Title: Divine Damnation
Author: DhampyrX2
Rating: PG-13 for language and supernatural violence
Summary: Yet another secret origins of Xander fic that my twisted little brain cooked up.
Timeframe: Post Season 7
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I do this for fun. Please don't sue me.
Dawn screwed up her face in confusion, trying to place the name Peorth, and a possible connection to Xander. She wasn't anyone Scooby related, and she certainly wasn't a member of his family, she had made certain to memorize those names so she didn't come off like a jealous idiot when they came to visit. Maybe someone he knew from Africa?
Well, either way, I can't just leave her out on the porch. Dawn thought to herself as she opened the door.
She wished she had given that thought more consideration when she set eyes on Peorth. First off, she was a /GODDESS/. Perfect long brown hair, creamy skin, and a generous bust all complimented a face far too pretty to be looking up Xander, in her humble opinion. Oh, and she was a goddess too. The facial marks gave that away.
"Er, hi. I'm Dawn." the younger Summers said by way of introduction.
Peorth gave the attractive young woman a cursory glance as she smiled disarmingly and replied, "And I am Peorth, as I said. It's nice to meet you Dawn." Her voice was a bit aloof and distracted, as she tried to look for and sense the demon she was searching out without appearing to do so.
Dawn took the opportunity the goddess' distraction gave to continue of her appraisal. Not only was she gorgeous, she was dressed to thrill, in a tight baby blue, short-sleeve, half top that exposed her midriff, and a pair of blue denim hot pants, with what looked like a navy blue thong peeking out, accompanied by leggings beneath the shorts to reduce the overall sluttyness factor, without erasing the seduction quotient. All in all, Dawn had just elevated the goddesses threat potential from 'high' to 'holy crap I wish Mara was here to help scare this skank off and away from my Xander'.
The former Key was trying to figure out just what one said to an unknown goddess that you wanted desperately to leave before your potential honey saw her, when the point became moot.
"Peorth?" Xander said in mild surprise as he took in the sight of the class one goddess.
"Alex!" Peorth replied with a wide grin as she rushed up and embraced him, letting her hands linger far too long for Dawn's liking.
Mara hugging him was alright...he had treated her like he treated Willow. Even if there was some Cordy-like tension there, Mara was friendly enough for Dawn to keep civil. This tart in front of her now, however, seemed to ooze haughty arrogance without saying a word. Dawn decided after careful consideration to hate her with a passion. The fact that her hand brushed against Xander's butt as she was letting go only reinforced that decision.
The Demon Lord Alexander, sometimes called the White Knight of Nifelheim as a way to slur him by alluding to his half-kami nature, was many things. Contrary to rumor, stupid was not among them. He could see the minute twitch in Dawn's eye as Peorth glomped him, and he knew things were not looking good. Still, he couldn't afford to be rude...that was Urd's job. "What brings you here, Rosie?" he asked, alluding to her fascination with roses.
"Oh, I heard you were finally on a vacation from your last assignment, and I just had to visit." Peorth replied, trying to say something true, without giving any information away.
Xander idly contemplated just how far he could push Peorth's creativity under his father's 'no lying for kamis' rule, but decided against testing it. As funny as it could be, he had no real problem with Peorth. She kind of reminded him of an early Cordy, if she had been into him when she was still snobby. He smiled disarmingly at the goddess and said, "I have to go run an errand. Why don't you join me and we'll catch up?"
"Oh I'd love to catch you, Alex." the goddess replied, not even bothering to correct her Freudian slip.
"I bet you would." Dawn muttered to herself, before she interjected, "I'll join you too, Xander. I could use a walk in the fresh air."
Peorth looked a little taken aback, unsure of how to get out of the girl chaperoning them, until Xander said, "No problem, Dawnie. The more the merrier." as he offered his arm to each and escorted them off the manor grounds.
"Oh, before I forget, Dawn, allow me to introduce Peorth, Class one, category two Unlimited, goddess of Moments That Last Forever. Peorth, this is Dawn Summers." Xander said easily as he led them to the bakery.
"She's on the same level as you then?" Dawn asked curiously.
"Same license, but here on earth, she has way more restrictions on her powers. She does wish granting for the Earth Assistance Hotline, which is like a rival office of the one Bell works for." Xander explained, mildly entertained by just how wide Peorth's eyes were getting at how casually they were discussing her job.
"Alex, it's obvious this little girl knows what we are...but well..." Peorth began to ask.
"Does everyone know?" Dawn finished for her. "Nope. I'm special enough to Xander for him to trust me with it." she added smugly.
Xander diplomatically refrained from mentioning that Dawn had discovered his secrets for herself. "Yeah, the only ones who know are Dawn, my mortal 'childhood' friend Willow, and Giles. I still need to keep things a little quiet." he commented.
"You told Willow and Giles already? That was fast." Dawn commented.
"Well, Giles saw through the concealment like I thought he would, and Willow saw us talking." Xander said thoughtlessly as he waited for the light at the crosswalk to change.
"How did she see us?" Dawn asked in confusion.
"She had a camera in my room to record me..." he realized telling Dawn that might have been a bad idea just a second too late to stop himself.
"What?" Dawn snapped, clearly outraged, and oddly in chorus with Peorth.
Xander was sweating nervously as the deity and the former key stared him down, demanding further explanation. "Some mortal abused /my/ domain to spy on you?" Peorth asked testily.
"Where does Willow get off spying on anyone in the house after the mess with Andrew and the other Power Dorks?" Dawn demanded.
Xander held up his hands in surrender as he answered, "Hey now, ladies. It's my own fault, really. I forgot to casy any of the proper protection spells to avoid espionage. I'm lucky I did it here instead of back home in Nifelheim. That mistake could have really cost me there. Buffy forcing Willow to video me probably saved me a ton of trouble in the future. I can't afford to get sloppy like that very often."
Peorth calmed down a bit at that, conceding his point, even as Dawn grew so mad she got red in the face. "That cow that laughingly calls itself my sister forced Willow to /bug/ your /room/?" she asked icily.
"Dawnie, it's no big. It saved me finding a way to lay the groundwork to tell Wills, and we got to talk everything over. She even destroyed the footage, and I cast a little spell to give Buffy a sterilized version that protects all of our little secrets. We're of the good now." Xander replied, trying to calm her.
"Well, then I have to bitch out Willow slightly less. That doesn't mean I don't need to...speak with Buffy, though. I'll see you at the house." Dawn retorted in a frosty manner, before turning on her heel and stalking back toward the manor.
Xander couldn't help but admire her form and style in exuding menace as people got out of Dawn's way as fast as they could.
"I think I might get to like that mortal girl." Peorth commented with an impressed smile.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just glad Urd and Mara aren't backing her up. That means there's still an outside chance that the house will be standing when we get back." Xander said with a shake of his head.
"Well, you can't worry about it now, Alex, but it does leave us here, alone, together." Peorth replied, taking his arm and smiling coquettishly.
Xander had the good grace to smile nervously. After all, he did have to meet Giles in less than an hour, and the offer he was seeing would just ruin that timetable. I forgot just how...friendly Peorth can get when she's off duty. he thought to himself.
Dawn's fury was something to behold as she stomped through the manor looking for Buffy. The Slayer was clearly not in her room, or her office, and her trouble finding the bottle blonde was only feeding the younger Summers' fury.
Finally, Dawn caught sight of Buffy's toady Slayer Mary, and pulled the slayer forcibly from the conversation she was having with another Slayer to growl, "Where's Buffy?"
"Excuse me?" the Italian girl asked politely. She would have normally responded much more physically to such rude treatment, but was stopped by three things. One, Dawn was a major player in the Watchers, and was a college degree away from being assigned a very large sector, or possibly even heading the research department; two, she was Buffy's sister, and thus deserved respect; and three, she looked damn scary with that look in her eye.
"Where. Is. Your. Boss?" Dawn seethed, her green eyes flashing like jade daggers.
"Um, she said she was going to do some thinking, so she's probably in the rink." the Slayer answered nervously.
Dawn merely stalked away without another word, heading toward the ice rink on the manor estates. All major Slayer housing sites had the most athletic equipment possible to meet whatever training would serve the Sayers the best. Buffy had whined, bitched, and bullied her way into getting enough support to get Giles to add a skating rink here to the London estate to match the one she had appropriated at the Italian estate, which had been an Olympic training facility before the Council bought it.
Sure enough, Dawn found the Slayer dancing on the ice, trying to clear her head. The brunette stalked over to the sound system and turned off the music Buffy had been skating to, thus attracting the eldest active Slayer's attention.
"Dawnie? What are you doing here? And why did you turn off my music, do you need something." Buffy asked her sister, her voice laced with concern, as she skated toward a waiting Dawn.
Perhaps that concern is what allowed her to be caught so off guard as Dawn slapped her full in the face, making her loose her balance and fall rear end first onto the ice. "Buffy, we need to talk." Dawn spat down at her befuddled sister, as she crossed her arms angrily.
Never before had Buffy seen more of Joyce Summers, and an angry Joyce at that, in Dawn's mannerisms. She suddenly felt very small very small, and very worried.
End Part 9
