Part 17,
Note: For those of you who don't know the music of Yoko Kanno. If you have ever seen the Anime series: Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, or Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. He did the music for those shows. Hey, I had to toss in something Anime into this chapter. Now... On with the chapter.
Illyria was feeling satisfied after going out on patrol. Summer and Vi were just looking at her.
"Illyria..." Vi spoke up as she moved along next to the Ancient Demon. "You know, a simple punch or two would have gotten the job done." Vi said looking at the mix of Vamp paste on her clothes.
"I agree... But stating you are in the area just by tossing that young vampire through the damn skylight before the dusting of her." Summer said as she remembered the scene.
"I wished to make my presence known..." Illyria said as she stretched her arms over her head. "... I believe when I appear there again, should be able to get any information I desire from the leader of the Half-breeds." Summer and Vi just looked at each other for a moment.
"So... this was your way of..." Vi said as she stopped walking back to the Slayer Van.
"Gathering knowledge about my enemies... If they fear you, then they will squeal when you appear again." Illyria said as she looked down at her garments and brushed a layer of goo off of her form. "I will now hunt in the same manner as you. Now I wish to bathe, change into sleep clothes and speak along side of you about conflicts of blood and loves." Summer just looked at her followed by Vi.
"Yes... but I am a virgin..." Vi said running after Illyria. Illyria looked over her shoulder back at her.
"Then I shall aid you in procuring a mate." Illyria said with a grin.
Kagura and Kogu were looking at the remnants of his SUV in the morning sunlight.
"My parents are going to kill me." Kogu said looking at the trashed rear doors.
"Yeah..." Kagura said as she pulled a lock of hair behind her pointed ear.
"Do you... do you think that you folks know that we were having sex?" Kogu said as moved to pick up a pair of her panties.
"Well if they didn't, they would know now..." Kagura said realizing that her battle fan was now sitting in a Police evidence bag.
"Yeah..." Kogu said as he reached in and pulled out the digital camera that was in the back.
"Yeah..." Kagura said as she put the camera into her small backpack and handed Kogu his glimmer watch. "Here..." she said feeling the weight of the item in her hand.
"Well it looks like these are going to be worthless." Kogu said as he switched the watch on and his pointed ears changed into human ones.
"Yeah... but... considering that when we met..." Kagura started to stroke his arm with her fingers.
"Yeah... we both thought the other was human..." He grinned as he reached down to click her glimmer on as he kissed her and they walked away. There was a lot of information they had to give the police and they would be spending the next few long hours giving their statements.
"Buffy... that Slayer that Dana talked about, she used her ability to Slayer Dream to make contact with several Slayers in the past few days..." Willow said as she sat with Buffy in the conference room. "A couple of them had bad reactions like Dana had... One Masha Sergioff, a Slayer from Russia nearly drowned after Iria entered into her mind while she was on her boyfriend's boat knee boarding. If he hadn't been there she would have died."
"Geese..." Buffy said, "Talk about a Slayer needing to learn her powers but this is getting dangerous." She said as looked at the report before her.
"Will... The report here says that Masha was... 'Nude' when her boyfriend brought her in." Buffy said as Willow blushed.
"Um... Buffy... Masha grew up in a Russian Nudist colony and that was where she was at when..." Willow was attempting to change the subject back.
"Oh..." Buffy said getting the point... "OH..." as Buffy cleared her throat... "So the image of Faith Slaying and Sleeping in the nude just took on a new meaning."
"Yeah..." Willow said as she shifted in her chair.
"So how are things working out with Kennedy?" Buffy said to her long time friend.
"Well, I think she is relieved that we are no longer broadcasting our Snuggles and Smooches over Slayer Station KNDY. Though considering that Dana might know more about... well about..."
"Your poetry..." Buffy said as Willow's jaw hit the floor. "Dana told Faith about some of it."
"So you know about... it." Willow said in defeat.
"Will... you think this is bad... She remembers about my..." Buffy started to blush hard.
"Angel... Spike, Riley and old Morty..." Willow said as Buffy understood.
"Yeah..." Buffy said as she dove her head into the reports. "I mean that was private... but... I didn't know how sensitive Dana was to..."
"Picking up private moments in our lives..." Willow said as she exhaled... "I think Kennedy is relived that... we can Snuggly and Smooches in private now." She said getting worried.
"Okay... talk about our sex lives out of the way... Um... Lets get back to this young Slayer." Buffy said looking at the papers...
"Young... at the Hellmouth... knows Clem..." Buffy said sorting through the information.
"I think I have to call Spike Again and see if he can reach Clem. If she is near the Hellmouth... if she is, then she might have been running on the instinctual summoning of all of the Slayer there for the big battle with The First."
"Yeah... Spike said that he had run into a few folks around the Hellmouth living there in an attempt to rebuild the place." Willow said remembering what Buffy had told her.
"Well most of the folks living there happen to be very tolerant of humans and demons... Since we got rid of the major evil there..." Buffy said feeling that Sunnydale would continue to be in her life, but now... more of a trip to pick up Slayers and not fight the forces of evil.
"Miss Rosenberg..." a voice called out.
"Yes..." Willow looked up from the table to see a young girl in her mid teens standing before them her round face and goofy stance made her think of a Willow Mini-me. "Oh, Hi Rachel... so what's up?" Willow said as the girl with her extra large hooded gray Sweatshirt and black baggy jeans looked at them with her almost pale face and violet eyes and pulled back short cut hair. The girl was using appearance glimmers way too much, but Buffy let it slide given Willow had taken a liking to the girl as a fellow Witch. Since Tara's death, Willow wanted someone to talk magic with, but now she was acting as a mentor to this girl. Boy did this girl smell like blueberries and it wasn't the Glimmers.
"Nothing much... word is going around campus that... there is a bad Witch casting spells on Slayers..." Rachel said shifting her feet around. Definitely Mini-Willow. Mike Myers was definitely eating his heart out now.
"Who has been saying that?" Buffy said looking at the young girl.
"Several of the younger Watchers and Slayers... I know that the Coven asked you to make me your apprentice..." the young girl said as Buffy realized that the girl was a powerful Witch like Willow, no wonder the geek factor was so similar. "I'm getting scared... Several of the Slayers asked me to make sleep protection charms for them... I even made several for all of the teachers..." Rachel said pulling out a plastic bag from under her shirt.
"So you came by to let us know that..." Buffy realized why the girl had come. "You want to give us these protection spell pouches so that we can fight the New Big Bad." Buffy said as the girl placed the bag on the table and opened it up.
"Yes..." Rachel said as she started forward towards Willow. "Also... Several of us are going to be bedding down in the Dojo tonight so that we can all take shifts watching each other." Willow looked at Buffy realizing how scared the girls were. Not since the days of Slayers and Watchers being hunted by the First had she seen this type of fear in a girl's eyes.
"Listen..." Buffy said getting up from her chair and walking over to the teenage girl. "...I'll allow this for the time being at least have some of the teachers and staff." Buffy continue as the young girl looked up at her. "Hey... you are not the only ones concerned... Dana just woke up a few hours ago... and she is scared that this young Slayer is experimenting with her powers. Therefore, we are waiting until Dana makes contact again to tell her to quit doing the entire Freddy Kruger Thing. And have us speak with her in person."
"Well... You mean she isn't a bad Witch? " Rachel said looking at the two adults. "... Some of the Slayers are thinking it is the First... But, I don't know if it is... I mean I heard that this First is some Slayer eating Creature who you nuked back in Sunnydale... but what else could she be... Some Evil Super Slayer." Rachel said as her eyes pleaded for an answer.
"Okay... Rachel... I..." Buffy's voice was stopped in its tracks as she saw Dana standing behind the girl. "Dana..." Buffy said as the formally feral Slayer walked in. The young Witch turned around a little worried as she took her distance and moved towards Willow. Given the incident with the uncooked roast beef a few months back that Dana had taken a very large bite out of during her midnight snack runs. And, in addition, her controlled feral state left many of the younger students to be afraid of her. "... I thought you would be with Andrew or Faith after..."
"Buffy... I needed to stretch my legs..." Dana said as she nervously shifted her weight foot to foot in her white sundress and bare feet. "I... I heard about the others..." Dana said worried. "She only knows some of the Demon Folk lore about us... Most of the kids her own age are either full demon or half... so..." Dana paused. "I made contact with her again... she apologized some for what she did to me. She was with a demon friend of her's and was showing off her powers."
"Yeap... Sounds like Sunnydale." Buffy said looking at Dana. "... Sorry." Buffy shrugged as she pulled back and let Dana continue.
"She said some stuff about Clem. She has a Demon Friend... A Youkai... Who has some references in her people's text about the Slayer being an Ally." This was when Dana was getting flustered... "I wish I could speak with her face to face or by phone... she has so many questions about what she is, why she is and why people fear her?" Dana finished as her shoulders Slumped to the ground.
"Dana... you mean she... she is just a young Potential?" Buffy said putting her hand on Dana's shoulder as the younger Slayer nodded slowly in response.
"Hey B." Faith called out as she came through the door with a wireless phone in her hand. "The front desk patched in a call from Spike. You were right about Clem... He is thinking about taking the Slayer and the Town doctor who has been nursing her back to health to LA to see Spike. Looks like Dana might get the chance to meet her friend from the Dreamscape." Rachel looked relieved but moved closer to Willow so that if worse came to worse she wanted to be near her mentor. Dana looked at Faith and was grinning like mad. She looked like as if she was going to meet a pen pal for the first time.
"How about we head to L.A.?" Clem said as he walked over towards Gloria. He noticed that she was straightening her hair with her hair iron. Gloria turned.
"What?" Gloria said as she put the iron down.
"Listen... Spike lives in L.A. and there are a few other Slayers down there. I mean if we are going to find Iria's folks it would be good to start there. Moreover, Mae has family down there if she wants to come. We can just stay for a little while Iria can learns to be a kid. Have fun... Hell Finch said that doing some shopping might do you some good. Your stress lines are starting to have stress lines." Clem said as Gloria sighed before looking back at him.
"Okay..." Gloria said getting up from her mirror. "I'll go tell Iria to pack some things." Gloria said swallowing her pride and finding some inner strength to go on this journey. "May the Gods guide us well on this journey." Clem nodded as he headed out to his place to make a call to Spike.
Dana was sitting in Faith's bathtub wearing the red Bikini that Faith had gotten her. For some reason, Red, Blacks, Greens and White's went well with Dana's skin. But right now Dana's legs were covered in shaving cream. Faith knew why. Somehow, this girl with the power over the Slayer Dreams had gotten Dana to become very social able. It was this event that Faith knew that was helping Dana get better and going through the experience of helping her learn to shave her legs... well brought a level of normality to Dana's troubled life.
"Okay Dana... I know that you want to look good, but can't we do this with an electric Razor?" Faith said leaning over in her matching black sweatpants and tank top.
"No... I want to learn to shave with a razor. I know that using electric is easier, but... if I can do this with a razor and not hurt myself or anyone, I can show Iria that I am normal..." Dana said looking at her legs as she bit her lip. Faith just grinned.
"Dana... you are just trying to prove to yourself that you have improved since you were sick. Which you have... but." Faith realized she shouldn't had said the 'But...' "Okay..." Faith changed her mood and looked down at Dana in the tub. This was going to make Dana's first use of Tampons look tame, but hey... Faith remembered her first time with a sex toy during that instance. This might get kinky if Dana decided to go overboard. "Now... if you want to prove that you can do this it is okay..." Faith taking up the big sister role around Dana... Not since Prison had Faith felt helping someone out like this. Maybe it was the kennel behavior people developed to help keep each other sane when they were imprisoned. With that, Faith leaned over, took Dana's hand in her own, and placed the broad handeled disposable razor in her mocha hand. "Now if you nick yourself, we are going to the electric one... understand." Faith said as Dana nodded slowly. "Now we are going to start from your ankle." Faith said as she guided Dana's hand upwards along her leg. Dana's hand trembled some under Faith's grasp. "Relax, Dana... Just go lightly across your skin. The blade has a plastic front and back to it so let up some if you get nervous." Faith said as she felt Dana's hand let up as the small five-inch section of now shaved and foam free skin was now shown. Dana looked down a little worried at the spot.
"Okay... not bad..." Faith said giving Dana a gentle hug as she moved Dana's hand into the small inch of water in the tub and rinsed the razor off. "Now, let's continue doing sections of your leg." Faith said as she guided Dana's hand along as she proceeded to shave her lower calf of her leg. Each new stroke Faith let go just a little and a little firmer when it came to the difficult spots such as behind Dana's leg. It wasn't until got around her knee that Dana actually cut her self. The small nick of skin made Dana shake some.
"Blood... I cut myself..." Dana said shaking. That was when Faith leaned over and held Dana tight. "It's okay... you got this far... I mean around there I do usually nick myself." Faith said as she stood up and pulled up a leg of her sweat pants. Right around Faith's knee was a little nick just about where Dana had goofed up. "See... no bad... All girls with awkward knees have difficulty around there." With that Faith moved over to the toilet paper roll hanging on the wall, pulled off a small piece, and wadded it to place on the nick on Dana's knee. Dana watched as the paper started to turn red in the small wad before she looked back up at Faith. "Boy did B. have this much trouble teaching her sister Dawn to shave her legs?" Faith said to herself as Dana looked at her Gauntlet on her arm.
"Now... we got one leg done... let's see how you do doing your other leg." Faith said patting Dana on the back.
"No... No electric?" Dana said confused...
"No electric..." Faith said to Dana as she rinsed the blade in the water again. "No... unless you want to go electric... I mean you got one leg done... Let's see how you do on the other." Faith said as Dana looked at her other Foamed leg.
"You want me to do my other leg?" Dana looked at the foam like it was Mount Everest.
"Only if you want to..." Faith said leaving Dana to make the choice. Dana looked hard and long at her leg and the razor in her hand before she answered. "I want to finish with the razor... only if you are here to guide my hand." Dana said as Faith just grinned.
"Okay... now remember how you moved on your first leg, I want you to repeat the process... and just go as fast as you feel comfortable with. I'll guide you." Faith said as the young Slayer hugged her back.
"Thank you..." Dana said as she cried with joy. An hour later the other leg was shaved and Dana had started talking about music and comics with Faith and telling her about the recent exploits of Daredevil and Electra in the Marvel Universe.
Clem had finished his call with Spike. For the next five hours Clem would have to endure the music of Aril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Branch, he compromised with the Santana Duets CDs, but the Tunes of Frank Zappa were a must on this trip, and Lynard Skynard. But, it was the Harry Conack Jr. CD of him singing classic movie tunes from Willie Wonka, The Wizard of OZ, and several other films that the Chaos demon started to enjoy the music of the New Orleans Crooner. But, it was when the music of Yoko Kanno came on he knew it was time for a Bathroom break.
Wearing what Dawn had called his Silent Bob outfit he got out of his Japanese Built rice rocket and pulled the seats up so Iria and Mae could get out of the back seat. If you could say dysfunctional group, then this myriad of beings was an understatement. Given it was four o'clock PM and it was getting dark, he decided to walk into the convenience store. The owner had been always demon friendly even after the demons used the place as a fall back spot during the evacuation of Sunnydale.
"Hi, Clem." The owner daughter said when she saw him. Through the cheap glimmer he could see the girl's horns on the sides of her had.
"Hey... Lucy." Clem said as he looked around the place. It hadn't changed much since he had been back here but the same smell of sweet mega chugs and the best friend chicken he had ever smelled came through his nose.
"So what has been happening since I have last been here?" Clem said as the young demon flipped through a book she had.
"Oh, nothing much... I got a scholarship to UCLA." Lucy said as she watched the Youkai demon walk in.
"Wow... that's good." Clem said as he watched the Girls make a Beeline towards the bathrooms. That was when Lucy looked at his passengers.
"So... what is with all of the lovelies riding with you?" Lucy said giving him a raised eyebrow. Clem just shifted...
"Well I am taking a girl to L.A. to see if a Friend of mine can locate her folks." Clem said looking at the young demon girl. "The other two happen to be the girl's best friend and the town doc from Sunnydale." Clem just perused the area around the counter.
"Yeah... well I have been packing for the last few days." Lucy said grinning. "Summer Classes start next week and I got myself a dorm room."
"Well remember, to use your glow stone to make sure that your roommate is a fellow demon, humans tend to freak out when they see horns." Clem said looking around.
"Don't worry. My roommates are a Wicca, and Geiger Demon." Lucy said pulling out a computer printout from one of her books. "I found this website that allows you to find other demons at the same school that you can have roommates with. It even lists by species, so that way conflicting species don't get stuck in the same room together." Clem looked at the images on the page that showed both their native forms and their demon states. For the Wicca, the same dopey image was shown, with and without glasses. But the Geiger demon looked hot... Slayer hot... even in her native form, Gods... even with the tentacles coming out of her head. He was getting his people's equivalent of a boner.
"I chatted with Sunny and Miranda so... I'm waiting to see how things unfold." Lucy said pulling back a line of her red hair behind her horns.
"Well given that this might take a few days. I might swing by the campus and see how you are settling in." Clem said seeing a low blush from Lucy.
"Don't worry... I'll take things nice and slow." Lucy said as she saw Iria walking around near the diner area of the Convenience store.
"I see that one of your ladies has finished her business." Lucy said as Iria was eyeing an egg and sausage sandwich.
"Hey Iria... you getting hungry?" Clem said as the young Slayer looked up.
"Yeah... I mean..." Iria looked down at her sneakers.
"Don't worry... I'll pay. Heck, even I'm getting hungry." Clem said as Lucy got off of her stool and moved over to the concession stand.
"What do you want to have?" Lucy said with a grin.
"I'll have the Egg and Sausage toaster sandwich, the chili fries, the chimmy chunga, and a corndog." Iria said as Lucy's eyes and jaw hit the floor.
"You must be hungry..." Lucy said as she composed herself.
"Yeah... she might be small but given that she is a growing..." Clem cleared his throat. "One of Potential... I wouldn't argue." Clem said as Mae walked over to see how much Iria was getting.
"Whoa... and I thought what happened when you had dinner at my place was you eating a lot." Mae said as she started to sniff at the area. "Wow... there happens to be a lot of Dominica that frequent this place." Mae said sniffing some more and she stopped at Lucy's direction.
"Yeah... there are... Most are quite folks like me... A few vamps... but mostly the Vamps get run out by the other demons in the area because of the way they dump bodies in the local district and they just plain stink up the place." Lucy said as she placed the Items into a paper bag. "Twelve Ninety-five." She said as she rang it up on the register. Clem reached over and paid the young clerk. "But we don't get all that many Youkai demons around here. So I hear that your Summer solstice festival is coming up." Mae looked at her and blushed some.
"Yeah, my cousin is going to be the wind maiden in this year's celebration." Mae said as she watched as Lucy dropped her glimmer and took her bracelet off and tapped the gem on it a few times before putting it back on to restore her glimmer. Iria looked at the girl for a moment.
"Um... you know... you have really nice horns..." Iria said to Lucy. Lucy looked back at her in surprise.
"You mean that you don't think that they are too big..." Lucy said as she reached up and touched her horns through the glimmer. "Because ever since I was a kid, I thought they were too big." Iria walked over near the edge of the counter and touched them through the glimmer.
"They don't feel all that big to me... I mean they just frame your face very well. Given how you wear your hair. I mean if you had a head band on your head, even if the glimmer failed it would look like a pair of those dillibop antennas mouse ears." Iria said as she felt the soft hair under her fingers. "Plus you have really great hair. What conditioner do you use?" With those words, Clem knew that they were going to be here for a while.
After the amount of food and conversations, that Iria had. She felt good knowing that the older girl that Clem knew was heading to L.A. in a few days. For some reason she didn't fell all that alone. Iria was walking out to Clem's car in the recently sunset day. She needed to get her notebook and write a few things down. That was when a guy moved over and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey there, you know that you shouldn't be walking out to your car alone." The guy said as he reached up and grabbed Iria hard. Suddenly Iria saw the guy's face change. "...And you should be inside at night."
"Alright... Breakfast..." One of the Bumpy guys said as he started to lick his fangs.
"Vampires..." Iria said aloud as she was realizing that this was the moment she lived for.
"You are right young lady..." Another said. "Christian... you picked a young one... I mean she has so little meat on her... hell her titties aren't worth sucking the fat out of." Iria wanted to gag... With a flash of memories, she remembered a crypt. Girls like her self taking on several vampires... many acting as if they were defenseless, but acting as life bait so that the others could attack from the sides and behind. Then the memories of a Slayer like herself who used to pretend to be blind and hunted with pencils... Quickly Iria pulled the number two pencil she had from her notebook out and shoved it up into this guy's chest between the ribs. Suddenly there was an explosion of Dust... it took a moment for Iria to see that the last look on his face was of shock... then something kicked in... Instinct... Kill... unnatural.. Heart... Head... Stab the heart... Cut off the head.. Quickly grabbing a set of rubber banded together coloring pencils that Mae had brought with her to do her drawings with Iria started to run on instinct. Moving as fast as she could she lashed out a blow to the one who had insulted her... her breasts... grabbing with all the force she could... she impaled the pervert in the heart and he exploded into a rain of dust... Seeing another by a van, she ran... However, he was prepared for her so he spun to block her chest blow... But turning sideways opened up his side to attack... She kicked out one of his legs and stabbed him through the back of his ribcage with her notebook pencil and he turned to dust. Another one... the only one left turned to look at her and realized he better get out of there. That and he was pissing on the ground as she spun her two impromptu stakes around to where she had the points facing down and out away from her in the bottom her hands.
"SLAYER..." The Vampire was now gushing as he started to move back slowly before breaking out into a flat run.
"You got that right, jerk... Tell your Friends to get the hell out of Dodge here." Iria said looking at the damage and feeling something hurting. "SHIT... I worked hard on these Breasts..." Iria took her notebook pencil and put it with the ones of Mae's she had borrowed and felt her boobs with her free hand. "I have got to meet with those other Slayers and learn how they get their bras to fit right for combat." The sound of someone walking over to her caught Iria's attention as she braced for another attacker. Then she turned to see Mae standing there...
"Shit..." Mae said as she looked around at the piles of dust that were now on the ground before them. "I have heard tales... but... WOW!" Mae was amped as if she had seen some true to life superhero appear right before her. "Three Vamps in under ten seconds..." Mae said looking at Iria.
"Ten... ten seconds..." Iria stammered out... "I thought it was longer." That was when she started to sense the behaviors of Clem, Gloria, Mae and Lucy... That was when Iria walked over to the Car and leaned against it as her head started to pound... When she looked at Gloria, she smelled death... Pain... torture. Not just of one person but of hundreds... no... Not hundreds... more than thousands... Gloria was swimming in a literal ocean of pain and blood. Her nose became clogged with her stench.
"Iria... you... okay..." Gloria said as Iria started to grit her teeth... Each sound pounded on her ears like a scream of someone being torn apart. She couldn't look at her as Iria forced her eyes open to look at Gloria...
"How... how many did you kill for pleasure?" Tears were pouring out of Iria's eyes.. Gloria fell to the ground in defeat...
"Too... to many for one lifetime... Iria... I have so much to atone for." Both Mae and Clem looked at their friends and saw that the world had changed between them as both Goddess and Slayer cried. One having to fight her instinct to kill and the other to live with the pain of those who she had killed.
The Vampire dove into a set of Storage lockers. The damn girl, his dinner was a Slayer. He had just witnessed that young girl tear through his friends like they were wet tissue paper. If his heart was beating, it would have been in his throat. He needed a place to hide with that he turned and saw that there was a rusted padlock on one of the doors. With his superhuman strength, he pulled the lock off, rolled the locker door up, and went inside. Inside he found a metal box that looked like of coffin covered in plastic. Taking the plastic off he noticed the hatch. Well might as well see what was in here. Suddenly there was whirl of noise as a series of lights went off on the top of the coffin. Looking down he saw a naked body of a very petite blond woman lying in the box with no pulse.
"Great cold dinner." The vampire said as he leaned over the body to give a pert breast a squeeze, then a hand lashed out and grabbed him by the throat.
"Species... Vampire. Methods of death: impalement through heart by wooden stake... second method of death... Decapitation." Then with one clear move her other hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved his body down while pulling his head upwards. A moment later after body and head had been separated and turned to dust. The figure rose from the coffin.
"Aprilbot version two point one Online. Running system diagnostics. Physical memory optimal... Physical housing optimum... Accessing modem..." with that was an audible whirling and beeping sound from her body. "Connection to network complete... checking U.S. Naval observatory master Clock." There was a pause. "Date updated..." then she continued through her dialogistic... "Personality protocols calling up."
"My... it has been a long time since I have been asleep." April said looking down at her body. "I am naked... I better get dressed for my precious Warren..." With that, she found a backpack filled with her clothes. Pulling out a red sundress, underwear and shoes she got dressed. During this time, she was running a diagnostic. "Warren upgraded me... I hope that I can make him happen." Suddenly a hologram kicked in from the coffin.
"April..." Warren's hologram said as April approached it. "... If you are hearing this, then I am dead..." April became shocked at this information.
"Noooo..." April screamed. Her programmed responses were filled with anger and loss.
"April... Listen... If I am dead then there is probably one person that would have killed me. Her name is Buffy. Now I have set you up so that you can track her. Find her and kill her. I have done some upgrades to you so that you can infiltrate as her friends. All of the information is current. I have asked my friend Jonathan to put a locate spell on all of us. Now your first mission is to find us. The information that you get from the survivors will help avenge my and the other's deaths. In the bag is a glimmer map. It will change to fit the locations where we are at. The items will allow you the tacking unit I installed to fund us or our bodies." With that Warren grinned. "April... I love you now go find my killer." With that, the hologram faded out. April looked at the spot where Warren's image was and a drop of optical lubricant ran down her cheek. That was when she accessed her new files.
Buffy Anne Summers
Dawn Summers
Willow Rosenburg
Spike, "William the Bloody"
Anya Jenkins
Alexander "Xander" Harris
Tara Maclay
Each image had an glimmer avatar connected to it April picked one. Anya... The image changed as well as her speech patterns were modified with the verbal information Warren had supplied. Looking down at her chest. April decided that she needed a larger bosom so she selected Tara's form. She moved to look over at herself for a moment in a mirror that Warren had left for her. She reached down and patted at her chest, the sensory glimmer gave her limb the tactile feed back as she felt each breast squeeze spread and compress under each finger's weight.
"I can't wait until Willow gets to snuggle between these breasts while I take off her dress." April's Tara form said as she giggled. Then April reverted to herself and released her breast as she sorted through her files called, Make Buffy Happy, Make Spike Happy, Make Xander Happy, Make Anya Happy etc. However, it was the Willow and Tara files that were interesting.
"Warren your death shall be avenged." With that, April looked down at her garments. She needed more clothes. That was when on her sensors she picked up the Slayer. She was moving away on the freeway. Ergo, given the speed she was in a car. With that she looked through her options and knew that she needed transportation as she let following the reading she had stored in her system.
"The Slayer has to die for taking my Warren from me." April said as she ripped the door of storage locker out of her way and proceeded to follow her tracer.
Illyria had assumed her Fred form. She couldn't get rid of her stain in her hair but... given how some of the other student's looked around the former Demon Goddess... she looked normal. She was standing in the line that sorted her host's last name: Burkle. It would take several minutes for her to go through this line. However, considering that many of the other Slayers were doing the same thing. Her urge to pummel her way to the front was being held in check. But not by much.
"Goddess... this is taking forever." A woman with dark hair said. Illyria looked at her and saw the flowing magics around her body. She was a weaker version of the Red Haired mage of the Slayer Queen. Between the smells of magics, there was no song of the green to make her fell calm. She wished that the flimsy amount of pressed and bleached vegetable matter parchment would not weigh as heavily in her hands. With that, the line moved forward. Only twelve more people to go until she faced the human processing the papers. The sun had already set and she wished to pummel something that night.
The drive had been long. Mae looked over at Iria... between seeing the entire life history of Gloria's past actions play out before her and then getting into the same care with same person... it would wear on any one's nerves.
"Want to talk?" Mae said to Iria who was shoved as far as she could against the back of Clem's left back seat.
"No..." Iria said weakly. Mae just let a moment pass before she continued.
"What did you see?" Mae said as Iria looked out into the night.
"An Ocean of pain... a sky filled with screams..." Iria said as she cried.
"Oh..." Mae said looking out into the night. "So... what do you see when you look at me?" Iria paused for a moment before she turned her gaze towards Iria... It took a moment for Iria to lick her lips as she fought back a wave of tears.
"I... I see... light..." Iria said as she reached out to touch her demon friend. "Your kind are not evil... have compassion." Iria said as she felt Mae's fingers. "No evil on you... But... Gloria is..." Iria fought back a wince of pain as if looking at Gloria or in her general direction was like someone putting a hot poker into her eyes.
"Okay... I understand... this was one power you never thought kick in." Mae said as she looked at Gloria in the front seat. She had pulled it all the way forward in an attempt like Iria to deal with the pain they were both feeling. "Gloria... I know that you hur..." Mae was cut off.
"Nine million-sixty-five thousand four-hundred and seventy-two." Gloria said in pain. "That was what you were going to ask weren't' you Mae..." Gloria said as the pain in her voice could be felt even by her. "I don't... I don't know how long I lived, but I remember every face now. Some I just killed for fun... others... Others..." Gloria's voice cracked. "I wished that I hadn't been brought back... that I should have remained in that hell I was spurned from..." Gloria sobbed. "I have no home... no people to go back to... I have nothing..." Gloria said as she began a full breakdown.
"Actually you don't have nothing... I mean Illyria... that demon babe... I mean she is from your home realm..." Clem said as Gloria slowly looked at him.
"Yeah... But she is..." Gloria's voice as caught in her throat.
"But she is from your home realm... which counts for something." Clem said as looked into his review mirror. "Hey Iria... I didn't know that your kind could see... well one's past actions... You must have had an information overload when you looked at Gloria.." Clem's words seemed to sink into Iria's head.
"Yeah... just that I don't know how to see Gloria now. I see her in the past as someone who wants to make amends and the image that sprung forth after battling those vamps... I mean I got everything... I just felt sick to my stomach when I looked at her." Iria said as she tried to look at Gloria.
"I still see it, but... it is not as bad now... I see that you are trying to make things right." Iria spoke. "I see that you are feeling pain. And I... " Iria paused before she continued as she put the right words together before she continued speaking. "I don't know... you fell, what I can only say as... like someone who has been in prison..." Iria cried. I'm sorry that I judged you so hard."
Gloria leaned forward in her seas so that she could turn around and in her eyes she let go and cried... For that moment, both Slayer and Hell Goddess let go... and reached out each other to hold their hands to know that they shared a moment of pain and reconciliation.
"Thank you..." she said with a break of strong emotions. Gloria bit her lip as her emotions completed her path to let some of her pain go and the Slayer who judged her let her back in slowly. For this was their journey of discovery and reconciliation to the community they were both were seeking out.
Rudy Wells was sitting in the hold of Serenity. Between having to book passage on the ship. He had learned that Wash had died during an encounter with the Reavers. Between learning how hard Zoë was taking it hard and similar her wounds were to his, he decided to pay her a visit. In the years since he had lost his love Asia, he knew what she was going through. But he still remembered the Dominica Child that they had help deliver and Asia wanting to start a family and have a bunch of mini-Slayers running around the house they had just purchased. However, Asia's death had quenched those dreams. That was about nine no... Twelve years ago. He knew that like her that dealing with the lost of a loved one was hard. He had lost his Slayer wife; she had lost her Pilot husband.
"Hey Zoë..." Rudy said as he came into the mess hall. Zoë just was looking at a pile of God awful Hawaiian shirts that Wash always wore. Some of which hadn't been cleaned. Zoë rubbed the fabric of one of the White and green shirts across her mocha face. Tears still evident. Like the legends of old, even Amazons would hold onto a piece of their warrior's garment to make them feel close to the one they cared for. Zoë was doing the same thing. He had done the same for Asia.
"I know it hurts... the pain never goes away..." Rudy said as he opened up a shoulder pouch he carried. With that, he took out a plastic bag and placed it by Zoë. I lost someone too. A warrior woman by the name of Asia Cohen... She had an inner strength that kept me going." Rudy said as he took the shirt out. "She slept in this thing so many times, I had lost count. She even made love to me wearing this a few times when she wanted to get kinky during a few cold nights where she wanted to be on top." Rudy said as he stroked the fabric of the old Baseball jersey of the Japanese Baseball team she loved to watch play. He remembered where her breasts would lie under the fabric when she slept. Zoë reached out to touch his hand.
"Wash had this thing when it came to a old flight cap. Captain Daring he would call himself." Zoë said as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Asia loved sports... she would always follow this team being an army brat. Trust me when it came to the Army Navy Game... Oh, you had better watch out. Evil beware her on those days. A headset on her head hearing the play by play stats being announced as she pounded, punched, stabbed, shot, and head butted her way through whatever was before her." Rudy said as Zoë felt the cloth with her fingers. "She never let up even up to when she died."
"Rudy..." Zoë's voice felt like it was going to break under her strain of attempting to speak. "I never knew." Those few words conveyed the entire Verse to him.
"Yeah... I know..." Rudy said as he pulled out a photo of Asia and him standing by the sea. "It took time for me to even look at her picture again without breaking down." Rudy said as he moved over by her. "I'll be right here if you want to talk Zoë." With that Zoë turned towards him and slowly reached out and hugged him and within moments her tears were flowing as she let the pain go but not the memories.
Kaurnai and Motoko were sitting on the rooftops of early morning Tokyo. It had been over twelve years since a Slayer last walked these streets but now there were over a hundred. Kaurnai was dressed in western blue jeans and a male martial arts Dogi that gave off this wild East meets West ideal. While Motoko was wearing her white corset that pushed her bosom up and flashed the cleavage she had and the pair of low cut jeans and her leather jacket that totally screamed kick ass babe, in the tradition of the Slayer Faith Lehane.
"Hey... we have been on stakeout for like four hours... come on... These cyborg ninja dudes have been hitting electronic shops along with their demon buds every night this week and tonight they decide to run late." Kaurnai said with her northern rural accent.
"I know... they shouldn't be running this late." Motoko said being the daughter of a third generation cop. "So... you still carrying that homemade Tetsugen?" Kaurnai looked at her.
"Yeah... Hell am I the only one that decided to attach a composite poly carbon wire to the end of a sharpened stake so I can slice through vamps." Kaurnai's voice whined. "So what, you use that crossbow and wooden bullets in your gun. Hell, I had to talk you into putting a pressed wood blade on your guns so that you can at least stake the damn vamps." Kaurnai said as Motoko caught a glimpse of something going on below. "Oh, Come on... you at least have been a little upset about the fact that I have more cleavage than you and I flaunt it."
"Be quite..." Motoko said as she looked down as she pulled out a pair of binoculars.
"What?" Kaurnai said as she rolled over from edge of the building she was laying on.
"They showed up." With that, Kaurnai was at Motoko's side pulling out her own binoculars out of her small backpack.
"Shit... your Youkai demon informant was right." Kaurnai said focusing the site to get a look at the intruders. "Standard ugly demons... metal dudes... and... Would you like to say it... American Cowboys..."
"Cowboys... are you sure?" Motoko said as she moved her gaze over to the figures in the broad rimmed hats. Definitely somewhat like the ones, she had seen in the old John Wayne movies that she got to see when she was a kid. However, these looked a little gruffer. More like Clint Eastwood's later Westerns. However, given the facts that they were carrying some very advanced hardware screamed that the garb was just for show. Then she saw a semi dazed Demonian girl in her early teens start to be dragged in front of them. She was wearing nothing but a cheap patient's robe that was slowly starting to become soaked by the slowly starting rain. Hell the girl was naked when she saw the back of the robe slide open to reveal her naked posterior. Then one of the Cowboys reached into his jacket and pulled out some sort of handheld computer and tapped the screen a few times then the demon girl reached in pain as she shook and a series of flash lines of energy struck out from her body slicing into the delivery door. A moment later gravity took over and the door collapsed into a shredded mass on the ground. The man with the control walked over as the girl fainted to the ground in exhaustion.
"Good little cat..." he said as he stroked the naked side of her exposed leg with his boot. "I'll bring you a little fish for later." Then he motioned to the others to head on in.
"What the..." Kaurnai said seeing this play out... "Did I just see what I think I just saw?" Motoko's jaw went stiff.
"Yes... the humans are the ringleaders... and that Demon girl is their slave. It also explains why there hasn't been any sound of equipment being used." Motoko moved her binoculars from her face and started to rummage through Kaurnai's bag. "Did you pack mystical knock out powder?" Kaurnai shot Motoko a look of disgust.
"Yeah I did." Kaurnai said as she reached over to the side of the bag to pull out the pouch. "Here... so what do you have in mind?"
"I'm thinking that if we can take out the guy with the remote first and drug the demon girl then dealing with the other's will be an easy slice and dice." Motoko said as she looked at the items around her.
"So stealth, sneak and the kill." Kaurnai said.
"Yes..." that was when Motoko looked at her friend. "You're not wearing a bra, right?" Kaurnai looked at her like Duh... "Okay once we get there I want you to walk out sexily and flash your boobs."
"Oh..." Kaurnai said realizing the plan. "Hell, I'll go topless for this." Motoko just grinned.
"Faith taught you well." With that, they used their grappling hooks and repelled down to street level.
Broge loved these missions... Hit and run... Hell even during his Alliance Military days he hadn't pulled off jobs this slick. However, his boss was doing their little skeleton key. It just made him sick... If that girl ever got the chip out of her head, well given what she just did to the doors over the last few nights. They wouldn't need a coffin. They would need a thermos to put him in. That was when from the shadows a girl in her late teens started to come out of the alleyway. She was pulling at the front of her very high riding kimono... Hell the thing only came as far as... Well the bottom curves of her behind. Slowly she peeled back the cloth from her breasts to reveal two... he didn't care if he was going to re reprimanded for this... However, this girl or creature as he had recently seen was begging for him to come towards her.
"Come my love... come my love... come into me..." she said summoning him towards her when he got close enough to make out the texture of her skin she moved her had level to his face and she sexily blew a powder into his face. The last thing he felt was the soft skin of her bosom.
Kaurnai pulled her robe closed as she disengaged the glimmer. She was getting wet and boy did she want to take a long shower after this. Ew... he landed across her boobs. Pulling out her line, she watched as Motoko help place a concealment spell on him to keep him hidden. Quickly she activated her glimmer to assume this guy's identity and she moved into where the others were at. Now she had to make sure it was time to use her wire fighting skill to take these guys down.
"Now who are you betting on to win the Tournaments back home? The Ariel Angels or the Ganymede Mermaids." One of the men said as the cyborgs slowly started packing gear into their truck. "I'm from Ariel... I'm rooting for my home team... I have money riding on that game." One of the men said looking around the gear. "I don't know why the boss wants all this tech for... I mean couldn't you buy a Cortex unit and store the information on that." Another said.
"How should I know... I mean he trades stuff all around... I mean he found a market for all of those prison collars that got outlawed by the Alliance. I mean who would buy those things up even if they are over sixty years old?" Then one of the Cyborgs moved over and picked up a box and carried it on out. What she took notice of was the dog tag around the figure's neck. That was when she made her way out to their boss.
"Humm... Well how many times do you think she will last?" Their boss said as he dragged the young demon over to the van.
"I don't know... The chip was not designed to handle someone like her." A figure said under his hat.
"How long till the chip burns out and she starts to become a vegetable?"
"It is uncertain sir. She is approaching terminal now... Now if the chip was removed and a new one was installed she would last longer. But..."
"I know that boss won't spring for that." These figures were just flunkies Motoko thought as she moved over and caressed the young Demon girl's face. She had clear scars on her body. Looked like she was kept asleep when needed then... Power surge, power use then she was asleep.
"Broge... What are you doing here? You were supposed to be on guard duty." Their boss said to her.
"I was stretching my legs... Also... the locals are keeping away from here, even the non-human ones. However, I'm heading out that way in a sec. We have about three minutes left." Motoko said through the Glimmer. This thing was good, it even did the voice. After this was done, she would be E-mailing Andrew Wells for his development of this technology. Now it was all up to her acting.
"Okay." With that, she was motioned to her to leave. "Head back to your post. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us." With that Motoko got up and with a swift move of her hand to sprinkle some of Kaurnai's knockout powder on the demon girl's face. The generic spell would render her unconscious, then with a cloaked and doubler she copied the girl's form and left the doubler unit behind as she phase shifted the Demon girl under her Glimmer. Moving slowly away, she lifted the girl up and threw her over her shoulder. It would be a few moments but if this act would hold... then they would get some answers.
Kaurnai was looking down the Alleyway. Motoko was taking her good time in getting back. Then a moment later, Scraggy's double showed back up. Boy if she ever had someone fondle her breasts... Well... they would have to be a great cook, have lots of cash, love American Barbecue, and have a sex drive like a monkey.
"Kaurnai... could you help me here." Scraggily said as Motoko's face started to phase through the glimmer. "I got the demon girl out of there. But I couldn't get the remote." Motoko said as she let the glimmer collapse in front of her and she laid the demon girl on the ground. "I dusted her with enough sedative so that we can get her back to base after we are done." Kaurnai looked up at her.
"Okay... so how much longer do we have?" Kaurnai said looking down the alley way.
"About another three minutes before they bail." Motoko said as she looked over her shoulder.
"Stealth Camouflage." Kaurnai said looking at the scene down the alley.
"Stealth Camouflage." Motoko said as she pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on as Kaurnai did the same thing and with that, the two of them became invisible as they proceeded back down the alleyway to open a can of whoop ass.
Marshall didn't know who was attacking them. Between the Cyber Ninjas being taken down in less than half a minute, whomever or what ever this was his men were being shredded to bits.
"Everyone start shooting!" Marshall ordered as his men started to form around in a circle and started firing at the shadows and at any hiding place they could find. Then there were several shots fired as what remaining cyber ninjas went down. Quickly grabbing the remote for the demon girl, he pulled it out as he looked at her unconscious figure that was when he felt a sharp pain rip through his arm. When he looked were the pain was he noticed that his hand had been severed mid arm as if it had been cut by a blade. The remote had fallen on the ground before he could reach for it the remote was being dragged away by some bladed hook into the shadows.
"Shoot in that direction he ordered as he pulled off his a bandana and attempted to make a tourniquet for his arm." Marshal said but then he turned around to see that his men were being thrown around like rag dolls before he could reach for his gun with his blood covered hand. The blood loss kicked in and he slowly started to loose consciousness as his legs were kicked out from underneath him and the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance.
Gabrielle Granger was cooking in the Slayer House kitchen. Between the week straight of Pizza, she wanted food and not from the Cafeteria. Tonight was Beef Terracki with Ramin. Gabby had since her battle at the Hellmouth had taken on a sort of the feeling of her namesake. An Amazon. Between her sharpened wooden pike and her love of literature and writing many of the other Slayers thought that she would start yodeling and develop a taste for lesbian sex. However, she did like guys. That was when Illyria came in smelling like vamp dust.
"So... how did registration for your classes go?" Gabby said to the demoness.
"It went well... I sensed that there were many demons there who were as frustrated as I was." Illyria said looking at her stake. "I was glad that Half-breed Von Core showed up when he did. I needed the release." Illyria said placing her bag on the sofa.
"You look like you need a shoulder to lean on to tell your troubles to." Gabby said as she moved out of the kitchen and leaned over the sofa. Illyria tilted her head as she let her blue stain flow back to her skin, if she knew how to do that she would be able to save a fortune on makeup. She had heard one of the young Potentials say that that the blue stain ran the full length of her body. But Gabby wondered if it wasn't something more than a camouflage her people used.
"Illyria I know that the final sign up for classes and just getting your texts, notebooks, and finding out where your classes are can be a handful, but it sorts itself out in a few days." Gabby said as Illyria looked down at a cheesily done drawing of herself in full red body armor. Between the orange, blue, brown, purple and red marker used, several sections of black showed shaded portions of her armor there was sadness in the eyes. Illyria picked the picture up and traced the drawing with her finger.
"Oh... you saw that? I wasn't sure what to do with it. I think one of the Potentials drew that." Gabby said as Illyria traced the purple marker line on the drawing's forehead.
"Whomever did this drawing knows how to express emotions in their work." Illyria said as she shrugged out of her jacket.
"Still a little raw about the loss of your friend Wesley?" Gabby said as she took up a place on the couch.
"Yes... my heart still feels at times like it has dozens of tiny hooks dredged into it pulling in different directions as some unseen force attempts to pull it out of me." Illyria said as she took a deep breath. "Though the gutted wound that I experience that ran from my loins to my heart is slowly healing, all I wish is to have the pain stop. To feel whole." Gabby leaned over and hugged Illyria. It took a moment for Illyria to realize that Gabby wasn't seeking to fornicate nor lust after her, but just to hold her. Fred's instincts kicked in pulled Illyria's hands around Gabby's body. Illyria's twelve-chambered heart relaxed as she felt the steady beat of Gabby's four-chambered heart.
"We all have pain... it is how we deal with the pain is seen as a sign of our strength Illyria." Gabby said as Illyria let a tear fall from her eyes. With that, the hooks released their hold on her heart.
"Thank you Gabriel the Slayer Bard." Illyria said as she started to feel better.
"Slayer Bard?" Gabby looked at Illyria as she pulled away with a bemused grin. "Now talk about sounding strange... well..." Gabby thought for a moment as she processed the information in her mind. "Yeah... that's me." Gabby said as she returned to her seat grinning like at chestier cat.
"So what name have the other Slayers started to call me?" Illyria said with curiosity. Gabby had to think for a moment as she searched through some of the names some of the potentials had come up with.
"Uhmmm. Lets see..." Gabby said as she put a finger to her lips. "Old Blood and Dust. The Disemboweler, Slayer of Nine, The Dominatrix, Wraith of Doom, Demon Bitch... and the most regular one that everyone calls you is Blue. Or Blue Thunder."
"Blue Thunder?" Illyria's head tilted to one side.
"Yeah... considering that if you watch some old movies on AMC during their latenight action movie fest. You tend to blow stuff away." Gabby said as she watched Illyria move.
"Blow stuff away?" Illyria looked at Gabby strangely.
"Yeah... Vamps... especially about the one that you... well Dusted ala Quentin Tarantino." Gabby said, as Illyria looked off to the side very confused.
"Okay... that's it... after I am cooking. I'm taking you to the video place and renting you several movies to start to get you versed in the culture of humanity." With that Gabby got up off of the couch...
"Gabby the Slayer..." Illyria said as she rushed over to where Gabby was at by the stove. "Do you desire me to aid you in the preparation of the meal?" Gabby took a step back as she looked at Illyria.
"Yeah... sure..." Gabby said as she pointed over towards the cutting board. "I could used some help cutting some vegetables... But wash your hands first." Gabby said as Illyria moved over to the sink and washed her hands.
"I shall slice the green to the preference that would be optimal for digestion." Illyria said as Gabby quickly realized that you should never let a die hard carnivore loose on defenseless vegetables with a knife.
TBC
