A/N: Some definite angst in this chapter, from a possibly unexpected source.
Chapter Nine: Episode 3: Families Pt 2
Magenta was...perturbed. She'd been feeling strange ever since the botched attempt to take out the Slayer two weeks ago. She'd been having weird dreams, some of her own past, and some she couldn't explain. And sometimes, she was not only aware she was dreaming, but it felt like somebody else was there.
Riff Raff was irritating her. Just being around him. She knew most vampires didn't really feel things like love. Lust yes, sometimes affection, but seldom love. She had met William The Bloody, or Spike as he preferred and his paramour, Drusilla and knew they were an exception, and she knew she was an exception too. Riff was her brother as well as her lover and she truly did love him. But, just being around him was aometiems irritating now. Like she was mad at him for something, but she wasn't sure what.
And she couldn't hunt! She'd gone out, stalked a few victims, and just as she was about to move in for the kill, she'd frozen. So, she'd gone to Riff, embarassed, and he would share his kills with her, but it always felt weird. Wrong somehow. Wrong? She was a VAMPIRE! She was BUILT to hunt and to kill and to feed. What was wrong with her? The closest she had come to a kill was when she happened along the after effects of a gang shooting. There'd been a victim lying there, barely alive. She'd watched him die, then fed off of him, but again, she felt wrong.
She stood in the room she shared with Riff Raff, dressed only in one of his shirts. He was a fair deal taller than her, but the shirt barely covered her backside and lady parts. She sighed, wondering how she was going to get through this day.
Riff came up behind her. He was naked. He slid a hand up under the shirt, caressing her backside, tracing the crack with the tip of his index finger. Normally, this would have her so aroused she would practically rape him, but now it jsut made her sick to her stomach. She batted his hand away. "Knock it off!" she snapped.
Riff was stunned, and perhaps a little hurt. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands settling on her stomach. "What's the matter, Pequana?" he asked, kissing her neck. "Can Big Brother make it better?"
Magenta jerked herself out of his arms and turned on him. "Do NOT call me THAT!" she screamed at him, tears starting down her cheeks. "Kyle called Bianca that! You LOST the right to call me that the first time you fucked me!"
Riff got angry and got right up in her face. "This is the first tiem in over a hundred years you've complained," he pointed out. "As I recall, you wnet right along with it, and eventually, taught ME some nasty things!"
Magenta slapped him. "THAT was AFTER we were turned!" she growled. "And what was I supposed to do before that? I had little contact with the world outside of you, and Daddy and the servants. I was 11 years old and my big brother who I loved and trusted more than anybody told me it was ok! What was I sUPPOSED to think and do?" She moved to slap him again but he caught her wrist.
"Don't do that again, unless it's foreplay!" he snarled. "What the fuck is wrong with you? We've stuck together all our lives, even after becoming vampires! Now, ever since you bit the Slayer and her boy toy you've been distant, and a total bitch."
Magenta's emotions boiled over. He was right. That was when thigns changed. She started sobbing and threw herself into his arms. "Oh, God, Riff!" she sobbed. "What IS wrong with me? Did the Slayer poison me somehow?"
Riff Raff calmed and hugged her tightly. "I don't know," he said. "other vampires have fed off Slayers before, and I never heard of anything like this before." He kissed the side of her head. "We'll talk to Belle. We'll get to the bottom of this, Pequana I promise, Big Brother will fix it. I love you, Pequana."
"I love you too, Riff," she whispered, burying her face in his shoulder. Wondering why she wasn;t sure she believed him when he said that anymore.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Bill looked over Tara's shoulder at the computer screen in the den at Fiona's house. "Not very impressive is it?" he asked.
Tara shook her head as she looked at the job resume she was helping him put together. "Well, you didn't finish high school, you barely got your GED a few months ago, and never went to college," she said. "You can't use your most recent job, since it was as a bouncer at a demon bar, and a lot of the jobs you worked when searching for your father were under the table. On top of that, from what I've seen, your only real talents involve violence and carrying heavy things." She grinned cheekily up at him, trying to lighten the mood.
Bill chuckled softly, then heard Doyle laugh, as he sat in a nearby armchair, his head tilted back, a newspaper over his face. He'd managed to keep his job at Willy's and had worked the late shift last night. Still, he wanted to be there to support Tara through her sure to be emotional meeting with Rupert Giles and Dawn Summers. Bill gave Tara's hair a playful tug. "Smart ass," he muttered. "According to Buffy, you've never been this sassy. Must be the cat in you."
Tara laughed. Bill was finding he liked to hear her laugh almost as much as he liked it when Faith laughed. It was interesting how their relationships were all evolving over the past two weeks. They really were becoming a family. And the really funny part was, if he had to pick one of them to call his "best friend" it would probably be Tara. The blonde Bast had a calming effect on him, much like the one Faith did, but, for entirely different reasons. He knew Tara was gay, and had absolutely no romantic feelings for her. He just enjoyed her company.
"I'm only sassy with you," she shot back. "Must be a cats and dogs thing."
"Wolf,"corrected Bill. "Not a dog."
"Yeah yeah," said Tara turning back to the screen. "Maybe...construction work as a goal?"
Bill nodded absently. As good as his life was going right now, he was also a bit disturbed. He couldn't get the dream he'd had the other night out of his head. Why on earth had he dreamed about a little hispanic girl from 100 years ago, who had obviously been sexually abused by her brother? And the worst part was, she he'd dreamed, he actually FELT what she felt during the abuse. The embarassment, the fear, and the ...excitement. And the total love and trust the girl had had for him. It was creepy. And he found he simply couldn't share the dream with any of his new friends. Plus, something about the little girl had seemed...familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
At least patrol's were going well. As a larger city than Sunnydale, Cleveland seemed to have a large vampire and demon population, and Bill and Faith had managed to take at least a few out with every patrol. They were an effective fighting team, Faith's speed and skill complimenting Bill's strength and ferocity well. She'd commented several times how amusing it was that, between the two of them, SHE seemed to be the level headed one. This was after a particularly brutal fight with a polgara demon in which Bill had nearly gotten himself impaled by one of the thngs arm spikes.
His musing were cut short by the sound of the front door opening. His wolf senses immediately picked up the intoxicatin scent that was Faith. "their home," he said. Doyl and Tara both stood. They'd decided for him and Doyle to go out and meet the guests first, then for Tara to come out. Doyle squeezed Tara's arm and he and Bill went out into the living room.
Bill walked right up to Faith and kissed her, elss deeply than he would have if they hadn't had guests. "Hey Trouble," he whispered.
Faith kissed him back. "Hey," she said smiling. She took his hand and led him over to the older guy with glasses and the teenaged girl, Doyle following. "Guys, I want you to meet Ruper Giles, B's Watcher, head of the new Watchers Council and my former Watcher, and B's sister, Dawn Summers. G, D, this is Alan Francis Doyle and Bill Gordon." She paused to look up at Bill. "My boyfriend."
Bill smiled at her as Doyle shook hands with and greeted Giles and Dawn. That was the first time either had said "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". He liked it. He stepped forward to greet the other. "Mr. Giles," he said, shaking Giles hand. "I've heard a lot from Faith, Buffy and Tara. It's great to finally meet you."
"And you," said Giles, smiling a touch awkwardly, feeling very much like the father who is meeting his daughters boyfriend for the first time. "Buffy speaks very highly of you. Of all of you."
The two stepped apart and Dawn came up and shook his hand. "We al lcare a lot about Faith," she told Bill. "Consider this the shovel speech."
Bill chuckled softly getting the message: if he hurt Faith Dawn would beat him with a shovel. "If I ever hurt Faith," he said sincerely. "I'll LET you do it. And it's nice to meet you."
"You two," said Dawn. "Now, where is she?"
"Mr. Giles, Dawnie," came a soft voice from the door to the den. They all turned to see Tara standing there, tears running down her face. "God, I've missed you so much."
"Oh my God," said Dawn, her own waterworks starting. "I can't believe it. Buffy told me, I talked to you on the phone, but, it just now became real." She threw herself into Tara's arms. "You're back! My God, you're back!"
"I'm back," said Tara, softly, soothingly as Dawn sobbed. "Shhhhhh. It's ok, Dawnie. I'm back." She looked up and saw Giles, tears in his own eye as he walked forward and wrapped his arms around both of them.
"Welcome back, Tara," he said huskily as the three clung to each other.
Bill wrapped an arm around Faith's waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder. They and Fiona and Doyle all looked at each other, then went into the kitchen to give the three some private time.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
A couple of hours later, all seven of them sat around comparing notes about what they'd been up to, and Dawn and Giles getting to know Bill, Doyle and Fiona. Giles was finding he liked these three, and felt they were really good for Faith and Tara. He smiled every time Faith and Bill exchanged a look, or a touch. He'd never seen Faith so...tender, and he was convinced these two were falling for each other.
After Tara explaining more of her new Bast nature, including a demonstration of her new more powerful magical abilities and ability to turn into a cat, Bill had filled them in on his situation, including his history. Giles noticed Faith squeeze his hand when he talked about killing his father.
"So," Bill concluded. "Not a werewolf here, but I do have their strength and speed. Plus I can heal really fast. Faith tells me my eyes glow yellow when I get into a fight. Plus, I seem to be imune to a werewolves bite. I got bit several times when I fought my father, and I still don't go all furry three nights a month. Not really sure WHAT I am."
Giles looekd at him thoughtfully. "You're a Primal," he said.
"You mean like that creepy zoo keeper that accidently got Xander and those others posessed by hyena's?" asked Dawn.
Giles shook his head. " The term Primal refers to a person with an animal spirit inside of themselves, one that gives them certain aspects of the animal. In some cases, the human invites the animal into themself, in others, the person is posessed by the animal spirit." He turned to Bill. "You, were apparently born with an animal spirit inside of you.. The zookeeper was a member of a sect of animal worshippers who believed the human spirit to be a perversion, and the animal state to be holy. They develoepd techniques to draw the spirits of certain animals into themselves. They were definately examples of Primals, but they actually adopted the name."
(A/N; Yes, I made some changes to the show's definition of Primal to fit my own story)
"So, I'm a Primal," said Bill. "Well, it's good to have a name for my condition," he said. "Plus, it sounds kinda...cool."
Everybody laughed and Faith elbowed him. "Yeah, that's the most important part, ya big goof," she said.
Tara looked at her watch. "Oh, Dawnie, we need to leave if we're going to make our movie."
Dawn nodded happily and stood. Giles and Fiona had wanted to take all of them out to dinner to celebrate the reunion, but Dawn had wanted to revive an old tradition of her and Tara's that they had started a few months before Tara died. At the time, Tara had left Willow because of Willow's magic addiction, and Buffy was in a state of sever depression after being ripped out of Heaven. So, Tara and Dawn had started having special times for just the two of them involving movies and massive amounts of shakes. It had always made Dawn feel safe, and loved.
Everybody stood as Tara went to get their jackets. Suddenly, Doyle grabbed his forehead and collapsed onto the ground groaning. Giles and Dawn looekd stunned.
"is he ok?" asked Dawn.
"Vision," said Tara, kneeling down beside him.
Four vampires in an old abandoned warehouse. they seemed to have captured a family of five, and were feeding off of them. Two male and two female. Doyle gasped. One of them looked a lot like Angel! The other male was wearing a leather duster and had peroxide blonde hair. One of the females was petite and blonde, the other waif thin with thick black hair. That one suddenly looekd up from the child she was feeding on. she seemed to look Doyle right in the eyes.
"I can see you!" she singsonged in an English accent.
Doyle snapped out of the vision, the pain already clearing. He looekd at the others.
"The Whirlwind!" he gasped out.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
