Authors Notes: Ky would like to thank her sisters in crime, De… er, Nina and Specks for their infinite patience and understanding while delving into the creative process. She is also still thankful for the hot man who jogs past her office. God must be a woman… Specks, the best little Mini ever, would like to thank the penguin who's ill tempered prompting has encouraged her muse to return, however sporadically; her dialogue guru, who continues to be an enigma, and C for being annoyingly wicked and therefore greatly inspiring. :) And Nina merely wishes to thank Murphy for laying down the law...

Collectively, we again sincerely thank everyone who's read and encouraged our lunacy on this little project and any of our other (on hold and not abandoned) stories. =o)

OUR APOLOGIES (IN ADVANCE):
We are sorry if anyone with a stuffy, archaic, patriarchal view of the Deity was offended by our matriarchal portrayal of the ancient symbol of the trinity. We're also sorry if the above apology offended anyone who is stuffy, archaic and patriarchal- ya' know all you republicans… And finally, we apologize to all republicans who are intimidated by strong women… Nina… does that about cover it? What do you mean you aren't going to let me do the apologies anymore? It's my lapto….

Erm. Because of libel laws, Ky will no longer be participating in the apology part of this story. Specks and I apologize for the above apology and would like to present Part 3 of Destiny Denied without any further ado.

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Through the misty twilight between worlds, three Goddesses strode into view, their forms transforming from mere silhouettes on the horizon to a breath-taking portrait of beauty and power. Eir was the first fully visible, her sinewy limbs akimbo as she tried to get the other two to pick up the pace. Rolling her black eyes towards the sky in annoyance, she turned and waited. She tapped a high-heeled leather boot impatiently, pushed a stray strand of blue hair out of her face and peered over her black specks as her "elders" came into view. With one hand on a well-muscled, leather-clad hip, she groaned as she overheard the topic of conversation.

"After last night I've had it!" the enraged blond growled, stopping abruptly as unexpected inspiration hit, "I'll write a book! I'll make a mandatory decree that they memorize it once they hit puberty. This won't be some watered down "The Idiots Guide to the Clitoris", boys and girls. No, Sir! There will be written and visual directions, maybe a pie graph…"

Eir threw her hands out, palms up to De, pleading to her with her eyes as they came into sight. The diminutive, middle sister shrugged her shoulders mouthing the words, "What can I do?" At that Eir threw one of her ruby encrusted, ceremonial daggers to the ground in frustration, and crossed her arms while blowing her hair out of her face in disgust.

Demetria had never allowed Coeur to rampage this long about men before; she'd always found a way to sidetrack their eldest's sex depraved mind. So far, De hadn't said a word to end this tirade about Coeur's latest date's, and males' in general, lack of knowledge concerning the female orgasm… And it had been the theme for the entire trip!

Personally, Eir didn't know what all of the fuss was about. As far as she was concerned, violence was as good as sex, and she was ready to get to it!

"Coeur, I think mankind is better served if they find out what their partners needs are by listening to them, not through a guide to the female orgasm."

Eir's head swiveled towards De in shock, "What are you doing? Just nod your head in agreement so we can get there sometime THIS century!"

"Yes Coeur," Eir demonstrated in a patronizing manner while retrieving her knife, "When you get home, you should write a book. Great idea. Now, can you keep your libido in check long enough to usurp Ssoj and Itram?"

Coeur ignored her temperamental younger sister's out burst as she ran a hand through her tousled strawberry blond hair, and focused her attention on De. "I cannot believe you'd say that after the experience you had with…"

Demetria held up a hand as if she were a cop signaling traffic, "Stop right there. We are NOT bringing up my sex life…"

For a moment Eir wondered why the cosmos had stuck her with these two. Here she was all ready to pull a coup and they were talking about sex! Now was NOT the time for this discussion.

With a dramatic sigh, Eir vowed to ignore her sisters from now on and continued her ascent to the PTBs' palace. She glided up stone stairs and hid behind one of the many ivory, Grecian columns that marked the entrance and surveyed the opposition.

Two familiar looking bouncers guarded the highly polished marble arch of the entrance to the inner sanctum. In fact, she was sure she'd seem them earlier while scrying- they had been with Buffy.

The taller one held himself stiffly at attention, tazer in hand- beady blue eyes ineffectively scanning the entry. The other, a peroxide blond, leaned against the door while taking a long drag of his cigarette, his tazer thrown casually beside him. Eir snorted derisively at Ssoj's and Itram's lax choice in protection, whatever happened to standards? Where was the Angel of Death with her fiery sword? Hell, even an ogre would have been nice. With a sigh at the Power's additional display of idiocy, Eir waved violently for her counterparts to move in.

"Should have guessed Itram would have THOSE two up here somewhere…" De hissed as she knelt by Eir's side

"Spike and Riley," Coeur giggled softly, her mood suddenly fluctuating as she saw the guards, "I will take this opportunity to prove my point."

The blond unbuttoned her blouse almost to her navel, fluffed her hair and strode to the entrance hall.

"What is she doing?" the blue haired sister hissed.

Demetria giggled, "She's going for it."

"Thanks for the update, little Miss 'States the Obvious'." Eir groaned as she watched the Drama Queen take action.

The younger demi-Goddesses, one highly amused and the other plain annoyed, watched Coeur walk up to the bouncers. With the tight leather pants and the see-through shirt, little of her physique was left to the guards' imagination as she stormed the gate.

"Excuse me," she hesitated demurely, "I hate to bother such big, important men as you, but would you happen to know where to find and how to stimulate the clitoris."

"T-t-t-he… c-c-c-c-…?" Captain Cardboard stuttered as he grasped his tazer so hard, it's plastic case cracked from the pressure.

"Hell, you can't even say it let alone find it," she snorted.

Demetria covered her eyes with perfectly manicured hands gasping as she tried to suppress a fit of laughter, "I can't stand this, would you kill them already?"

Eir rolled her thickly lashed, opaque eyes and put a finger to her lips to order silence. Coeur was doing a surprisingly good job of distracting their opponents. The tall one's face had turned the color of a ripe tomato, while the short anorexic looking guard stupidly leered at the Goddess of Lust while sucking in his cheekbones. Neither of them noticed her as she left the hiding spot and sidled up behind them, pulling her dagger from its sheath.

"Sounds like you're sexually frustrated luv', I could help you with that," Spike alleged with a throaty growl.

"That's what they all say," Coeur snapped, nodding to Eir as she swiftly grasped Spike around the head. The horny vampire didn't have a chance to react as she ripped his bleached noggin from his body.

Before the dust hit the ground Eir was on top of Riley, burying her dagger in the back of his neck. The point of the her long, sharp instrument of death protruded from the front of Riley's bobbing Adam's apple as the soldier gurgled, struggling for breath. He wildly reached behind him, trying to remove the dagger… but to no avail. He fell on his face and began helplessly twitching at Coeur's feet.

"I told you men need a book," she grumbled as he lay dying. The blond tried to side step the thick crimson liquid oozing from his fatal wounds but it seemed to be every where. She was soo gonna kill Eir if the bloodstains became permanent. Why was it she always had to make her kills so messy?

"Could you for once wait until I get out of the way? I just got these shoes!" she howled as Demetria approached the gate.

De let out a long asthmatic sigh as she placed her hands on her curvy hips in exasperation, "Could you BE any louder? This is a sneak attack!"

"Look, at these shoes! You could have pushed him the other way," she groaned as she bent over trying in vain to brush the liquid off, in effect smearing the blood into the brown leather making it look worse.

"Lay off Eir, she was only helping…"

The blond glared up at the middle sister in annoyance, "You always take her side."

"I do not, I'm a very impartial… hey, where'd she go," Demetria exclaimed glancing around the entry way for the violent little spit-fire… she was no where to be found.

"Holy Mother, she went in with out us!"

Demetria glowered at Coeur as she grabbed her arm and turned, running to catch up. Her red hair was a streamer of silk as she moved like the wind past the gate and into the PTBs private chambers. She passed white Grecian columns, azure pools and tropical gardens as she dragged Coeur along to catch up with their task-oriented sister. Finally, they came upon the bedrooms of Ssoj and Itram where Eir had already begun the ritual needed for the coup. Placing a lit red candle in front of Ssoj's chamber and a lit white one in front of Itram's, she waited impatiently for her sisters to get there.

'Finally!' thought Eir as her sisters joined her.

Each goddess grasped the forearm on either side, beginning the invocation of their triangle of power. Together in flawless unison they spoke, "Assist us to erect the ancient altar, at which in days past all worshipped; The great altar of all things, for in old time, Triad was the altar and the Triad was a sacred thing."

Coeur smiled fondly at her family as she cried out, "I, Goddess of Love and Lust, Coeur kindle this fire today, in presence of the Holy Ones we come to take their place. Without malice, fear or envy, but to set right what the High Gods have made wrong, we have come to conquer the dark."

Eir's voice roared as she exclaimed, "I, Goddess of War and Chaos, Eir call ye forth, work ye unto our desire, hearken ye unto our word! Powers of the blade waken all ye into life, come the charm is made."

Demetria gave her usual sly grin and carefully recited, "I, Goddess of Justice and Healing, Demetria invoke the Circle of Stars to marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space before whom these *pathetic* Powers That Be are ashamed, bewildered and their understanding dark let them return to what they once were so we may begin again anew."

Together they cried, "Let the Triad become!"

A burst of power flashed from the current PTB's rooms and into the three demi-goddesses. Their bodies glowed like flame as whirlwinds of fire lifted them from the floor, swirling and pulsing until the power entered them completely. The flames of the pillar candles went out abruptly as a series of screeches came from the bedchambers.

The three floated gently to the floor and Demetria shot her sisters her leprechaun-like grin, "I think it worked!"

"Well, let's just take a look, shall we," Coeur smirked as she made her way to the door of Itram's room and opened it a crack to peer cautiously inside. "Oh my…"

"What 'oh my'? How bad can it be," Eir demanded as she strode to the door and looked inside. "Oh my… And just…"

"Eww!" Coeur and Eir exclaimed together, both wrinkling their noses in disgust.

"Oh, for the love of Pete," De griped at her siblings, moving behind them to examine the view inside, "We all knew they'd end up changing since part of the spell would make them revert to the form most closely matching their current spiritual levels…"

Trailing off as she finally caught a glimpse of the newly deposed Power, she chuckled at the sight of the short, furry body in the center of the room and was graced in return with a huge, toothy smile from Itram.

"Aww… See, she's-EWW!" De gasped as she watched Itram pick up a pile from the floor and sling it at the wall near the door. "That's just disgusting."

"Yeah, but somehow, fitting." Coeur commented casually, causing Eir to giggle.

Just then, the three were shoved aside as Ssoj barreled into the room, waddling over to his partner in crime. Immediately Itram began to comb through Sssoj's hair for lice as the Triad collapsed to the floor in giggles.

"Well, at least they're still primates," Eir snarked as Itram found what she was looking for and ate it. The two monkeys joined hands as Coeur led them to their new home, Sunnydale's Zoo.

* * *

It didn't take long for the three goddesses get all of their stuff moved in. It came in handy being a PTB, all of their friends suddenly didn't mind helping out on moving day. The three were in the middle of a disagreement about where to put one of their precious slate colored couches when a furious pounding rattled the gates.

"Did you order another pizza?" Demetria asked.

"This is the second one today, Coeur! And we need to start interviews for a new Angel of Death to guard the gate- pizza delivery boys should not be getting this far into our private chambers…"

"Hey, the pizza delivery boy is hot," Coeur pointed out as she opened the gate and stood in the way of her sister's line of sight, "Umm... do you have an appointment?"

Eir and De glanced towards the door in confusion at their sister's words.

"I don't have time for any fuckin' appointment! I came here to resign!"

A short, unhappy, Demon of Destiny brushed past Coeur as he took off his hat and glanced around. A quizzical expression passed over his malleable features as he turned towards the two other Goddesses.

"Where are Ssoj and Itram?"

"Sunnydale Zoo," Coeur answered cryptically, "Where you might end up if you don't apologize for your rude entrance."

"Sunnydale..." an expression of delight spread across his face, "You three pulled a Coup! About damn time," the little demon with a Jersey accent crowed.

Eir grinned back, already liking the short funny looking demon, "I agree, should have done it back in 1996, before things got out of hand..."

"Tell me about it, and that fuck up with the bliss clause and the curse..."

"Ms. Calender..." De added.

"Sending Angel to hell, Angel leaving, Buffy dying AGAIN…" Eir ranted.

"The therapy-inducing sex-capades with Spike, poor Willow, and Cordelia," Coeur grumbled.

Silence spread through the room as the heartache, pain and nausea the last PTBs had inflicted on the world overwhelmed them.

"Speaking of Cordelia…" the Demon of Destiny piped up.

"Yeah?" the three answered in unison.

"Yeah, the last two PTBs just had the broad ascend to become a Higher Power..."

The three goddesses listened in horror as he related his mistreatment at the hands of his new boss.

"I promise I won't quit and I'll get things straight with those two- just get that broad off my back! I can't work with her sending me out to get her a Vanilla Frappuccino every five minutes!"

"Well, we have a plan…" De began only to be interrupted by Coeur.

"It includes a pie chart…"

De threw one of the many handy satin covered pillows towards her over-sexed sister.

"NO pie charts!" Eir bellowed, glaring at her elder, "You and that stupid book…"

De continued, ignoring her siblings, "We've outlined a plan that includes some time bending and digging up a few ancient artifacts… I don't want to kid you. Fixing this mess is going to take a major commitment on all of our parts, but when we're finished everything WILL be put in order. From now on, you answer only to us, if that's OK with you…"

Whistler gave a shit eating grin, "Oh, yeah- sounds fine!"

"Well, get down there and get those two back on track. As soon as you're done, you're off to a well earned vacation, at our expense..." De smiled flipping a sheaf of detailed instructions to the half demon. With a wave of her hand and he was gone.

"It looks like we got some demoting to do," Eir giggled gleefully as she rubbed her hands together.

Fifteen minutes later…

"Oh, and Cordelia, the new uniform for the Triad's Errand Girl is hanging on the back of the door," De proclaimed pointing a slender finger towards the employee locker room entrance, "It's yours to wear until we get this mess straightened out, and you back to Sunnydale."

The now un-glowy ex-higher power's mouth hung open as she sputtered in surprise, "B-b-b-but…"

"No B-b-b-buts about it Cordy, now put on the lime green suit, and go get us our icy, cold Vanilla Frappuccinos," Eir ordered, her smug grin firmly in place as she picked the horrifying suit off the hook and flung it Cordelia's way.

As the suit flew through the air, encased in billowing dry cleaner plastic, a brilliant flash of light filled the room and the tall thin woman found herself abruptly outfitted in the offending set of clothes.

"Hey!" Cordelia bellowed in outrage as she peeked down at the offending outfit.

"I don't have the patience necessary to wait for you to change, get me my coffee before I get cranky and turn you into something covered in slime!" Coeur growled as she waved her hands to shoo the skinny errand girl into the closest portal to Starbuck's.

As Cordelia faded from their sight, faint grumbling could be heard through the portal, "How the hell did I get demoted to Errand girl for the The Mocha Bitcas?"

"And they say there is no justice in this world," Demetria declared, her green eyes dancing as the newly named TMBs collapsed to the floor in laughter.

* * *

TBC...