STORY TITLE: Buffy's Pack

PART: 13 of ?

AUTHOR: Red Jacobson ( )

DISTRIBUTION: Hentai-Foundry, Archive of Our Own, , Questionable Questing, Twisting the Hellmouth

DISCLAIMER: None of the Characters You Recognize belong to me, they all belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy

SUMMARY: After encountering Hyena Xander, Buffy makes a series of life-changing decisions

FEEDBACK: Of course! It Makes Me Write Faster

CATEGORY: Lots of Women

RELATIONSHIPS: Xander/Buffy/Multi, Joyce/Jenny, Giles/OFC

RATING: NC-17

WORD COUNT: 5,064

SPOILERS: None, goes AU during the first season of Buffy.

WARNINGS: If You've ever read any of my stories, you know what to expect, Oral, anal, Femme-slash, Dom/sub, multiple partners, and Femme-cest.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT: The 'Ritual of Disavowal' is borrowed from Vidicon's Waifs and Strays Universe on TTH.

APOLOGETIC AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that, but all I can say is when depression has you by the balls and is twisting, it's hard to concentrate on anything other than how miserable you're feeling. And that's with taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

NOTE ABOUT HYENAS: I'm well aware that the vast majority of the breeds of Hyena are led by female Alpha's, the exception is the Brown Hyena, which has male and female Alpha's. Also, in the episode itself, Tor, Heidi, Rhonda, and Kyle all followed Xander's lead, which implies that the four of them looked at Xander as their Alpha. Hope that clears things up.

ONE LAST (I HOPE) AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm playing with the timeline of Season One a little bit, when they were broadcast the Teacher's Pet (the Mantis lady) episode was before The Pack, this is because I had Buffy mention wanting to get her homework done for Doctor Gregory, who was the Mantis lady's first victim in Sunnydale.

Sunnydale Zoo

Hyena Enclosure

Friday, November 22nd, 1996

Just after Sundown

It was surprisingly easy to convince Dalton to assist her in the ritual, she didn't even have to offer anything sexual. Darla got the feeling that Dalton was assisting her out of curiosity, to see if the ritual worked or not. Once they were inside the enclosure, she stripped out of her dress and paused to let him enjoy the view. Once the ritual circle was painted on the stone floor, she stood still to let Dalton get the runic designs exactly right. It took nearly an hour before she was satisfied, so she moved into the circle and turned to face the Hyenas.

Darla was grateful for her excellent memory as she started chanting, and as soon as she finished the first repeat of the chant, something strange started happening. She felt like she was being judged by the Primal spirit that was inhabiting one of the larger Hyenas. The Hyena had climbed to the top of the rock pile in the enclosure so it could see her, and Darla felt the eyes on her and she couldn't look away. It felt like the Primal was not pleased with her and for the first time in over 300 years Darla felt fear. She tried to stop chanting, to step out of the circle, anything to get away from here! It was useless, she was frozen in place, helpless to do anything but chant, until she heard herself chanting something different and the Hyena's eyes flashed green, and she felt something enter her body.

Darla kept on chanting, even though she wanted to scream from the agony of her demon fighting the Primal, and losing! If she could move, she would be curled up on the ground, praying to a god she no longer believed in to make the pain stop, she'd do anything to make it stop. It seemed that someone was listening, because the pain stopped, and her body felt different, and she could hear a drum beating somewhere, but then she realized what she was hearing was her heartbeat!

Dalton moved toward her, concern on his face, and Darla felt an absolute rage and the abomination, the crime against the Great Mother of Us All, and she leaped at the vampire, knocking it to the ground. Without even thinking about what she was doing, her hands wrapped around the vampire's throat, and with a sharp pull, the head came off and it and the body beneath her turned to dust.

Forcing herself to stand, Darla managed to grab her dress and stumble deep into a shadowed alcove. She couldn't think of anything but how exhausted she was, and she knelt down and curled up in the shadows and was asleep in seconds.

It was the sound of three girls chanting that woke her, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out from the pain all through her body. A voice spoke in her mind saying "Relax daughter, what you are feeling is the last of the demon's taint being forced out, along with the sickness that was killing you originally." Darla blinked in surprise, she'd completely forgotten the damn sickness that left her open to Nest's offer.

Hearing the girl's voices raise to a shout, she rolled over and pushed herself up to her knees and, wincing, pulled herself to her feet. Moving quietly, she got to a spot where she could see what was happening without being seen.

She saw the Slayer almost immediately, and Alpha was standing beside her. Darla didn't know how she recognized him as Alpha, but there was no doubt in her mind that's who he was. Looking at the girls who were chanting, she recognized the little redhead that had left the Bronze with the two of them the other night. She also recognized the tall brunette with the fantastic tits but didn't know the third girl, but she had a nice body as well, all the girls had a nice body, and Darla hoped that Alpha and his mate would let her play with them. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when she heard the Primal chuckling, a warm female voice said, "Don't worry about that Darla, Alpha and his mate believe in a close pack, and part of that is playing with your pack sisters, and going to Alpha or his Mate whenever they want you."

Darla smiled slightly, picturing Alpha putting her on her back, his Mate lowering herself to Darla's tongue, while Alpha plunged into her cunt. She was surprised to find herself getting excited over the idea of submitting to Alpha, she hadn't submitted to anyone in hundreds of years, ever since she achieved the status of Master Vampire, but that was all in the past, now the Alpha and his Mate are the leaders of the pack, and she was a member of the pack, like the others. It was going to be interesting adjusting to the new reality, but she was looking forward to it.

The chanting stopped and the three girls were smiling widely, but the Slayer was looking around curiously, Darla grimaced when she noticed the remains of the circle she had used, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Forcing herself to move forward, she cursed her body for its weakness, staggering out of the shadows and heading toward Alpha. She felt the last of her strength leaving her, and she fell to her knees in front of him and she gasped, "Alpha? Please help me!"

Before she collapsed again, she heard the Slayer gasp in surprise and call her name, but she couldn't find the energy to answer, her eyes closed and she curled up at Alpha's feet, and was soon sleeping again.

BP & BP & BP

A few minutes later

Xander was quiet, thinking as he pulled Joyce's jeep away from the zoo, the unconscious woman laying in the back of the car, while their three new cubs were dozing, cuddled in the back seat.

Finally, he just shook his head and laughed softly, "I know we talked about adding more cubs, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But, she's our cub, she's pack just like you and our new cubs, but how? You and I both know she was a vamp, but now she's not? I didn't think you got better from being turned, or did I miss something in Giles' lectures?"

Buffy grinned, she loved his off-kilter way of looking at things sometimes, but she shook her head, "No, you didn't miss anything, the only way you stop being a vamp is if you are turned into vacuum chow, but Slayer isn't reacting to her at all, but Alpha's Mate is feeling quite content with all four of our cubs. Hate to say it, but I think we need to consider bringing Giles in on this. I don't like him knowing about our personal lives either, but he's the closest thing to an expert we've got."

"I'm with ya there, Buff, but I don't really think he wants to know the details of our sex lives, especially since he seemed to be quite happy with Jill when she was helping us move the books last night. We can talk to him in the morning, it's getting too late tonight."

Lowering his voice, he said, "When we get to Willow's, I want you to go in with the cubs, just in case something goes wrong with Darla, I know you can handle I, while I take Joyce's jeep back to the house. She was nice enough to let us use it tonight, and I don't want to abuse the privilege."

"Sure thing, Xan, but I don't get the feeling that she's a danger to the cubs or us, but better to be safe." She wanted to laugh at how things have changed in just a few days. Before, she would have been worried about Xander's safety walking around after dark, but now, she would almost feel sorry for any vamp that tried to attack her Alpha. She would only almost feel bad, because, ya know, vamps."

They were quiet for the next few minutes until Xander pulled the jeep into the driveway. Stopping the car was enough to wake up all four of the cubs, and while Willow was climbing out of the back seat, digging for her house key, Buffy lifted the back hatch and smiled at Darla, who was blinking sleep out of her eyes. "It's okay Darla, we'll go inside so you can clean up, and get something to eat, if you're hungry, then we can talk and I'll go over the rules of the pack."

Darla nodded and reached out for Buffy's hand to lower herself to the ground. As she straightened up, her stomach decided to make its opinion known by growling loudly.

Buffy just grinned, "They do have a mind of their own at times, you'll get used to it as you get used to be alive again. And can I just say that's a sentence I never thought I would need to say!"

Darla smiled slightly, and, licking her lips she opened her mouth to say something, but it came out as a rasp. Frowning, she closed her mouth again and swallowed a couple of times before saying, "You should try it from my perspective, but I think I need to get something to eat before worrying about cleaning up."

They had made it inside Willow's house, and Buffy relaxed a bit more seeing that Darla didn't have any problem crossing the threshold of the house, another proof that the demon is gone.

Xander was backing out of the drive as she closed the door, turning quickly when she heard Darla gasp. Looking to see what had surprised their newest cub, she saw that all three of the girls had started removing their clothing as soon as the door closed. Tapping Darla on the shoulder to get her attention, because she was looking at the three naked girls with lust in her eyes, but that was understandable, all three of them were quite tasty.

"That is one of the pack rules that I mentioned, when we are in private, or any other time that Alpha or I tell you, you are to be completely naked, any questions?"

Darla shook her head, "That won't be a problem, I got rid of any body modesty 300 years ago. And, since it applies to all of us, do I assume that we will be having a great deal of sex when we aren't busy doing something else?"

Buffy laughed, "You're not wrong, you don't seem to have any problems with the idea, do you?"

It was Darla's turn to laugh softly, "Darling Girl, do you know what I was doing before I was turned? I was a whore, and if there was anything sexual I didn't learn when I was alive, I experienced it as a fledgling after I was turned. So I seriously doubt there is anything you or Alpha want to do that would shock me."

"That's good to know because one thing you can count on is Alpha having your ass regularly, we'll get you a set of plugs to let you get used to the feeling, I would imagine that it would feel different now. Another thing, when we get you cleaned up, one of us will show you how to use the shave gel and razor to get rid of all the hair below your eyes. Neither Alpha nor I enjoy seeing hair in a girl's teeth or on her tongue. But that's enough of the rules for now, let's get you fed. Looking over at the other cubs, who were looking at Darla curiously, she said, "Will, can you fix us a light snack? Darla hasn't had food in a long time and needs to get something in her belly before she passes out again.

Willow jumped up off the couch immediately, scurrying toward the kitchen. In a few minutes, all of them had plates of toast and eggs in front of them, and Darla surprised her by eating slowly, she expected the newest cub to stuff herself, but this way she doesn't have to worry about being sick while her body adjusts to solid food.

The rest of them paced their eating as well, including Alpha when he got there, to find that Willow had made a plate for him as well. While they were eating, they gave Darla a basic history of the pack, and when they got to the point where Buffy met Alpha's mate, Darla laughed, "That's what happened to the prophecy! The Master was furious that it changed, but nobody knew why."

"Prophecy? What are you talking about Darla?" she asked before Alpha could do the same.

"There is a book of prophecies called the Pergamum Codex and it's said that every one of them has come to pass. The Master has been obsessed with one particular prophecy that speaks of him escaping his prison by drinking the blood of the Slayer. The signs were pointing to it happening this spring sometime, but last Sunday evening he was reading the prophecy again, and started screaming and throwing things around like he was having a temper tantrum. By the time anybody could get anything coherent from his ranting, he was upset because the prophecy had been changed and he would be stuck for years now."

Buffy took a drink of her milk and licked her lips, "Well, it wasn't planned, but I'm not going to complain about ruining a Master Vampire's day, especially when it means that he doesn't get to drink my blood. But what do you mean about his prison?"

Before she answered, Darla lifted her glass and took a long swallow, "Ah! You have no idea just how good milk tastes when you haven't had it in a long, long time. But, the Master got into a battle with a powerful Black Sorcerer and the battle ended up trapping him under the remains of a church, and the spells kept him there until he can get the power to break free. That's what the Harvest was all about, but when you dusted Luke it ruined those plans."

Buffy nodded and then looked at Alpha, knowing that he would want to be the one to start the questioning, and he leaned forward in his seat and said, "Okay, we've gotten the small talk out of the way, I think we really want to know what you were trying to accomplish tonight, and how you are living now. Do you have any answers for us?"

"Some, I'm still not sure about parts of it, but what I was trying to do, is my demon had the idea that getting empowered by a Primal would make her powerful enough to take over the Hellmouth, deposing the Master. She was warned that the ritual had only been done on humans but was sure she could handle whatever happened. She was wrong, as soon as she started chanting, she was frozen in place and couldn't do anything but chant, and one of the Hyenas climbed up and stared into my eyes. Before I knew what was happening, the primal jumped into my body and attacked the demon, and while I was still frozen and continuing the chant, I was in agony from feeling the demon being torn apart, and then the chant changed, I was chanting something very different, and the pain faded and I could move again.

"Dalton, the vampire I had with me to paint the sigils, moved close to me, and suddenly felt an overwhelming disgust and rage at the vampire, and before he could move, I was on top of him, and ripped his head off with my bare hands, leaving him as dust piles. My primal spoke and said that any demon, especially the vampire, is an offense to the Mother of Us All, and it's a requirement that we destroy any vampire we encounter."

That was pretty much a conversation ender, so she and Willow led Darla up to the bathroom and started the shower to clean all the paint and dirt from her body.

BP & BP & BP

The Upstairs Bathroom

A Few Minutes Later

Darla smiled as the water from the shower head washed over her, she hadn't realized that her skin sensitivity was very muted after she got turned. She just hadn't noticed with all the other changes she had to get used to, but she could lose herself in the sheer, hedonistic pleasure of a hot shower, and the feeling of the liquid soap on her skin, and she was looking forward to seeing what sex was like now that she was alive again.

After she had cleaned off all of the sigils that she could reach, Willow surprised her by climbing into the shower with her and taking the soap, Darla moved forward to give the girl room to move, but then she felt Willow's warm hands covering her back and legs with the liquid soap, then scrubbing with the sponge to get rid of the painting.

It was incredible how much better the people can get clean now than before she was turned. The stupid priests back in Virginia would condemn it as sinful, but fuck them!

She relaxed into the feelings and drifted off, not noticing anything, until she felt herself being moved under the water again, getting her hair nice and wet. A bench was moved behind her and she sat down, only to feel Willow pouring some apple-scented shampoo into her hair and started working it into her hair and scalp, and if she were a cat, Darla was sure she'd be purring. As it was, she just said, "I'll give you 500 years to stop that," which made Willow giggle and she heard a muffled laugh from Buffy, which pleased her for some strange reason. All good things have to end, and so it was the enjoyment of Willow washing her hair. Once the shampoo and conditioner were rinsed out, Willow moved in front of her and spread Darla's legs. Buffy handed over the shaving gel and a fresh razor, and Darla watched in fascination as the hair she had for hundreds of years was casually scraped away, showing flesh she'd never seen before.

Climbing out of the bathtub, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the bathroom mirror and froze, transfixed by seeing herself for the first time since she died, and to her embarrassment, she felt tears flowing down her cheeks. Brushing the tears away with her hand, she took the towel that Willow handed her and started drying herself off.

BP & BP & BP

City Hall

Mayor's Office

Saturday, November 23rd, 1996

9:00 am

The Mayor looked up in surprise at the knock on his door, there wasn't anyone scheduled to work on this floor during the weekend, the budget was too tight to allow overtime, although, with the Holiday Season about to start, maybe he should start allowing overtime, people need to have money to spend at the local merchants after all.

"Come in," he called, only to be surprised to see his Deputy Mayor, "I'm surprised to see you this morning, Allan, I thought you would be relaxing with your family and getting ready for Thanksgiving."

"I'm planning on heading back home shortly, but I didn't think this information could wait, there were two separate mystic bursts centered on the Hyena Enclosure at the Zoo, one not long after Sunset, and the other an hour later. I believe you'll find the first event interesting, Sir. Two vampires arrived in the enclosure when it was fully dark. The first one was Darla, and the second was a former researcher at the UC Sunnydale who disappeared 3 years ago.

The two of them spent a bit of time painting a ritual circle and then painting the primal empowerment runes all over her body. When Darla was satisfied, she stepped into the circle and started chanting. Nothing unusual happened for a few minutes, but then the mystic sensors started sounding an alert because one of the Primals merged with Darla, and then they recorded Darla still chanting, but it was a different chant and I have one of our linguists determining what it was, and at the same time she was frozen in place."

His Deputy paused to cough into his handkerchief, before pulling out a large glossy picture that he set in front of the Mayor and continued, "I have to put in a good word for whoever arranged for the improvements in the cameras that allowed us to film vampires, because one of cameras captured a clear image of Darla's face," he pointed out the face on the picture, "and you can see in her eyes that she's honestly terrified of what is happening. This continued for several minutes, and to normal vision she was staying in position and chanting, but the sensors captured multiple spikes of both demonic and nature based magics, until the demonic energy was completely wiped away, the sensors, even at their most sensitive, were not able to find an erg of the demon that had been animating Darla since she was turned. And, once the demon was destroyed, her body temperature started to rise, until it was 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was a steady heartbeat recorded."

The Mayor sat up in his chair and said, "Well now, that is interesting, I don't believe a vampire has ever attempted that particular empowerment ritual before, I wonder if there was something different about Darla, possibly a prophecy that she fits. It might be interesting to see if one of our employees, preferably one that is on a disciplinary plan, no need to risk one of our productive employees after all. If it doesn't work, no big loss, and if it does work, that's information that is useful to have. And since the newly alive employee wouldn't be needed, I'm sure that Machida would appreciate another snack, don't you agree?"

"Absolutely, Sir, especially with what happened at the end of the ritual. Once Darla was able to move again, the vampire approached her, only to have her leap on him, knocking him to the ground, with a look of absolute hatred on her face, and she ripped his head from his body with her bare hands, dusting him instantly."

The Mayor nodded, "In that case, make sure that the employee that is assisting with the runes is also on a plan. This gives us a convenient way to lower headcount by removing poor performers, and saves the need to go through the termination paperwork that Human (and otherwise) Resources seems to require. But, enough of that, what was the other event from last night?"

"It was Mister Harris and Miss Summers, they have added Miss Chase, Miss Rosenberg and Miss Madison to their 'pack' as the three of them successfully completed the Empowerment Ritual, before Darla brought herself to Mister Harris' attention before collapsing at his feet. They cleaned up the circles before leaving, taking the unconscious former vampire with them. The spent the night at the Rosenberg house, but we have no information about what may have occurred overnight, because there wasn't any reason to put them under surveillance. If it appears they will be using the house on a regular basis I'll authorize the camera and voice recorders to be installed."

"That will be fine, Allen, and I do appreciate you bringing this to my attention, but, while we are here, has there been any movement on a new principal for the High School?"

"Yes Sir, we've received several resumes, and on paper, the best of them is a man named Robin Wood, however, a cursory background check reveals that he is the son of Nikki Wood, a Slayer who was active in the 1970's, until she encountered William the Bloody."

The Mayor pursed his lips and nodded, "Yes, I can see why you would hesitate, take a closer look at the other applicants, and if none of them are acceptable, take another look at Mister Wood, if nothing else, since he is aware of what is happening in the darkness, he should be able to improve the survival rate of the students. As well as keeping Miss Summers healthy until my Ascension, and then it won't matter."

Standing, the Mayor reached for his jacket and said, "Is there anything else that needs attention today? Because I'm scheduled to say a few words at the Grand Opening of the new Homegrown Health Food Store, always a pleasure to see a locally owned business open, so I'm doing my part to support them."

The Deputy shook his head, "No Sir, that's all I have, I'll see you Monday."

BP & BP & BP

Rosenberg Residence

Saturday, November 23rd, 1996

Same Time

Darla was standing on the back porch, her eyes closed and a wide smile on her face as she soaked up the sun's rays. Hearing the door open behind her and turned, her smile not dropping. Seeing Alpha standing there, she said, "Isn't it a beautiful morning? I'd forgotten what it felt like to feel the sun on my skin, but it's amazing! I can actually see if I tan, and wear bikini's and lay out by a pool! So many things that I missed, I have a chance to do, all because I was curious about what you and Buffy were doing with the Hyenas."

Alpha grinned at her, taking a sip of his coffee, and said, "I'd never actually thought about it, to be honest, but I can understand why you're so excited about it. But the reason I came out was to let you know the plan for the day, Buffy and Cordy are taking you to the mall so you can get a new wardrobe, and let you experience the joy of the food court, before meeting us at Buffy's Watcher's apartment, even though I'd prefer not to say anything, we're going to need his help to research, to find out if anything like what happened to you has happened before, and see if he has any contacts to create an identity for you, so you can prove you exist."

"That wont be a problem, Alpha, I already have an established identity, and I just updated it two years ago, so that's one less thing to be concerned with. And I have a small purse hidden in the dress I was wearing, so I'll be able to buy my own clothes and give Willow these clothes back, a Snoopy warm-up suit really isn't my style, sad to say."

Alpha chuckled, "It's not her style either, but her mother decided it was the perfect thing to wear, because it said so in one of her Psychology Magazines, never mind actually asking Willow for her opinion!"

"I get the feeling you aren't too fond of Willow's parents, are you?"

He just gave her a look, before saying, "Honestly, of all of us, the only decent parent is Buffy's mom, Joyce. Cordy's parents are always on business trips all over the world, leaving her with the servants, my parents never met a paycheck they couldn't drink their way through, and you know my thoughts about the Rosenberg's."

Changing the subject, Darla asked, "What are you going to be doing while you are avoiding the horrors of shopping?"

"I'm going to take a trip to Home Depot and get what I need to install a larger shower in the basement of Joyce's house, so she and Jenny don't have to listen to our morning routine. Plus there will be a lot more room, for us to move around. Did Buffy explain the morning routine to you? We skipped it today since it was such a late night, and we didn't have to get moving early this morning."

"Yes, Buffy explained it while I was getting cleaned up last night, and I really like the idea of spending more time under a shower, and getting to play with my sisters, and you and your mate, I can't wait!"

End Chapter 13