw Harmony begin to move, and she calmly raised her hand up, pouring a small amount of power into the girl's mind. If it had been a nerd, a jock, or a Goth, she would have had a lot more trouble that she had. Fortunately, Harmony was little more than a pair of pleasant breasts with a mouth and blonde hair, and her mental abilities amounted to that, as well. She slammed through her mind easily, taking her over completely with little effort.

By the time she'd finished, she had turned Harmony into a passable version of the girl she had been, with only two differences: servile to Catherine, and only Catherine; and she now had a perfect memory. Slowly, Harmony finished out her movement and came to her feet, and Catherine returned her power of speech to her. As she did so, the cheerleader began to walk over to her, moving her hips in a seductive manner and licking her lips. Her eyes were dull, even duller than before, but, they held within them a sense of…servitude and lust.

Perfect.

She smiled even more as she felt her wrap her arms around Tara's body, the body she was occupying, and begin to kiss her along her neck. She sent a silent command, however, before she could allow her lust to get the better of her and, instantly, Harmony backed away and went to her knees, her head bowed down in respect.

"Plenty of time for that, later," Catherine said lightly, "Now, Harmony, I want you to…"