TITLE: Complex Cycles 4
AUTHOR: Leni
DISCLAIMER: Darla as the Slayer? Cordelia getting along with her? Buffy actually being happy? Oh please! You already *know* they can't be Joss'.
DISTRIBUTION: You want it, you can take it after it's finished.
SUMMARY: Even more weirdness in the Buffy-world. I've really surprised myself in this chapter.
SPOILERS: Seasons 1,2,3,4 of BtVS and Season 1 of A:tS
AN: Remember: this is an *very* ALTERNATE universe fic.
RATING: This first part is pretty safe. I'd give it a PG for some foul language but that should be it. Next part will be R-ish...
FEEDBACK: It may help me write faster and get the next chapter *before* my birthday... ( I'm a Gemini, by the way.) dani_vasq@hotmail.com , a_d_v_v@yahoo.com.ar
DEDICATION: To Jaime. For reading, and commenting, and encouraging me to keep writing this mad story (Don't worry, dear, I'm still a W/O at heart...) AND for encouraging me to write the fourth installment of 'Best Friends-Serie' (in fiction AND real life, of course. *g*) Go and read her 'Coffee Shop'! B/A-ness with some cute W/O underlines are there! (Look for bitca-101)
THANK YOU: To Chloe. *smooches* THANKS! thanks! thanks!!!! Hey everybody! I'd suggest everyone of you thank my dear beta-reader... If not for her you'd have to read some serious mistakes in here. And, Chloe, I especially have to thank you for staying with me since the beginning of 'Alternate Reality' (now 'Complex Cycles'.) Can you believe this began more than a year ago?
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Day 4, Saturday __________*Coming Back Home'*
Sleep was eluding her today.
How was she supposed to rest when so many thoughts were wandering in her head?
He had killed her baby. Thus, he deserved to die, didn't he?
Of course he did. Nobody touched *her* things and got away with it. How had he dared to do something so *horrible*? It made her remember the time those awful people had tried to kill her and her lover... she had been so glad when Angelus had drained them all! Of course, they had had to wait some years for their revenge... but what was some short years when you had a whole eternity at your feet?
But eternity wouldn't help her make this decision. She wanted to find the Watcher herself and cut his spine out of his body, make him watch as she poked his chest with those wonderful spikes Angelus had just got her. So many ideas she had for a wonderful rendezvous with the insubordinate Childe... all gone to waste.
She couldn't let him die. What a problem! Such a hard decision to make! She knew he had to stay at their side. Angelus had called him the key to their success and her feelings agreed wholeheartedly with him. She had learned to trust her feelings a century ago... So, this time, she would let him live.
Of course, only after he had learned not to cross her, or her pets, she would make him regret the killing of her Tommy. Maybe later she could convince Angelus to bring another kitten home.
With a happy sigh she pulled Angelus' arms closer around her and let herself drift away. Maybe not all her little plans for the Watcher were lost...
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He knew he should be out of the town right now.
He knew it was sheer craziness to stay here, so near to *them*.
He knew that if he were found, he would be only a memory.
He didn't care.
He had escaped because he couldn't find a thing in Angelus' books. True, he hadn't even looked much at their contents but he knew... He had been a Watcher thorough his whole life and experience told him that what he hadn't found in the books he *had* read, he wouldn't find in the rest.
He knew that he could hope for no mercy if he didn't show his Sire some results... results he wouldn't find in that room.
So, he had fled the mansion.
And his escape wouldn't end in this shabby warehouse. Angelus would surely find - and punish - him were he to stay. He had already found a way to escape and he laughed at the idea. A bus. What would be more inconspicuous than an old man going out of the town by bus? Not even Angelus would guess it- at least not until it was too late to pursue his wayward Childe.
He had investigated about the Scourge of Europe when he was still in London. He knew the intentions of his Master. Let another do the hard work, fulfil the prophecy and the kill the researcher. Not a bad technique, but it did not bode well with him when *he* was the researcher.
Rupert Giles - now the Ripper - had other plans. He wanted to go back home. To England. Back to the Watcher Council. What could be better for his reputation than to put the damned Council - the same one which had truncated his life and those of many others - into perpetual rest? He was no fool. He knew that the London Council was not the only one on Earth but it certainly held the most precious Watchers. He would make certain that they never saw the sunlight again.
And then, after the Council was nothing more than shambles and rubble he would come back to his Sire and ask for forgiveness. Angelus would be proud of him and would let him leave. It was his right as dutiful Childe -was something more dutiful than erasing a do-goody force? - to leave his Sire's service and build his own path.
The Ripper was sure he would survive to end his plans. He was a descendant of the Order of Aurelius, one of the most powerful Vampire breeds in the world. He had been created as a Childe and not a simple minion - even if his Sire treated him as only that - and as a Childe he was powerful.
He didn't want to stay under Angelus' command.
The Ripper would prevail...
...if he managed to escape Angelus' wrath until tomorrow.
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Dawn was nearing.
The streets were darker than she had ever seen them before; it could only mean that dawn was near. Had she passed so much time in that warehouse? She smiled at the thought. Well, her companion wouldn't say she had failed' him. He was in for a nice surprise when he woke up. Bad thing she wouldn't be there, it couldn't have hurt to stay and see his face. Besides, she really had had fun last night.
Oh well, last night was last night and she still had to run a little errand to the magic shop and then go home, sweet home.
Willow arranged the skirt a little more comfortably around her hips Damn, these things are tight... What a girl has to do... She sighed and continued her path with a small packet in her hand.
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She had been careful to leave all the curtains closed when she came in. She knew that in her state any kind of light would cause a huge headache.
But closed curtains was not enough to lie to her body and now it was screaming that dawn had long passed and that it was time to train.
Train. What a spiteful word.
If only...
If only her head wasn't throbbing when she tried to open her eyes. She lay back on the bed and tried to relax. Her mind played the last moments of the night before. How had she come back home? Had she called a taxi again and made him go without actually paying? She just didn't remember.
When she finally felt confident enough to open her eyes, she encountered a note next to her head. The writing was unknown to her. It just said "Kevin. 2807634. I had a great time last night. Call me and I'll forgive all that puke in my backseat." Well, at least now she knew how she had come back. She crumpled the note and threw it into the garbage can.
She tried to get up and immediately fell back into the bed. It was decisive. She had a hangover. Lord punish the idiot that gave her beer along with vodka. Never more would she trust the bartender. Never more. She glanced painfully at the clock. 7:30.
She groaned.
Gwendolyn was surely already awake and ready to give her the day's lecture. She supposed that today her mentor would be all about the irresponsibility of her behaviour.
Shit!
She dragged herself out of her bed and tried to hurry towards the bathroom. Apparently, her stomach was now as awake as she and it demanded some immediate attention.
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When he woke up, he could have sworn there were little dwarfs hammering his skull. He lifted his hand to check it - this was a Hellmouth after all - and discovered that his hands were bound behind him. What?!
And the dwarfs kept doing their infernal work... He moaned in agony.
When the pain receded a bit, he tried to remember what had happened last night. He had been at the bars looking for a trace of Angelus, he had had dinner with two or three beautiful chicks, then gone to a bar again, and then... he couldn't remember anything else. What? He was sure he hadn't come to his hideout and bound himself, or had he?
He tried to loosen the knot but rapidly learned that the ties were magically bound and there was nothing he could do to help himself.
Shit! What the fucking hell had happened to him?!
He began looking for an escape but nothing came to him. Suddenly he saw a note on his lap. "And so the hunter becomes the hunted. W.R." W.R? Of course, that petite redhead... Willow... something... He smiled to himself. Nice girl she was. Letting him bring her to his 'house', giving him some whisky and then tying him up. Yes, definitely his kind of girl. Little tramp who thought she could play with him and part unharmed. He would make sure of teaching her a lesson or two. Of course, that pledge did not undo the fact that she knew what he was and that she managed to trap him...
A mysterious woman, indeed.
One that he didn't even get to sleep with. Shit!
Now he remembered: They had chatted at the pub until he convinced her of coming to his apartment' for a couple of drinks'. And he had thought she had been playing hard-to-get! The girl did know how to play her cards. Apparently, seductive coyness was her best asset. Once at home' she had insisted on having her toast before doing anything else'. Why the hell had he accepted? He should have started dismembering her right then and there! She *had to* have put some spell on him. There was no way he could be so patient with a woman. He was no Angelus, for Pete's sake!
She had given him a pint of whisky – they *were* right about a woman's purse. That girl had had a whole bar in there. - and then... Blackout.
So, the whisky had been it. He laughed to himself. *He*, one of the most dangerous Master vampires, had fell in a little girl's game. He could only hope that no word of this would get on the streets... the best bet of that not happening would be to kill the protagonists, i.e.: sweet, coy, witchy bitch.
But at least... er... *Willow* - yeah, that little bitch had a name - had been considerate enough to leave a pint of blood at his side. It was placed so that he could turn his head and bury his fangs in the bag. However, he still had his dignity. It didn't matter if an human girl was his captor, he still was a Master vampire. Even if he was bounded and hungry and without any means of freedom...
Still, he would not drink that blood. The girl had drugged him with a whisky. Who knows what was in that bag of blood?
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She squinted her eyes in an effort to protect them from the harsh, sudden light.
"Wake up, Darla. We have to talk."
She opened her eyes. It hadn't been a dream. Her mother was really standing next to her window; hands still on the now open curtains.
Darla sighed inwardly. After leaving Xander's house she had gone patrolling to many cemeteries. She was tired, she was grouchy, and beyond grossed out because she had just discovered what Holy Water could *really* do to a vampire. Who would have known that there was so much flesh between skin and bone?
"I don't know what to do with you anymore," Joyce began.
Silence. What was she supposed to say? She knew her mother, one ill-placed word and she would be punished for the rest of the month. But, well, considering they were already on 25th maybe it would not be that bad.
"Do you understand what you did?"
Darla just nodded. She still had no idea what her mother was talking about. Had she heard her coming home late at night? Maybe she should oil the window corners. Sometimes the material creaked when she was opening it...
"I was worried, Darla. I had to call your friends to know where you were. Why didn't you call me? You should know better than to disappear on me by now."
Oh! So *that* was what this all was about! Her escapade the night before last! If only her mother knew the truth... "I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to sound repentant. I'm sorry I had to mourn the death of the most important person in my life. One you don't even know about.
"Sorry? Sorry isn't going to make it better, Dar." Joyce sat herself next to her daughter. She could not understand her only child. It had been so simple before: Clothes, Boys, School... and then, two years ago, all had changed. She didn't know what her daughter did anymore. She had even found her out of her room at midnight. Given excuse? None. She was worried about Darla. She knew that life never seemed easy at seventeen but she certainly didn't remember making such a turmoil when she was that age. And Darla hadn't even looked to her for advice. "I worry about you," she continued, "I was at your school last week."
Darla's ears perked at this. "I- I d-didn't know."
"Snyder called me at my work. He says he is considering expelling you."
Darla's eyes widened. So that was why that little troll had been whistling when he saw her yesterday! "He is considering to expel everyone at school!" she countered. Why didn't a vampire have him for dinner or something? She didn't understand how the Hellmouth could take nice Mr. Flutie away and leave them with *Snyder*... could it really be that evil?
"This is no game, miss! What would we do if he really does it? Move out of town so you can finish your education? Are you really that inconsiderate?"
"No, mom," she mumbled. She really didn't think Snyder would expel her... her grades weren't *that* bad and a lot of teachers still supported her... "It won't come to that..."
"I hope so, Dar. I just don't want to have problems with you anymore." Darla watched as her mother left the room. "And next time you are staying over at Cordelia's... tell me. You are grounded for a week. No Bronze. No parties. No calls. No friends coming over. Understood?"
"Yes, mom." Do I get 'no vampires trying to kill me and mine', too?
When Joyce Duncan finally disappeared from her view Darla burrowed between her covers again and rapidly felt asleep.
Her last thought was that she would be eternally thankful to Snyder if he did expel her from school. Then maybe her mom would take her away from Sunnydale for real and she would never have to see a Hellmouth again.
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For the second time just this week, Angelus was unable to sleep.
First it had been Buffy moving restlessly around their bed mumbling about the late Tommy and her dreams of the Watcher in flames in front of her. He had always known that his beautiful had an excellent mind for vengeance and tortures, and as this time it was about both he was certain to enjoy the show. That is, if he didn't eviscerate the little traitor first... after all, he had promised Buffy to kill him---
But his thoughts of the Watcher weren't what maintained him awake. His musings about Buffy's current dreams of torture had brought along the memories of a far more important dream. The one from the last day with the lost sister' and the threat she apparently represented.
Buffy assured him that she didn't know the stranger's identity but she also insisted that her coming was closer--- and that her presence wouldn't bode well with them. Angelus was almost sure that the girl in Buffy's dreams was human. Were it not so, Buffy would have detected it, he knew it. After all, she had predicted the menace of that small half-Brachen demon... even when he himself hadn't suspected his hybrid state.
So, the girl was human. And she was a dangerous threat if he were to believe Buffy's ramblings – which he did. And he hadn't a single idea of who may she be. Maybe the Slayer? Or one of the Hunters? She could even be one of those annoying gypsies... True, he had practically eradicated that tribe from Earth's face but you never knew for sure with gypsies...
Who could she be?
Buffy threw her arm carelessly across his chest and Angelus grinned. If he could not sleep, well... it was all her fault, after all...
He moved her so that she was atop him and kissed the top of her head. She mumbled something about faithless faith' and broken moon' and burrowed into his chest. He caressed her mane of hair and waited until she was completely asleep again. Then he threw her on the bed and grinned when she opened her eyes.
She grinned back and embraced him.
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After puking her guts out, she had just stayed kneeled on the bathroom floor, her temple against the cool surface of the basin. She hoped that her healing abilities were fast enough and Gwendolyn wouldn't find her in this position.
"Seems you are awake. It was already time, after all."
She sighed. Why couldn't she get lucky just once? "I had a busy night," she responded curtly.
"Yeah, fucking a bastard who would not even wake up at your side. Is that all you want?" Ms. Post looked at her charge, disappointment filling her gaze. She had done her best to help her and the ungrateful child didn't even thank her.
"No. I want to be left alone," she rasped. She wanted the older woman to go away and never come back. Why was she here, anyway? It wasn't as if they needed each other. She was sure that Gwendolyn saw her as a burden, and she sure as hell wasn't very fond of her teacher either.
"I cannot do that to you, child. Not until you've learned your lesson."
She put her palms on the basin and used it as leverage to get herself up. Once she was sure she could stand up, she crossed her arms over her body and tried to assume a defiant position. "I think I've already learned enough. What is there more for you to teach me?"
Gwendolyn laughed softly. Her eyebrows raised, she hadn't heard her laugh for a long time. "That's why I brought you to the Hellmouth, child. You were becoming sloppy in Boston; you didn't even fight hard in L.A. You will have to learn to really fight here in Sunnydale. That or..." She made a telling gesture with her hands.
"Die. I know." She squared her shoulders and brushed past her mentor. "Let's go, Gwendolyn. Sparring with you is better than hearing you speak, anyway."
Mrs. Post smiled when she saw her charge leaving her room. At least she had gotten her in the mood to fight. Now for the hardest part...
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The room was dark. The only light came from the tiny candles on the walls. In the centre, there was a petite figure chanting in a strange tongue.
"Tara? I'm home."
The figure turned around and smiled at the newcomer.
Willow smiled back and held the packet in front of her for the other girl to see. "I got what you needed."
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Harmony mumbled in her sleep when the phone at her bedside began to rang. She had had a late night at the new club last night. Couldn't whoever was calling wait for another two or three hours? And why the hell didn't Marie answer it?
However, when the tenth ring sounded, she decided that they needed a new maid – Marie was probably watching that soap opera again - and that, if she wanted to sleep some more, she would have to answer the phone herself.
Without getting out from her warm cocoon, she managed to grab the speaker and talk into it without breaking anything.
"Uhmm..."
She was going to kill the person on the other side. How did someone dare wake her up at such ungodly hour?
"Hi. Is it you, Harm?"
"Anya?" It was strange. The new girl only rarely called her. And she really preferred to maintain it that way. "You better be aware that it's *still* nine in the morning, couldn't you have phoned later?" she hissed still mad about having to interrupt that dream about that Warner guy.
"Sorry, Harm. I couldn't wait to tell you the news. I mean, everybody at school already knows and as you are always so out of the loop..."
She grimaced. "Yeah, of course. And who was the one who told you about Beatrice two-timing Freddy?" It had been sheer luck to discover her classmate in a date with Thomas. Of course, Anya didn't have to know that.
"That's old news. I've got something fresh for you. Guess who isn't single anymore."
"Everybody knows that Jessica has a new boyfriend," she said with a sigh. What was so important about it?
"No, I'm not talking about Jessie! Cordy is it."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "What?! Cordy?" Cordelia was right. The Emerson girl could be a vast source of gossip-- how much did she exactly know? "Who is he? He's not that guy from college, is he?"
"No."
"Good. I want him for myself." And she did; that boy was a dream: cute, nice, handsome and with rich parents. What could be better that that?
"It's Xander."
*That* got her attention. Anya couldn't be implying that... "What?!"
"Yeah, I saw them yesterday at school and they were..."
Harmony smiled. So that was why Anya had called her. Well, if Emerson really wanted to sink Cordelia's reputation then she had just found the best ally.
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She was not sure if she would be able to do it. But then, what would it really take? Just a little more strength in the next attack, just to have her opponent a little more distracted... and then...
Freedom.
Could she really do it?
She had had her chance many times in the past. Right now she also had one. Trainings were supposed to be hard. Would it be so surprising if one of them died here?
She had killed countless creatures with the same moves she was doing now, some of them even begging for mercy. Would it be so different to kill one whose blood was just like hers? Whose speech was comprehensible and her cries only fair? Would it be so hard to kill someone who didn't even respect her?
She didn't know.
She was not sure if she wanted to.
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After Tara finished the last spell, they cleaned the room and prepared the setting for the new one. Willow prayed it would work. If not... she wouldn't have much time to wonder about the consequences.
"Is everything ready?" she asked her partner anxiously.
"Yes, only the blood was missing." Tara painted a large circle around them and took the packet from Willow's hand. Then she poured its contents into the bowl.
Willow watched from a respectful distance as her lover chanted the spell and added different ingredients to the mix.
// Hecate, Goddess of the Moon. //
Even without fire, the substance in the bowl began to boil slightly, tiny bubbles coming to the surface and exploding.
It was working.
// Diane, Sacred Lady of the Hunt. //
The spell was in a strange language, Etrusc, Latin maybe. Still, even as the words didn't have any meaning for her, she still could hear... no, not hear... *feel* the message of the strange words. It was as if a little voice was whispering the translation in her brain...
// Artemise, Loyal Protector and Friend. //
She and Tara always tried to invoke the good spirits of the Greek Pantheon. Artemise was one of her personal favourites. The divine Huntress was the one she always recurred to when she made a spell. It gave her a sense of security to put herself under her wings.
// Guard your Daughters in this time of Need. //
Yes, indeed, they needed all the help they could get. With the number of vampires and other demons increasing in the last weeks they were now in constant peril. Sometimes their work didn't pay off as it used to. That was the reason they needed this protection spell.
// Keep away the Dangers from your humble home. //
She was the one who had found the spell. While Tara had been busy trying to invoke the protection of Hades or Ares, she had discovered an easy spell... well, it was easy once you had the blood of a vampire. It seemed that Artemise had an inkling for those creatures, the kind of inkling where she hunted them every night.
// Keep away the Devil from our minds. //
Willow assumed that that was why some books referred to her favourite Goddess as "Slayer", as in, well, slaying vampires. She was sure that the current Slayer would find it funny to be connected to a Greek myth. Of course, she never stopped by enough to give Willow the time of day, so she never would have something to laugh about.
// Make us strong in your eternal power. //
"Make them weak when coming for us," Willow muttered silently under her breath. A little sentence wouldn't hurt, would it? She was also a Wiccan, one that was just beginning her training but a Wiccan none-the-less. She knew when to interrupt and when not to, and right now, she didn't feel any danger in adding her own input.
// Make us see their weakness and win. //
"Make them see our strength and leave," she continued. She could almost feel the power of the spell coursing through her.
// Protect your Daughters in this time of need. //
Tara's eyes went black and suddenly unseeing. Willow's eyes flashed green for a second.
// So mote it be! //
Then something totally unexpected happened.
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"Wake up, Angelus."
He murmured something in his sleep and rolled to his side further away from her.
"Darling..."
He squinted his eyes and grabbed the sheet a little tighter to him. Buffy had to smile at the sight, he looked like a little boy who didn't want to get up. Well, she *had* left him very tired from last night... and that morning.
"Love..."
Seeing that he wouldn't wake if she didn't do something about it, she reclined herself over him and kissed his lips lightly. One kiss after another until he began to respond, albeit still sleepily. Some moments later, she pulled away and smiled when his lips followed her. A little grunt and she was beneath him again.
"Uhmm... nice way to wake up, lover," he told her before leaning down and kissing her. From her lips, he passed on to her chin and her neck. He created a circular, slow and *very* erotic pattern on it, like a spiral of kisses which descended and descended oh so slowly... until she had to grab his head and guide him to her breasts. He grinned at his mate's impetuosity and proceeded to obey her mute orders.
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4b is already written and ready. If you want to see it, I'd suggest to let me know it...
