1. Chapter 1

Look Beneath The Cover

Rating: R

Copyright: 2011

Pairing: Willow/Harmony

Distribution: please ask

Feedback: yes please

Disclaimer: I own nothing in nor make any money off the stories that I write. All characters belong to their show creators. Any character that I create is mine and may not be used without asking.

Summary: A book should not be judged by its cover. Will Willow figure this out in time to help Harmony save lives?

Notes: This fic is set in season 4 but a few things will be changed around.

Chapter 1

Harmony Kendall stood outside of a house shortly after sunset. She was hid behind a big oak tree that used to have fond memories for her. She pulled her jacket tighter in an attempt to block the cool night air. The problem with that was that nothing could block the coldness that ran through her body except a good dose of warm blood. She once had so many goals for herself but was now reduced to a soulless creature that hunted human beings for dinner. That thought made her shiver all the more, she hated what she was forced to become but nobody would ever know it. If she allowed anyone to see her weaknesses, she would surely be dusted in some grandiose fashion by the slayer, a Scooby, or a demonic creature.

As she scanned the street for something that was not there, she looked around the property. The house was fully surrounded by a deck that was decorated with hand-carved furniture, which was painted in various shades of white. There were two gates on the deck that her father had made sure were extra secured to withstand the so-called drugged up biker attacks that frequented Sunnydale. There were pretty flowers and big trees throughout the yard but they didn't seem lively to Harmony anymore, something was missing at this place. The grass, though green, didn't have the prettiness to it anymore. Finally, the birds that lived in the trees didn't sing so happily anymore. As she moved towards the side of the house, she saw what she was looking for. They had made it safely home again but their smiles were a little darker than a few months ago.

As Harmony watched her family walk inside their house, her mind drifted back to graduation. Everyone that was not found alive in the aftermath of the Sunnydale graduation tragedy was presumed dead. The town had set up a big memorial service for all those who lost their lives and it was a very sad event. As they read the names of all those who died in the fire just after sunset one night, Harmony heard her own name spoke aloud and then it hit her. Though she could walk around, eat and drink, she was merely a shell. Her heart ceased to beat on that fateful graduation night, extremities stopped working, brain stopped functioning and lastly, the breathing stopped.

As did a few others from that horrific graduation, Harmony awoke a short time later. She was a new creature, supposed to be a predator, a killer, evil and had no soul. As she relived the events that changed her life forever, a blood-tear escaped down her cheek. It escaped for the life that was cut so short, the love that she could no longer give her little brother, the goals that she would never be able to meet and mostly, the family time that she would never again be able to have.

As she walked away from the home that she used to feel loved and secure in, the hunger pain hit Harmony's belly and she knew that it was time for another hunt. The sad memories of her former home were quickly leaving her, as she entertained the idea of how to capture her next victim. She had the luxury of retaining a few of her ideals from when she had a soul, such as her high standards when it came to the human race. She was very meticulous when it came to deciding whom she would bite. She didn't want unclean humans because they stank and probably didn't have good blood. She didn't want narrow-minded people because it was beneath her to associate with such persons, even though she was very narrow-minded. Lastly, she did want the nicer looking men and women because it gave her a feeling of control over something in her undead life. Harmony Kendall had been all about looks and presentation in her short life and there was no need to change her ways now.

Willow stood sullenly in an alleyway on a Thursday night. It certainly wasn't the smartest thing that she'd done but she didn't care right at the moment. College was supposed to be different for her but it was turning out to be a worse extension of high school.

Buffy was thriving in college, or so it seemed to Willow. She had had a bump in the road with that Parker guy but her new interest seemed to be promising. Oz had decided to go seek out help for the wolf and left Willow. Willow suspected there was more to it though she had no proof of that.

Xander's life was a mirror of her own, down in the dumps but Willow was certain she could top his seeing as he had a fling going with an ex-demon. Willow's hopes that a new blue-eyed shy friend of hers could help her forget Oz and find her true sexual identity were also being quashed. She couldn't even get a not so in crowd girl to notice her, was her line of thinking as she stood wallowing in self-pity.

"Oh lookie here! If it isn't Willow rosengeek! Oh my gosh! I'm stunned to see you out here." The unmistakable voice of newly vamped Harmony Kendall rang out in the empty alley like a shot in the dark.

Seeing as Willow looked a little haggard and a lot tired to Harmony, in addition to the vampire wanting some help from her, she decided to pass on that morsel for the time being. As she was turning away from the redhead, Willow's words stopped her. "Did you come to try and bite me again? Are you and Spike on another mission to kill Buffy?"

The vampire rethought her position, there was nobody here and it would be easy to get her this time. "No to both," the vampire said and walked off in search of a victim.

As Harmony walked off, her behavior sparked Willow's curiosity. She had just had the let down of a lifetime and needed something to focus on besides the shock that she received when she entered the Bronze earlier in the evening. She had gone there to see if her new friend, whom she had a crush on, Tara Maclay was there. She had introduced the shy girl to the club a couple of weeks back and was glad that her friends liked Tara. Willow had always known in the back of her mind of her sexuality but didn't want to do anything about it until she met this wonderful person. As she entered the club, she saw Xander's mouth agape and then the reason why, Tara was dancing with Buffy. Willow's heart sank and she had quickly turned away from the spectacle. What she did not see was Tara's smile brightening upon sighting Willow.

As Willow stood up to go see what had prompted Harmony to behave so strangely, she heard scuffling sounds a short distance off. She knew that the vampire was getting dinner and hoped that she could get there in time to stop it. She was no slayer by far but Harmony, supposedly, was not the most evil vampire around, which meant that maybe she had a chance to save someone.

As she raced around a corner at top speed, she saw Harmony standing up with a disgusted look on her face. "You were not fast enough Willow." The vampire said and plastered a confident look on her face. What Willow did not see, was that Harmony did not sire the dying man.

"You weren't good enough for Spike Harmony." Willow retorted in the best jab that she could think of quickly.

Harmony glared at Willow with yellow eyes and the redhead stepped back. "Spikey is a neutered vampire you fool! Why would I really want to stay with the likes of him now?" Harmony had the look that Willow was used to seeing from their high school days on her face, as she berated the redhead in her classic Cordette fashion.

"According to him, you were grief-stricken when he dumped you. He says that you aren't even good at being a vampire." Willow taunted, as she wondered why she was doing this in the back of her mind. She had merely come here to find out why Harmony was acting so odd to keep her mind off Tara and Buffy. Now she was taunting the vampire into an angered state.

Harmony was in front of Willow in a flash and had the redhead on the ground with a quick shove. "Do you want to find out how good I am Willow?" Harmony asked and spat the last of the blood onto the redhead. "I left you alone back there but you couldn't leave me alone could you. Why is that Willow?" The vampire enquired with venom in her voice, as a red scaly creature watched them.

Willow looked up at the vampire, who stood over her in a superior manner. The Cordettes flaunted their superiority over her in school and now the vampire was continuing the routine. That old feeling crept its way back into Willow's head. The feeling of not being worth anything to anyone when she was not doing the things that she excelled n to help them. She knew that Buffy was her friend but also knew that she truly did not belong in that crowd, the popular crowd that consisted of pretty girls who could get dates with anyone. The thing that got Willow was that Tara didn't seem to fit into that crowd either but seemed comfortable dancing close with Buffy. "Just go," Willow said in a defeated tone of voice, as the vampire turned her head to the side and listened intently.

"I've got a much better idea," Harmony said with a smile on her face. "I could actually use your help and might find some way of returning the favor."

"You've got to be nuts!" Willow's voice rose to indicate that maybe her brain was coming back to life and she shouldn't be fraternizing with a vampire. Even if said vampire wasn't the smartest nor most dangerous vamp on the block.

"On the contrary my dear Willow." Harmony said and gestured for Willow to follow her. "Keep your voice down." Harmony added hoping that she could keep enough distance between she and Willow to fool the demon who was trying to acquire her services.

"Get real Harmony!" Willow's anger seethed through her words as she turned to face the vampire once again. "Why would I want to help you? It wasn't so long ago that you tried to bite me! You tormented the hell out of me from grammar school all the way up to graduation! Give me one good reason why I would want to help you so I can torment you by saying no! It'll be like a good payback time for me and I really could use a good payback time!"

Harmony looked at Willow with one of those dismissive looks that the Wiccan had grown so used to from her and her crew leader, Cordelia Chase. "Spike told me that the wolf left you. He said it was the perfect time to hit you where it hurts. He wants to kidnap you to get Buffy to come. There again, you are being used as second fiddle. What I want will put you at first fiddle and isn't going to hurt anyone."

"You've got five minutes and no more." Willow said and started after the vampire. There was a part of her that knew this was a bad move: while another part of her didn't care because that part wanted to be adventurous for a change. It was that part of her that knew it had to move forward at some point and show the world she was a capable person rather than a yes woman. "Wait a minute, Spike can't hurt humans anymore!" Willow shouted in an exasperated tone.

"Five minutes Willow." Harmony said as the two walked behind a shopping center. Harmony glanced wistfully up at the windows of the store that she once shunned. She would give anything now to be able to venture into that store during the day.

As Harmony glanced up at Willow's favorite clothing store, Willow caught a hint of something in the vampire's eyes. Was she mistaken or was there a hint of misery reflecting in the former snark princesses features? "Where are we going Harmony?" Willow questioned with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "I don't want to go into a crypt and don't think we should be seen walking the streets together for to long."

Harmony didn't answer but kept walking briskly. She didn't want to be seen on the streets under any circumstances' by anymore creatures then had already seen her right now, let alone with Willow. Thus being seen gave the vampire the zeal to move more quickly towards Willow's house.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

"You think I'm going to let you in my house?" Willow looked quizzically at Harmony. "I've had enough crap going on over the last few days and I don't…"

Harmony ducked around the corner quickly as Spike came bounding towards Willow with a snarled look on his face. "I'm a bit up for a battle tonight and maybe if I take you the slayer will come!" He spat in a rage. "How dare you people take what is mine!"

"I don't know what you are talking about Spike and I've had enough run ins with vampires to last me a lifetime!" Willow shouted but her tone of voice betrayed her and showed her lackluster mood. "I can't help it that you got yourself chipped and…" Willow wondered if that is what Spike was talking about or maybe something more important, like the gem he'd gone off in search of according to what Harmony had told of him last week.

Spike stood statue still for a moment and noticed the scent of another vampire. As a matter of fact, he thought, that was Harmony. "You plannin' to mate up with a vampire Red?"

Knowing Spike, the term "mate up" could mean more than one thing. "I was arguing with Harmony," Willow pointed and Spike turned in the opposite direction. This gave Willow enough time to dive in her door and do the unthinkable.

Willow regretted her invitation to the blonde vampire as soon as Harmony sauntered through the door. She knew Buffy would be mega angry and rightly so. She knew that she may not live to feel the brunt of Buffy's anger nor Giles' fury. She knew that this was probably the most harebrain thing she had done but it was done so she may as well suck it up. "All right, the clock is ticking." Willow said with a vain effort to show no fear in her voice.

Paying no attention to Willow's moral struggles, Harmony produced a ring with a stone in it. "I let it slip that Spike was looking for this for a reason." She finally spoke and got Willow's attention to turn to the ring.

"Oh my goddess!" Willow shrieked but did not make a move towards the gem. "That's the gem to give vampires the ability to walk around in the day. Spike thinks we took it and is blaming you for telling us. That's why he is so pissed off."

"Willow please stop, you are on my five minute clock." Harmony said in an exasperated manner.

"What are you planning to do with that?" Willow asked and looked around the room for a weapon but saw nothing.

"I want you to move the power from this little gem here and give it to me. Nobody else will be able to fight over the damn thing and I will get some form of existence back." Harmony said and smiled inwardly at still being able to stop Willow's babbling and body language dead in their tracks.

"Have you gone mad Harmony?" The look on Willow's face was one of utter shock. Reason being that Harmony Kendall had enough brains to come up with such a twisted plan of action was a true shocker.

"Not yet but I will if I am forced to this life much longer." Harmony said in a condescending fashion.

"You should know that I would never do that for you!" Willow said angrily, though inwardly she felt some sympathy for the vampire. Nobody should have to live like they did.

"Willow, no matter how bad I was to you in our school days, I don't deserve this. I can't even be evil good. All I know is fashion and maybe a few other things that require day light hours." Harmony finished speaking in hopes that Willow would not make her go into details about the other things she was good at.

"You can do fashion during the night." Willow said but felt her resolve caving in.

"Fine," Harmony said with an angered look on her face. "Willow my brother is ill and if my mother doesn't get help caring for him, she will have to place him in a home. He's still got some life in him and that will wilt it faster. I have had thoughts of turning him and ending the problem but I don't want to do that. If I do that, I will be a monster like Spike and I don't want that. I was the one who cared for Tony before Buffy failed to protect the class. I cannot take care of him now thanks to the so-called slayer. There is a demon offering to help me if I do some things for him but I came to you first so that should count for something."

Something deep within the young Wiccan told her that Harmony was speaking the truth. Willow knew that she could offer Harmony a stake and end it all but that didn't seem to be the right option. She was certain that this sort of spell would require a lot of experience and strength; neither of which she had. "I'm not even sure on how to do such a thing and if I'd be good enough with magic to do it. I am still learning and…"

"Go see my parents tomorrow and you will see I'm telling you the truth." Harmony said and turned for the door.

"Meet me here at 09:30 tomorrow night and you better hide that thing." Willow said as the vampire walked out of her house.

"Hey Willow," Buffy said as she raced up to the redhead in the courtyard of the campus. "Wow, I've been so busy and haven't had time to catch up with you. I mean with the consolie deal over Oz and I'm sorry about that." Buffy rambled on, all the while watching Tara come across the lawn. "Maybe we can do lunch tomorrow and some shopping?"

Buffy's words barely registered to the Wiccan though. She had things to do of her own for a change. Granted it was helping yet someone else who would not talk to her unless they wanted something but it was something. "Um, uh, sure that's fine and I'm doing ok with the Oz thingie minus night time and morning and…" Willow shook her head as Tara walked up to them. "I gotta go Buffy."

"Oh, sure, well call me tomorrow." The slayer said as her friend rushed off.

"Is she okay?" Tara stammered slightly as she spoke and looked after Willow. She enjoyed Buffy's company immensely but felt a bond with Willow. Willow had seemed aloof towards her of late however, so she supposed that she wouldn't get the chance to talk to her. She figured the bond that she felt was one of the Wiccan kind but knew that whatever it was, it had the possibility of being a strong one.

Willow sat in her kitchen with a pizza reading through some papers that she'd printed off the internet. She was researching the gem of Amara and coming up short. She hadn't found anything in way of a transfer of power spell but some similar gems did have such spells. So, Willow was wondering if she could substitute the gem of Amara in another gem's place.

She did go see Harmony's parents and met her younger brother, Tony. He was a freshman in high school though only went part time. He had some debilitating illness that rendered him often hospitalized and in a wheel chair. His parents did care for him but, as Willow's parents didn't, they didn't want to give up their work and affluent social lives.

A knock at the door brought Willow out of her thoughts and she rushed to open it. For a split second, she had forgotten who she was letting into her house and only thought about having company. "Hey Willow," the blond vampire said as Willow opened the door.

Willow stepped aside to let Harmony in and then led her into the kitchen. "I haven't got very far on how to transfer the gem to a being but I'm trying." Willow waved her hand over the pile of papers to validate her claim. "I didn't know if you ate regular food anymore but I have pizza if you do."

"It reminds me of being human when I do." Harmony said and sat down next to Willow.

Willow handed Harmony a slice of pizza and then began to eat her own. "I found some spells that go with other gems but none as powerful as this. Why do you want it transferred rather than just use it?"

"So they can't take it from me." Harmony said flatly. "Most of the time I'm your typical uppity snob and I know this Willow. If you were in my shoes, I most likely would not help you and we both know that. So you got my honesty and this one time admitting that you are a bigger person then I ever was."

As Willow pondered this, her phone rang. "I'll be right back." She moved quickly into another room and answered.

"W-Willow," Came Tara's soft voice. "I just wanted to see if you were okay and if I have offended you in some way."

Willow's smile grew upon hearing Tara's soothing voice. "I'm okay, just a little preoccupied. You and Buffy seemed to have struck up a good, um, friendship? I was just giving you guys some space."

Willow and Tara had met the night before Oz left. They had clicked right away and Willow knew that she felt something for the shy blonde. They had spent a lot of time together and Willow was certain that there was a mutual attraction but didn't know how to broach the subject. After Willow had introduced Tara to the scoobies however, Buffy seemed to jump right in and swoop Tara away and so Willow thought it best to fade into the background as there was no way she could compete on any level with the slayer in any way that mattered. She had Buffy beat when it came to intelligence but that's not what people looked for in dating partners.

"B-Buffy is really nice," was all that Tara could think of to say. There was something different in Willow's voice but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. "I j-just wanted to see if you were okay and maybe we could practice with your magic some more?" The two had started to get on well, Tara Thought, with magic as their means to be able to relax while they got to know each other. She hoped that this might help return things to how they were before whatever changed Willow's mood. Of course, she hadn't thought that her own demeanor may have changed in some way to cause Willow to back off.

"Maybe tomorrow night?" Willow questioned as she struggled to not allow hope to show in her voice.

"T-that sounds great," Tara said with a big smile on her face.

Willow walked back to the other room when she had finished talking with Tara. "She likes you both you know?" Harmony both stated and questioned as Willow sat back down. "This means that Buffy will win unfortunately."

"Tell me something I don't know Harmony." Willow said in a vain attempt to refocus on Harmony's request of her. "Tara actually might know something about this transference deal." Willow said thoughtfully. "I could find a way to ask without telling her all the details."

"Sure but be careful," Harmony said and stood up. "I don't want all of Sunnydale knowing bout this.


End file.
