Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer was Created by Joss Whedon and is property of many companies but not me. The Walking Dead was created by Robert Kirkman and the show, which is the world I am referencing in this, is shared with Production Creators Frank Darabont and Angela Kang.
Author's Note: Shout Out to Devin2001 for being my first reviewer when this was a bit more spaced out. You were right, I definitely needed to set up the story a bit more which I think has been done successfully now. My breaks weren't showing correctly in my 2nd chapter which led to me pulling it down and putting it all together now in hopes of fixing things in one go.
[Prologue:]
Things at the Hellmouth had been odd, both in Sunnydale and Cleveland, fewer deaths in the past month although vampire attacks themselves had been up. It was as though the taste of their prey no longer pleased them, people showing up at the Hospitals with bitemarks but little blood loss and so a clearer understanding of what had happened to them. It was easier for the town residents to understand they had been attacked, and by what, when they couldn't blame what they'd seen on being woozy and passing out. As a result, houses on the market were up, but no one was looking to buy and many places had just been abandoned in the face of the supernatural all together, sales be damned.
It wasn't until news station across the country began reporting on what could only be thought of as mass hysteria, did the Watcher's Council get involved. Watchers and Potentials across both countries reported similar situations, attacks were up and deaths were down and the Supernatural was dangerously close to exposure until it was suddenly quiet. No attacks, no more news reports, but also no vampire sightings. Not less, just… none and with their disappearance, a drop in the demon population as well.
The guardians of both Hellmouths and their family contact across the pond decided a deeper look was prudent; what was brewing that had caused their usual worries to seemingly vanish?
The clock on the wall read 6, it's face open to the room watching over the familiar man and woman that lived in its presence. Each passing minute counting down to the approaching time their miniature counterparts would waken from their nap.
"Huh," head cocked to the side, Anya frowned at the map on the table as the lights faded.
"Huh, what huh?" Xander re-examined the map, seeing each tiny burn sprinkled throughout the county here and there, "What's wrong?"
"It's just," slim fingers hovered over the paper, not quiet touching it to refrain from getting burned, "So you see here? Right here? There should be a hostel of sorts for our visiting demons, and here, a group of Kleynachs moved in last year – don't give me that look." Anya's face got haughty at her husband's lifted brows, "Not every individual is responsible for the species."
More than familiar with the rest of that line of thought Xander pulled her in close and shushed her in her favorite way, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she grinned at him when he released her, "So you're saying they're not just laying low they're gone?"
Two quick nods and some repositioning the ex-Vengeance demon turned back to the map, "From what I can see we're missing close to two-thirds of the people I know of and I try to keep my social circle active. You know everyone's wanted to meet the girls, make sure they don't accidently pick them up for a snack."
Xander nodded, forcibly ignoring the comment about his ex-demon wife's friends potentially accidentally turning their daughters into lunch, grabbing his Blackberry off the counter and calling Giles to fill him in.
[Break]
Chord stretched through the doorway, Giles leaned against the counter while he listened to the young man on the other end of the line, face pinched, "No, no thank you Xander. Yes, I'll confirm with Willow." Already turning the re-instated Watcher moved towards the phone's cradle, preparing to hang up as the conversation wound down, "Yes, same here, take care. All the best to Anya and the girls."
Locking the spell's components back in their proper cabinet, Faith nodded in anticipation of news, "What's the sitch? They dredge up any more information than us?"
Rubbing the bridge along his nose and over his brows, the gentleman sighed, "No unfortunately. It's much the same there, the demon population is uh, is disappearing." His hand hesitated from straying to his face, dropping back down instead of pulling off his glasses.
Faith studied the older man, sweater covered shoulders leaning against the high back of the chair as he sat, "Their running from something."
Pursed lips, Giles quietly agreed with his Slayer, chin tucking down, "It seems that way. I'll contact Willow and see if the Coven has come to any other conclusions. It's," glancing at the small hands presence of the 9 he exhaled, "2 there now so we may not hear until tomorrow from them. In the meantime, keep an eye out for any…"
High brows, the dark-haired woman finished "unusual and suspicious activity? While I'm out patrolling the definite lack of undead and vampy?" She took the silence and exasperated expression for agreement and knocked his chair with her hip in passing, "No worries G-man, I'll keep my eyes peeled."
[Break]
Fwoosh.
The activity from the mail icon lit the screen up, a bright glow washing over the keyboard as the laptop was only the slightest bit open like a mouth ajar. The glow of the screen paled in comparison to the light emitted from the graph stretched beside it, a series of waves dancing over the page. The magic ebbed and flowed, mirroring the movement of the population in tracked for the watchful lens of the camera was perched on a tripod next to the desk, chord feeding from it to the laptop.
Shifting in response to the small noise, a woman's long red hair spilled over and down from the pillow she rested on in the bed beside her partner. The lighter of the two sleepers, the brunette rose with a mumble of the other woman's name on her lips to no reaction and she unfolded her legs, slipping off the mattress to see what had arrived. Minimizing the video recording of their joined spell, Tara double clicked on the envelope and read quickly, brow furrowing before going back and studying the video and sending a quick reply on what she saw.
Unable to fall back asleep the older witch pulled her robe closer around her, slipping her feet into her girlfriend's tattered slippers. Something was tugging at her subconscious; she had felt it coming to her in slumber – had nearly been there before consciousness intruded and now, she needed some tea and time to get it back. Turning back to brush a kiss along her love's forehead she left their room to wander to the communal kitchen.
[Break]
"Mrs. Grimes?"
The voice was high but firm, the Sheriff's wife was noticing it to be a sort of calm patience most hospital staff seemed to have, and Lori turned around to greet the young woman in a soft top and dark pants, "Yes?"
Bright eyes, a heavily highlighted bob with a young face, "I'm Dawn," when there was no reaction the woman prompted, "Dr. Williams advised I'd be by to go over a couple of things with you."
Lori shook her head, "Yes, yes. Sorry, I was…"
Dawn smiled, amusement displayed across her features, "Thinking I'd be older? It's ok, I get that a lot. I'm still in my Internship, but I can assure you I'm well equipped to assist you with anything you need to talk through."
"My husband he's only been out a few days, I don't really think-" she stopped, her vocal cords betraying her by tightening, choking her words.
Careful placement of her hand, Dawn gently guided her to one of the chairs in her husband's room, door clicking shut behind them, muting their voices and preventing it from carrying into the hall.
[2 Weeks Later]
King County Sheriff's Office
"What the hell happened man?" One hand's worth of thick fingers through dark hair, Shane pulled his other away from the cooling neck feeling no pulse.
Leon stared down at the deceased, only a few years older than himself. Nurse Taylor had been new at Harrison Memorial, but he'd known her before his few visits picking up violent patients, she'd been one of the only people at school to give him the time of day back in High School when she'd actually been seeing his now Superior.
"Leon!" Said Superior jarred him from momentary shock, responding,
"Patty, came in asking for her Pa." Gary Taylor was in holding for shooting Patty's boyfriend, twhat was he supposed to tell him about his little girl? "She didn't look too good and she was heading for holding. I grabbed her," backing up his story he gestured wide with open hands, "I didn't hurt her I was holding her back and she seized up."
Shane had heard him calling for help from the ammo cage and realized that must've been where he was in his story as he'd seen the woman being laid out on the floor as he raced in. "Pat doesn't have a history Leon, are you sure it wasn't something else?"
Leon shook his head, "My sister's kid has had them since he was a baby, I'm sure that's what it was."
Officer Walsh exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face as he stood, khaki colored shirt and dark pants wrinkled from a long day only getting longer, "Call the coroner, get them out here and I'll talk with Mr. Taylor."
"Yes, Sir," Leon was moving to do just that as Shane headed towards holding when he saw, "She's alive!" Fingers twitching, Patricia's shoulders jerked off the floor, body spasming lightly,
"I could swear I didn't feel a pulse." Relief colored Shane's voice. He and Patty hadn't kept up much since High School beyond pleasantries but he'd genuinely dreaded thinking she'd died.
"Patty?" Cloudy eyes opened.
[Break]
The landline's high-pitched ringing left Lori disoriented, eyes bleary as she was jerked from her afternoon nap, throat dry and limbs still heavy when she snatched the phone, "Hello, Grimes residence?"
"Lori," for a second she thought it was Rick but then the deeper tenor of the voice made its way around her ear canal, seeping into her waking brain, "I need you to go to the school and get Carl." She could hear his steps were quick, the jangle of keys and the soft muffled thuds of things being moved, "I want you to get him and then get back home, I'll meet you there in an hour."
"Shane, what's going on?" A coldness creeped up the back of her shoulders, fingers tensing around the glass she had started to pick up to drink, "Is, did you hear from the hospital?" Drink set back down she grabbed the base of the cordless phone with her other hand, gripping it tightly, "Is it Rick?"
Another sound, a fist hitting metal before the man on the other end cleared his throat, as though he was trying to calm down, "No. No, it's not Rick. I'm sorry Lor," by his tone she could tell he hadn't meant to worry her and some of the unease bled away, letting her a minute to satiate her thirst with a quick sip of water while he began again, "I just need you to get Carl and get him home. I'll explain when I get there."
Lori nodded to herself before hanging up with an affirmative, hands running down jean clad legs before standing to grab her husband's ball cap off the hall table along with her keys.
[Break]
A silver Pontiac made was south bound on a highway in Virginia, trees lining both sides of the road as it's inhabitants squabbled, "Hey, stop stealing those," quick reflexes prevented a pale hand from taking the bag of Cheetos, "they're mine!"
A sun kissed face with unpainted lips curved in a wicked smile at the aghast expression of her sister, "And you' can get some more, 'cause I'm not done." Andrea tilted the bag back and opened her mouth, a blast of cheesiness coating her tongue.
Amy cursed, mock punching her sibling's arm with her non-driving hand before swiping the older woman's coke and finishing it off determinably, eyes steady on the road over top the aluminum lip. Smug satisfaction powered her grin when she heard a returning "Hey!" in response
"Like you said, you can get another," crumpling the can she caught her older sister's side eye and tossed the trash into the left-over plastic bag, "so you remember the plan?"
Andrea nodded, looking down at the laminated map open in her lap, "The Natural Bridge which looks like half a day's drive and then we spend a couple of days in the Outer Banks and on through Georgia before we get you back to school by the end of the week."
The other girl nodded, continuing along the highway in silence a while before prompting, "You wanted to go somewhere in South Carolina, right?"
Andrea waived her off, leaning against the passenger side door, "We don't have to do that, this is your trip."
"No I want to. It sounded cool; we should go." She pulled the dry erase marker out of the front pocket of her blue T-shirt, passing it over, "Put it on there, it can't hurt."
At Amy's insistence a circle was drawn to mark Charleston Harbor, Andrea writing Fort Sumter Tour at the top of the page where their other plans were depicted in neat type, "Thanks for doing this by the way. I know you might've had other plans."
Neither woman commented on the fact that the trip was much longer than they'd initially planned at the end of the last semester. It'd meant to be only a few days and had changed into a few weeks as the siblings took turns adding on stops along the way, feeling a need to make up for lost time, "This is good, it's been good. Maybe," Amy tried to keep a lid on her hopefulness, experience telling her she shouldn't get it to high, "maybe this can be our thing, every year. Maybe the Holidays happen, maybe they don't but we'll go on our road trip."
"I'd like that."
[Break]
1, 2, 3 ,4 … Seated on her bed the young girl kneaded the comforter habitually, trying to calm herself and ignore the yelling in the living room. It was only one voice, mean and slurring as her father stomped around the front of the house. The cause was unclear, the young girl having been in her room when it began, but she knew the only person not receiving blame was probably the culprit. She tried to remember what the house had looked like when she got home from school but all she could picture was her dad's things everywhere, dirtying the couch and tabletop.
Her mom would be in the kitchen, still making supper though she couldn't smell the usual hint of tomato sauce that would permeate each room when her mom was making spaghetti. She turned the page again on her math book continuing down the list of possible things that would have set her dad off.
"Sophia, honey?" Her mom's voice was soft, a light knock on her door before opening, "dinner is ready." The yelling in the living room had stopped just a suddenly.
Sophia jumped off the bed, floor clear of any toys, room orderly and she swept her hand over the bed cover to dispel it of wrinkles as Carol held the door open a little wider to let her pass by. The tips of her mom's fingers guided briefly along the top of her back,
"Go wash up."
[Break]
The computer was, and would always be, Giles least favorite tool to use in tracking the supernatural. While Jenny had taught him it's benefits, and Willow had tried to keep him appraised of all the basics following each update, he just never felt quite comfortable leaving a trail of every query out there for some lurker to unearth later. He knew the Council's security was greater than those of many military databases across the world, or at least Willow had assured him last time she'd attempted to peek in on them at his request, but it didn't change the fact the possibility was there. Still, it did have its uses.
5 states, including where the youngest of their group resided, had reports of Supernatural Activity. It was one of the gossip columns he'd spotted on his morning walk that alerted him of the concern, toting stories like Cannibals Run Rampant and Man Returns from Dead to Eat Murderess Wife, but when he'd signed on to do some further probing, he had discovered several instances that had been caught on camera. YouTube's viewers, as Faith called them, were divided on their comments; some cried out in disbelief but a steady number of them had begun to link other videos of events in their area. Watching, Giles reached out to the Council to share his findings only to be advised they were already aware.
"You mean to tell me you've known about this?" He paced the floor, heat creeping up his collar, "That's a third of the year! You've known-" lips pursed tight he bit at his cheek and looked heavenward, trying not to curse at the bloody wanker on the other end, "You didn't think to mention this when we spoke last?"
"Rupert, a lack of vampire activity and demons is a good thing. After the stunt nearly exposing themselves it's good to have some quiet. That's our goal. As for this," Giles could imagine the plump man gesturing his annoyance, "Our contacts across The United Nations assure us things are being handled." At his silence the other Council member grumbled in acquiesce, "I will see to it that the Potentials and their Watchers are notified."
"Thank you," Dial tone ringing in his ear before the words were out, Giles glowered at the phone, slamming the receiver doing little to calm his anger, "Pissant."
[Break]