A/N: IT'S BEEN AGES SINCE I UPDATED THIS THING. I THOUGHT NOW WOULD BE AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY.
ENJOY.
~*~
They all sat in the Hyperion's dinning area, using it as a conference table for the meantime. Angel sat at the head of the table, looking professional and grimly serious. On his left was Lilah, who for some reason unknown to the others had followed him there. On his right was Wesley, the enormous and thick book in front of him. Fred occupied the next space, a folder-full of paperwork with her. Willow was there too, with a weary Buffy beside her, next to Lorne. Spike and Connor stood by the nearest wall.
Dawn and Chayse were upstairs, resting.
"What do we know?" Angel asked as he leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. "Wes, why don't you begin?"
The British nodded. "Let's begin with what Dawn said. Chayse is a duplicate of what Dawn is. She is part Key, part slayer-"
"Slayer?" Spike echoed, looking incredulous.
"Let him finish, Spike." Angel quickly reprimanded him. The blonde vampire shot him a glare.
"Chayse is part Key, part slayer and something else. What that something else is, we don't know exactly. She is part Key because she is Dawn's daughter and part slayer because Dawn was created from the essence of Buffy."
"This means that there's a possibility that Chayse inherited Buffy's slayer abilities through Dawn." Fred added with a knowing smile. "Dawn did say that the slayer line skipped her."
Buffy creased her forehead into a frown. "Does this mean that Chayse could be called when she's old enough?"
"Maybe, maybe not. It's like inheriting genetic traits from your ancestors. The further down the line you are, the less evident it is. The trait becomes diluted along the way." Wesley explained softly. "And in Chayse' case, it's not certain yet. There's an unknown element."
"Chayse might be part demon. Like Dawn told us, Chayse also has the ability to summon demons, heal, which we've all witnessed earlier and she might be clairvoyant."
"A seer?" Angel whispered. "That makes no sense."
"But it is possible." Wesley pressed.
"She's showing more of her slayer traits than any other. Dawn mentioned something about being able to tell humans apart from demons through sense of smell." Angel pointed out.
Spike arched an eyebrow. "You poof, that's not a slayer trait. That's a vampire trait." He interjected. "We can smell blood. Human blood."
"You're a vampire?" Connor asked, shocked. He had seen Spike standing in broad daylight. How was that possible?
"Former vampire. I retired." The replied with a nonchalant shrug. Connor nodded. His life was getting interesting by the moment.
"Well, she can't possibly be part vampire." Buffy argued. "Sunlight does nothing to her."
Willow nodded. "Buffy's right. And we all know that vampires can only be sired, not born so that theory is out of the question." Angel looked uncomfortable. Lilah smirked. You sure about that, witch? "I know she's carrying a lot of magic. Chayse is made of old magic and new."
"How do you know this?" Connor asked, intrigued.
The Wicca looked at him, wondering if it was wise to discuss all this information around a civilian they didn't even know. But no one seemed to mind or voice any concerns so she went on. "I was evil once. And I can still feel it, sense when dark magic and great power are near."
"Oh."
"I got it!" Lorne, who had been uncharacteristically silent for quite a while now, suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone in the room. The others eyed him curiously.
"You got what, Lorne?"
"Chayse is a reflection or at least right now, with everything that we know, that's the closest description of what she is."
"And what's a reflection exactly?" Spike asked.
"Pretend there's a pond and there's two sides to that pond. On each side there's a person or creature looking down at the exact same spot. When their reflections merge, you get one picture. Chayse is the picture." Lorne beamed, proud with his discovery.
"Good, Lorne. This is good. The more we know the better." Angel cleared his throat. "What about the prophecy, Wes? Anything new?"
"Fred, why don't you take this?" He suggested to the petite woman who smiled gratefully and nodded.
She opened her folder. "Wes and I managed to decipher another passage. The deliverer will be called forth to open the barriers that divide. A great being shall be forged from the blood and soul. Of two, not one. But none the same." Fred read. "Unfortunately that's all we have. The rest of the page was torn off."
"The deliver the prophecy speaks of is Dawn opening the portals to other dimensions."
"You're sure of this?" Buffy asked.
Wesley and Fred nodded simultaneously. "Deliverer is another name of the Key. Wherever, Dawn was, they recognized her as the deliverer."
"Hasn't that part of the prophecy happened already?" Spike asked.
"Yes and no." Fred replied. "The tempest was the storm so Dawn has already opened a portal. And if we're going to be technical it's the second one she opened. One was what led her to where she was and the other was what got her back here."
"Fred, you might want to stick with the cliff notes. You're losing us here." Spike drawled.
The brunette offered everyone an apologetic smile. "What I meant is that this second verse we deciphered is backwards. Dawn opened her portals and Chayse was created-the great being. But since this passage was placed after the tempest verse, it must mean that the portal opening is still going to happen. And soon."
Buffy sighed sharply. "But we know this already." She insisted. "Dawn told me she let lose an army of demons by opening the portal."
"No," Wesley disputed firmly. "What the passage means is that Dawn will open the portal from this side and she will let the demons into this dimension on purpose."
The blonde glared at the former watcher. "You're twisting the words here, Wesley."
"I'm sorry, Buffy. It's what it says."
"Dawn would not intentionally put us in danger. Those monsters tortured her!" She argued irately.
Willow placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We know Dawn won't deliberately hurt us, Buff."
"Alright, we'll deal with that when the time comes." Angel declared stoically. "Lorne, did you get anything from Chayse?"
The Host shifted in his chair. "There's a war a-brewing, Angelcakes. It's messy, messier than any war we've seen. It's not like our yearly apocalypses though."
"What exactly did Chayse show you, Lorne?" Angel asked.
"Not enough but a lot. This war that's coming, it's not meant to destroy us. It's an invasion. A take-over." He clarified. "But they will kill those who resist them, who fight back and those who have no purpose."
"Power hungry demons. Just what we need." Buffy muttered wryly.
Willow looked optimistic despite the dire topic. "This should be easy then. All we have to do is make sure those portals stay closed."
"And that Dawn won't do anything to open them in the first place." Wesley pointed out quickly and he was met with a glare from Buffy.
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"Do you think we'll win?" Connor asked Spike when everyone left to go home for the rest night. Most of them had decided to go back to their own apartments.
Spike arched an eyebrow at the teenager. "We?" He drawled. "There is no we here, Connor. You should go home before bad turns to worse. You don't want to be part of this."
"I can't. I've seen too much already. I know too much to just walk away from all of this." He insisted, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I want to help."
Spike scoffed. "You either have a hero complex or you're suicidal like I suspected you were." He declared bluntly. "Don't be stupid and get yourself killed. Walk away."
"I can fight." Connor declared doggedly.
"I'm sure you can. You're probably on the school's wrestling team too. But it doesn't mean you can fight demons, kid. You're human."
"So are you." The teenager argued.
Spike sighed sharply. "I was a vampire. I've had centuries of experience and the powers-"
"Powers?"
"Mystical beings that control the universe…well, they brought me for a reason. And I'm betting that this is the reason. Even got myself a prophecy to prove it." The blonde declared with a cocky smirk.
Connor sighed. "I know I might be killed by trying to be part of something big I feel like I have to be here. I wouldn't have been where you and Chayse and Dawn were if I wasn't meant to be part of this. You think maybe the powers got something in store for me too?" He asked, almost hopefully.
Spike shrugged. "Unlikely but you never know."
Connor nodded. "Can I stay here then?"
"Well, you don't look like you're going anywhere anyway. Pick a room, just far from Dawn. No fraternizing on my watch."
"I wasn't going to try anything." Connor declared defensively.
Spike scoffed. "Getting on her kid's good graces to get to her. Oldest trick in the book, kid. There's no fooling me."
Connor rolled his eyes but smiled anyway. "Good night, Spike."
"You too, Connor."
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"Momma, I don't think they like us." Chayse whispered, her voice tiny, as she snuggled closer to Dawn in their bed- their first real bed in years. They were lying in their room, not quite able to sleep despite their fatigue. It was dark and silent and they could hear the voices of everyone all the way downstairs.
Dawn shifted, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "They're just talking, baby." She reassured the little girl.
"They think we're bad. They might hurt us. Hurt us more than the elders. Momma-"
"Shh." Dawn planted a kiss on top of her hair. "They won't hurt us, Chayse. They can't."
"Will everyone stop being lopsided soon?" Chayse asked. "Will they?"
Dawn had no idea what she meant. "I don't know, baby. I don't know."
"We can make it stop. I know how." She said, sounding awfully enthusiastic. "But they'll be angry. Very angry." Her voice dropped as quickly as it rose.
"Then maybe we shouldn't make them stop being lopsided." Dawn suggested, still unaware of what it truly meant. Sometimes, Chayse just said things that didn't make sense, even to her.
"Okay." But when the Daddy asks, Chayse knew she was going to make the lopsidedness go away. Even if the others will get angry. And soon the Daddy will ask.
What's a daddy? She wondered.
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"Hello?" Giles' weary voice echoed into the lobby off the Hyperion. The figure beside him was silent. "Hello?" He called again. The hotel seemed rather eerily empty.
Where is everyone? He wondered.
"Anybody here?" His companion yelled loudly and Giles winced, shooting the other person an irritated scowl.
"No need to yell!" Lorne hastily replied as he stepped into the room, looking awfully peeved by the disturbance. "We're not deaf. Yet."
Giles cleared his throat. "I'm Rupert Giles. We're looking for Buffy." He said, eyeing the green demon curiously.
"Oh, Buffy said to expect you." The Host said, offering the walking over to Giles and his companion. Lorne shook hands with the other man. "Welcome to L.A. I'm Lorne. I'll go get Buffy." He then exited the room before Giles could say another word.
He reappeared moments later with Buffy, Willow, Spike and Angel in tow.
Looks like the gang's all here. Giles inwardly declared, feeling somewhat nostalgic.
"Giles." Buffy said, offering her former watcher a hug.
"Good to see you, Buffy." The ex-slayer was meaningfully looking at his companion. "Oh, everyone, this is Vaughn Brooks. She's a slayer."
The blonde teenager smiled, her gaze falling on each and every one of them. Who she was looking for was not there.
"Hi." Vaughn beamed.
~*~
A/N: VAUGHN ACTUALLY HAS A PURPOSE TO THIS STORY. SO SHES NOT JUST SOME OC I PUT THERE FOR NO REASON. ANYWAY, PLEASE REVIEW.
