Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Note: Thanks ever so much for the feedback. Keep it coming. Stroke my ego. 

Previously:

"That was impressive," Callum said, finally venturing out of the closet, where he had watched the fight.

"Thanks," Kara said, turning to him and smiling sweetly. "Now, about what you said earlier..."

Chapter Thirty-Four:

"What the bleeding hell took you two so long?" Spike asked as soon as Kara and Callum walked through the door of the Summers residence. Both froze like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming tractor-trailer.

"No reason in particular," Kara said, trailing off slightly and fixing her hair. Spike's eyes squinted in suspicion. Sniffing slightly, his vampire senses picked up a particularly distinct scent.

"You little slu-oompff," Spike said as Dawn clamped a hand over his mouth.

"So glad you could make it," she said sweetly, shooting Spike a death glare. Kara smiled at her gratefully.

"I wanna hear what he was gonna say," Buffy spoke up, giving Kara a pointed glare.

"Oh come on," Kara said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Don't even tell me you're gonna lecture me on sex now?"

Faith smirked. "Well, at least now we know why they were late," she said laughing as Kara and Callum both turned beet red.

"I really don't need to be hearing this," Joyce said, rising from her seat in the living room. "Tea anyone?" She asked as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Yes, please," Giles said. "I'll help you." He quickly followed her, hearing enough of Xander and Anya's sex life, and not particularly wanting to hear about anyone else's.

"I hope you used protection, I don't want any grandkids running around just yet," Xander said, smirking as Buffy and Faith burst out laughing.

"This really isn't funny," Kara said, moving into the room and sitting on one of the sofas. Callum followed her. "Don't you have anything to say?" Kara asked, turning to him.

"Not so much," he replied, only to be rewarded with a smack in the back of the head. "What was that for?"

"You could have tried to defend my honor," Kara grumbled.

"What's the point? We all know you don't have any," Spike piped up. Callum laughed to himself, but quickly stopped upon seeing the look Kara threw him.

"Not funny at all," he said, his voice cracking slightly as he looked over at Spike.

"So, about the morgue," Buffy said, trying to bring their conversation back on track and save Kara a bit of her dignity.

"Yes, the morgue. Thank you," Kara said, rolling her eyes. "We went, we found the body, definitely attacked by a bringer."

"So she was a potential then?" Dawn asked from her place on Spike's lap.

"Must you do that?" Buffy asked in exasperation. Upon Faith's suggestion, she was trying to be more tolerant of Spike and Dawn's relationship. It wasn't easy.

"Yes," Dawn simply replied, sticking her tongue out.

"Anyway," Kara said, capturing their attention again. "The body wasn't the best part of the whole thing."

"Yeah, we were attacked by an uber vamp," Callum added.

"An uber vamp?" Faith asked, not particularly wanting to hear the answer.

"Super strong. Much tougher to kill than an ordinary vampire. And you can't stake them. Beheading only for these babies," Kara said enthusiastically.

"You get way too much enjoyment out of slaying," Xander commented, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, hello, two slayers for mothers. Kinda rubbed off," Kara replied sarcastically.

"It's not like you had too much trouble with the damn thing," Callum said, looking over at his girlfriend proudly.

"I thought you said they were really tough?" Buffy asked, looking at Kara.

"They are. The Powers that Be just kinda juiced me up a little," Kara said, not quite looking at Buffy. It was easier to lie to her mother when Buffy didn't actually know she was her mother. The blonde slayer didn't seem to catch on that Kara wasn't telling her the whole truth, however. Anya eyed her suspiciously.

"So we've got an uber slayer on our side then? That kinda evens things up," Tara said, speaking up for the first time. Willow sat next to her, holding her hand.

"Yeah. How many uber vamps are there anyway?" Willow asked, her brow creasing in worry.

Kara thought for a moment about whether to tell them that at the final battle, the mouth of hell would open to reveal millions of uber vampires just waiting to attack the earth. "Not too many," she eventually said, opting not to bring up that small point just yet. Callum looked over at her in surprise, but made no move to correct her.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Giles appeared from the kitchen and answered it, smiling widely when he saw Robson and Borland. "Good to see you both again," he said, shaking their hands amicably. "Please come in." He opened the door wider and Robson, Borland, and the three potentials poured in.

"Nice house," Kennedy commented, looking around approvingly.

"Thank you," Joyce said, appearing from the kitchen. "You can just put your bags down anywhere. Buffy and the others are in the living room," she said, motioning to the next room.

"Ah, you must be Buffy," Jack said, walking into the room and extending his hand.

Buffy stood to greet him, briefly shaking his hand. "Yeah, it's good to meet you."

"You as well. Faith?" He asked questioningly at the dark haired slayer.

Faith smiled hesitantly and stood, shaking his hand as well. "Yeah," she replied, eyeing him a bit warily. She still didn't trust the Council, though she imagined these guys were more on their side than Quentin Travers had ever been.

"Please, sit," Giles said, motioning to the remaining empty chairs. "You just got in?"

"Yeah, we took a cab here," Robson answered. "I'll be heading back out in the morning. I hear there are some potentials in Ireland and Scotland that were left watcherless by the explosion."

"You know, Faith and I were just about to go out on patrol. Do you think they would like to come?" Buffy asked, motioning to the three anxious girls sitting across from her.

"I think that would be a good idea," Jack answered. "They've all been trained well and are quite eager to get out there and test their skills."

"Alright then," Faith said, rising to her feet. "Let's go kick some demon ass."

................................

Anya followed Kara outside as she went to get a breath of fresh air. "You lied in there," she said, closing the kitchen door behind them. Kara turned around.

"About which part?" Kara asked, watching as the ex-vengeance demon approached her.

"About what the Powers that Be did to you and how many of those uber vamp things there are," Anya said, folding her arms across her chest. It was bit chilly out.

"Sit down," Kara said, motioning to the spot next to her as she sat.

"What's going on?" Anya asked, her voice softening as she looked over at Kara. It wasn't the first time the girl was carrying the weight of the world and its future on her shoulders and this time she was practically flying blind.

"There are a lot of those vampires," Kara admitted, looking up into the star lit sky.

"How many?"

"Millions," Kara responded, looking over at Anya, who had gone pale.

"Millions? We can't defeat them," she whispered, more to herself than Kara.

"That's not true," Kara replied quietly.

"What happened in your time?" Anya asked, leaning back against the kitchen door and following Kara's eyes up into the night sky.

"There was this amulet. Angel brought it up from L.A. Spike wore it in the final battle. It killed all of the uber vamps, closed the Hellmouth, and consequently imploded Sunnydale," Kara answered. "Oh, and Willow did a spell that made all of the potential slayers all over the world actual slayers. Kinda cool really. Turned her hair white."

"Impressive. Though not a look I'd recommend to her anytime soon," Anya replied. "You know, one thing's been bothering me through all of this. You said Xander, Faith, and Buffy raised you. So where was I?"

Kara sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. "You died in the final battle," she replied lowly. "You saved this guy Andrew."

"Oh," Anya replied. "Well that sucks."

"Yeah, I imagine it did. Plus, Andrew was kind of a dork," Kara said smirking. Anya smiled a little.

"So we're just gonna wait for Angel to bring this amulet up then?"

"Not exactly," Kara said, leaning back as well. "You see, all of this is happening earlier than it did in my world. Angel doesn't have the amulet yet, and he won't get it for another year or so. The final battle will happen long before then. The Powers that Be knew that."

"So they did something to you, right? They didn't just juice you up," Anya stated, starting to understand things better.

"Yeah," Kara replied, smiling at Anya's quick understanding. "Let's just say I'm a little more connected to the past now."

"The past?"

"When the time comes," Kara said, her eyes closing briefly. "The First won't know what hit him...her...it...whatever."

Anya genuinely smiled. "So you're our ace up the sleeve then, huh?"

"Exactly. And soon enough, it'll be time to bet the farm."

.................................

"Dirty, dirty girl," Caleb said, wiping his blade clean on a handkerchief. "God does not look favorably down on those who whore out their souls, remember that," he instructed, giving the bringers standing behind him a quick glance. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment. "Now, I want you do to something for me. Take this body, here. Take it to the slayer. Put it somewhere she'll see it real good. I want her to know she can't go unpunished in the eyes of God."