By Hawk
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or any other character on the show.. unfortunately.
Summary: Tara has a dark secret that she has been keeping and its about to come out.
Note: I was disappointed by the big secret for Tara. We wanted for over a year to find out what was going on with her and to me it was a little of a disappointment (not that I wanted her to have some horrible past Criticism wanted.
Part One
The Scooby meeting was interesting process that Tara was just starting to get the hang of. There were two types; one was research mode where they knew what demon was attacking and were planning the next step of action. The other type was far more important. It was a time when all the Scoobies could get together and enjoy their friendships. Xander would make jokes and tell stories, while Buffy would talk about her latest patrol. Anya would embarrass everyone with her blunt discussion about sex, especially Giles, which Tara was starting to find more amusing and less embarrassing.
The best part of all was watching Willow relax and hang out with her friends. She loved to watch the red headed witch no matter the situation, but there was something special when she was around the rest of the Scoobies. This was her family, and Tara hoped that someday it would be hers as well. Since the moment she had met Willow, Tara felt something she had never felt before. It was beyond anything that she could even try to explain. When Willow was around she was whole.
Tara wasn’t a Scooby yet, at least in her own mind. Right now she was Willow’s ‘friend’ and she had no problem with that. After the Oz incident Buffy and Xander were making an effort to include her as a member of the group but they still didn’t really know anything about her, and Tara wanted to keep it that way.
Her secret was too dark to have anyone know about it, and she had a feeling if she spent too much time with Buffy that the slayer might figure it out. If it weren’t for Willow she wouldn’t have been here. Her whole world revolved around the fiery hacker and she was willing to risk anything to make her happy. Tara was never part of a group before. Her whole life she socialized with only a few people and now everyone wanted to know about her. When Willow asked about her past, she had been gently knowing it was not a happy part of her life but everyone else questioned her openly which was dangerous.
Tonight was a social Scooby meeting and they were expecting Buffy back from patrol any minute. Today had been perfect for Tara. She met Willow for lunch and then spent the rest of the day walking around Sunnydale just enjoying each other’s presence. For the past few weeks the demonic activity had been on the low and that creates an edgy slayer.
“Watcha looking at?” Willow whispered into the blond ear.
Tara couldn’t help the smile that crossed her lips. “Just looking at some spells we might want to try later.”
“Something fun I hope,” she smiled sensuously causing Tara to blush and hide her face under a veil of blond locks. Willow couldn’t help but get a little cocky when Tara didn’t stutter. It had taken a while, but she was finally breaking through the blond’s shell.
“Of course. Run along I’m almost done here, and I think Giles will need you. Anya is telling them another story of when she was a vengeance demon.” Tara joked but knew her words were close to the truth. Willow gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then hurried over to see what horrifying story Anya was telling now.
‘Tara, I must speak with you. It is important,’ a familiar voice spoke within Tara’s head. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Anya was busy telling another anecdote about a cheating husband and how she involved his prized ‘possession’ and a nest of rabies infested rats and that was just for starters, they would have seen Tara eyes completely loss focus and her body go completely rigid.
‘Keth what are you doing here? Buffy is out there and ready for action,’ she quickly sent back. She looked around the Magic Shop to make sure no one noticed her reaction and was relieved to find herself undiscovered; even Willow hadn’t noticed anything.
‘Would I come here if it wasn’t important? Please, I’m in the alleyway outside the Magic Shop,’ he pleaded. Tara knew something bad had happened or Keth would never have risked coming out in the open.
‘I coming,’ she sent and then out loud, “I have to go.” Everyone looked at Tara confused by her sudden outburst.
Willow quickly moved to her side concerned at the subtle change with the woman she was starting to fall in love with. She wasn’t able to put her finger on what the difference was but something had changed. “Are you alright, baby? Do you want me to walk you home?” she asked.
“N-no, I’ll be fine. I just f-forgot something I n-need to do. I’m s-sorry.” She gave Willow’s hand a quick squeeze as she started walking towards the door to leave.
Outside she felt the calming presence of Keth and hurried over to him. Tara reached the mouth of the alleyway to hear Buffy call out, “Hey Tara hold up… Tara run behind you!”
She turned to see Buffy running towards her as fast as her slayer strength would let her. Doing the only thing possible, Tara placed herself in between Buffy and Keth, hoping to keep this situation from exploding any further.
“B-buffy, l-let me explain,” she tried to talk around her stutter.
Buffy stopped dead as she watched Tara protecting the demon. The two sides of Buffy started to wage within her. The slayer side wanted to attack and lash out with the anger of another ‘friend’ betraying her. Buffy’s human side wanted to understand what was going on. She had known Tara for over six months now and never once had she done anything suspicious, until now.
“TARA!” Willow cried as she ran out of the Magic Shop with Giles and Xander in tow. All three stopped dead in their tracks. All they could tell was Tara had her back turned to a demon in the alleyway and it looked like she was protecting in from Buffy.
“P-please, l-let me explain in-inside. K-keth w-won’t hurt anyone. I s-swear,” Tara pleaded to the group in front of her. After looking at everyone, begging with her eyes, she turned to Willow hoping that she would still trust her. Willow was the only person truly knew of the Scoobies and prayed that it would be enough.
“Yes, why don’t we step inside. This might be better dealt with away from prying eyes and ears,” Giles conceded though he looked a little reluctant to have an unknown demon inside his store.
Buffy didn’t move. “I’m not going to let some demon in the Magic Shop. I think that are dear innocent Tara here should start talking and explain why she has been lying to us for the past six months.” Before Giles could chide his slayer, a low growl came from the creature behind Tara, a sound of pure rage.
Her slayer instincts were about to win out but Tara beat her to the punch. She spun on her heels and glared at Keth then demanded, “Stop right now. I gave them my word that you would be on your best behavior, and I expect you to do just that.” Her voice held none of the hesitation or stutter that it usually did.
“But she questioned your honor. I am bound to defend you; body, spirit as well as honor.” Keth defended himself.
“Your are bound to do what I ask and I am asking that you be on your best behavior; no matter what is said about me. This world does not go by the old laws,” she finished softy letting him know that she wasn’t really mad at him.
She turned to look at the others and found them all staring at her. Willow was the only one who'd ever seen this side of her. The person who could talk without stuttering and able say two sentence together, but she hadn’t seen Tara ever speak with so much force. “P-please, can w-we go inside n-now?”
Everyone quickly headed into the Magic Shop and for the first time the Scoobies got a good look at Keth. He looked like a crossbred of Ludo from The Labyrinth and the creature in Predator. He stood at an intimidating height of around six and a half feet and looked to be pure muscle. Keth stood behind Tara ready for anything while the others moved to other side of the store trying to figure out what was the next course of action.
Luckily Anya was the one that broke the ice. She had gone into the back room to get something when Buffy had yelled so she had no idea what was going on. When she walked into the main room she was nearly had a heart attack. It had been twenty years since she had seen a Goldwyn Demon but they weren’t the type that you would ever forget.
“My God! D’Hoffryn didn’t send you did he? He can’t hold any grudge to me that makes no sense. Please I will do anything.” She looked around the room and noticed that no one know what the hell she was talking about. Then looked at Buffy’s posture and once again started to shake her head. “I have no connection to the slayer, but if she was stupid enough to attack you please except my apology on her behalf. She doesn’t know who you are…”
“A-anya he isn’t h-here to h-hurt anyone. H-he’s with me.” Tara said quietly cutting off another rant Anya was about to start.
“He’s here with you, but that doesn’t make any sense. You’re not a member of any royal clans… Wait a minute what is your clan name?” Anya demanded as she saw Tara flinch. Out of all the people Anya had meet she would have never thought that Tara was clan. Sure she was a witch and from what little she had seen a powerful one, but still that wasn’t enough to go on.
It took a moment for Tara to speak. “My family name is Comsario.” It was a simple answer but she knew what was going to happen next and she dreaded it more than anything in the world.
The sight was something the Scoobies never thought they would see in this lifetime. Anya, the girl that bowed down to no one was on the ground almost kissing Tara shoes. “I am soo sorry for anything I have ever said that might have offended you. I didn’t know, please forgive me.” She tried to go on but stopped when Tara placed her hands gently on her shoulders. It was a great honor to have someone of the Comsario family speak to you much less touch you.
“You are no longer Anyanka. You have no allegiance to my family name or me. You are mortal now and should treat me like Tara. You are my friend and I’m asking you to do this for me.” Tara’s voice was soft but everyone noticed once again that she didn’t stutter.
“Mistress, I have to speak with you.” Keth whispered. “It’s about your brother.” Tara no longer cared who was in the room, or the fact that Keth called her mistress even though she told him he didn’t have to. She turned to look at him scared at what news was about to come. “He has sent ten Goldwyn warriors to bring you home.”
“What!?” Buffy cried as she felt her anger rising. “Why did you wait this long to tell us something like that? There’s no telling what kind of damage that have been doing while I wasted time with you.” She started to move towards the door when she found it blocked by a large Goldwyn demon. “I recommend that you get out of my way. I’m not going to let any innocents die while you mess around.”
Keth stayed where he was. “I saved those innocents you just spoke about. If I hadn’t stopped them they would have already looted the town looking for Tara. I was able to keep them on the outskirts of town waiting for her to come to them.” He stopped and turned towards Tara, “There isn’t much time left.”
Buffy tried to move closer to the door. “And why are we supposed to believe that they will stay at the outskirts. Why would they believe you?”
“I gave them my word of honor and they gave me theirs,” he said making it clear that the matter was over.
“Yeah like demons really have any kind of honor,” Xander joked but soon found out that he was the only one laughing. As he felt everyone looking at him he once again remember to put his foot in his mouth.
Anya ran over to him hitting him as hard as she possible could. “What are you thinking. Goldwyn Demons are honor bounds. The only thing that matters in their life is honor. You just challenged him. He has a right to demand a fight to the death. How can you be soo stupid?”
Xander’s face paled as he looked over at Keth and when he saw the look in the demon’s eyes he paled a little more. “Hey, my bad. I didn’t know. This is me putting foot in mouth. I didn’t know,” the begging obvious in his voice.
Keth stood immobile his entire body completely rigid. After a moment he relented the fire blazing in his eyes dying down. Once Willow noticed that Tara had placed her hand on his arm and that was the real reason he was kept in check.
“I-I must g-go.” Tara said quietly. She whispered a few words to Keth and started to move towards the door.
“You have an hour and then I’m going to be coming after you.” It wasn’t a threat and Tara knew it. Buffy was just letting her know how much time she had to get everything done.
As she opened the door she looked over at Willow with a longing look. There was so much she had to tell her but no time. She just prayed that she would get the chance. And that everything would work.
Willow didn’t like the look that Tara had given her. She saw the love flowing from the blond witch but there was something else there and that something didn’t make Willow feel any better. She sensed that Keth had moved behind her and his presence was surprisingly welcome. He was a part of Tara and she could feel that, but something bad hung in the air and it scared her.
Tbc…