Author: eena_angel2001
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Rating: R
Category: BTVS/Anita Blake
Pairing: Willow/Richard, Faith/?, Spike/?
Disclaimer: Don't own any of them.
Spoilers: Season Six for BTVS, NIC for AB.
Summary: Willow closes the Hellmouth, and then it goes downhill from
there . . .
Prologue
It knew.
It knew what was coming. It felt it inside of itself. It knew that
this was going to be the end. It knew that it was over.
It knew it was all my fault.
I never felt so alive in my entire life. There were no words to
describe the feelings inside of myself. You see, I knew all things
that it did. I knew all its secrets. And there was a scent of fear
in the air surrounding us. And it was not coming from me.
I let a smile come to my face, but never once stopping in my
chanting. I could feel the terror of it coursing through the air. I
could feel its fear, its terror, its anger. I don't think it like me
all that much.
Well, the feeling was pretty damn mutual.
I looked up at it, gazing at the monster that flailed above me. It
lashed out with tentacles, heads, teeth, and many other appendages.
But it could not touch. It knew it could not touch me. My power
kept it at bay, while at my back Faith and Spike kept the other
demons at bay. Why were Spike and Faith there, you might ask?
Because I wanted them to be the ones inside with me. The others were
outside, fighting to keep the demon population of Sunnydale out of
the school. I had only let Spike and Faith come inside with me. It
had hurt Xander, Buffy as well, but they knew they had to respect my
decision. After all, this was my show.
Why Spike and Faith? Well, to be it mildly, they were the only two
even remotely like me. They were the only two of either the Scooby
Gang or the AI team that I could trust. Because quite simply, they
didn't have anything left to lose. Just like me.
I couldn't take the others in here with me. Buffy had to live, for
the world and mostly for Dawn. She needed to be here with her
younger sister, to help her grow up. Xander couldn't be in here as
well, he had reconciled with Anya. They were kind of inching to the
altar once more, especially now. Neither of them knew it, but I
did. That's why I insisted Anya stay safely with Giles at the magic
shop as my anchor. Because you see, in all the confusion and haste,
even Anya hadn't figured it out yet. The girl was three weeks late,
and I knew the reason why.
So Xander couldn't come inside. Giles had to be the anchor, in a
place far from me. Angel I wouldn't let inside for similar reasons.
He had Connor and Cordelia to think about. He had them to live for.
Gunn and Fred only lived for one another, so they were out as well.
All those people outside had too much to live for. Me, on the other
hand, had nothing left.
Spike was like that too. His soul had ended his zest for anything.
Too guilty, to full of self-loathing to want to live anymore. He was
running on autopilot. Give the boy a task and he finished it
mindlessly. And that's what he was doing now.
Faith, she had stopped living years ago. Now, this was just the way
for her to go out with a bang. Cause, you see, there was something I
hadn't actually told the others about this spell. The people closest
to it when it happened would most assuredly die.
I thought it would be best to keep that to myself.
It didn't really matter in the end. I stopped living the moment the
bullet hit my darling Tara. And I haven't really mustered any energy
for anything since. Until now, until this.
I was going to close the Hellmouth, once and for all. Pretty good
redemption huh?
Snarling brought me back the present. Faith and Spike had joined me
in the spell circle. Spike stood in front, hacking at any piece of
the demon that came near me. Faith stood at my back, killing any
vampire or other demon that tried to come at me from behind. I knew
the others were doing good out there, they were keeping most of them
at bay. But when the Hellmouth calls, all the baddies come a
knocking.
It wouldn't make a difference anyway. I was done. Finished, the
last words of the chant left my lips and it knew. The Hellmouth knew
I had defeated it. And it was all over.
Except it didn't end. The demon was wailing as it was pulled back
into the hole in the ground. I watched it disappear with my own
eyes, seeing the magic seal beginning to close the Hellmouth
forever. But something else happened, something that wasn't suppose
to happen.
A white light filled the room. Spike and Faith stopped in their
fighting, turning to me with hopeful eyes. They had known they would
die in here today, both looking forward to it in some way. I
understood, I felt the same way, but something wasn't right. We were
supposed to go with the Hellmouth. We would be the last things
inside before it would seal up forever.
But it was sealing already, without us being dragged inside as well.
And the white light filling the room just got brighter. I couldn't
figure it out, not completely anyway. Something had interfered with
the spell. We weren't going to die in the Hellmouth.
But we weren't going to be in Sunnydale any longer either. I
frowned, covering my eyes as the light got too bright to handle. And
then the heat started up, all around me. I bit my lip, tasting my
own blood as I tried to keep from crying out. I felt arms go around
me, knowing that Spike and Faith had gathered me up in some futile
attempt to save me from whatever was coming. But that wouldn't do
them any good. They couldn't stop this from happening. The light
wasn't here for just me. It had come for all of us. This I
understood in a flash.
And then I felt a cooling wind on my face as the floor beneath me
disappeared. And I thought no more.
*****
Part One
He was confused, to say the least. This was all very puzzling. And
he really didn't know what to do about it. In fact, he was lost.
Richard sighed, running a hand through his brown locks as he stared
down at the arrivals. He shot a glance over at Anita, his ex-lupa,
noting the anxiety of her features. The brunette had her precious
Browning out, levelled at the three sleeping figures on the floor.
"Must you have that out," he asked with a bit of exasperation in his
voice. Anita shot him a glare, a tight smile coming to her lips.
"I must have it out," the Executioner retorted. "Because you see
Richard, they fell out of the sky. I'm not used to people falling
out of the sky and landing on my back porch. It's just not normal
for me. And considering the kind of stuff I deal with on a daily
basis, surely you can see the gravity of the situation."
"They're not humans," Micah jumped in. "They don't smell human at
all. That one's a vampire, and as for the other two . . . well I
don't know what they are, but I know what they aren't. And they are
not human."
Richard turned, frowning at the Nimir-Raj. He didn't particularly
like Micah, petty jealousy on his part considering he's the one who
broke up with Anita, but he had to agree with the were-leopard.
These three weren't human. Probably a good reason for Anita to have
her gun out, but then again, they weren't conscious either.
"Vampire?" he repeated, frowning thoughtfully at he looked at the
blonde fellow. "But they dropped into the yard at noon, right? So
why didn't he burn up?"
"Oh, he did," Anita answered with a nervous laugh. "He came out kind
of smoking. The girls woke up for about two seconds to roll him into
the shade and climb on top of him before passing out. But he did
burn a bit. And get this, he just healed after we got him indoors."
"Like in an hour or so?"
"Like in under ten minutes," Anita corrected, bringing her gun back
up. "And that's when I put the silver in."
"Ten minutes?" Richard shook his head, looking down at the three at
his feet. A tingling of fear began creeping into his stomach as he
looked at them. They appeared harmless for the most part, almost
innocent if you could ignore the foreign scents coming off of them.
Richard couldn't ignore it.
He knelt before the group, ignoring Anita's squeak of protest. He
peered closely at the sleeping faces of the three, not really knowing
what to think. There were two girls and one man. The man was
definitely a vampire. He had stark white skin, almost translucent.
He had sharp features, which just reinforced the image of a vampire.
His hair was blonde, though obviously dyed, Richard could smell the
scent of the peroxide. It was in a tangle of small curls on his
head, originally brown from what he could see of the roots. He wore
a black leather jacket over a red silk shirt and black jeans, combat
boots on his feet.
The girls were alive, but not entirely human, though they could fool
a young shifter with their scent. Richard assumed they were part
human, but not overly human. There was a brunette and a redhead,
both small in size and stature. The brunette had a slightly dark
colouring, looking Slavic in nature. She was very pretty, eyes
worrying in her sleep. She looked young, too young to look so
haunted while she slept. But there was something else about her,
something that made his beast almost recoil in fear. As it was her
mere presence made the wolf in him nervous, like he wasn't sure if
she was a threat or not. He inched away from her. Better to be safe
than sorry.
The redhead, now she commanded more of his attention, and more of his
fear. She had power, and he meant POWER. But he couldn't quite
place what it was. On one hand, it reminded him of Anita, leading
him to think she might be a necromancer. On the other hand, the was
some other sense overflowing his senses at the sight of her. Magic,
like a witch had. But Richard had never encountered a witch with
such power before in his life. Her redhead hair fell around her
head, contrasting sharply with the paleness of her alabaster like
skin. She was tiny, as small as Anita almost. She might have an
inch or two over the Executioner, but not much more than that.
Both girls were dressed head to toe in black leather. And all three
of them smelled like they had been in a fight. Richard caught hints
of sweat, dirt, and blood intermingling all over them.
So, they knew they weren't human, they knew they had been in a fight,
and they knew they had fallen out of the sky. But all of that
amounted to not knowing a hell of a lot. Richard rose back to his
feet, inching back towards the others. Anita still had her gun up,
trained shakily on them. Micah stood beside her, seemingly relaxed,
but muscles tensed for a fight. The were-leopards were scattered to
the outer reaches of the room. His own wolves, bodyguards plus
Sylvie, were right behind him.
Richard stared down at the three of them, chest heaving with the
force of his breathing. They weren't right, they didn't belong.
Those were the only two things clear to Richard at the moment. These
people were not supposed to be here.
But that raised the question: Where were they supposed to be?
"I say we wait for Jean-Claude," Anita suggested from his side. "He
might have an answer for this."
"They don't belong here Anita," Richard murmured to her. "I know you
feel it too. They don't belong here, so I doubt Jean-Claude will
have anything more useful to add."
"Yeah, but with him here we would have the triumvariate," she
shrugged. "And maybe with our combined power we could hope to be a
match for that redhead."
Richard could hear the fear in her voice, tense with agitation. He
looked back down at the redhead, feeling her power once more.
"We should wait for Jean-Claude," he surmised. Anita nodded,
starting to back out of the room.
"We should wait for him in the other room," Anita added. The rest
agreed, all heading slowly to the door. Richard backed out slowly,
eyes trained on the three lying on Anita's bedroom floor. He shook
his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn't need another
complication in his life at the moment. But looking at them as
Nathaniel moved to close the door, Richard realized that he had one.
Whether he wanted it or not.
*****
Part Two
When I woke up I was more than a little confused. The last thing I
could remember was the spell and something going wrong. Something
went very wrong. I was supposed to dead. But with the breathing and
general living informed me that I wasn't dead. No, I was very much
alive.
Darn.
I didn't really understand anything. I registered first that I had a
headache. It was one of those really bad headaches that just
throbbed and pulsed all at the same time. It really took up a lot of
my attention at first. And then I figured I better focus on
something else that could be more productive. So I tried to be more
awake, trying to get my bearings. I noticed that I was on a hard
floor. The second thing I noticed was that I was lying on someone.
I opened my eyes and discovered it was two someones that I was lying
on. Spike and Faith if you want to get specific, both of whom were
very unconscious. I groaned, sliding off my companions. I hit the
floor with a bump, landing rather hard on my butt. I groaned once
more, rubbing my tailbone as I rose to my knees. And that's when I
realized something very interesting.
We were not in the high school anymore. Nope, we were in some
bedroom. There was a large bed in the centre of the room. It looked
nice and comfy. I was slightly irritated to see that we were
obviously just thrown into this room. And whoever had done the
throwing hadn't even been considerate enough to put us on the bed.
No, we were just thrown in a heap onto the floor.
How rude.
I scrambled to my feet, stumbling a bit as I tripped over a limb. I
flailed a bit in standing, accidentally stepping on Spike's hand in
the process. The vampire let out a painful growl, jerking into
awareness at the contact. He turned his head upwards to look at me.
"What happened Red?"
Good question. I just shrugged my shoulders, signifying that I
didn't have a clue. Spike groaned once more, turning to nudge Faith
awake. I stepped away from them, circling the bed rather
covetously. It was a really nice bed, and big enough to fit all of
them. I was increasingly angry at whoever put us in here. They
should have put us on the bed.
I made my way to the window, pushing aside curtains to look outside.
Trees and a neatly trimmed lawn greeted me. We were in some house,
presumably out in the middle of nowhere, and it was night. There was
a long driveway leading up to the front of the house. Beyond that, I
couldn't see any sign of other life. There wasn't a house in the
immediate vicinity, no cars on the road that I could barely make out
at the start of the driveway. I couldn't see anything that would
help me find out where we were. But I did know one thing.
This was not Sunnydale.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
Spike tossed me a glare at that, coming to join me by the window. He
obviously didn't appreciate my attempt at humour. Someone woke up on
the wrong side of the floor.
"So tell me Dorothory, where the fuck are we?"
Ah, Faith was awake. I turned, gracing the Slayer with a little
smile.
"I do not have a fucking clue," I shrugged, going over to flop down
on the bed. Maybe whoever threw us on here didn't want us on the
bed. I rose to my knees, bouncing a bit before flopping back down
onto my back. Too bad for them huh?
"Shouldn't we be doing something to find out where we are?" Spike
asked suddenly, eyes still intent on the outside. I scoffed at that
a bit. Spike had become increasingly less fun since he got his soul
back. I kind of wish the old, sarcastic and insulting Spike was
back. He would have been swearing a blue streak and nitpicking about
everything in this room. This Spike was just standing by the window,
looking all contemplative and stuff. Not one wisecrack about my
grand magical prowess that landed us here. I didn't like it.
"Don't suppose you've got ruby red slippers for us to go home with?"
But at least I still had Faith. I turned to the Slayer with a smile,
shaking my head.
"You have to get those from a good witch," I replied
cheekily. "Preferably one from the north."
"The Wicked Witch of West are you?" Spike was getting into the swing
of things. I favoured him with a smile, patting the bed.
"Just sit back and wait on our captors," I suggested. Faith frowned,
climbing onto the bed with me. She folded her legs underneath her,
looking around the bedroom thoughtfully.
"Captors?" she repeated with a frown on her face.
"Who would want to kidnap us?" Spike asked, lying down next to me.
He turned onto his side, looking at my profile intensely.
"Where did you send us Red?"
"Like I have any clue," I shook my head, rising to a sitting
position. "We were supposed to go into the Hellmouth. We were
supposed to die. And look at us, all not dead and so not in the
Hellmouth."
"We might be," Faith muttered. I turned to locate the brunette,
seeing she had wandered off to trifle through the dressers in the
room. She was holding up what looked like a business suit, startling
red in colour in one hand and something very odd in the other. I
went slightly red when I realized that it was some sort of sex toy.
What exactly it was, I didn't think I wanted to know.
"Okay, we have business chic and leather sexpot," Faith shook her
head, fumbling through the other drawers. "We might be in hell yet."
"Or maybe just that Lawyer lady that Angel always has trouble with,"
Spike suggested lightly.
"Like I said, Hell," Faith repeated, slamming the drawers shut
firmly. "Okay, we need to find out where the hell we are."
Resignedly, I climbed off the comfy bed. Faith had a point. We were
in some serious shit if we couldn't figure out what happened, and
fast.
"Well, let's do the most obvious thing we can do," I shrugged. I
motioned to the bedroom door.
"Let's go meet our hosts."
*****
Part Three
Richard was getting tired of waiting on Jean-Claude. The power of
three new arrivals wafted into the living room, making it impossible
for him to even pretend to look at something else. His mind was
constantly being brought back to them, wondering who there were, what
they were. And why the hell were they here?
He looked down at his watch once more. Anita had called the Circus
as soon as the sun had set. One of the weres there passed on Anita's
message to the just awakening Jean-Claude. As soon as the vampire
was lucid enough, he was going to make his way down there with his
people. Meaning he was bringing Asher and Damien with him. Good,
then maybe combined they could stand a chance against whatever was in
Anita's bedroom.
He glanced up, eyes returning to the pacing figure of Anita. The
Executioner was mighty put off by the three strangers as well. Her
whole posture was tense and anxious. And she refused to put her gun
away. It was loaded and ready to fire. He wished she would put the
safety back on already. Anita with a gun was bad enough, but
nervous, jumpy Anita with a gun couldn't be good for anyone.
His mind drifted back to the room, seeing once again the three in his
mind's eye. He just couldn't place the scent he got off all of
them. There were bits and pieces of all kinds of creatures just
wafting off of them. But they looked so human it was difficult to
even conceive of them as monsters. That redhead, who had the most
power, looked so fragile in her sleep. Richard didn't want to
believe that she was bad in any sense. She just looked too damn
innocent.
But then again, looks can be deceiving. Taking one look at Anita, no
one would guess she was a woman that made the dark scared. The
monsters of the world recoiled in fear of her, and most of the time
everyone just thought she was that cute, but eccentric Catholic girl
with the large extended family in her home. No, you couldn't tell
what Anita was just by looking at her, same as with these three. But
therein lay the problem. Richard didn't know how to find out what
they were, short of waking them up to find out. And it would be very
unfortunate to wake them only to discover that they were hostile.
Considering they would all probably be dead before Anita could remove
the safety from her gun . . . Maybe it was a good thing she didn't
have it on.
The faintest of sounds touched his ears, causing him to straighten in
alarm. He shot Anita a worried look, noting all the shifters in the
room had tensed and resorted to defensive positions. Anita put her
gun up, pointing in the direction of the hall. Richard stood to
stand by her, waiting for the three to make their appearance.
God he hoped they weren't evil. Cause otherwise, they were all so
screwed.
*****
I came to the conclusion that I liked the home we were in. It was
nice and big, kind of reminded me of the mansion Angel used to stay
in. Only not as old, or dusty. And a better decorating scheme. But
then again, Angel hadn't been all for the home renovations. His
philosophy was that as long as there were four walls and a ceiling,
he didn't care where he lived. I was quick to point out that prisons
have four walls and ceilings, to which he just growled at me. Angel
didn't like being contradicted, not at all. He was such a grouch at
sometimes. But then again, spending a few hundred years in Hell was
bound to make a person slightly cranky.
We were nearing the end of the hallway, Faith and Spike tensing up
next to me. I knew why, there were people at the end of the
corridor. A lot of people from what I could tell, and a lot of
powerful people from what I sensed. But I didn't see reason to
worry. After all, I was still the strongest force in this house,
dead or alive. Should make for an interesting meeting.
Faith and Spike exited the hallway before I did, both standing to
shield me from any direction danger. I snorted at that. They
weren't my bodyguards, and hello, I was looking forward to death.
But then again, so were they. Maybe they just felt like biting the
bullet first.
The first I heard was some sort of collective gasp at the sight of
us. I looked down at myself and at my companions. Okay, so we were
a little messy and worse for wear, but nothing too appalling. I
hoped we didn't smell that bad or something. I took an experimental
whiff of my leather clad arm. Nope, nothing too bad there.
"GUN! GUN!"
The shouts from Faith drew me out of my thoughts. I whipped my head
around, looking at the gathered people.
"Where?" I demanded. "I don't see him."
Faith rolled her eyes, pointing directly to a woman pointing a gun in
our direction. Oh, that kind of gun.
"I knew that," I muttered under my breath. Faith just smirked at me,
letting me know that she so bought my story. Not.
Spike was being strangely quiet about the whole thing, not really
saying anything. But I did hear some sniffing coming from him. The
vamp was smelling out the opponents, and something obviously didn't
add up for him. Spike was frowning, looking a bit lost and confused.
The click from the gun and a frantic nudge from Faith drew my
attention back to the small brunette woman. She stood flanked by two
dark-haired men. One was not much taller than she was, handsome in a
rugged type of way. The second was much taller than the other two.
I could see his muscles through the shirt he wore. This guy was buff
and he knew it. And as for looks, can I just say yum?
Oh right, lesbian here. I can't say that.
"Who or what the fuck are you?"
This angry demand came from the gun toting lady. I turned back to
her tilting my head to the side as I regarded her weapon.
"Think that's going to do you any good?" I asked innocently, a dark
smile coming to my face. I outstretched my hand, flexing my palm and
muttering a few words under my breath. The gun vanished from her
hands, only to reappear in mine. I grinned at the look on her face.
I was acting like I stole her favourite doll or soemthing.
I brought the weapon up to eye level, looking at it closely. Images
of another gun came to mind, other bullets. One, the one that I
pulled from Buffy's chest. Another the one that shattered Tara's
breast in the middle of our room. The third, the bullet I had
tortured Warren with moments before I killed him. My gaze hardened,
and I squeezed my fist together, causing the gun to crumple in it.
I threw the warped piece of metal back at the woman, a sneer on my
face.
"I don't like guns."
*****
Part Four
Jean-Claude was remembering the days before Anita became his human
servant. The days that when he could awake to a relatively peaceful
atmosphere at his Circus. Days when he was not awaken to the news of
strangely powerful people falling out of the sky.
But then he would have to live without Anita. He couldn't do that,
he loved his petite. But sometimes, just sometimes, he dreamt of the
days before he met Anita. And he would be bitter that the peace had
left him. But only sometimes. And usually for just a second.
He sighed, watching as Asher and Damien approached the front door
ahead of him. They knocked politely, which Jean-Claude found to be
immensely amusing seeing as they could just tear the door down with a
flick of the wrist. And the fact he found that amusing told him
Anita was becoming a bad influence on him.
Damnit! Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?
The door opened, Jason peeking his head through. The werewolf
visibly relaxed at the sight of his master. This served only to
increase Jean-Claude's anxiety. What had Anita stumbled across today.
The blonde opened the door, ushering them in. The vampires stepped
through, watching as Jason shut the door firmly behind them. With a
jerk of his thumb, Jason led them down the hall to Anita's living
room. Jean-Claude noticed that Jason had yet to say a word. Another
thing that bothered him. Jason usually couldn't be shut up.
The scene in the living room just increased his discomfort. All the
weres stood firmly on one side of the room. There were only three
people on the other side. Two females, a brunette and redhead, both
held power he could not place. The third was a male, blonde vampire,
who also smelled a bit off than normal vampires.
Anita stood at the sight of him, walking rather agitatedly to his
side.
"Look what she did to my gun!" were the first words out of his human
servant's mouth. She offered a twisted piece of metal up to him.
After a bit, Jean-Claude was able to see that it was Anita's precious
Browning she held in her hand. Her eyes were flicking over to the
redhead, leading him to believe she was the culprit.
Richard stood off to the side, frowning in the direction of the new
arrivals. His attention too seemed to be focused on the redhead as
well, though not in anger. The Ulfric was radiating more fear than
anything else.
He turned to the three, noting their defensive statures. Well, two
of their defensive statures. The redhead really seemed not to care.
"You did this?" he asked softly, letting some of his age into his
voice. It was meant to add danger to his sentece, but the redhead
remained unimpressed. She flicked her eyes over to the piece of
metal in Anita's hand before shooting him a grin.
"Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
*****
Spike shushed me at that point. I was a little miffed by that.
What, now that the vampires had shown I couldn't be snotty anymore?
What was up with that?
Faith was pulling on my elbow. I guessed she knew from the look on
my face that I was about to say something more. You know, something
more offensive. It made me kind of mad. They were ganging up on
me. If I didn't want to behave, they sure as hell couldn't make me.
The brunette woman, Anita, was just further enraged at my light
quip. I guess she appreciated my sense of humour less than Spikey
the Souled. Jesus, this guy was no fun nowadays.
"Would you care to introduce yourself?"
The silky voice brought my attention back to the vampire. He was
trying to intimidate me, trying to scare me by letting some of his
power roll off him. Two can play that game.
I let some of magic come to the front, so that my green eyes were
heavily lined with black. The vampire recognized it immediately and
backed up a step.
"I'm Willow," I finally answered. "This here is Faith and this is
Spike. We're not supposed to be here, but we are. Deal with it."
Spike shushed me once more. God, what was his problem?
Faith's grip on my arm increased once she got a good look at my
eyes. Thinking I was about to start something, and I was a good two
seconds from doing so, she squeezed my arm to get my attention. I
saw a pleading in her eyes that I was not accustomed to seeing. Not
in Faith.
Sighing, I settled back into the armchair I was sitting in. I pulled
my magic back, turning my eyes back to their normal green. The
occupants of the room seemed more relaxed after I had done so. I
began to wonder about them. What were the rest of these people?
"Where are you supposed to be?" the vampire once more.
"Dead," I answered before Spike or Faith could speak. "We're
supposed to be dead. But as we are here, and not dead, I'm guessing
something went fundamentally wrong."
"Why are you suposed to be dead?" tall, dark, yummy guy asked. You
know, the one with the package I had been ogling earlier? Damn what
a time to be a lesbian.
"Because we are," I replied evenly. "At least we were. But again,
something interfered and now we're here."
"Interfered with what?" the vamp again.
"The spell," Faith responded calmly. "We were doing this spell,
which called for our deaths, but it didn't happen. Instead, we fell
out of the sky and ended up here. Wherever the hell here is."
"Care to fill us in?" oh, Spike was talking now. Maybe he was coming
out of his shell after all.
"You're in St. Louis," was the reply from Tall Dark in his corner.
"That wasn't the question," I told him. "I know what city we're in.
Got that much from the newspaper lying on the coffee table. What I
want to know what dimension we're in."
They got all silent like at that. I frowned at them. What was wrong
with them?
"Did you say dimension?"
*****
Part Five
Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED.
I sighed, looking around at the angry and frightened shapeshifters around me, wondering if I could get away with riling them up just a little bit. After all, it wasn't like there was much else to do around here. Just sit and pretend to be the good little girl I was back in the old days.
I always did suck at acting.
My eyes travelled around the room, hoping to pick up the perfect outlet for my boredom. And I mean that in a non-kinky way. Maybe I could get another fight going or something. Anything would be better than this painfully boring silence.
Hmm, Jason. He's a naughty little wolf who seems to have taken a shining to Faith. The boy's got balls, I'll give him that. Not too many people would even try to get near Faith when she was obviously in a pissy mood. Hell, she had practically broken the hand of the overly-eager leopard named Caleb after he had made a move to grab her ass. As it was she had merely tossed him over her shoulder and into the wall. That had been funny, causing a bit of a squabble to ensue until that Micah boy ordered Caleb into another room far away from us.
But then again, maybe Jason wasn't the best target. He seemed far too interested in Faith and far too frightened of me to even get close enough. Too bad though, it might have been fun playing with him-again in a non-kinky way.
Well, there's that Nathaniel kid over there. He seemed like the perfect victim. Hell, he looked like he had always been the victim. But I can't bring myself to try anything. It's his eyes, damn big and beautiful, a shade of violet I've never seen on a boy before. Kind of reminded me of Dawn if you really wanted to know. All lean and waif like, looking around the room like he wanted to hide but fighting the urge because he was damn curious about what was going to happen.
Nope, can't pick on him. So who did that leave?
I felt a grin split my face as I finally let my eyes fall on Richard, the hunky and broody Ulfric. The King of the Werewolves, that's basically what he was. That and incredibly sexy. I wouldn't mind jumping back onto the other team for a chance at that.
But I won't. Far too many people in the room and no matter how much I've changed, I'm still not that kinky when it comes to doing the naughty. Besides, exhibitionism just rubs me the wrong way. Well, that kind of exhibitionism rubs me the wrong way.
"Pet, behave."
Oh look, it's my conscience. I turned my head, giving Spike the best scowl I could muster. Cripes his soul made him all whiny and rational. A bit too much like Giles for my tastes if you really wanted to know. Of course, maybe that's a good thing in the end. After all, Giles was Giles, but on occasion he did happen to become Ripper. Maybe there was hope for Spike after all.
"Seriously Red, behave. Your mojo's already landed us in enough trouble."
Well then, so that's how it's going to be. Fine, next time I won't stop the psycho lady with a gun. See how much Spike prefers being shot at to my being mischievous.
"You know, you think they would move past that dimension snippet already," Faith grumbled from her spot at my feet. The brunette turned her head upwards, exposing her neck as her hair fell backwards. I barely hid my snicker at the look on Jason's face when she did that. The puppy was practically drooling.
"But no, they're still in that room, pretending like they're on top of the situation while really they're having their own little freak-out party," Faith continued, jerking her thumb in the direction of Anita's bedroom. "Can't they just come out and talk to us already? I'm kind of sick of just sitting here with all these wolves looking like they either want in my pants or in my liver."
I couldn't keep back my laughter at that. Goddess how I loved Faith. She was never afraid to speak what was on her mind, no matter what the consequences might be. Like right now, her little comment made all the little doggies unhappy. They're all grumbling now, flashing a bit of fang our way in what I think is an attempt to rattle us. Not really working all that well, but whatever.
Spike started grumbling along with the wolves, a stern eye focused on both of us girls. Faith shot him a bright smile before dropping her head back down. I held his glare, giving him a playful pout.
"Would you stop being such a parent?" I whined, poking him softly in the side. "Just sit back and have some fun. It's not like we're going anywhere for the time being."
"Red, I'm afraid your idea of fun doesn't appeal to me anymore," Spike sighed, batting my hand away. "And this isn't the time for fun. We should be working on a way home luv. Not causing trouble with the only people who could possibly help us."
"Now that is a blatant assumption," I sneered, raising my voice just a bit even though I knew they could all hear me otherwise. "Not one of them looks the slightest bit useful to me."
Now all the animals are mad. I looked across the room, seeing the Ulfric's eyes flashing a deep amber colour. I can feel his beast, sitting just beneath the surface of his skin. The power coming off of it was amazing. Kind of made me feel tingly all over. Okay, tingly in one specific spot but again, no kinky stuff tonight.
"We were dropped here for a reason," Spike snapped, his voice low and barely audible in my ear. I barely acknowledged him, keeping eye contact with the ever more irritated Ulfric. Richard was an imposing figure, tall with an impressive build. And the danger I could see flashing in his eyes, well, that was just exciting.
"Are you listening to me?"
"Sure Spike," I murmured, smiling evilly in Richard's direction. His eyes turned solid amber and I wonder if it's my magic or just me that makes him so angry and hostile.
Spike gave up on me eventually, snapping up the local newspaper with a snarl and practically tearing it open. He pretended to read the thing even though I know he's already read it twice. He's getting just as antsy and bored as I am, but I know he won't act on anything. Spike's all about the caution now, no matter how annoying it is. And even though I'm itching to cause some trouble, I know that he's right. That soul of his made him a lot smarter than before. We weren't just dropped here at random. Nothing that happened to us happened randomly. There was a scheme behind it, a reason for why we were here.
Of course, I couldn't be sure that that reason was good. For all I knew, it could be bad. It could be very, very BAD.
Things were going to get interesting very fast. I just knew it. My eyes flickered over to Richard again and he's calmed down just a bit. I smirked and blew him an insolent kiss. His eyes go from brown to amber again, in less than two seconds. I couldn't help but giggle at the look of rage on his face. The boy must really not like me.
Maybe he and Anita should start a club.
******
"Not in my house!"
Jean-Claude sighed, looking longingly at the closed bedroom door in front of him. He wished for just a fraction of a second that he could walk right out of this room, leaving Anita to deal with her own mess. But he couldn't, he wouldn't. Such was the curse of loving the
Executioner.
"But where the hell can we keep them then?"
"The Circus?" he volunteered listlessly. Anita's eyes lit up but then faded quickly.
"Is that safe for you?" she asked tentatively.
"I can have them guarded around the clock," the Master of the City offered, exchanging a look with Asher in the corner. "We will be just fine ma petite. And besides, what other choice do we have? As you have said previously, they cannot stay here."
"But what if they turn out to be dangerous?" Anita squeaked. "Maybe I should just call Dolph-"
"And unleash a witch of undetermined power on the unsuspecting police force?" Asher finished for her. The vampire smirked a bit, flashing the brunette a hint of fang. "I did not realize your problems with Dolph ran so deeply Anita."
Anita rolled her eyes, not even rising to the bait of that. Instead she chose to stalk around her bed, avoiding the vampires littered about her room. The small woman paused before her vanity mirror, sighing as she noticed how fatigued and stressed she looked. Couldn't she just have one relaxing day at home? Why did powerful, not to mention dangerous, people have to fall out of the sky on her day off? Couldn't they have the courtesy to wait until tomorrow?
"Ma petite?"
"I just wish I could send them back from wherever they came from and not deal with them," she sighed, still not turning to face her companions. "I don't like having them here Jean-Claude. And I don't just mean the house. I don't like having them in my city-hell, I don't think I even like having them on my planet! All this talk of Hell and different dimensions . . . we could be inviting trouble by letting them live."
"And you propose to dispose of them how?" Jean-Claude demanded of her. "You have already tried to shoot them. That did not work out all that well. You must face the facts ma petite, this is a problem you cannot just shoot away. These people, that redhead, they will not die as easily as others."
"Hey! Not all the others went down easily," Anita grumbled, ran running over some of the many scars on her left arm. "Some of them went down pretty hard. And a lot of them were just as scary as that redheaded witch."
"But how many were more powerful?" Jean-Claude asked her quietly. "We had certain advantages with the others Anita. They usually wanted something from us, something that we used to come out on top. But these people, or should I say that girl, she has no need for us. If you decide to move against her, there is no guarantee that we would win. The power in her, I have never encountered anything like that. And even then, I was not sensing even the whole end of it. She is, as she claims, not of this world. We should move with caution."
"And quickly," Asher added quietly, tilting his head slightly. Anita frowned, suddenly realizing that he was listening to something or the other outside. The brunette fell silent and tried to hear herself, only catching snips of voices here and there.
"I think our friends have assaulted another shifter," the vampire continued, a devilish smirk on his face. "Or the redhead has riled one at the very least. I think if we are going to move them, then we should do so now."
"If they rile shifters here, they'll do it more at the Circus," Anita told them. "And there are vampires at the Circus as well. What if our visitors decide to jerk them around as well? You could have a disaster on your hands Jean-Claude."
The vampire gave her a tight smile, an almost amused look on his face.
"Since I met you Anita, I have become quite accustomed to disasters."
Anita scowled and stomped over to her door, wrenching it open and stalking back down to her living room. Both vampires followed, listening quietly to the grumblings of the woman in front of them.
"Of all of the times to become a smart-ass . . ."
*****