*****

Sunnydale, CA, World of Darkness approximately 8 minutes before the Dimensions open up.

It had not been a good night. Jeff was hungry, Vashti was whining, and the choice in fun for the evening had turned out to be a finger wiggler. And me? I was smart. I was hiding like a scared little bitch. Juicebags.ordinarily, good for a bit of fun, but they break. finger wigglers on the other hand.scary shit. I mean, fuck. The bitch was throwing fireballs! Anne was dead in the pile of ash sort of way, and Mitchell wasn't doing much better. All in all, yeah, as Nightsgo.it had been pretty shitty.But then again, Things could get worse. Fuck, I hate it when I'm a prophet.

Sunnydale, CA, Buffyverse approximately two weeks after Buffy's Funeral.

It still didn't seem real. Buffy had been dead before, but she got better. This time.it didn't look like she'd be getting better anytime soon. Dawn was of course, devastated, even moreso knowing that her sister's death had been to save her. Giles had gone into a sort of quiet depressive funk, and had talked of returning home to England for a while. Willow and Tara alternated between glad to have each other, and depressed. Spike.no one knew what the hell happened to Spike. Someone joked that maybe he had dusted himself. The only problem was, it wasn't really funny. Nothing really was anymore. Not even the Zeppo. Sure, he had Anya, Xander thought to himself, sitting at one of the less and less important seeming Magic Box meetings, but he had come so close to loosing her. It was terrifying. Yeah, patrol, kill demons, and protect the innocent. But what about their lives? I mean, did any of them wake up one morning, and suddenly decide "I want to live in a town full of demons and bloodsucking nocturnal monstrosities which will completely ruin any chance I have at having a life even remotely resembling normal". He wasn't sure, but He was damn well certain he hadn't. And the worst part was, it was all starting to drone on. Wake up. Go through motions of normalcy. Kill demon x by method y. Sleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. Intersperse with sex. Sometimes, he felt like Buffy had gotten the best deal out of all of them.

Sunnydale, CA, World of Darkness approximately 2 hours after the big battle.

Fuck. I think that one word sums up our situation best. As in, Fucked.

Everything's going delightfully shitty. Vashti's trying to pull her intestines back into her chest, and work some of that snakey mojo she picked up. And Jeff's starting to suggest a retreat. As if I couldn't have fucking suggested that. Either way, we're about to haul ass out of this little mess, and suddenly finger wiggling bitch starts to say something about pair of Doc's. Now, I've no fucking clue what well made boots have to fucking do with magic, but then again, I'm a vampire and not a finger wiggler. Either way. Things get really fucking weird. Vashti says something about the Loa being angry. Jeff. I don't think he has a mouth right that second. Tzimisce. Fucking weird bastards. Either way, there's a big roaring noise. Like if you took a billion vacuum cleaners, set them to suck like a cheap whore,and told them to go to town. Not like you'd actually talk to a vacuum. That'd be too fucking weird. Either way, there's suddenly this big fucking door. Not a "Hi, won't you come in, ACK! Put down the meat cleaver!" sort of door. More a "Hi, I'm a gateway to something nasty, would you be my friend?" sort of door. And it sucks. Both situationally, and literally. Finger wiggler is right now large chunks everywhere. Some of them an odd shade of puce. We try to haul ass,but Vashti slips on some ex mage, Jeff's always been a lardass, and I'm just too shocked by how badly this evening's gone. So it's into the big magic doorway. And into the magical land of coma. Yeah. I fucking hate it when I'm a prophet.

Sunnydale, CA, Buffyverse During the meeting.

He needed some air. Well, air, time to think, a lifetime's supply of Prozac, and the world's best therapist, but well, you can't have everything. Either way, Xander politely excused himself from the meeting, and headed out into the night. He guessed he could excuse it as a patrol, but really, he just honestly needed to get away from all of them. Which made him feel kind of sick. They were his friends, weren't they? But.it was a lot of things. The way they treated Spike, when he had fought just as hard as the rest of them. Didn't they realize that he was in love with Buffy? Yes, he had someone build a creepy Buffy Sex Droid.but that was kind of romantic, in a scary stalker way. If someone built a creepy Xander Sex Droid, he'd be flattered. Creeped out yes, but flattered. And fortunately, Sunnydale.seemed quiet for once.Well, quiet in that only one demon to deal with and at least it's a weak one that isn't trying to bring on armageddon itself sort of way. A small miracle he supposed. Which made it all the more interesting when the shovel hit him in the back ofthe head and he quickly got aquatinted with everyone's friend, Mr.Sidewalk.

Sunnydale CA, Buffyverse 2 minutes ago

Fuck. Yeah. Wonderful word, so perfectly descriptive. So, we wake up, and instead of being in some fun little vampire heaven where you get to drink blood.Vashti, Jeff and I are sprawled in this warehouse in the aftermath of what looks to be a big fight. And no finger wiggler chunks around. Thank Caine for small favors. Either way, we had counted ourselves lucky. Really lucky. Of course.when we went looking for the other pack that hangs out near the Bronze, and instead.well, found nothing. Things started to seem pretty fucked up. Vashti says we were at a crossroads, and Legeba crossed us over. I asked her how the fuck she knew. She gives me this look like I'm a complete moron, and goes on about how well isn't that what happens when you get sucked into huge magical knock you unconscious and drop you right back where you were doorways? I hate to admit it, but she's probably right. Jeff.said something, but I ignored it. Me? I coped. It's just the three of us. What does any decimated intelligent sabbat pack do? Rebuild. But of course, y'can't just take anyone off the street. Well.you can.but it's not th'same. You have to watch, pick carefully. I mean, if you're going to make someone immortal, they should at least be someone you can tolerate enough not to decapitate ten seconds later. So we watched. And were bored out of our gourds. Apparently, Sunnydale was a complete and utter shithole in this dimension or whatever the fuck. I don't even pretend to fucking understand it. Sounds like a bunch of sci-fi crap to me. Never liked sci-fi.And then I saw him. Yeah yeah, a guy. Dark hair, dark eyes.decent body in that natural labor sort of way. Now, I'm not queer or anything, but when feeding feels better than fucking ever did, and being picky sometimes means being dead, developing an appreciation for the male form can be a handy trait. And I mean, I'm not a bad looking guy myself. Blonde, tall, blue eyes. And thanks to being what I am, instead of being a pale bastard, I look like I actually get some sun.

Vashti says it's wearing souls on my skin. I say she's a fucking weird bitch, but she's our priest. Gotta listen to the clergy. Either way, so there's this guy. Good-looking.and he's fighting with this. thing. Looked sort of like what happens when you upchuck and it's chunky mixed with a gorilla. And I mean.the guy was WINNING.

Now, where I come from, mortals vs monsters usually results in one thing. A very dead mortal. I've proved that many a time and I doubt I'm about to stop. But this guy.was winning. I had Vashti give him the once over. And he was fucking as mortal as they come, and was kicking ass and taking names. And so I'm standing there, doing that fun hiding in plain sight thing, staring like a fangirl at a boyband concert and Vashti whispers something to me about the guy being ridden by the war Loa or something. And that he's mine. And I even remembered a shovel. Seems like things were looking up.

"I'm going to go look for Xander" Anya said. He had been gone quite a long time, and this meeting was really important. Since Faith was still alive, there wouldn't be another slayer, which meant either getting Faith out of Jail, or going on without a slayer, and everyone was starting to argue. Which struck her as possibly NOT the best time to have Xander back there. But it was important enough for them to be there.

And she was worried. She didn't want to admit it. It was mortal. And mortality.was a scary concept. First Joyce and now Buffy, and she really didn't want Xander on the list, especially since they were getting married, and it would be so wonderful, and they could have a wedding night, and everyone knows that lots of sex happened on a wedding night.

She didn't even have a moment to scream when she got hit. Vashti smiled, brushing a lock of her black hair out of her eyes. If things were this easy here, they'd be living like kings. Either way, she dragged the unconscious girl away, suddenly becoming not interesting enough for anyone to look at.

It was cold. And wet. And musty too. For a few moments, Xander thought he was back in his apartment. Then the dull throb in the back of his head hit him. And the hunger.god.it was worse than anything ever. He now knew what those children on those "Send money to these starving children!" commercials felt like. The kids should just leap on Sally Struthers and devour her. Do the world a favor. And then he opened his eyes. And it was dark. And.there was.dirt everywhere. It took him a few moments to realize he was buried underground. He gasped, impulsively, getting a little air, and a mouthful of dirt. "Alright Xander, you have two options. You can dig, or you can die. And Dying is a bad option." With his bare hands, Xander began to dig like his life depended on it. And the funny thing is. It did.

I hate this. The waiting is what kills me. I mean, it would really fucking suck if he showed so much promise just to end up another dirt sleeper. Happened to Vashti once. She.didn't take it well. Never knew you could do stuff like that with a staple gun. Guess even I can learn. They've got the girl at the warehouse. Comfy place, in a Neopostindustrial squalor sort of way. A Home away from home. I can feel the woodgrain of the shovel handle beneath my fingers. I like this shovel. It brought Jeff in, and Vashti. Nick too, then he left to found his own pack. Good guys. Mean football players. Just sucks having to get a new ball every few minutes. You can still see the dried blood. It's a tradition. One of the few we have. Other packs, they go all out for this religious bullshit.but we just wanna have fun. Can't blame us. Mmmh.dirt's starting to push up. This is going to be good.

He was almost there. He could see light peeking through the dirt. It had been a long way though, and on one breath. It was kind of unnerving, but he had more important things to think about. Like not dying. When his head finally broke the surface, the first thing Xander saw was a blond with a shovel. Not bad looking, as guys go, not like he was gay or anything, but with his luck with women, he had considered it.

Of course his opinion of this particular guy was significantly decreased when he reared back and whacked him with the shovel. Before he blacked out, he hoped this wasn't becoming a trend.

Yes! Success and Score one for the Aaron! Yeah, he was shovelheaded, but we needed the boost and it was a cute boost. Vashti is usually right about these things. And he's my kid. He'll be good. Lifting him up, I get a better sense for his build. Yeah, definitely a keeper. Lugging him back over my shoulder to the warehouse is a bit of a chore, but worth it. And anyway, gives me a chance to cop a quick feel. When I arrive with the new recruit, Jucebag bitch is just waking up. The look on her face when she sees the guy is just priceless.

Something about Xander. Guess that's his name. She knows him. God, this is going to be great. Gotta thank Vashti. Now just to sit back and watch the fun.

Coming back from being unconscious was always a chore. Considering how much he got knocked around by things significantly larger and stronger than him, he should've become used to it by now, but there was still a certain something to it that always remains equally unpleasant. His eyes fluttered open, and he got a quick stock of his surroundings. Ok. Warehouse. Check. Blond guy with shovel and a nice tan. Check. Egyptian/Arabic girl with long hair and.silted eyes? Okay, check. Guy/Girl/? In turtleneck, reading a book, check. Anya. Ch. and that's when things got worse. He could smell it in the air. Blood. It was like seeing water after going for miles in the deep desert under a scorching sun. She looked at him, obviously coming to, mumbling "Xander?" with a tone in-between hope and helpless fear. She blinked. And screamed. Xander wondered for a moment why. And then he felt them. Fangs. Two, sharp like knives, pearly white. For a moment he feltlike screaming. Then. just very hungry. He lunged, knocking her over,and the chair she was tied to with her, sinking his new fangs into her neck. It was funny how easily it came back to him. The hunt. Prey.

Some part of him deep down had its own private joygasm. And although Xander hated to admit it.draining her.felt good. He now realized why Spike was so damn miserable all the time. Going from this.toliving off of blood from the butchers. It was insulting. It was base. He barely heard Anya's death rattle, a strong hand on his shoulder the only thing bringing him back from the reverie of the kiss.

God, I love him already. Yeah, the bitch knows him. Wedding ring even. His or not, I don't know. Vashti thinks it is. And he doesn't even fucking hesitate. He drains her! And wants to keep going. Of course, got better things to do. So I walk over, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. I want him already. I've got the cup in hand. Yeah, it's a mug, and not a proper chalice, but we're poor. It's already got our blood in it. He turns, blood running down his chin, fangs still down, that feral glimmer in his eye that just gets me so turned on I almost want to forget the vaulderie and fuck him right there. But protocol rules the night, and I hand the cup to him, and he drinks it down in a few quick gulps. And yeah, he's going to be one of us. I can just tell.

"I've just killed Anya." Xander thought. Well. It was one of the three thoughts running through his mind. One was Anya's death. Another was how good the blood he was just handed tasted. And another was the urge to find Spike. As he looked up at the blond, a fourth joined the fray. Namely "Bed, Naked, Now" it was Kinda sick, in a "I just killed my fianc�e, but I really want to fuck this guy" sort of way. But he still looked that good.

"I'm impressed. You know, it takes most a lot longer to dig their way up. You.record time. And the way you drained her. Class fucking act!" The blond clapped and Xander wasn't sure which made him feel worse, the fact that he was somehow proud. Or how familiar it felt. Of course, finding out who they were would probably be a good idea. "Who.who are you?" stammered from his lips as he licked the interior of the mug.

"Well, I'm Aaron. Your Sire. The scary chick is Vashti. Listen to her when she rambles. She's either right, or a laugh riot. And the genderbender is Jeff. Just don't ask. You're better fucking off.We're your new family. Lucky you"

It was brief and to the point. The kiss that followed it wasn't. Aaron had him up, on his feet, in his arms, and dueling tongues in no time. He was a good kisser. Better than Anya. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't be complaining about his infidelity. He pulled away, fighting the urge to just bite down a little, get just another little taste. "Why.I mean, why me? I mean.I'm the Zeppo. "

Aaron blinked..and then laughed. He had a rich, deep laugh, the kind that just makes you feel comfortable. Considering it was coming from a person who had whacked him twice with a shovel, that was more than a little unnerving. "The Zeppo. Yeah. And you took down a whatever the fuck that was single-handedly. If that's a Zeppo, we're looking for more. " Xander blinked. The only demon he had fought recently was a Kgla'ra. Once you got over the smell it wasn't really that difficult.

"It was just a Kgla'ra demon.." Xander was worried at the look that spread over all three vampires faces. It was sort of between stunned shock, and.something. "You.took down a demon?" the chick said, her voice having a slight accent. "It's entirely possible" the.guy/girl said, becoming distinctly more masculine. The blon.Aaron just smiled"The inquisition would love you. Mine first though."

Damn. Taking down a fucking DEMON. Looks, strong.fuck. Yeah. So, we finish the pleasantries and Jeff and Vashti shoo as I'm feeling amorous. Of course, that's about all the time. So it's no big deal. Either way, I'm bringing the new guy with me back to where I call home, and he's nervous and shit, so I debate giving him the look. Either way, I shove him down onto the makeshift floor mattress. He's strong, and tries to fight back, but he isn't quite up on how to use the blood yet. Good for me, and good for him. He just doesn't know it yet. Either way, I give him the look. Just takes a mumbled strip to have him shedding clothing like it was sweltering. God he's got a nice body. Great musculature, and once the jeans started to come down,I thought I was in heaven. Thick AND long, but not too much of either. I'm almost envious of that dead bitch for getting to him first. I can smell her on him. Soon, I'm covering him like a bedsheet. Struggled a bit at first, yeah, but once I actually started going the no's became yes. And DAMN am I glad. For someone who protests not to be gay, goddamn is he a good lay. Beginner's luck I guess. Of course, acouple of times, especially when I'm getting bitey.he calls out Spike. Now, I'm assuming he's not talking Volleyball, so I think there's going to be someone we Gotta meet. Gonna have to ask Vashti. We're on about the third go, when I can just tell the sun's starting to come up. That shitty groggy feeling. He's getting it too, and the look of disappointment on his face makes me want to just give it another go. I'm still impaling him when I finally zonk out. Guess there are times it's ok to fall asleep during sex.

Xander was in bed. With a vampire. A male vampire. With a penis. And the penis was going places that were usually considered a no no. The same male vampire who had hit him with a shovel, not once, but twice, drained his blood, made him into a vampire, and buried him alive. Who was now fucking him. Hard.

He'd be nauseated if it didn't feel so damn good. He wasn't sure what it was. And then he started biting. The biting was the best part. Of course, calling out Spike's name made him worry.and then wonder where he was. He would have to meet his new family. Of course.so would his old family. Xander drifted off to sleep with his sire still inside him. It was new, strange, and he was sure was just a strange dream that was going to have him waking up sooner or later. But it was nice while it lasted. In a fucked up hellmouth way

*****
tbc