E-mail: Cajun_chick411@yahoo.com or Cajun_chick411@netscape.com
Title: Twins of Peace Book Two: Adhara (Working title)
Spoilers: all four HP books, Buffy up to the end of season six, and my fanfic Twins of Peace
Category: General, Supernatural, and Action/Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I regret to inform you that I am neither Joss Whedon nor JK Rowling so I own no HP characters, Buffy, or Angel characters. However I do own Piper, Adrian, Hayden, Candra, Damon, William, Adhara, Leandra, and any other characters you know aren't in either series.
Summary: The summer after her first year at Hogwarts Piper Black faces problems of the demon variety. I'd suggest reading the previous fic Twins of Peace, or you might be a bit lost. I can't really tell you much more with out giving the whole thing away, so with out further ado, let's go…
*~*
Chapter One: Piper- Adhara
"Thanks Mrs. Todd."
"Think nothing of it Piper. You deserve it, putting up with Rick all summer."
"He hasn't been that bad. Tonight he just watched a little TV and went to be at eight thirty."
"Still, it has been wonderful to be able to go out again. He must really like you; no other sitter would come back more than once. Do you need a ride home?"
"No, I'll walk."
"Well thank you again." The door shut and I skipped down the stairs, forty dollars in my pocket. It was nine o' clock and I needed to get home; my night to do the dishes after all. Also Buffy would worry. I wanted to get to sleep relatively early too. The next day was Thursday and I coached girl's softball in the mornings. Then in the afternoons I tutored third graders in math.
Does this sound a little too Leave it to Beaver-ish? Do I sound like a saint? I guess my year at Hogwarts did change me a little.
Ok, first off my life is not like something out of the Brady Bunch, let me assure you of this. It's more like the Munsters, and that's only looking at the Nick at Nite line up. If we went to current television we'd be talking Roswell or Star Trek. I know from what I just said it must sound like I live in a typical suburb, with two accountant parents, a brother and sister, a dog, and a white picket fence. Here's what I have from that list, a suburb (definitely not typical though), a brother, and a dog. My mother is dead, and my father is an escaped convict currently hiding out in Asia. He's not and never was an accountant. Nope, he's a wizard.
I live in a suburb of LA called Sunnydale, and when portals to hell aren't opening over it I live a pretty nice life. I'm very popular with the local parents, because kids love me. Something I discovered while taking care of my twin cousins. I seem to be the one babysitter they actually want to see again. Like I mentioned I tutor, and coach softball. When I've got down time I go with my cousin Dawn (actually she's more like my cousin once removed or something, but we won't delve into that) to the local club, or we go to the beach and I surf.
That's the Brady Bunch part of my life, here's the reality. I'm a girl of three worlds. First there're the mortals, y'know your average people on the streets who have no desire to look beyond they white picket fence and 2.4 children. My summer life as a normal teenager is very important to me. It helps me keep a grasp on things. In fact, this summer I've done as little magic as possible. I got all my homework out of the way early, just so I could be normal. Totally normal isn't possible for me, but I can try.
The second largest part of me is my magic. My mom was a witch, and my dad is a wizard. Long story on genetics short, that makes my twin brother Adrian a wizard and me a witch. I found out last year when I was still living with my adoptive parents in New Jersey and working for below minimum wage at the Apropos Café. My dad and his friend (my godfather) Remus Lupin tracked us down and brought us to magical world over in London. During the school year we go to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's one of my favorite places in the world. Anything weird there is the norm, it's perfect for the other part of me.
My mom was half vampire. Skipping over another long genetics essay that makes Adrian and I one fourth vampire each. The interesting twist on this story is, the vampire who turned my grandmother making my mother half vampire, is my uncle on my dad's side. His name's Spike. Get this, he and his, uh, not wife, but girlfriend isn't exactly appropriate either, ok, Spike and Buffy, they're my guardians. Now my being part vampire would be fine if I weren't part of a prophecy to bring peace between all beings. That part kinda sucks, not much, but some.
Sometimes I just want to be a muggle. I'd just be one of those two point four kids. But then there'd be no Spike, no Candra, no Draco, and most of all no Adrian and I don't think I could live without Adrian. Actually it was proven last year that I can't live with out him when he was kidnapped by Spike's crazy old girlfriend.
"Adrian, I miss you like crazy," I mumbled sadly.
"You're gonna be missin' a whole lot more in a second."
I groaned and turned around. A vampire stood next to a tree. He was newly dead. Dirt clung to the suit he'd been buried in and he smelled awful.
"I'm not in the mood for this!" I growled, side stepping quickly as he lunged for my neck. Rolling on the ground I grabbed a stake from my boot and stuck it right through his back. The vamp exploded into dust as quickly as he'd come. "One day they're gonna learn…" I shook my head as I hurried up Revello drive to the house. All summer they'd been attacking me, and to counter this all summer I'd been training with Spike and Buffy in the back of the Magic Box. I kept a stake tucked into my trusty doc marten boots at all times. It was easily accessible and vampire rarely got away.
"Buffy, Spike?" I stepped into the house. Lights were on but I couldn't hear anything.
"They left patrolling." Dawn called from the kitchen. "The twins are asleep."
I went through the parlor to the kitchen. Sitting, I dropped the stake on the table and started to unlace my boots.
"Again?" Dawn asked, eyeing the stake.
I sighed. "Yeah. I dusted him in two minutes. I'm waiting for them to learn that I'm always armed. They haven't figured this out yet and it's soooooo annoying. The fact that I'm almost as strong as them might make them want to back away too, but no!" The last lace came out and I stood, making my way to the dishwasher and started unloading it.
"Adrian called, also the Social Services guy called again."
I looked at the clock on the wall above. 9:01. Damn. At the beginning of the summer Buffy and Spike had decided that the phone could not be used after nine unless it was an emergency. I really wanted to call Adrian, but unless I was in bed with stomach, chest, and head pains, calling Adrian didn't qualify as an emergency.
Social Services, this was another problem. They'd stopped checking up before when there was only Dawn. But now there were two babies and me. Buffy was finally getting paid from the Watchers Council because of the twins, and Spike was getting paid as Adrian's and my guardian, but when a social worker asks you what your profession is that really doesn't go over with them. Yes we were a house with a steady income and well-clothed, well-fed children, but where was that money coming from and how were the adults of the house getting it. And why weren't Buffy and Spike married. All of these were questions that people had been asking.
"Don't worry," Dawn said sympathetically. "It'll probably be better to call Adrian tomorrow anyway. He's probably out doing detective stuff."
Another weird part of my life… did I mention my brother is spending his summer with a vampire named Angel who runs a detective agency with his friends? No? That's probably just as well. Weirdness is good to take in small doses.
*~*
It was raining and plain icky the next morning, so I turned off my alarm clock and slept through the time I would've been coaching softball. Buffy stuck her head into my room at around twelve telling me that tutoring had been canceled. Oooh, a break! I finally got myself into the shower at one in the afternoon, and at two I went out into the rain and walked over to the Magic Box.
The bells on the door jingled as I pushed open the door and walked in. Anya was at the counter and immediately looked up at the sound obviously hoping for a customer. Her face fell a bit when she realized that it was only me, but she was still smiling. "Spike and Buffy are in the back."
"Thanks. I'll go back in a second." I said, spotting Willow with my twin cousins.
You hear people talking about their miracle children all the time, well my cousins were true miracles. And I'm not bragging in the least, they are. First their father is a vampire, which alone gives you something to talk about. Their mother is only the Second slayer to ever have children, the first being my grandmother. Buffy is also the oldest slayer ever at the ripe old age of twenty-one. Some in the Watchers Council insist that William and Damon can't possibly be Spike and Buffy's children. I'm thinking they're slightly blind. I can tell William will look exactly like Spike, even at one month. He has brown hair (which was Spike's hair color before he got peroxide sucked into his brain), blue eyes, and I swear he smirks. I know that sounds ridiculous, but sometimes he I could swear he mimics Spike's facial expressions. He loves attention and screams, wonderful set of lungs he's got, whenever at least one person isn't looking at him. Damon on the other hand seems to have taken looks from Spike's sister (or so he says). Since I've never seen a picture of her, I just say he looks like my brother did at that age. Black tousled hair, and a constantly drooling mouth. He has green eyes that seem to get brighter by the day. He'll usually let his brother do the yelling for him, which is a blessing to all of us when we run out of aspirin.
Damon grabbed my finger in his fist when I went to pick him up. He has a very good grip for a one month old. The twins had if nothing else, inherited some super strength from their parents. I started prying his fingers from my thumb, which was an amazingly hard task.
"They're waiting in the back." Willow informed me. "Um, and it wasn't me who told you this, but Spike's planning to ambush you as you walk in the door."
I handed Damon back to Willow, and sighed. "Does he never give up?"
"Buffy told him to stop, but he's determined to get you to do it." Willow said.
"Ya think?" I grumbled, and turned to stalk into the back training room.
As soon as I walked in Spike jumped me from the back. Willow had been right. I flipped him over my shoulder then ran to the corner where my weapon of choice was. It was a plain, long wooden staff, but it worked wonders. Spike came at me again and I jabbed him in the stomach sending him flying. But he was up again quickly and before I knew it I was on the ground, my own staff being pointed at my heart.
"Now pet," Spike said above me. "You could make this bloody easy for yourself if you just-"
"No." I cut him off. "I'm not using my demon to fight. I'm not using it for anything."
"Will you stop bein' so bloody stupid?" He finally got off of me and stuck out a hand to help me up. "You could knock me from here to the cemetery if you just let it come out. Pet, you're pushing it down every time we fight.
Damn, I'd hoped he wouldn't have picked up on that. It was true, though. Really it was the only reason he could pin me down so easily, I was concentrating too much on not letting myself get the lumpies. Spike didn't get it though, I didn't want my demon. I'd be happy keeping it penned up inside me for the rest of my life. Sure the other vampiric traits I gotten from my mother were ok, the enhanced senses, the strength. They'd just recently started to come out. Even sun burning incredibly quickly was fine. But I was not comfortable with the demon. Adrian was, but definitely not me.
"Spike stop," I heard Buffy's firm voice. She was sitting on a bench to the side, and I hadn't noticed her yet. "She doesn't want it."
"You didn't want to be the slayer did you luv?" He asked irritably. "Doesn't matter now anyway. Let's go out front."
Buffy shot him a concerned glance. Spike was already gone. I sighed and followed him out of the training from with Buffy at my heels. She put a sympathetic arm on my shoulder, and again I sighed trying hard not to look pissed off. Anya didn't like it when people looked unhappy during store hours. She said it scared off potential customers.
When I stepped into the main part of the shop, I smacked right into Spike. He'd stopped right in the doorway, and was staring straight ahead. I was about to tell him to move when I caught a glimpse of what he was staring at. Actually all of the Scoobies in the shop were staring at the same place.
A black woman had walked into the shop. She stopped in the middle of the room and was looking right at Spike. I thought I had to be dreaming. The woman looked like she'd walked right out of an X-men comic (yes I read them, it's a guilty pleasure). She looked like Storm. She had long white hair and looked very regal. Her white blouse and skirt were plain, but she was not.
"William," she said after many minutes of silence.
"Adhara," Spike said softly.
Willow gasped. "You're the one who gave Spike his soul."
She nodded. "I did. I then sent him to where he was needed. But I am not here to talk of William."
"I suppose it would be wishful thinking to hope you'd like to buy something?" Anya frowned.
"I would speak to Leandra, daughter of Livia and Orion's hunter." Adhara said simply.
Spike stepped wearily aside, leaving me exposed to the woman. Spike was watching her very carefully and Buffy still had her arm on my shoulder so I at least felt somewhat safe, but Adhara freaked me out. "Hi," I murmured.
"I saw you last night." Adhara told me. "You killed a vampire. Why did you do this?"
I blinked at the question. If she'd been watching then she would've had to he him come a try to suck my blood out. And she was asking me why I dusted him? "He was trying to kill me."
"He thought you attractive. He would have changed you and watched over you." She spoke as if this was supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world. "You would have been part of one community, is that not what you want?"
Why was this woman blurting out my personal wants to the whole room? It was annoying, but also very creepy. I'd never seen her yet she knew this about me. According to Spike she gave a person their deepest soul felt desires, so maybe she was supposed to know everything about everyone.
"You have pushed away your vampiric heritage, and given up your magic for the summer. But still it falls on you even when you try to avoid it."
I scowled and lied. "I gave up magic because we're not allowed to do it over the summer anyways." I knew that was a weak response. I was in America over three thousand miles away from America's magical government and six thousand from England's. I could've done as much magic as I wanted and not gotten in trouble.
"And your demon?" Adhara's brown eyes bored straight through my blue ones.
Buffy's grip tightened on my shoulder. "This really isn't any of your business. I don't know why you came, but you should leave. Now."
Adhara sighed. "I have a permanent connection with any person whom I help. William, not your son, called me here. He did so unknowingly, but it worked. He was worried about Leandra. I am here to help, and I will before I leave. None shall stop me."
"Will you stop calling me Leandra?" I snapped.
"What would you have me call you? Leandra is your given name. You are only called Piper, because your father switched the two names after his sister killed your mother." It was another statement given in the 'duh' tone. "I have devised a way that will help you. There are four weeks before you return to England with your brother to stay with your friends. In that time I will help you see what world of creatures you wish to reside in, magical, demon, or human."
"And if I don't want this?"
"You have no choice." Adhara smiled kindly. "For one week you will live as a vampire, the next a human, and the next as a witch. At the end I shall know what you have chosen. You will not tell me. I will make you into what your soul has chosen."
"Adhara," Spike said. "You can't just morph her body into what ever you bloody want."
"Do not presume to tell me what to do William." With that she raised her right hand and let a yellow light shoot straight at me. Buffy tried to knock me away but the light had already come. Then I felt it happen. Exactly what I'd been trying to avoid all summer. My face shifted and my demon was out.
"My magic's gone!" I practically screamed. 'Piper' I told myself. 'You can't go hysterical.' But when I felt the total emptiness in my body where magic had once flowed I was crying uncontrollably. To make things worse I jus had to reach up to my face. It was lumpy, and I had fangs. The little people that lived in my brain connected my tear ducts to Niagara Falls then sat back to watch their handiwork.
"She won't be able to shift her features back for the week. "Adhara said like it was no big deal.
In a flash I'd jumped from my seat and lunged for her. I grabbed the stake from my boot and was ready to jam right up her ass and rotate, but then much to my dismay she disappeared. I slid to the floor in total defeat, still crying. This wasn't right. I could feel it already; I wasn't made for no magic and lumps. I hated the thought of not having a soul, not being able to feel…I stopped for a brief second. I was still feeling wasn't I? I was sad, angry, and scared. They were feelings. The bitch had left me with a soul. That cheered me up a little, but not enough to stop crying.
I noticed that I was no longer on the floor. Spike was holding me in his lap like he would William or Damon. He was whispering something, but I really couldn't tell what it was. Everyone else was looking at each other, not knowing exactly what to do. They were probably surprised to see me like this, but they didn't know what it was like to feel so wrong. And I was going to have to be like this for a week…
The door to the shop opened. I barely noticed as Xander walked in with Dawn. He noticed me though. "Piper's got her lumps out I see." Xander hadn't noticed me crying; even though I knew this it was hard for me not to leave Spikes lap and knock him senseless.
Adhara paid us her visit on Wednesday. Spike had taken me home through the sewers that day and now it was Sunday and I was planning on actually leaving my room. It wasn't like I was doing anything useful. I read comic books, looked in the mirror and cried, listened to depressing songs, looked at pictures from last year and cried, slept, oh and did I mention cried? Spike had finally come in and taken my mirror away. In a moment of desperateness I'd taken my wand and tried the simplest spells I knew. Nothing, not even the tiniest spark. That sent me into a whole new set of hysterics so Buffy came up and took my wand. My plan had been to stay upstairs for the whole week, but a phone call to Adrian convinced me that going downstairs would probably be better than sitting in solitude for seven days (actually I did come out, but only at night and only because I felt dirty and needed showers).
A small place in my brain also knew that I was hungry, and the pizza and chips Dawn had been bringing weren't helping. Didn't matter to me though. I could get through the entire week with out blood. My throat was dry, and my veins seemed to itch but I was ok, or so I told my self. I felt like a crack addict trying to go cold turkey.
I pulled an old dress shirt of Adrian's on over my sports bra, not caring enough to button up. Some ripped cargo pants were perfect for my mood, and I didn't bother with shoes or socks. My hair was a mess and hurt while I tried to untangle it, finally I gave up and stuffed it under a bucket hat. Still I looked awful, and that's saying something since being in permanent demon face wasn't very attractive to begin with. I tried to see myself under the demon. The girl with Greek olive skin, blue eyes, and straight black hair. She was 5'5", good with kids, had a puppy, used curses more than violence, and could be the occasional bitch. I wanted her back. I was not the crying, depressed child I saw in the mirror, yet I thought that until Adhara gave me back what was mine I would be. I wanted my magic back and the demon gone.
I pulled on my wolf slippers before leaving the room and padded through the hall way and down the stairs. Once on the bottom step I took a deep breath before entering the kitchen. Just my luck, the whole Scooby gang was there, including the two babies. People weren't supposed to see me like this.
"Welcome back pet." Spike said, looking me up and down.
"Hey," I stuck my head into the fridge and grabbed some milk. I drank straight from the carton, draining the whole thing. Despite the cool feeling of it going down, my throat was still parched, burning almost. The gang looked at each other. It was like they were exchanging secret messages with their eyes. Suddenly I had a very bad feeling, like maybe I should've stayed up in my room and read some more comics.
"You gonna eat?" Buffy asked.
"No!" I said firmly, knowing exactly what kind of eating she meant.
There was a loud group sigh. Danger flashed in neon lights in my head. It was a little too late. Xander came over to the fridge and reached in as Buffy and Spike each grabbed one of my arms and directed me to a chair. They pushed me into it and held me there. Between the two of them there was more than enough strength to keep me anywhere. My eyes widened as I saw Xander hand a jar of pig's blood to Willow. She poured it into a glass and gave it to Spike.
"You are going to drink this." He said as I started to struggle. "It's for your own good, 'cause you will not sit upstairs and die on us."
"He's right Piper," Buffy said. "You're going to end up killing yourself, and I really don't want to have to explain that to your father. So we can do this the easy way, as in you take the glass, or we can do it the hard way."
"I'm not going to drink it, and you can't make me." I said stubbornly, even though I knew good and well they could.
"Bottoms up pet," Spike grabbed my chin and yanked my jaw open. The red liquid was unceremoniously poured down my throat. He put a hand over my mouth to keep me from spitting it back up. My body forced me to swallow the blood as Spike and Buffy watched carefully. "You feel better now, don't you?" Spike asked in a smug voice.
"No I do not, thank you very much." I lied with a glare. "I feel totally and utterly disgusted."
"You'll be having another glass for dinner," Said Buffy in a voice that dared me to challenge her.
"I HATE you!" I yelled in a totally uncharacteristic outburst. No, I didn't. Damn! I couldn't hate them. The blood had made me feel alive again. Every thing felt better, and damn Spike with that smug look on his face. He knew I felt better now.
"Bollocks, you know you love us!" I heard him call as stormed out of the kitchen. So much for coming down stairs.
Back in my room I picked up the cordless phone and furiously punched in the number for my brother in LA.
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."
"Gunn, it's Piper" I recognized his deep voice. "Is Adrian there?"
"He's out." He said. "You want to talk to Cordy?"
I sighed. "Nah, I'll try again later. Can you tell him I called?"
"You sure you don't want to talk to someone? You sound awful, no offense."
"I'm cool," I lied. "Talk to you later."
After Gunn hung up I looked at the phone grumpily and slammed it back into the cradle. A small dent appeared in my nightstand. My strength seemed to have returned since the blood. It was true I felt better, but at the same time I didn't.
"Lee, you look awful." I said to myself in the mirror. I almost expected it to answer; it would've at Hogwarts. "Your hair is about ready to form dreads, you're wearing a sports bra as a top, and you've got blood drying on your chin. Do something about it."
I almost smiled at myself before grabbing my radio, a Ja Rule CD, and some Herbal Essences. I would not sit around in my room crying. I would not act like some brainless chit who couldn't take care of herself. What I would do was regain the threads of Piper Leandra Black that had come undone and put them back together so that when Adhara returned I'd have my dignity and enough strength to go buck wild on her ass.
A/n- Ok folks? Did you like it? I hope. Please read and review. Uh, don't expect the next chapter before Friday or Saturday. I'm feeling kinda sick, I've got two a day soccer practices, I've gotta do that damned summer reading stuff, and school starts on September fourth. In other words I'm very busy so this story won't be finished as quickly as the other one.
Thanks Laurewen (I hope I spelled that right) for the Xander stuff. It helped and I'll be using it. The next chapter is narrated by Adrian and is taking me a while to write because I find it hard to write from a guy's POV at times. Also I'm in the process of redecorating my room which is so totally cool! I have this huge Spike collage on my door, and Toby Maguire is covering my ceiling…er, ok I'm not a weird as I sound *looks around a blushes*. I'm gonna go hang out with my tissues and Dayquil. Maybe I'll be luck and Aladdin will be on Toon Disney (yes people I really am 16).
Much luv from Sunnyhell,
MJ Parker
