Disclaimer: I don´t own Buffy or any other character except Selena and her folks.
Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy!
Notes: Ok ….sooooo--- this is after Season 7 BUT :
Spike did so not die! #
Sunnydale was not destroyed
There are no mini-slayers!
They just defeated the first and now things have cooled down …..
I was inspired to write this story by my holiday in Finnland
This is only a beginning so please have patience and bear with me …. This will go somewhere if you guys like the idea……
THE SOUND OF HER VOICE
If you could only read my mind
You would know that things between us ain´t right
I know your arms are open wide,
But you´re a little on the straight side
I can´t lie
Something was wrong. Spike felt it the moment he turned around the corner in front of the BRONZE. There was something indistinct, something eerie in the air that night, something that made the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Unable to put his finger on the feeling, he listened to the lyrics of the OFFSPRING -Song that emanated from the club. It was sung by a woman. He knew there was a hot new cover-band playing tonight. That was why he was there, hoping that Buffy and her friends would be there too……hoping to see Buffy.
Your one vice is that you´re too nice
Come around now can´t you see
There was something about that woman´s voice , something fairly familiar …something that gave him goosepimples. But Spike had no time to ponder that thought.
The BRONZE was crowded. Spike made his way to the bar, all the while scanning his surroundings for the slayer and her friends.
Ahh, there she was , sitting at a table next to Willow. In one of those skimpy skirts, high heeled boots outfits he loved so much ….
She looked bloody fantastic!
I want you , all tatooed , I want you bad
Complete me , mistreat me
want you to be bad,
If you could only read my mind ,
You would know that I´ve been waiting so long
For someone almost just like you,
But with attitude , I´m waiting
so come on
Get out of clothestime, grow out those highlights
Come around now , can´t you see
I want you , in a vinyl suit
I want you bad
Complicated, X-rated
I want you bad
Spike´s eyes followed Buffy´s gaze to the singing woman on the stage. Quite a stunning sight, he had to admit. Low cut leather trousers hugging slim hips, showing off an impossible tiny waist and a pierced bellybutton. The tight, black tank top revealed more perfect skin and cleavage than it covered. She was definetly a sight for sore eyes. In the dim lighting of the club, her pale skin shimmered like mother of pearl, her platinum blond her fell down her shoulders to the small of her back.
Don´t get me wrong
I know you´re only being good
But that´s what´s wrong
I guess I just misunderstood
I want you
All tattoed
I want you bad
Complicated
X-rated
I want you bad
Still, there was something about the sound of her voice that reminded him of ….
Spike´s eyes wandered up to the girl´s face, their eyes met ….she had dark eyes, a beautiful face like a china doll….a perfect face and obsidian black eyes. That´s when it hit him. He felt as if someone had just knocked the air out of his lungs.
Oh, bloody hell… of course he knew the sound of her voice … knew that body , that perfectly innocent face …..too bloody perfect by far ……SIOBHAN.
I mean it. I need it .
I want you bad!
The song ended, applause roared through the club.
" Thanks." , the blonde girl spoke into the mic, her voice was husky and seductive.
" Me and the boys will take a break, but we´ll be back soon."
Than she jumped of the stage, moving towards the ladies room. Spike followed her, unsure if Siobhan had seen him or not.
" Hey , There is Spike.!" Dawn called out – trying to catch the blond vampire´s eye in order to wave him over to their table. But he just walked by , not even glancing towards them. Buffy felt her heart skip a beat. She frowned, angry with herself.
After everything that happened, after the dramatic events that lead to defeating the first …..
She had still no clue where she stood emotionally when it came to the peroxide vamp.
" Wow someone has his panties in a twist." Dawn said a little hurt.
" Yeah, what´s his problem?" Willow asked Buffy, who just shrugged.
Something tightened in her chest.
Spike waited for Siobhan in front of the ladies room. As soon as she came out , he grabbed her arms, pushing her against the wall.
" What the bloody hell are you doing here?" he hissed furiously. She was even more petite and fragile looking than he remembered…
" Surprised to see me William?"
With far more power than one could expect from a person as dainty as she was, the girl shoved him off of herself.
" Thought you´d never see me again after leaving me for dead in Dublin, ha? "
" We did not leave you for dead…you were still alive! " Spike answered indignantly.
" Right, that´s why you left me for the angry mob, while you and Angelus escaped! That is no way to treat a lady !" She pouted.
" You are no lady! " the vampire countered.
" I warn you, I will not ask again! What in the name of hell are you doing here?"
" I´am in a
band …I sing!"
" Stating the obvious!" Spike snarled
" Could not find a better place for your change of career?"
" Ohhhh, Spiky!" she purred in a low key of voice
" Actually I heard some stories about you and I was incredibly curious to see if they are true."
" Curiousity killed the cat. Who told you ?"
Soibhan smiled up at him.
" Guess whom I met when we were playing in this snuggly little club in San Francisco.. Your old ball and chain! I must say Drusilla did look even more out of her mind than when we last met!"
" You met Dru?"
" She was spitting venom when I asked her about you …I didn´t know you had broken up.."
" She left me!" Spike pointed out .
" For A chaos demon ..yadayada….heard all about it , but you know what the most interesting thing she told me was? "
Spike just glared at her. In a way Buffy had always reminded him of Siobhan and now he remembered why….how could such a tiny slip of a girl be so much trouble?
" She told me you were in love with the Slayer !!"
She giggled, it sounded like a child´s laughter, but then Siobhan and her kind had always been extremely good at betraying their true nature.
" So when we got the offer to play in Sunnydale I decided it was the perfect opportunity to check out the truth behind that nasty little rumor. And that other thing I´ve been hearing …the soul? But it´s true! I can smell it on you, feel it burning inside of you."
" Can you believe it? The fact that all kinds of hotties favor Spike will never cease to amaze me!" Xander said, watching Spike talk to the blonde singer from across the room.
"Ha?" Buffy turned around to look at the scene Xander was referring to.
" Ouch! What was that for?"
Dawn just glared at him, but Willow hit him under the table.
Spike turned his head almost instantly, as if he had been able to feel the Scoobies ´eyes piercing his back.
" I think we´d better take this conversation outside!" he said angrily, grabbing the blond girl´s elbow and shoving her toward´s the Bronze´s back entrance.
" I think I´ll better check this out, who knows what he might be up to", cursing herself for the feeble excuse to follow Spike Buffy headed off in his direction. Dawn flashed her an understanding smile, while Xander rolled his eyes, earning kicks to his chins from both sides of the table.
" OUCH!"
" Why did you have to come here , dammit! "
" Oh William, will you just let it go?" Siobhan freed herself from his grip.
" So it is true…..you fell for the slayer ." She squinted, looking up at him
" You really love her!"
She said surprised.
" Argh…! Will you let it go woman!? My personal feelings are no concern of yours! Why don´t we talk about your little change of career a bit , ha?"
" O worried I´ll have a little chat with her about your infamous past?" Spike grabbed her by the shoulders , glaring down at her small frame .
" I will only tell you once Siobhan…you do not touch her , you don´t …"
" Spike , what are you doing?"
Buffy´s voice pierced the cool nightair like a shot. She did not like what she saw, he was obviously threatening the girl. Buffy pushed him against the wall, furious.
After all they had been through …..what kind of stunt was he trying to pull?
He held up his palms, shaking his head simultaniously.
" Buffy,bloody hell, this is not what it looks like. I was trying to protect you."
" Oh right." She returned ironically,
" Are you all right?"
The blond girl smiled at her .
" I´am ok, thank you."
" Buffy …."
" Cut the crap Spike I saw you!"
" You don´t know what you see!" Spike spit out angrily.
" What was it that I saw Spike? What were you trying to do to her ?"
" Will you think for a bloody minute …soul remember?"
" Can I go now?" Siobhan asked in her best little girl voice.
" No , you bloody well can´t!" He said grabbing her arm.
"Spike , will you let her go?"
Buffy got a hold of his duster, but he wouldn´t back down.
" Show her!" he yelled at Siobhan.
" Show her now, or I swear I will …"
" Alright, alright …"
Buffy stared at the petite blonde, she was even more petite than Buffy herself.
" What the hell is going on here?" she demanded to know.
" Fine." The girl sighed exasperated.
" Fine, but let go of me!"
Spike reluctantly let go of her arm.
" What is this all about ?" Buffy did not like the unsettling feeling that grew in this pit of her stomach.
Spike´s eyes didn´t leave the girl for a second.
" You will see, love, she is not what she seems."
" Spoilsport!" Siobhan hissed and stepped back into the darkness of the alley , pouting.
Buffy stared at the place where the girl had just stood, out of the shadow and darkness , two gleaming eyes stared back at her.
" What the hell…"
When Siobhan stepped back into the light her whole appearance had changed. She was still a small, curvy woman, but her skin had the colour of ash. I almost looked as if someone had painted her whole body with ashes, her hair was silvery white and her nails black. Her face had the same angelic features and yet it made Buffy shiver….Buffy noted that her eyes were pure,obsidian black. They were neither giving or receiving light, and as much as she tried to she could not discern pupils in them.
" Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, meet Siobhan, The Banshee."
" Banshee?"
The creature gave a chuckle.
" You did not really think that a human could posess such a voice as mine, did you?"
" Is she evil?" Buffy asked Spike , raising an eyebrow.
" Yes" he answered
" No!" Siobhan exclaimed .
" See I used to be a Banshee…well, in fact of course I still am …but I don´t harm people anymore. I´am in a band now !"
She smiled at Buffy, as if they were girlfriends ..or something Buffy added in her mind. That sure was creepy.
" How come?" Buffy asked, crossing her arms in front of her body .
" Well you see, my line of work is very demanding. In a way Banshees are like mermaids ..without the water . We wait for lonely travelers on deserted roads.. and sometimes that takes forever! Well, times change …nowadays everyone travels in cars and frankly, most of those backpackers we get are not as gullible as they used to be. And then of course our favorites , the brokenhearted, almost every sinister force seems to be tapping into that field now, too much competition …..it is just not fun anymore. So since we have this incredible voice I thought it is just too good to be wasted on screeching and screaming, after watching all these Horror-movies most people don´t scare as easy . So I became a singer …a girl just wants to have fun, right?"
"Ok." Buffy said, turning around.
" What?" Spike sputtered
"That´s it ?…You are the Slayer, you…should do something."
" Spike " Siobhan purred , she had changed back into her human form.
" Why don´t you go and get us two girls some drinks, so we can talk like …you know ..girls."
" I don´t believe you women!" he said , obviously very annoyed.
Buffy turned around to look at Siobhan.
" I did not slay you. What else is there to talk about?" She asked icily.
Siobhan lifted one of her perfectly sculptered eyebrows, smiling.
" Let´s say I did not only come here to sing." She answered .
" Why did you not slay me?"
" You said you don´t kill anymore ."
" I could have lied…."
" If you did, I will kill you.!"
" If you don´t love him let him go."
" Excuse me?"
" Spike…."
" I know who you were referring to, but that is none of your business."
" Isn´t it ?….He is a friend"
" You don´t seem to be an friendly terms.!"
" We were ..once."
" When you were both killers!" Buffy said angrily, not knowing were exactly her anger came from.
" Yes" Siobhan admitted softly
" He even tried to sacrifice me, so that he and others could live….but I forgive him, because I loved him once…like a brother.
" You and him ….you are the same. How could you? What can a creature like you possibly know about love?"
Buffy raged, she felt tears forming in her eyes, tears of anger and sadness.
Siobhan looked at her.
" Love is what put me in this place." She said evenly
" Love is what made me what I´am today. Do you really believe I was born like this? "
She shook her head laughing bitterly.
" Like William I was once human, maybe not like you …like your friends."
Surprised Buffy looked into the other woman´s dark eyes.
" What happened?"
" I fell in love. I was born into a noble family, in the year 1312 of our Lord.
I grew up to be the most admired and courted girl at the king´s court. But there was only one man I loved…..Edward, the king´s son. Edward , the hero…..the Black Prince of Wales. He was a warrior, there was no man he could not defeat , no city he could not conquer, as easily as he conquered my heart. He was a true champion..I would have died for him."
Buffy was captured, she could still see the sparkle in Siobhan´s eyes when she talked about that man….
" Why.."
" He loved another ….Joan of Kent , he could have had every princess in Europe, he could have had every girl in England ….he could have had me, but he married her for love. I thought I would die, I think a part of me did ….I was so angry , so hurt…so I cursed him. Edward never became King of England, he fell sick …he died …I destroyed him. That´s what turned me into a Banshee. Dark Magic has it´s price…"
Buffy nodded, still numbed from the fact that this strange creature bared her soul in front of her.
" Why did you tell me this?"
" So you can heed the advice someone gave you a while back, …before you died I presume, how come you took one part of that advice and discarded the other ."
" What?" Buffy stepped back. " Can you read my mind?"
" A little…" Siobhan admitted
" I don´t know what you mean! "
" The first slayer I believe ….you have to let go of all these bad feelings about William´s past. It is not who he is today. Love.Give:Forgive!"
Just as Buffy was about to ask her what she ment, the door oepened and Spike returned with two shots of Tequila.
" There you go, lasses."
Siobhan grabbed the glass downed the liquor and wiped a single tear from her cheek.
" Gotta go, sets starting, come in and listen." Was all she said when she pushed past them, heading back into the club."
Spike´s gaze followed her back into the club, before his eyes returned to Buffy.
" What did you talk about?"
There was a tiny tremor in his voice, he was still unsure about Siobhan ….she could have told Buffy a lot of things that would make her despise him even more.
Buffy looked up at him, taking him in inch for inch. What did she feel for him? Was it just her pride that held her back, or was it something else…fear, shame ?
True, he had been a killer, but he had fought with her, kept her sister safe while she was gone. He would have died in order to safe her and the ones she loved. Angel had been evil once and he had changed , Buffy reminded herself for the millionst time. Anya had been a demon, she had killed, mamed, totured in the name of vengeance for longer than Angel and Spike together…and yet she became Buffy´s friend….
" Buffy?" Spike´s voice brought her back to reality.
" What …talk ..a nothing special …girl talk…."
Spike´s eyes searched her face.
" See…I have known that wench quite a long while and if there is something Siobhan is really bad with is small talk." He said simply.
They both turned their heads towards the stage, Siobhan had started singing again. Buffy looked around the club, realising for the first time what she had ment. No human could have a voice like hers, clear and throaty, soft and raw, …. There was something in her voice that captivated her listeners …every eye in the Bronze was fixed on her small frame swaying back and forth on the stage.
" There is so much …pain." She muttered unconciously.
" Loneliness." Spike said.
" That´s the bloody secret! A banshee´s voice is supposed to lure you in, it speaks to something hidden inside you, something you lack … you´d better hope and pray you never hear her scream. Draws your soul right out of your body! "
" Why did you think I needed protecting?" she asked suddenly
." What did you think why she was here?"
Spike thought about it for a moment…unsure if he should lie or tell the truth.
" Bloody revenge is what I thought! Me and the poof fed her to an angry mob in Ireland, so that we could escape. Guess she did not take that well, I´d be pissed of as hell! Took her almost one hundred years to find me…"
She shook her head. After everything that had happened…….she sometimes forgot about his past.
" Why does the fact that you would screw over a friend to save your own skin suddenly surprise me ?" Buffy asked icily.
Great , Spike thought ….that´s what you get from telling the truth! And did she even register the fact that Angel was part of that too?
Before Spike could think of a sassy return something else caught his attention.
There was a rush of air, cool and smooth, almost a caress. It blew over them and through the club. Buffy shivered, looking around with narrowed eyes. She could have bet that just a second ago she had heard a wolf howl.
" Is the moon full tonight?" she asked abruptely, looking up to see Spike mirrowing his behaviour.
" No…" he whispered back, feeling even tenser than just a few minutes ago.
" Do you smell that?"
The air smelt cool and crisp.
" It smells like snow."
" Oh bloody hell..I should have known!" he suddenly cursed under his breath.
How could he have been so ignorant…… the signs had all been there!
" She lied to us!"
Buffy frowned, unsure if she was following Spike´s line of thinking.
" I don´t understand……you mean the Banshee?"
" Yes …..she did not leave San Francisco because they could get a gig here. She left because the air was getting too bloody thick there."
" Spike …what are you talking about?" Buffy asked impatiently.
Spike closed his eyes for a moment trying to gather his thoughts. How was he supposed to explain this to her ….she wouldn´t like it, of that he was sure! He wasn´t even quite sure if he could explain if he wanted to…..
" I did not lie …."
Buffy gave a surprised gasp and jumped to the side as the tiny frame of the banshee suddenly materialized next to her. Not even with her Slayer-senses had she heard Siobhan coming. It was as though she had just stepped right out of the shadows. The Guitarplayer had taken over now, singing in a raw, deep voice.
Buffy could feel a strange prickly sensation on the skin of her neck.
" Something is wrong here!" she breathed uncomfortably.
" You wanna tell us what´s going on?"Spike snarled at Siobhan.
The banshee sighed, rolling her eyes.
" Fine …but shouldn´t you know by now?"
Buffy crossed her arms in front of her chest. Suddenly she was feeling really impatient.
" I´ve had enough of these secret hints …..enlighten us!"
" William is right, I did not just come here for the gig. It´s a lucky coincidence that the offer came in just when I really wanted to get out of San Francisco."
" Why?" Spike´s voice was barely controlled. Buffy could hear the faint tremor in his tone and gave him an odd look.
Siobhan stifled a bitter laugh.
" Oh William …..did they take all half your brain and all your senses in exchange for the soul? Surely you can feel the power, it´s drifting through this club like mist rising from the dephts! It makes my skin crawl!"
Buffy looked around. She could see Willow looking around with a frown on her face. Something was bothering the Wicca and now that the banshee mentioned it…..Buffy could feel it too.
" What is it?" she demanded to know, all the while checking for quick escape routes just in case she needed to get the people out of the Bronze.
" The same thing that hit San Francisco a few days back…..pretty much every preternatural creature in the Bay area crawled out of it´s hiding place and tried to scramble away as fast as possible!"
" Quit the mystery talk ..now. You know what´s causing this?"
Siobhan pursed her lips, her eyes trained on Spike.
" Sure …..every beastie in Sunnydale should know by now! They have a way of making their presence known! You feel the pull the pull too, it´s like the tide. It´s just some really old, forgotten friends coming to call…….from the old world."
" Old friends?"
" Very old, as in ancient aristocracy…"
She lifted an eyebrow, her eyes flickered dark. It seemed almost like a challenge.
" …..and let me tell you, her ladyship is not in the best of moods! At least she´s not traveling with her usual attire and entourage."
" Bloody hell …I knew it!" Spike spit back at her, grabbing her hand violently.
" And you lead her here? Why? So you´re at their back and call now?"
" Oh like I had a choice!" Siobhan scoffed, pushing the vampire off her.
" You know …you´ve met the old ones, it´s not like I could refuse and leave!
They call for you and you obey…….that´s how things are. I couldn´t even get away if I wanted too!"
" What does she want?"
Siobhan´s eyes wandered from Spike to Buffy.
" She´s here for the slayer."
" I should have wrung your neck on sight Siobhan …you …."
" She doesn´t want to hurt her, she has a request! No harm will come to her."
" Hey!" Buffy stepped in between them, pushing them apart.
" What the hell is going on? Spike, what is she talking about?
Who came here …vampires, old ones?"
Spike just shook his head. For a moment it seemed as though he was trying to say something but was choking on his own words.
Buffy decided that she had really had enough. Her evening was spoiled and the prospect of fighting an old vampire, maybe older than the master so soon after the struggle with the first made her feel incredibly tired.
" You said old world ..so you mean from Europe? Vampires from Europe coming to look for me….."
The banshee laughed. It was a pretty sound, like tinkling bells.
" No vampires…."
Suddenly both Siobhan and Spike jerked their heads to the side as though they were listening for something.
Spike´s gaze returned to Buffy.
" It´s too late now ….she´s here. So let´s go and meet her, love!"
He grabbed Buffys hand, carefully squeezing it.
" Go where?"
" Outside….trust me."
With Siobhan leading the way, Spike pulled Buffy through the backdoor into the alley behind the Bronze.
" Will somebody tell me what is going on here…."
Buffy stopped dead in her tracks as a silver- fured wolf trotted by her, his eyes glowing in
the darkness of the alley.
" What the …."
Her eyes followed the wolf and widened as the grey animal moved towards a cloaked figure waiting a few yards away.
The obvious female stranger was not much taller than the slayer herself, but she radiated power unlike any Buffy had ever felt.
The woman wore a light hooded cloak with a big hood that hid her face completely, beige suede-leatherpants that fit her slender legs like a second skin and knee-high boots of the same colour and material.
The wolf sat down next to her, looking up and waiting to be petted. She slowly lowered a hand, the wolf nuzzled it´s snout into it with a mewl.
Buffy could hear Spike and the banshee elicit a shallow sigh.
Siobhan bowed her head gracefully.
" I love my lady …she is very fair!"
Buffy furrowed her brow. The words were from a poem she had once read in highshool.
It was almost as if she could hear faint whispers in the wind.
With a incredibly fluid motion the figure pulled the hood of her cloak back to reveal a face that was almost too beautiful to be true.
Her skin shone in the blackness of the shadows, clear and white like fresh fallen snow. It looked like it was carved from marvel, with high- cheekbones and full lips. Her hair was coloured in a way that was completely unnatural, seemingly uniting all the colours of fall leaves. There were strands of dark and light brown in many different shades, but also copper, fiery red, bronze and auburn.
Whever that woman was Buffy instantly knew that she had never encountered a creature quite like this before.
From the look of her she wasn´t even a woman, more like a girl on the brink of becoming one. In the dark alley she seemed completely displaced, like somebody had just forgotten her there and now she was lost. The perfect childbride …..and yet she radiated power, making the air seem thick around her. She was beyond beautiful, just standing there like a statue in front of the dark, star filled sky, while the wind played with her long hair.
Buffy swallowed hard, forcing herself to hold her ground.
There was something in all that beauty, something scary and unreal …something unnatural.
She could feel her power breathe over them like wind. The young woman smiled at her and that smile made Buffy tell her all her deepest secrets and desires. It was a smile that emanated trust and acceptance …..love.
The whole picture, her appearance, the way her pale skin seemed to shimmer in the dark like mother of pearl…….it was mesmerizing.
Her eyes had the colour of the sky just before a storm.
" Thus Aragorn for the first time beheld Eowyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring…" She didn´t really know how that quote came to mind. It had been a while since she had given the book toDawn to read.
She shook her head violently. It had to be a spell of some sorts.
" Who are you?" she whispered.
Buffy could feel Spike going down on bended knee behind her. He let out a sharp breath.
She shot him an irritated look.
" What are you doing? What is she?"
Spike looked at Buffy, biting his lips.
Bloody hell ….……..there was nothing left to do except……
The woman nodded to him, almost like she was giving him permission to speak. It unnerved Buffy beyond compare. Spike´s voice was solemn, almost reverend as he cleared his throat to speak.
" Buffy Anne Summers, the vampire- slayer, may I introduce her ladyship Selena Amoret Indajaan, the Stormborn, Lady of the Shadows, Keeper of the Dusk and Twilight, Daughter of Oberon, Princess of the Royal - Court of Fairy."
Buffy blinked.
" Fairy?" she asked nonplussed.
" She´s a freakin´fairy princess? And that ….whole thing is her name?"
The girl laughed. It was the most pleasant sound Buffy had ever heard, like the comforting purring of a contented cat or the gurgling of a quiet well.
" Oh n…most of that is titles, I have a few…."
Her voice filled the air, even though she was not speaking very loudly. The sound made Buffy think of something warm, something balmy.
" You are a fairy- princess?" Buffy repeated , feeling a little out of her dephts.
Selena gave her another smile, nodding slowly while her hand roamed over the wolf´s fur.
" Aren´t you supposed to have wings or something?"
She laughed again.
" Oh …..some have, but I´m not that kind of fairy …..I don´t sprinkle dust or leave coins under pillows in exchange for children´s teeth."
" Wow …so your father is the King of fairies, really?"
" Oberon, yes. The english writer got that right. But to be quite honest I´m fairly far down the line in succession to the throne and since my parents are immortal and not very likely to ever step down, it is of no consequence…"
She answered with a faintly amused smile.
Buffy lifted an eyebrow.
" Ok ….so not to be unfriendly or disrespectful but ….what do you want?"
"I have come ….to ask for your help."
You like it? Let me know if I shall go on…
