Vhesthine groans as she comes down the stairs, woken by the incessant ringing of the doorbell. As she opens it bleary eyed, her succubus sense of smell informs her that there's a starving succubus on the other side. Wrenching the door open she stands stock still when she sees an emaciated black girl with a bright smile, holding a brown envelope out towards her.
"Hi, I'm Elaena Howard. Are you Vhesthine?" Dumbly Vhesthine nods, "I was told by a nice human that you could help me."
Absently, Vhesthine takes the envelope and opens it. As she skims the first page, the whole thing slips out of her fingers to scatter on the porch, "When did you last feed?"
Elaena shakes her head, "I don't remember. I don't remember much now as the pain drove it all away."
Cursing the fact she's been living with humans for so long, Vhesthine finds herself lifting her hands to cradle Elaena's cheeks as she leans down to cover the girls mouth, and feed her. As she does, she can feel the skin under her hands gain a little softness.
All too soon, Vhesthine is running out of essence she can spare without endangering herself, and Elaena still smells like she's starving. As she pulls away, Elaena looks at her with tears in her eyes, before pulling her into a very human hug. "Thank you, thank you. Is that how we eat? I haven't felt anything fill me since they found me."
"Elaena, you better come inside. Is anyone else with you?"
Elaena shakes her head, "No. The nice old couple who found me in Shageluk couldn't go to the hospital with me, and the grumpy man in the suit drove off as soon as I was out of the car."
Vhesthine sinks to the floor, "Elaena, do you know what you are?"
Elaena shakes her head, "Not human."
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"Major Finn, are you aware of why you are sat here today?"
Sam looks at the General that's heading the hastily convened tribunal, "No Sir."
The General picks up a thick report, "This is the report you submitted after the recent debacle in Sunnydale, California, USA."
Sam nods, "If you say so Sir. I cannot personally tell from here."
The General nods, "It is, and our analysists are still going over it." He takes two sheets of paper from the back, "It is your personal notes and recommendations section that we have convened for."
Sam sits up straighter, as her heart sinks, "I see Sir."
"Relax Major, this is not a disciplinary." Those words don't actually help, "This is about a mothballed program called Initiative, and a natural superhuman codenamed Slayer. It is our understanding that she has recently started taking a different tack to the supernatural elements in the city."
Sam nods, "That is correct sir."
"Our previous notes state that she has a very proactive approach to the undesirable parts of the supernatural community, however she has a misplaced sense of compassion for many of those denizens. What are your feelings on this?"
Sam swallows, "Sir, with all due respect, I feel like she is treating them like people Sir. People that you need a big stick in order to enforce your rules with, but people none the less."
The General nods, "Your notes also state that you had a civil conversation with a category A demon. As a reminder for the rest of the panel, category A is inimical to Humans, Kill On Sight."
"I did Sir."
"You subsequently recommend a future practice of throwing a side of beef at them, before isolating the area?"
"I did Sir, after his civilian companion told me about the three F's."
The General glances back at the two sheets of paper, "Ah yes, Fight, Fuck, Feed. This civilian, are they another demon?"
Sam shakes her head, "No Sir, so far as I could tell, they were completely human."
"And the demon has a job as well."
"Yes Sir. As a web designer. I believe I included his contact details in the supplementary details."
The General nods, "You did, I had to be briefed on what a web designer is." The General takes a sheet of paper from another folder, "Lt Finn claims that the Slayer works in a company run by demons. Is this correct?"
Sam shakes her head, "I don't know Sir. However, the civilian previously mentioned works at the same company."
"Yes, this brings us onto the next item of note. The Slayers girlfriend. Your notes state that she is a Succubus. Is this correct?"
Sam nods, "Yes Sir."
"And she has been living in Sunnydale for a significant amount of time?"
Sam nods, "Yes Sir."
"You then claim that Succubae are not inimical to human life?"
Sam nods, "Indeed Sir."
"Why?"
"The Slayers sister spent a great deal of time talking to me about her experiences as a Succubus, and what she'd learnt of their society."
The General nods, "Good. Provisionally, we are going to agree with your conclusions and subject them to analysis. To that end, we have already facilitated the transfer of a victim of the Initiative program in Alaska."
After a pause, Sam adds the expected, "I understand Sir."
"Good, because your team is going to be assigned to North America from here on out. You will be working with the FBI on their unsolved cases. As part of that, you will be assigned a researcher. They will be compiling the findings of your team into dossiers about each species. These will hopefully be published as academic studies on societies and cultures. Your job will be find out about their societies, power structures, and drives. In the process hopefully discovering ways that we can reduce the death tolls in our ranks caused by demons."
Sam nods, "I understand Sir."
The General nods, "Good, as I'd rather throw a slab of meat at a demon, and then have a peaceful conversation with them later; Than lose two or three men putting it down. The US government has agreed to allow us to use Sunnydale as a testbed for this approach, and we have requested that the Slayers personnel files be transferred to us. You will be our primary liaison with her once she's been reactivated."
Sam swallows, "Why me Sir?"
"Because Lt Finn has a pre-existing relationship with her, that you have already leveraged."
"I understand Sir."
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Buffy's sat, uncomfortably cross-legged, in a small clearing an hour's jog into the wood. In front of her is the current subject of her concentration, the green leaves of a sprouting spring flower. Under the tree cover nearby, Tara is going through the motions of the Vazarin Way. Her void energy already seeking out the patterns that are the basis of that half of the way.
"Demeter ex hoc flore novam vitam et pulchritudinem."
In front of her, the flower twists and grows. It's leaves turning a silvery colour, and flower stalk growing, from which silver bells sprout, each one leaking a silvery smoke that cascades down the stalk to the floor. Once the spell has finished, the flower towers over Buffy's seated form, and one of the leaves dips down to land in her lap.
Shuffling back slightly, Buffy looks over to Tara and calls, "Tara, your left toe needs to be a bit further in, otherwise you'll be out of position in two steps. But first, I think I did something wrong with my spell."
Tara stops and looks down before walking over, "Oh thank goodness, I've done that sequence so many times, and I thought it was just my balance. Oh my, yes. Well, you must have been close as you have a flower. What was your spell?"
Buffy unfolds the sheet of paper she used to translate what she wanted into Latin, "'Demeter ex hoc flore novam vitam et pulchritudinem'. Demeter, bring new life and beauty to this flower."
Tara nods, "I see how you got to that, but that's not what you've written means. Let's see… 'Demeter draws new life and beauty from this flower'. See, you're telling the magic to make something new based on this flower. You probably wanted something like. 'Demeter novam vitam et pulchritudinem in hunc florem adducer', instead. Which would be 'Demeter will bring new life and beauty into this flower'."
Buffy grumbles, "Why can't we just use English instead?"
Tara smiles, "We could, but once you become an accomplished witch, you'll be able to do less complex magic with just a thought." She waves her hand, and a different flower blooms into a foxglove, "Only using words when you want precision. It's why the few spells we can verify came from pre-Christian Rome, were written in Greek. And the Greeks used Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and the Egyptians invented Hieroglyphs and High Egyptian."
Buffy's expression goes slack, "Oh, I thought it was because we were just using old spells."
Tara nods, "We do use old spells, just not that old. Books weren't invented until after the establishment of Christianity as it's main religion in around 100CE. Sorry, we covered it in art history, as a lot of medieval books had magnificent artwork."
Buffy shakes her head, "No, no, it was interesting…" she trails off as her phone starts to ring.
Picking it up, she answers it, and before she can say anything Vhesthine is sobbing down the phone, "Buffy, I need you at home."
Immediately concerned, Buffy asks, "Vhesthine, what's wrong?"
Vhesthine sniffs, "We have a new daughter, and even after feeding her, she's still starving."
Buffy blinks a couple of times, "I'm sorry, I thought you said we have a new daughter."
"She's a Succubus, but she doesn't remember anything before a couple found her in Alaska. Buffy, she's Dawn's age."
Buffy drops the phone, and then fumbles to pick it up, "She's a child!"
"She is, and she's currently trying to eat a bowl of honey nut chex. I need you Buffy, I can't do this alone."
"We'll be back as soon as we can be."
"Hurry, I need to hunt, and someone needs to watch her."
As the phone hangs up, Buffy looks at it, and the fact it has 5 bars, "I have to work out how this phone is doing that."
Tara answers, "Oh, that was mine and Willow's birthday present for you. We just forgot to tell you at the party, because Spike, and everything. Is Vhesthine alright?"
Buffy shakes her head, "She needs us at home, something's come up and it's really upset her. Remember, jump three, then run for 10 seconds. I'll be right behind you."
Tara's about to whine when she sees Buffy's face, "Right, home…"
Forgotten behind them, the mist continues to fall from the bells of the flower.
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"Guys! Guys! I didn't abandon you, I just don't want to die when you cross a line. Come on Guys!"
Exhausted, frustrated, and tired, Jonathan slumps back to the arcade to work off some of his anxiety. They've been gone for months. They haven't visited any of their normal hangouts, not even Andrew's mother knows where he is.
He's tried to find them, he really has, and not just because they took his limited edition Ultraman figurine, with the hand signed base. Or his 1st edition comics, including the rare Wolverine vs Hulk. Or even his boxed Atari with pong. They're his friends damn it.
As he's passing Dragons Cove, the other magical shop in Sunnydale, he pops in to see if Andrew has been by for any magical supplies.
The owner's cheery voice calls across the shop, "Ah Jonathan, you haven't been by in forever."
Jonathan shakes his head, "I've just not been feeling it. Listen, have you seen Andrew, or maybe even Warren?"
"I can't say I have, but as I know you're a serious customer, I've been asked to hand these out to everyone that walks that path."
Jonathan looks blankly at the black pamphlet the man is holding out, "Um, thanks, I guess."
"Come back sometime when you have some money to spend."
Jonathan doesn't even get three steps out of the door before he stops, and stares at the pamphlet incredulously.
"Is she trying to get herself killed?"
Turning around, Jonathan starts walking towards the Slayers address.
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As they arrive at the house, Tara stumbles as she comes out of her last void jump and misses her first step. As Buffy void jumps past her and straight into the house, instead of catching her, the stumble turns into a painful fall along the sidewalk. Picking herself up, she limps into the house, wincing as her skinned knee complains. As she walks through the front door, she stops in surprise when she sees Buffy lying on the floor, her knees folded underneath her, as a young black girl is attached to her face.
As she starts to walk over, Buffy's eyes roll back in her head, and her body turns into white motes of light. As girl starts to cry, Vhesthine moves, catching Tara's eye, and pulls her into a hug.
"Vhesthine, what's going on?"
Vhesthine just points at the coffee table, where there's a spill of paperwork across the entire surface. Turning back, Tara is about to ask something else when her mouth drops open in horror. The healthy young girl's features seem to deflate and sink in on themselves. As they do, she can see every single muscle and bone outlined in her face.
"What was that?"
Vhesthine looks up with puffy red eyes, "That is wasting sickness. Eleane is a Succubus, and she's starving."
"But she looked so healthy."
Vhesthine nods, "Don't forget, our human bodies are still a magical transformation. They reflect our actual bodies, especially in one so young. I should kill her, put her out of her misery. But I can't bring myself to do so. It should be easy, but I keep seeing Dawn in the same position when I think about doing it."
Tara smiles gently, "I told you your aura was getting brighter. What can I do to help?"
"I don't know. She's asleep now, but she will need to be fed the same size meals every time she wakes up, until she sleeps for longer than a day, or she dies."
"I could feed her."
Vhesthine shakes her head, "You can't, she has a chip. It would prevent her from feeding from you, if she knows how to feed."
"Then teach me to feed her."
Vhesthine gasps, "Tara, do you understand what you're asking? Especially now that I'm mated?"
Tara winces as she kneels down beside Vhesthine, "No, I don't. I don't know what difference being mated makes either."
"Tara, feeding another Succubus is a very intimate act. Much like sex is for humans, possibly more so, as we are giving up our own essence for another. We learn how to feed ourselves and others by being fed by our family growing up. To teach you how to feed another quickly, I would need to feed you small amounts of my own essence repeatedly until you reciprocate.
Tara swallows hard, "Um, can't you just feed from me, and then feed it to her?"
Vhesthine reaches one long finger up and touches it to the bottom of Tara's chin, before bring it, and her chin, towards her mouth. When Tara tenses up, Vhesthine lowers the finger, "What do you think? I cannot feed from you unless you are euphoric, or insensate from drugs or pain. Would you sleep with me as you would your Willow?"
Tara's eyes drop to the floor, before firming up as she looks back up, "No, I wouldn't sleep with you as I would Willow. But I would sleep with you as a woman saving a life. I'm sure Xander would too, but I don't think Anya could separate the two things. I'd like to believe that Willow would do the same as I."
Vhesthine smiles, "Thank you, but alien as it feels, I value our friendship too much to test it like that. I feel that you would probably be better served looking after Dawn while Buffy and I hunt."
Slightly breathlessly, Buffy asks as she appears out of the void, "Hunt what?"
Vhesthine looks up at Buffy, "Men."
Buffy stares at her with a deer in a headlights look.