Storm Warnings, Bk 2
by Bill Gopher
Chapter 2:
"Desperate times call for desperate measures!"
Gabrielle watched as Buffy walked into the house, she could see the energy levels coming off of Buffy. "Good hunt Buffy?" Gabrielle asked concerned for their newest Childe.
"Yeah, dusted a couple of vamps and a Polgara demon. Nothing much." Buffy said off-handedly.
Frowning mentally, "Buffy, you know you can't use demon blood as a replacement..." Gabrielle started to lecture.
"I know, so please stop lecturing me!" Buffy said tersely.
Standing up from the chair was in, "Maybe I'd stop lecturing if you'd listen once! You can't keep going without human blood. Look at you, you're literally shaking!" Walking over Gabrielle stopped just in front of Buffy.
"You're body's starving and it's affecting you! If you don't feed soon, you won't be able to control it after a point." Lowering her voice, "It's never easy at first..."
Buffy slapped Gabrielle's hand away from her and strode away angrily. "You don't understand, I really want to!" Buffy fell to her knees wrapping her arms around herself, "But every time I start I feel like I'm fighting myself and I don't understand what's happening!"
Gabrielle walked over to Buffy and put her arms around Buffy from behind, "We'll get you through this Buffy, I promise!" Gabrielle unconsciously tightened her hug, leaning into Buffy before stopping herself and pulling back. Her nostrils flared at the cinnamon smell that was Buffy's scent. We'll figure it out Buffy. Standing up Gabrielle helped Buffy to the bedroom and settled Buffy into her bed where she collapsed into restless sleep, tossing and turning. Silently leaving the room Gabrielle looked for Xena and found her doing her sword drills outside.
After another minute passed Gabrielle saw Xena slow down and turn to look at her. Xena's smile faded as she saw the concerned look on Gabrielle's face.
Her eyebrows shot together, "What's wrong Gabrielle?"
"Buffy. She still hasn't fed and it's starting to affect her...badly, Xe."
"How badly?" Xena asked concerned for their youngest Childe.
"Very. She's only been drinking demon blood and there seems to be something else going on with her as well. I'm not 100 sure..."
"But you want me to talk to her though, see what I can See what's going on in her mind as her Sire. Right?" Xena said more than asked.
"Yeah."
"Is she in her room?" Xena asked as she sheathed her long sword.
Gabrielle just nodded and watched Xena disappear into the house. We knew that her Slayer side would make things more difficult, but this is something else though.
Xena walked into the bedroom to find Buffy tossing and turning violently in the throes of a nightmare. Concerned Xena walked over and put her hand on Buffy's forehead and felt the heat coming off of Buffy. "Buffy, can you hear me?" Xena continued to talk to Buffy and saw that Buffy seemed to calm down as she heard Xena's voice. "It's okay, listen to my voice Buffy. You are sitting on a beach, watching a beautiful sunset, you feel calm and relaxed..."
Buffy's tossing slowed down to a halt at Xena's words and the tension seemed to drain out of her and her body slowly relaxed. I really don't like doing this, but I have to see what's going on inside her mind. Moving onto the large bed, next to Buffy Xena lay down and put one hand on Buffy's forehead and with the other she pulled Buffy close to her.
A rush of images hit Xena; the creature Adam, Buffy as a vampire, rivers of blood and bodies then Xena saw Buffy attacking the dark-haired Slayer. Xena watched Buffy's nightmare this time and saw Buffy acting with an animal savageness as she attacked the Slayer, Faith. Buffy tore Faith's throat out and lapped up the blood as it pumped out before Xena had to block the image out. One eyebrow went up, Well that was interesting. Xena thought wryly. Let's try that again. Focusing herself, Xena looked inside Buffy's' mind and saw that Buffy's aura looked different somehow, It's almost as if... Xena probed Buffy's memories the day she fought Adam. There Xena heard someone speaking, "The enjoining spell will allow us to combine all of us and tap into Buffy's Slayerness. It's the only way we can destroy Adam for sure." Xena's eyes shot open wide in surprise and pulled out of Buffy's mind.
Untangling herself Xena started to get out of the bed when she felt Buffy's hand grab her arm. "Faith! Faith!" Buffy yelled as she shot upright, breathing heavily, fear in her eyes. "Wait, don't go. I'm afraid to be alone…"
Looking into Buffy's eyes Xena saw more than desire in them, but fear and need, the need to be held and loved. All of this Xena understood from what she had seen and the link she had as Buffy's Sire.
"I need you. I need to feel..."
"Alive?" Xena finished for Buffy.
"Human…that I'm not a monster…" Buffy pounced on Xena, forcing her onto her back and straddling her. Swooping down Buffy seized Xena's lips, kissing them hard and demanding. Xena returned the kiss fully but let Buffy take charge here, sensing Buffy's need to be in control right now.
Buffy's hands grabbed Xena's shirt pulling it free of her pants and slid both hands underneath Xena's shirt tearing it open and grabbing both breasts roughly. Hiding a wince at Buffy's actions, Xena saw the light go off in Buffy's eyes as she realized what she was doing and let go of Xena and moved away to the opposite side of the bed...
"I'm sorry, I don't know..." Buffy started to say when a pair of fingers touched her lips silencing her.
"Don't be sorry, it's okay, just slow down, a little." Xena said the last with a grin.
"It's hard, sometimes the feelings are so overwhelming."
"Don't let your instincts control you Buffy, you can follow them but above all you are master." Xena took Buffy's hands and put them back on her breasts, gently squeezing them. "Now where were we?" Xena said with a lecherous smile.
"I think I was...here" Buffy said as she let one thumb play with a nipple while she tweaked the other and heard Xena groan softly. Capturing one of Xena's nipples Buffy sucked and nibbled on it before she let it go and started licking the rest of Xena's breast. Only stopping occasionally to leave a mark, moving over to the other breast Buffy repeated her performance and was rewarded with Xena moaning and running her hands through Buffy's hair.
"Gods, you've got talented lips Buffy!" Xena moaned.
Stopping her slow descent down Xena's body Buffy looked up with an evil grin, "Just you wait!" Buffy said with a promise in her eyes and returned back to her exploration of Xena's body with her lips and tongue. As she neared Xena's center Buffy stopped her assault on Xena and crawled back up, lying her body on top of Xena's…
Several hours later…Quietly Buffy slid out of bed and pulled a robe on before she exited the room, checking to see that Xena was still asleep. Walking down the hall Buffy found Gabrielle exactly where she expected to find her, in the library with a book in her lap. "Hey." Buffy said uncertainly.
"Hey yourself." Gabrielle replied never taking her eyes off the book in front of her.
"We need to talk I think." Buffy said as she found a chair across from Gabrielle.
Looking up from her book, "Do we?" Gabrielle said neutrally.
Sighing quietly, "Yeah, we need to talk about Xena for one."
Closing the book she'd been reading Gabrielle put it down. "Okay then, as the saying goes, 'the ball is in your court'."
"Gabrielle, I'm not trying here to take Xena from you or anything, it's just…." Buffy trailed off unable to explain her feelings clearly.
"It's just you feel more control or in control of yourself the more time you spend with Xe?" Gabrielle asked. "That's just the nature of the bond you have between the Sire and Childe. Especially with how things are for you right now." Gabrielle watched Buffy squirm nervously in her seat and move as if she were sitting on hot coals. "What else is bothering you Buffy?"
"Faith." Buffy said simply.
"What about her?"
"How can I feel so attracted to Xena and make love to her when I'm in love with Faith! And you! How can you be so damn calm about it all! I'm sleeping with Xena, not you!" Buffy said feeling frustrated and confused.
Leaning forward, "Yes you are making love to Xe and spending a good amount of time with her Buffy. But I know that Xe doesn't love you, she cares about you deeply, yes. And there were other reasons she chose to Turn you and release your true nature the way she did." Taking a breath, "But what we have goes beyond either her or I having sex with someone else, the bond between us is so much deeper than that."
Nodding, "Okay, I sorta understand that. I mean I know I'm not in love or just lust with Xena either." Buffy saw Gabrielle nod. "But what about Faith?" Buffy asked plaintively. "Here I am. I've admitted it to Faith, to myself, that I love her and that I've been in love with her for a while! But I'm not making love to her, noooooo! I'm with Xena and Faith's the one that I want and fantasize of..."
Getting up out of the chair, Buffy started to pace. "How am I supposed to figure this out Gabrielle? I want Faith and yet I also want Xena!" Running her hand through her hair frustratedly, "I know it's not wrong or anything, that is sleeping with another woman. But it's almost like I'm cheating on Faith and yet I'm...we're not a couple."
Walking over to Buffy Gabrielle put her hands on Buffy's back. "You don't ask the simple questions do you?" Gabrielle said wryly.
With a small, brief smile, "No. Giles usually complains about that too!"
"Come over here and sit," Gabrielle motioned toward the love seat next to her. Seeing Buffy hesitate, "Sit, 'cause I'm not going to crane my neck up looking at you pace during this talk."
Sitting down, Gabrielle sat on the left side and saw Buffy sit on the other side. "So which question do you want answered first?"
"Faith." Buffy answered simply.
Leaning back, "Buffy, tell me what's the first thing you thing you feel when you see Xena?"
Buffy answered without thinking, "Safe."
"But you're attracted to her, right?" Gabrielle pressed.
"Yesss." Buffy replied, unsure of where this was going.
Smiling, "And if you saw her walking down the street and you didn't know her, what then? Would you look her over or just for a moment wonder...?" Gabrielle saw Buffy didn't answer and so she continued, "But you'd have just ignored that feeling though, right?" Gabrielle asked sure of Buffy's answer.
"Yes, but it's not like I've never looked at a woman before though," Buffy finally answered.
"But the difference is when you were Human you lived by the mores and values you were taught by your Mother, all of which told you that liking women is wrong. But you're not human anymore and Bacchae live very much by their instincts. Instincts that are telling you very contradictory things you grew up learning weren't acceptable."
"But I've never had a problem with Will and Tara being girlfriends though!"
"No you wouldn't. You know them, they're friends. But did you ever tell Faith how you felt or acted on how you felt about her did you though?"
"No." Buffy said quietly. "I didn't."
"See? But I bet if you saw Faith again you'd act on your feelings though." A wicked smile crossed Buffy's face, "Oh yeah!" Buffy said without thinking and blushed hotly when she did realize she meant it.
"But what about..." Buffy asked.
"Xena," Gabrielle finished for her.
"That's slightly different. Remember when I asked you the first thing about Xena and you said 'Safe.'?"
Buffy nodded yes.
"With Xena you'll always feel that strong desire around her; part of it's her personality and another is because she's your Sire. The other reason is because she is beautiful and sexy. And you'll always want and need that closeness at times with her, it's part of what you are now, part of being a Bacchae is that need for touch and closeness with our Mates, our Pack and our Sire."
"So then it's just part of who I am now?" Buffy said thoughtfully. "I think I'll have to sleep on this so I can wrap my head around it." Standing up, "Thanks Gabrielle." Buffy said with a relaxed smile and got a long hug from Gabrielle before Buffy stepped back and went back to her room.
Xena waited until Buffy returned to the bedroom and laid down next to her, slowly Buffy's breathing evened out as she fell asleep and Xena slipped out of the bed, making sure Buffy was covered before she left the bedroom and headed for the library. "So, learn anything interesting?"
Smiling up at her lover before she frowned, "You mean besides the fact that she's acting more like a human than a Bacchae?" Gabrielle asked.
"I think I know why,"
"Oh?" A blonde eyebrow went up. "Why?"
"While I was poking around in Buffy's mind I found some of her recent memories. And in them Buffy and some of her friends were talking about casting an Enjoining Spell so she could defeat Adam."
"A what?" Gabrielle exclaimed.
"It was a spell, something called an Enjoining spell. It was..."
"No I heard you, I just couldn't believe it if I'm right about that spell."
"Okay, so what is that spell?" Xena asked.
"It's a spell that's designed to take all the participants and focus all their abilities onto one person, who in this case seems to have been Buffy..."
"Okay," Xena said, not sure why Gabrielle would have been so upset. "And?"
Sighing out loud, "And if they had made a mistake when they cast the spell, it would have fried Buffy like an egg and left the others as drooling, empty shells. But fortunately for them they seem to have been able to pull the spell off, but with some serious side-effects for Buffy."
"Side effects?" Xena asked.
Gabrielle nodded, "I called in a few favours and found out that they altered the Enjoining spell to include tapping into the First Slayer and give her strength to Buffy in addition to their own abilities."
"They called on the First Slayer?" Xena said angrily.
Gabrielle held her hand up, "That's not all Xe. Since we didn't know about the spell at the time we didn't count on anything being too much different when you completed the Change for Buffy. So right now Buffy has her Slayer side and her Bacchae side warring for dominance and her Bacchae side is losing. I think that's why Buffy hasn't tasted human blood yet."
"So how long is it until this spell wears off?"
"I don't know. It could stop at anytime in the next few days or the next few weeks!"
"Since you know what the problem is, how do we solve it?" Xena asked. "We...I can't lose her this way...Too much is at stake here."
"There is one way, but the problem is we can't cast the spell. It has to be done by a human and one that is willing."
"So what do we do?" Xena asked.
"For now, we should just keep doing what we've been." Gabrielle continued without interruption. "Namely, to support her and keep prodding her and hope the spell wears off. I really don't want to try that spell unless as a last resort Xe."
Frowning, "Why is this spell, which could save her, a last resort?" Xena asked with a frown.
Picking up a non-descript, brown book off the table next to her Gabrielle opened the book to a page she had marked.
Xena looked at the page and started reading, several seconds later she whistled. "I see what you mean, but this may be her only chance if things don't change or they get worse." Xena started to pace in front of Gabrielle, "I made Buffy a promise about her becoming a monster and I won't break my word. I just hope it doesn't come down to that."
End Chapter 2