A/N Thanks to everyone that reviewed. This story will be coming to an end soon, so enjoy the ride.
Previously on Return of The Hunter
Willow walked up the steps to the Hyperion and was nearly knocked down by a black blur. Looking up she saw Angelus standing over her.
"Damn you're looking good Red." Angelus said licking his lips. "Remind me to look you up later." he said before running off, after seeing Faith and Wesley running towards them.
Faith punches Willow in the face after she tells her of Tara being murdered.
As Faith and Angelus battle each other in an abandoned warehouse, Willow injects herself with a syringe of Orpheus. As Angelus kicks Faith away from him, Willow launches herself at him and into his arms.
"I just love it when my food comes to me." Angelus remarked with a smile as he bit into Willow's throat. As a strangled cry escaped her lips Angelus suddenly pulled away from her, spitting out blood. "What...what the hell did you do?" he asked as he passed out on the floor. Without Angelus holding her up Willow could only wobble on her feet before falling bonelessly to the floor.
"Ohhh, so you're responsible for killing the other witch?" Angelus asked Willow as they journeyed through Angel's past. "Welcome to the killing club."
"I'll probably never forgive you for the part you had in getting Tara killed." Faith remarked with her back turned from Willow, as she stood in the Hyperion's garden area looking up at the night sky. "But thanks for bringing Angel back."
"Faith I..."
"Now get the hell out of my city!" Faith replied with a huff as she turned and glared at the red headed witch.
Now on with the show...
Chapter 13
A Redeemed Dirty Girl
Willow cried to herself, thinking about the confrontation that she had, had with Faith only a few hours ago. Now the circle of friends that she had, that hated her, was complete. She knew how close Faith and Tara were, but she had no idea that Faith would turn almost homicidal when she found out about her death. It took nearly the whole Fang Gang to hold her back and to give her just enough time to get in her car and get out of dodge.
Trying to get her mind off of such thoughts, she flicked on the high beams on her car and nearly swerved off the side of the road as she saw a body lying in the middle of the street. Getting control back over the car, she stopped, got out, and ran over to them.
"Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Willow asked as she rolled the girl over. "Can you talk?" as she tried to rouse the girl into conciousness Willow heard the distant rumble of an engine.
Turning she was just in time to see a feminine figure, wearing an all black leather outfit step off of a motocycle and move over in her direction. Even though the person had a black helmet on, that covered her face Willow still knew who it was.
"Please help me get her into the car." Willow said as she put one arm under her arms to support her weight. Letting out a sigh, the biker chick took the girl's other arm and helped her to the car.
Woodcrest Cemetery
Kendra walked alone through the darkness of the cemetery on patrol. She knew that she had told the others not to go out on their own, but she really needed to clear her head. And besides, it felt good to be out by herself for once.
"So beating and killing puts a smile on your face then?"
She heard Mister Zabuto's voice say in her mind, making her smile at that memory. She really missed him. No matter how his methods were, he still raised and nurtured...
Suddenly she stopped at the head of an empty grave, looking over the headstone at the broken earth. A shadow then fell across her back and she reacted instantly, throwing herself forward onto the headstone, suspending herself in a perfect handstand and using her feet to kick the vampire backward. As he fell she flipped herself over and twisted, landing on her feet, perfectly balanced on the lip of the headstone. As soon as she touched the ground she swung a modified crossbow from beneath her coat and fired at the vampire as it got to its feet with a snarl of rage.
The bolt slammed home into the creature's chest and she watched with satisfaction as it disintegrated in a cloud of dust.
"I didn't tink any natural vampires were left in dis city." Kendra said aloud as she placed the crossbow over her shoulder.
A second vampire then leaped from the shadows and sweeped Kendra's feet from under her. Caught off guard she fell onto her back, across the headstone, then dropped limply to the ground hurt and unconscious as he loomed over her. With a smile he kneeled next to her, bared his fangs and closed in on her neck⦠then collapsed into ash on her stake. With a shake of her head she jumped to her feet and brushed the creature's remains from her coat.
"The vamp's are still falling for that unconcious trick, I see?" a voice asked from the shadows.
Looking up, Kendra saw a hint of blonde hair next to a crypt and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw that it was Tara leaning on the door of a nearby crypt wearing a duster. And she was smiling.
"Yeah, I haven't seen a smart vampire yet." Kendra quipped as she readied her stake.
"Ouch, that really hurt." Tara said with a fake hurt expression on her face. "I only came to talk to you."
Kendra then just looked at her and then after a beat Tara chuckled and kicked off of the wall.
"Alright, I actually wanted to kick your face in." she said as she started to walk closer to her. "As a human, whenever I wasn't lusting after you, I always asked myself if you were a regular girl would I be able to kick your ass." she said as she got into a fighting stance. Kendra recognized it immediately because she had taught her that stance years before, when she had tried to teach Tara self defense.
"Well now I'm super powered. So finally I'll get to see whose gonna win."
Without another word Kendra assumed a similar stance, as they cautiously circled each other. Wanting to end the fight quickly Kendra gave a short cry and launched a furious attack. It was like a Jackie Chan movie at high speed, fists and feet striking from every angle as Kendra pressed her attack. But to her dismay each and every blow was blocked by effortless speed.
"You taught me a little too well sis." Tara said jokingly as they broke apart. "I remembered all your moves."
"Never call me your sister again." Kendra said never taking her eyes off of her.
"Whatever you say."
And with that Tara attacked her and it was like nothing the Slayer had ever seen. Her feet and fists were everywhere taking Kendra apart. For every blow the Slayer blocked, five more hit their marks until -- Kendra fell. Panting, on her hands and knees, blood spittled from the corner of her mouth speckling the finely manicured grass.
"You're the damn Slayer!" Tara yelled angrily, as her duster flapped dramatically behind her. "Get up!"
With a growl Kendra flipped to her feet and their fists flew with pneumatic speed. The speed of the blows rose like a drum solo that seemed impossible to sustain. Kendra's face shedded its mask of calm with a scream. She wanted to beat Tara bad. Not only because she was getting beaten, but because she felt that any friend of her's, soul would never be in peace if they were turned into a vampire. Finally a single hard blow caught Tara on the side of the head, knocking the smile off of her face.
"I see you're ready to end this?" Tara asked as she took a step back. "Well I am too." as she said that her eyes started to glow an eerie blue and her lower jaw then disengaged and split open, revealing a freakishly enlarged esophagus lined with serrated, sharklike teeth.
As Tara leaped into the air, something violently smashed into the side of her head, sending her sprawling to the ground. As they both looked up, they saw a figure sitting on a motorcycle, watching them.
"You ready for a little three way action?" Faith asked as she stepped off of her motorcycle and quickly walked towards the two.
"As much as I would enjoy that, I think it's time for me to leave." Tara said as she stood to her feet, went back to human mode, and licked her lips seductively at the raven haired Slayer before dissappearing into the darkness.
Faith watched her retreating form with a sad look on her face. Willow had told her that Tara was now a vampire, but nothing truly prepared her for what she had just seen.
"Faith?" Kendra asked, snapping her out of her musings. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you from getting your ass handed to you." Faith replied as she bent down and handed her, her crossbow. "I just can't believe that it was Tar' that was doing it."
"Yeah." Kendra said as she lowered her head. "Now come on we have some catching up to do." she said as she headed for Faith's motorcycle. "I tink, I'll drive."
"What?" Faith asked horrified as she picked her helmet up off of the ground. Her driving skills were almost worse then Buffy's. "No way."
The Vineyard
"It's about time you showed up." Kendra/First said as Caleb strolled into the main room of the wine cellar. "What took you so long?"
"I was deliverin' a message from the lord." Caleb replied as he looked around for her.
"So you tink, I'm God?" she asked as she walked out of the shadows.
"I certainly do not." Caleb replied as he walked up closer to her. "I am beyond concepts like that."
"But you still wear de outfit."
"Man can't turn his back on what he come from. Besides, black is slimming." he quipped with a shrug as he looked down at his outfit. "Everyone knows that."
"How do you like what I'm wearing?"
"Just another dirty girl. And, since you only dress up in dead folk, I'm guessing, one who's already been paid her wage."
"Look hard. What do you see?"
"Strength." he said checking out the First's form. "And the loneliness that comes with real strength."
"I'm de Slayer."
"At long last." he replied as he tried to touch her face, but saw with amazement as his hand went through her head. "All this time. All the work I've done for you... Blowing up the Council, organizing the Ray Charles Brigade, and stickin' all them splits - you never showed me."
"Well, you've earned it. And you'll be meeting her soon. Am I right?"
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, she'll get the message."
"And what makes you so sure she'll come?"
"Curiosity. Woman's first sin. I offer her an apple. What can she do but take it?"
"My sentiment's exactly." Nomak said as he and a few of his hybrid reapers came into the room.
"Ahh, Mr. Nomak we meet at last." Caleb said in greeting as Nomak extended his hand. "I'm sorry but I never shake hands."
"Then I guess giving me a hug is out of the question?" Tara asked as she put her arm around Nomak's shoulder.
"Another whore..." Caleb started as he took a step back.
"What did you say?" Nomak asked as the scar seam on his chin started to open.
"Don't you boy's start." The First commanded as she walked in between the two. "Save the fight for de Slayer and her friends."
"Speaking of which, if I know my sis...Kendra she's gonna stage an attack on us in a few days."
"What makes you so sure of dat?" Kendra/First asked Tara.
"Just believe me, I know. And she's not gonna fall for any of our traps." she said looking Caleb up and down.
Sheila's Home
"What are you girls watching?" Akin asked as he walked into the living room and saw a few of the potentials standing around the big screen t.v.
"Dragonball Z." Annabelle said as she put some popcorn in her mouth.
"What did he just do?" Akin asked as Goku put his fingers to his head and dissappeared, only to reappear again in another location.
"It's called instant transmission." Xander said walking up behind him. "Come on, I'll explain..."
"Hey everyone." Kendra started as she walked in through the kitchen and saw a few potentials, her sisters, Sheila, Akin, Xander and Blade sitting in the room. "Look who I found."
"What's up?" Faith asked with a big smile as she walked into the room, only to be engulfed in hugs by Dawn and Dierdre. "Whoa... I can't believe that you two brats are all woman sized now."
"Who are you calling a brat?" Dierdre asked as she and Dawn pulled away from her.
"Hello, Faith." Sheila said as she walked up to her and gave her a hug.
"Hey ma'." she said hugging her back. "Holy crap." Faith said as she looked up in Xander's direction making him smile. He hadn't seen her in years and he dropped his smile as she shoved him out of the way and started to Talk to Blade.
"Ken you didn't tell me that you had freakin' Wesley Snipes in your house." she said causing Blade to growl.
"I'll explain dat later." Kendra replied.
"Gee it's nice to see you too, Faith." Xander commented hurt. And that's why he didn't see the slap coming. "Ow! What was that for?"
"For leaving my sis for all this time. What the hell were you expecting? Hugs or something?"
"What's all this commotion?" Giles asked as he walked through the front door with Willow. "Faith?"
"What's up G-man?" she asked as she stopped glaring at Xander and walked up to the older man. "Didn't Red tell you that I was here?"
"I was just talking to some potentials and I bumped into her." he said as he gave her a reassuring smile. "It's nice to see you again."
"Kendra did Faith tell you about the girl we found unconcious on the road?" Willow asked.
"Girl? What girl?" Kendra asked as she looked over at Faith, who mouthed the words oops.
"I came here to get some supplies to help her along with her healing. You should come to the hospital with me anyway because she said that she has a message for you."
"Hey, Red wait up!" Faith shouted after Willow as she started to walk up the stairs of the house.
"Who's the hottie?" Kennedy asked a cute blonde potential named Jennifer, as she watched Faith's retreating form.
"Some girl named Faith." Jennifer replied with a shrug.
"I wanted to...to apologize for the way I treated you in LA." Faith said as she helped Willow gather some candles and some other supplies. "Angel talked to me about the way I treated you, after you left and he was right. I didn't know what was going on, so I shouldn't have blamed you for Tara gettin' killed."
"You should blame me." Willow said as she sat down on her bed and started to shake. "This whole damn thing was my fault. I should've just told Kennedy too..." not being able to control her emotions any longer Willow broke down into tears and grabbed onto Faith for support. Caught off guard Faith patted her back softly, if not ackwardly.
"Am I interrupting something?" Kennedy asked as she walked into the room, making Faith and Willow break apart from their embrace.
"Not now Kennedy." Willow said as she dried some of her tears off with the palm of her hand.
"Kennedy?" Faith asked as she stood to her feet. "So you're the one that was causing friction between my sis and her gal?"
"Wha..."
"Well just to let you know girlfriend," she started as she backed Kennedy into a corner and put her hand up on the wall. "That after all of this is over and done with, I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Hold on..."
"No you hold on." Faith stopped her. "My sister is walking around killing and maiming when she should be here right now. And this whole thing is your fault because she's not. Now I don't know how long I'm gonna be here but if you get in my way one time...just once it's gonna be you and me. You got me butch?"
Infuriated beyond belief, but also knowing that she couldn't do anything at the time, Kennedy looked over at Willow before walking out of the room. Turning around Faith nodded her head at Willow, before walking out of the room herself. She had to call Angel too let him know that she was gonna stay in Sunnydale a little while. For it seemed that she would be mostly needed in Sunnydale.
Kendra's Room
Later that night
Kendra rolled over, restless in bed. Thoughts of the message Caleb had for her clouding her mind. Rolling over in bed again, her eyes widened as she saw Xander staring at her.
"I hope I didn't wake you?" Kendra asked as she sat up in bed.
"I couldn't sleep myself." he said as he sat up himself, and put his arm around her.
"I keep tinking about what Shannon told us about Caleb." she replied as she snuggled up closer to him.
"You heard what Giles said. As far as we know this guy has a stapler waiting for us."
"I know dis ting has trap written all over it, but I just can't help but to feel dat dare really is someting out dare for me."
"And you're right." Kendra/First said as she materialized into the room.
"Oh...look it's the taunter." Xander said with a dramatic roll of his eyes.
"What de hell do you want?"
"Just to warn you, Ken." the First said with a wink. "I came to warn you dat if you don't go to see what Caleb want's den you and all of your little potentials are gonna die. And you especially are gonna die all alone."
Before they could comment they heard one of the girls scream, a blood curdling scream upstairs, making them instantly jump to their feet.
"Ooo...you better go and check on dat." Kendra/First said as she dissappeared. Throwing on their robes, Kendra and Xander ran up the stairs and into the kitchen where everyone else in the house seemed to be running.
"Everybody move back!" Xander shouted as he saw someone laying on the floor twicthing. As he moved a few potentials out of the way, he saw who it was and opened his mouth in surprise. "Dawn?"
"What happened too her?" Kendra asked as she kneeled before her and checked her out.
"We just came downstairs for a snack and she collasped." Dierdre spoke up, over the muttering from the others.
"Dawn can you hear me?" Kendra asked as she opened up her eyes, only to see them rolling up in the back of her head. Shaking violently one more time, Dawn let out a shuttering breath and died. "Dawn! Dawn! Noooo..." Kendra cried out as her tears soaked the ex-keys face.
"I...I can't believe that she's dead." Xander said as he dropped down next to them. They were supposed to have protected her. Made her safe.
"She's not." Blade whispered, as Dawn suddenly took in a large intake of breath and sat up. As she did so, her body started to glow an unholy shade of green, before fading away. Shaking her head groggily, blonde highlights suddenly appeared in her hair and as she opened her eyes they turned from liquid brown to green.
"Dawn are you okay?" Kendra asked as she helped her sit up.
"Yeah." Dawn replied in a different voice. "Never better."
"Buffy?" Kendra asked recognizing the voice.
The Next Day
Sheila's Living Room
"So did any of you figure out what happened to Dawn?" Xander asked as he walked in the room and handed Sheila and Kendra a soda before sitting down on the couch.
"I've studied the original spell that the monks used to create Dawn and from what she's said herself I believe I know the answer." Giles said as he sat heavily in his seat.
"Well don't leave us in suspence." Xander told the older man. "What's going on?"
"The monks took part of Buffy's essence away to create Dawn." he started. "Now I believe that when Buffy died, it left a huge void inside of Dawn. A void that could only be filled by her essence coming back."
"I tink I know where you're going with dis." Sheila said as she stood to her feet and paced. "Dare was an imbalance with de Slayer essence in general and it needed to be whole again, so it combined with Dawn since Buffy was gone."
"Yes, I believe I just said that." Giles replied as he removed his glasses.
"And as usual it didn't make much sense." Dawn said with a smile as she entered the room, with Faith, Akin, and Blade behind her. They had been sparing all morning outside and all three of them were a bit tired. "God I missed that."
"So you've retained all of Buffy's memories then?"
"It's more than that Giles." Dawn replied. "I am Buffy...only with Dawn in here too."
"Yeah, that's not a little creepy." Faith said as she hit Dawn on the arm playfully. "You still hit like B though. Now what the hell are we supposed to call you?"
"Just call me Anne." she said using Buffy's middle name.
"So now that our stroll down memory lane is over, what are we gonna do about the First?" Blade asked as he looked at the group in turn. "You and your people move too slow Slayer."
"So what do you think we should do?" Xander asked as he crossed his arms and looked up at him annoyed. "Because we don't have any idea where the First is and we have no idea how big of an army it has."
"Actually, I've been tinking about dat." Kendra spoke up for the first time. "Last night de First visited us and it gave me an idea. What if we could find out a way to make all of the potentials Slayers."
"You can't be serious." Giles was the first to say. "Do you have any idea what the ramifications of such an action would be? Or the amount of power it would take to complete such a task."
"Mr. Giles is right." Akin said before Kendra could say anything. "It would be an over balance of power and since that kind of power couldn't be taken back it'll be disasterous for the human race."
"So do you have a better plan?"
"Actually, I do." Akin said, thinking. "But it'll be a couple of days before I can put it into action."
"Now all we have to do is find out where to hit the First and where to get the fire power to take it out."
"I already thought of that." Anne told Xander. "The bad guys always go where the power is. And the power is at the hellmouth."
As she went on to explain, what they should do as far as weapons none of them noticed that the First was standing by the stairs watching them. Listening to every word they said. Having heard enough, she blinked away in order to put together it's own army.
Three Days Later
Blade, Dierdre, Akin, Robin, Anne and the potentials were silently suiting up for war -- strapping on body armor, securing stakes and knives, and clicking ammo cartridges into their various weapons. The potentials that came in late laced up their combat boots, checked rifle sights, entry lights. Blade donned one of his EDTA pneumatic gauntlets, as Sheila came into the living room and started to load custom rounds into a shotgun.
"Do you know how to use one of those?" Robin asked her with a smile, as he walked up to her. He lost that smile however as she checked the weapon down almost military style before cocking the slide back.
"No tank you, Mr. Wood." she said at his confused look as she walked over to help out a group of potentials.
"I know you guys broke into the local gunshop." Duncan said rifling through the weapons. He still couldn't believe that all of the people in town had left. 'Lucky them.' "But where did you guys get these weapon's from?" he asked Blade as he picked up a space aged looking rifle off of the table.
Blade just looked at him and thought back to what happened, only a day before.
Flashback
Initiative HQ
Blade and Anne jumped down through an opening in the ground into a dark hallway of the abandoned Initiative.
"Oh how I don't miss this place." Anne whispered as they walked deeper into the complex. As she shined the flashlight in the room she saw rotting bodies of demons and humans on the floor. "Oh, God. They just left them."
"Let's just keep moving." he said as he also shined a flashlight on rotting bodies on the floor. "Xander and Akin are waiting for us above ground."
"Did I do something wrong?" Anne asked as they walked around a corner. "You haven't really been talking to me in the last couple of days."
"No there's nothing wrong." he lied as he shined his light on a door. He felt that the true Dawn had been taken away, only to be taken over by something else. "This is the room with the weapons, now come on so we can get out of here." giving him a look he walked to the door and opened it, letting Anne go through it first.
The door opened to an area lit dimly by red light that led to a large, dark room. Blade and Anne walked slowly through the room when they hear a noise behind them. They turn their flashlights to investigate, but they don't see anything there.
Shrugging it off as just the place settling they walked through the large, dark room side by side as they heard the noise again. They both stopped in their tracks at that and put their backs together.
"You hear that?" Anne asked.
"Yeah." he replied as they shone their flashlights around the room, still not seeing anything.
"Think something survived?"
"Sounds like."
"You see where?"
"No, it sounded like it was coming from over there. Whatever it is, it's not..." before Blade could finish his sentence something whooshed behind them. They turned to look, but saw nothing.
They then continued to walk around and from out of nowhere, something grabbed Blade, making him drop his flashlight. Anne jumped over to help Blade fight off the demon that's attacking him when her head started to hurt again.
"Not now..." Anne whispered as she held her head and collapsed on the floor.
"Dawn!" Blade growled as the demon dropped him and went to Anne, grabbing her by the heel and dragging her out of the room.
Quickly getting to his feet Blade looked around with his flashlight trying to find where the demon took her.
As he went into the direction where he last saw them the demon, coming out of nowhere, pounced on him. Kicking it away from him Blade unsheathed his sword and swung it at the demon. Getting the upper hand the demon threw him across the room. Getting up he kicked at it with both feet, pushing it away. When it came at him again, he thrusted the sword into the it's chest, making it howl in pain before falling bonelessly to the floor. Sheathing his sword he ran over to see if Anne was okay.
"Man these headaches are starting to annoy me." Anne said as she stood to her feet.
"Are you alright?" Blade asked, trying not to sound to concerned.
"Yeah." she replied, feeling new strength course through her body. Slayer strength. "I feel just fine."
End Flashback
"Stupid zipper." Anne said frustrated as she tried to put on her ammo vest, snapping Blade out of his musings. After a beat, he reached over and zipped it for her. Like an older brother helping his little sister.
"Thanks." she said as Giles and Faith walked into the room.
"So what's the word G-man?" Xander asked as the older man handed him back his Hunter necklace.
"I don't know how to say this, so I'll just say it." Giles started as he took off his glasses and bit on the ear piece of it. "As you know Sheila, Willow, Akin and myself couldn't recreate the Hunter power because it's unique."
"Yeah, I get that part." Xander interrupted. "So what's the what?"
"Since we couldn't recreate it, we decided to leech the power from the Hunter essence itself. Akin's power source is natural and is regenerative but since yours is already linked with his, it means that you will be under the same restrictions as the potentials."
"Okay, I didn't get that part."
"What he means is you'll only be able to transform into Hunter X one more time." Willow told him sadly.. "After the spell, whenever you power down that'll be it for your power source and Akin will be the one and only Hunter."
"It's okay." Xander lied. "Maybe...maybe now I can work on having a normal life." he said as he hugged Kendra tightly.
"That reminds me." Faith said going into her pants pocket. "I had a little visit from Angel last night and look what he bought me." she said taking out a brown amulet, with a silver gem in it.
"Where...where did he get that?" Akin asked as he carefully took the amulet out of her hand.
"He didn't say. Just that it came from a unreliable source and was meant to be worn by a champion."
"Well den if it's dangerous maybe I should..."
"No..." Akin cut Sheila off. "I got this." 'Damn you Powers That Be.'
tbc...
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