A Different World
Summary: During a lull in sightings, Dean and Sam check out strange happenings in Sunnydale.
AN: Hey my awesome readers! I know I haven't done much lately but my muses haven't been playing nice lately…bitches! LOL Anyway, I was looking over my list of story prompts that my family brainstormed for me and this one caught my attention. Although it was one of my own ideas, it started writing itself as soon as I read it. :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.
Oh, also, I know BtVS was done before SPN started but I'm totally ignoring that! LOL For those who are new, when I write any BtVS fanfic, I use ONLY the series. NO comics. NO movie. Nothing else. :) Just wanted to put that out there since my BtVS/TB fic was criticized that I didn't follow the comics and such. I ONLY write from the series and, also, this is fanfiction! It's my story that I hope entertains you but is written mainly for me, so, not to be a bitch but there you go. :)
Thanks for reading and please stay safe and sane in our upside down world! Love to you all!
Disclaimer: I make no money with this story!
SPN & BtVS
"Whatcha find?" Dean asked as he leaned over his brother's shoulder.
"I'm not sure; something is going on in a little town in California, someplace called Sunnydale." Sam replied.
"Really? Like what?" Dean prompted as he sat down to eat. He had gone to the diner a few blocks down for some lunch since nothing had popped up for them the last few days since they took care of the salt 'n' burn.
"Yeah, not sure what's going on but the death rates are higher than anywhere else, even higher than Mississippi." Disbelief clear in Sam's voice.
"Huh, any clue what's causing all the trouble? Ghost? Wendigo? Djinn? Demon?" Dean suggested.
"Nope but the police reports have a high amount of death by barbecue forks though." Sam shared.
"Barbecue forks? Seriously?!" Dean's amusement could be plainly heard.
"Yeah and they seem to have most of the student body using PCP too." Sam turned the laptop so Dean could see for himself. "I mean, it really sounds a lot like Hollywood's version of vampires to me, you know, with two holes in the neck. I'm not sure what else to say." Sam said.
"Well, suppose we should check it out. Who knows, maybe it's like the one kid who brought his thoughts to life?" Dean suggested.
"Yeah, maybe, guess we should check it out, nothing else is popping up." Sam agreed. "Wait, this is strange…" he trailed off.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Well, um, the amount of missing people, kids and adults, is astronomical, their missing persons beats Oklahoma's numbers." Sam stated as he turned the laptop again and pointed to the statistics he was reading.
"Okay, now that is weird. Where did all the bodies go? Runaways or did they just up and move without any forwarding addresses?" Dean pondered.
"Not sure but that sounds really strange. I know people move without forwarding their mail and not letting anyone know and all and I know kids runaway but that many Dean? That's a really high number." Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, it is. So, to Sunnydale, California?" He asked.
"Sounds good." Sam replied as he packed up his laptop and started packing their bags. A few minutes later found the Winchesters on the road heading to Sunnydale to investigate the strange happenings.
SPN & BtVS
The Scoobies descended on the Summers' home since it was Buffy's turn to host them. They had been hanging out, enjoying a bit of down time and watching the construction crews deal with the ruined school while trying to figure out what to do next. Willow, Buffy and Oz were contemplating which school to go to, while being fairly certain they would attend Sunnydale College due to Buffy not wanting to be too far from the Hellmouth than necessary. Xander and Cordy were trying to just enjoy not being in school and figure out which way they wanted to go with their lives. Neither was interested in furthering their education but really weren't sure they wanted to stay in Sunnydale either. Cordelia was considering moving to Los Angeles to work on her acting career while Xander was trying to figure out just how much wandering he wanted to do.
"What are going to do tonight, Buff?" Willow asked.
"Not sure, probably nothing." Buffy shrugged.
"Ah, you could always hang with Oz and me. We wouldn't mind, would we Oz?" Willow offered as she turned to her boyfriend.
"No." Oz answered, as chatty as ever.
"I appreciate the offer but I don't want to be a third wheel." Buffy countered.
"Cordy and I were just going to watch a movie, you're welcome to join us, Buff." Xander offered, ignoring the look his girlfriend was giving him.
"Aw, thanks guys but I think I'll just hang out here until time to patrol." Buffy smiled at her friends.
"You're sure?" Willow piped in with.
"Yeah, you guys go have some fun." Buffy shooed them off.
Once everyone had left, Buffy sighed as she looked around the living room before she walked over to the couch, picked up the remote and channel surfed until she found an old black and white movie to watch as she decided to veg out a bit before patrol.
SPN & BtVS
After a day spent asking the residents of Sunnydale about the strange happenings, Sam and Dean were convinced that everyone was either in denial or so completely oblivious it was scary. They met up in the room and compared notes on nothing which was telling in itself.
"Sammy, there is definitely something going on here." Dean told his brother.
"Yeah, you know they have five cemeteries?" Sam asked.
"Five? For this piss ant town?" Dean's voice was full of shock.
"Yeah, most of them are just empty coffins; the bodies never found but have been missing so long they're considered dead." Sam informed.
"Damn! What the hell leaves no body behind?" Dean wanted to know.
"I don't know, Dean, but something is." Sam shrugged as he typed, searching for any information that could help.
"Shit! I hate it when it's something new. Well, as much as I hate to say it…" Dean looked to Sam who sighed.
"We'll need to check out the cemeteries."
"Yep." Dean nodded his head.
"Fine, do we investigate together or separate?" Sam asked.
"Separate and call if one of us comes across what we're looking for." Dean answered.
"Fine." Sam said.
The brothers armed themselves as best as they could without knowing what exactly they would be facing and left to try to find what was causing so many deaths and disappearances.
SPN & BtVS
Buffy sighed as she exited the cemetery, her second one, and wondered why it was such a quiet night. She had only dusted two vampires in the first cemetery and two more in the one she was leaving. She really hated slow nights. It wasn't that she wished anyone to die but, damn, it made for a long patrol and the slayer really, really wanted to beat up something.
It wouldn't be so bad if the Scoobies had joined her but they all had plans. Willow was out with Oz and Xander was with Cordelia. It was times like these that Buffy really missed Angel. He had gone on to L.A. to try to help out there. She missed seeing him just appear out of nowhere when she least expected it. She supposed it was better that way, taking away temptation, but it really sucked. She wanted someone to hang with, preferably someone who wouldn't lose their soul by being with her or that she'd have to kill then help back to sanity when they suddenly returned. Yeah, her life sucked.
Buffy let out another sigh when something caught her eye, a splash of sandy blond hair; what the hell? She decided to find out who was skulking around a cemetery at this time of night, well, other than her but she had a reason to. Didn't they know it was dangerous? Good grief! So she slowly followed the giant of a man. He had shoulder length sandy blond hair, was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt but what caught her eye was the gun strapped to his back and the machete he used to decapitate a newly risen vampire. Buffy had had to suppress her chuckle when the tall blond exclaimed about the vampire rising but rolled to his feet surprisingly quickly after being thrown. That was when she noticed the machete he rose with, well, at least he was prepared. Interesting. Who was he? Why was he here? Why did he seem surprised about the vamp when he was properly armed?
Deciding her curiosity needed to be sated, Buffy quietly followed and was impressed when the next vampire was taken out before it could do much more than threaten blondie. She knew then he would be fine so she moved on; however after watching the blonde stranger, her slayer side really, really wanted some slayage of her own, so she moved on to her fourth cemetery.
Fortunately, there were several vampires for Buffy to beat up before staking. There were also a few demons too, a good night after all. However, just before calling it a night, Buffy had three vamps come at her at once. Focused on her attackers, she missed seeing a dark haired man approach her from behind, until she heard him yell.
"Hey! Behind you!"
Buffy instinctively swung her arm around and staked the vampire trying to sneak up on her; meanwhile, the third vamp had taken off. Instead of answering the man yelling at her, Buffy took off after the escaping vamp. She needed the run to finish off the built up energy so she didn't mind. When she caught up with the one who got away, she took her time beating the vamp up before staking him. Dusting herself off, Buffy sighed in relief.
"Well, that's it for tonight." She said to no one and pocketed her stake as she made her way home.
SPN & BtVS
When the Winchesters met back at their room, they both started to talk at the same time when Dean nodded for Sam to go first.
"Okay, we are definitely dealing with vampires but not the ones we usually deal with." Sam stated.
Dean nodded his head, "Yeah, dusted a few myself, literally."
"Well, it explains why there are so many empty coffins." Sam stated.
"Yeah, it does." Dean agreed.
They spent the next few moments comparing notes on their evening, learning they had both been tossed like rag dolls the first encounter, nothing new there, and had utilized their machetes after that. They also discussed the differences of the vamps they usually came up on to what they had dealt with. That's when Dean brought up his other surprise.
"My last cemetery had a surprise, a blond girl taking on three vamps." Dean shared.
"It wasn't Jo, was it?" Sam asked, intrigued. Even though he was fairly sure she hadn't shown up, one never knew with Hunters.
"Nope. This little blond was smaller than even Jo." Dean said.
"Wow, and she dusted several huh?" Sam wanted clarified, quite impressed.
"Like it was no big deal. I tell ya, Sammy, she packed a punch." Dean smirked. "And the only thing she used was a wooden stake."
"She only had a stake on her?" Sam asked incredulously. He understood a stake being the primary weapon but there should always be a backup.
"Yeah, as far as I could tell. Of course, when I yelled out to her about the one coming up behind her, she took it out and then took off after the one that had left." Dean shared.
"You didn't chase after her?" Sam wondered, that didn't sound like Dean.
"Of course I did but she was long gone along with the vamp. It was like she had super speed or something, Sam." Dean told his brother.
Sam ran a hand over his face, "We need to find her and make sure she's okay, Dean. Who knows what happened."
"Yeah, but later, right now, I need some sleep." Dean agreed.
"Sure." Sam stood, crawled onto his bed before he face planted and was soon sound asleep with Dean quickly following him.
The next morning, Dean went to a diner to get some breakfast and decided to see if anyone could tell him who the mysterious girl was. After ordering, Dean chatted up the flirty waitress, giving her his most charming smile.
"Oh, yeah, I know her. A little strange but she seems okay. Why you asking?" the waitress leaned on the counter, giving Dean a perfect view of her assets.
"I wanted to return an item she dropped the other night." Dean shrugged, playing it off as nothing important as he considered asking when her shift would end but decided against it, at least not until they figured out what was going on.
"Oh, well, I think her name is Betty, no, Barbie, no. Oh, yeah, Buffy. Yeah, that's her name." the waitress finally settled on a name.
"Buffy, huh? She have a last name?" Dean questioned.
"Um, it's like autumn or fall or something like that." The waitress tried to recall when another waitress walked by and said, "Summers." "Yeah! That's it! Buffy Summers!" The waitress fluttered her eyelashes at Dean, being proud she remembered and completely ignoring help from a fellow employee.
Dean chatted with the waitress until his order was up and then excused himself, happy to have a name however unusual and stripper like it was.
Little did Dean know that someone overheard his questioning of the waitress; someone who made his way to Giles' apartment after his order was delivered.
SPN & BtVS
Daniel "Oz" Osborne had decided to pick up breakfast for everyone since they were all meeting at Giles' place. As he waited, he quietly watched customers come and go when he noticed a stocky, dark haired man walk in and sit at the counter a few stools away. Oz gave him a good once over before moving on but there was something about this man that intrigued him, something that made Oz keep the stranger in view the whole time. Outwardly the man seemed friendly enough, especially to the waitress, but there was an air about him that put Oz on edge, something dangerous just below the surface. He knew the man wasn't a werewolf but was something equally as dangerous.
Then he heard this stranger describe someone who resembled Buffy before asking for a name. When the waitress finally remembered Buffy's first name, Oz went on alert. He didn't like strangers asking about his friends and not when said stranger gave off dangerous airs. As Oz listened, he knew something was up; Buffy never "dropped" anything. Curious to why the stranger was asking about her, Oz stayed until the man left before he booked it to Giles'.
After stepping in and setting the food out, Oz waited patiently for everyone to grab what was theirs before sharing what he had overheard.
"Wait, did he have short dark hair? About Xander's height? Have an accent?" Buffy grilled Oz.
"Yeah." he answered.
"You know this guy, Buff?" Xander asked.
"Not really but he sounds like one of the guys I saw in one of the cemeteries last night." Buffy told them.
"I see. Why was he there?" Giles wanted to know.
"Got me but he did warn me about the vampire trying to sneak up on me though." Buffy shared.
"Wow, Buff, anything else we need to know?" Willow wondered.
"Nope. Oh, wait, yeah, there was another one in a different cemetery 'cept he was way tall and had longish blond hair." Buffy said.
"Did either of them approach you, Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Nope, but I didn't stick around either." Buffy stated. "I had to run after the vampire that ran away so I didn't stand around at all. I don't think blondie knew I was there though." She clarified.
"Tell me, Buffy, were they armed?" Giles queried his slayer.
"Yeah, they both had machetes with them." Buffy answered.
"That was all?" Giles prodded.
"Um, blondie had a shotgun strapped to his back. Why?" Buffy was curious.
"You know these guys, Giles?" Xander questioned.
"I might, give me a moment." Giles stated as he left the room. When he came back, he had a folder in his hands.
"Whatcha got there?" Willow asked, leaning over to see better.
"Is this who you saw?" Giles asked Buffy as he handed her two photos.
"Yep! That's them. Who are they?" Buffy was curious.
"They are the Winchester brothers, Hunters." Giles explained.
"Hunters? Why do I have a feeling you're not talking about those who hunt for sport?" Xander wanted clarified.
"Because they are not, they hunt supernatural creatures and beings." Giles shared.
"So why are they here?" Buffy questioned.
"Good question, I don't know but we need to find out. The Winchesters have a history of 'shoot first, ask questions later'." Giles told them.
"Are there no vampires where they normally hunt?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Giles was curious to her reason for asking.
"Well, because blondie seemed surprised when a vampire rose from the grave." Buffy supplied.
"Ah, I see. Well, the supernatural vampires that Hunters go after are not like ours." Giles said.
"How are they different? I mean, after blondie was tossed he got up pretty quick and decapitated the vamp with no hesitation." Buffy was confused.
"Well, for starters, the vampires they are used to hunting have a mouth full of extremely sharp teeth rather than just fangs." Giles explained.
"Wow, that would totally suck." Buffy stated.
"Yes, well, they are also able to be in sunlight, a stake through the heart won't kill them and they are rarely alone." Giles finished.
"Wait! They can be in sunlight? Wicked!" Xander commented.
"They will get burns but won't catch on fire nor be killed unless they are trapped for a very long time." Giles stated.
"You mean longer than a normal day?" Willow's voice pitched higher.
"I'm afraid so." Giles gave the young witch a small smile.
"What do you mean a stake in the heart won't kill them? I thought that would kill anything." Buffy's confusion came through strongly.
"Just as I said, Buffy, a stake in the heart will not kill them." Giles clarified. "You would be surprised what can survive being staked or even beheaded." Giles smirked at the looks he got.
"Then what will kill them?" Oz asked.
"Sadly, decapitation is the only way. Well, outside of lighting them on fire, if they don't strip their clothes before the flames touch their skin that is." Giles explained.
"Well, that sucks!" Buffy exclaimed.
"It does but it doesn't explain why Hunters are here." Giles concerned voice had all eyes on him.
"Well, they hunt the supernatural, right?" Willow asked as she looked to Giles. At his nod, she continued. "Well, I don't know about you, but the Hellmouth seems full of supernaturally things."
"You are right but normally Hunters don't realize a Hellmouth is active. The fact the Winchesters have has me concerned." Giles commented.
"Because they shoot first and ask questions later?" Cordelia finally spoke.
"Exactly." Giles answered. "The last thing we need are Hunters swarming the Hellmouth. We have enough trouble as it is."
"Well, we could ask them why they're here." Buffy stated.
"We could and probably should." Giles sighed.
"But you don't want to." Xander noted.
"Not particularly, no but I don't see where we have a choice. We have too many…allies to have Hunters around." Giles took his glasses off and cleaned the lenses.
"Alright, how do we go about contacting them then?" Xander asked.
"I believe we'll all go on patrol tonight." Giles answered and got head nods all around.
SPN & BtVS
"Think we'll see your blond tonight?" Sam ribbed his brother.
Dean smirked, "Hope so, she was hot!"
"Seriously though, Dean, think she'll be out tonight?" Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's typical response. They had researched Buffy and found her social media page. Once Sam perused it, he was able to sigh in relief; Buffy Summers had posted on her page thirty minutes before, so she was still alive at least.
Dean gave a one shoulder shrug, "Probably, she seemed comfortable with fighting."
"Which cemetery should we go to?" Sam had no clue which one to patrol first; there were five to choose from and they had no clue which one the petite blond would start with. They could visit all five and never cross paths with the young blond.
Dean thought a moment before answering, "Guess the closet one to us."
Sam nodded as they finished sharpening their machetes and decided to leave any guns behind since they would be useless, they had yet to restock the wooden bullets, before they left the room to walk to the nearest cemetery.
"We go to all the nice places." Sam quipped.
"Yeah, we do." Dean chuckled. "Cemeteries, haunted houses, abandoned buildings…yeah, we get all the sweet gigs."
After entering the cemetery, the boys slowed their pace and watched the ground for any movement. Once halfway in, they heard voices coming towards them. Sam and Dean exchanged looks and decided to lean against a mausoleum, with their machetes leaning against the wall on the ground behind them, to wait for the group to pass by. They didn't want to raise any eyebrows.
A few minutes later, a group of six people came into view. The short blond Dean had seen, a slightly taller red headed girl, a tall black haired girl, a dark haired guy, a short guy with purple hair and an older man. They were all carrying weapons of some sort. The red head had a crossbow, the dark haired guy carried a sword, the dark haired girl had a stake along with the blond girl and the older man carried a duffel bag. The purple haired guy didn't seem to have anything.
When they were close enough, Dean stepped away, "Thought we might find you here."
"Hi!" Buffy gave a wide smile. "Small world."
"Yeah, so what are a couple of kids and one man doing in a cemetery?" Dean asked.
"We could ask the same of you." Giles countered.
"Lookin' for baddies, what else?" Buffy cheerfully answered at the same time.
"You do this every night?" Sam wanted to know, hoping to not put the small group on the defensive.
"Yep." Buffy answered as she popped the 'p".
"You?" Xander asked.
"Pretty much, yeah." Sam answered.
"Who are you?" Dean demanded.
"Weeellll, I'm Buffy, this is Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia. That's Giles." Buffy pointed to each one.
"We're…" Sam started.
"Dean and Sam Winchester, yes, we know." Giles finished before they could give false names, surprising the Hunters.
"Huh, you know who we are?" Dean wondered aloud.
"We do, yes. Why are you here?" Giles quietly demanded.
"Sammy noticed the strange statistics of this town and we thought we'd investigate." Dean answered, figuring the truth would be best since they knew who they were and what they did, an unusual occurrence.
"You're numbers are unheard of." Sam stated.
"Yes, sadly, they are." Giles agreed, knowing which numbers Sam was talking about. "Any other Hunters here we should worry about?"
"Nope, we're it." Dean answered.
"Good." Giles' relief was evident.
"So, outside of vampires, what else do you hunt?" Xander asked.
Dean and Sam took a moment before Sam answered, "There's Djinns, Wendigo, Werewolves…"
"Shtriga"
"Chimera"
"Banshee"
"Changelings"
"Ghouls"
"Rugaru" The brothers rattled off.
"A what? You've got to be making those up!" Xander's look of disbelief was mirrored on all but Giles.
"Nope, dude, they're all real." Dean answered as Giles nodded his head.
"One of the most common hunts is for ghosts though." Sam shared.
"And poltergeists." Dean added.
"Wait, aren't they the same?" Willow's confusion was clear in her voice.
"'fraid not sweetheart." Dean told her as he gave Willow a wink which made her blush.
"Ghosts are trapped; they don't realize they're dead, so they don't move on. Sometimes they're helpful but most of what we encounter were or have gone bad." Sam explained.
"Poltergeists are nasty bitches. They want attention any way they can get it." Dean shared.
"Oh, wow, do you get rid of them the same way?" Willow wanted to know, the new information intrigued her.
"Nope. Ghosts, we find their bones and salt 'n' burn'em. Poltergeists we have to do a ritual to banish their asses." Dean explained.
"Have you seen anything like that since you've been here?" Cordelia joined in the conversation.
"No and be glad for it too." Sam answered.
"Oh, we are." Giles agreed.
The group started walking as they talked, sharing stories and various things they had encountered. Sam and Dean were surprised there was a vampire with a soul and that he helped to fight his own kind but glad to hear he was no longer in the area. They also learned that Oz was a werewolf but had managed to find a way to coexist with his beast. When the Winchesters just stared at the purple haired young man, they were told that Oz also locked himself up during full moons, to be on the safe side, which put Sam and Dean a bit more at ease. At least the kid knew how dangerous he could be and took no chances.
When they learned Willow was learning witchcraft, they had all but jumped away from her, reaching for the guns they hadn't brought, before Giles quickly explained that she wasn't the type they hunted. She hadn't traded her soul for her powers which had Willow sputtering about making deals and the extreme stupidity involved in doing such a thing. The Winchesters had smiled at her indignation and agreed with her view of the ones they hunted.
The Scoobies were not happy to hear that the demons the brothers hunted could possess a human and learning that mist "hosts" didn't survive. They happily shared about the Hellmouth demons and those who they considered allies. When Dean explained about the demons he and Sam hunted, characteristics and signs, Willow asked if they had a way to protect themselves. The brothers smiled as they pulled their shirts over to show the tattoo and explained what it was. When Buffy questioned how they got rid of such demons, Sam explained that it depended if they were able to trap the demon or not. If trapped, an exorcism could be done, not that that guaranteed the survival of the "host" but odds were better than out right killing the human which would force the demon to find another body to take over.
At some point during the conversations and slaying, the Winchester brothers learned Buffy was the Slayer and Giles a Watcher as well as a bit of a history lesson. Sam listened avidly while Dean "seemed" to be bored. When they learned the Watcher's Council knew about Hunters and had files on quite a few, Sam frowned and Dean growled. No Hunter liked anyone having a file of any kind on them. Giles assured the boys that the Council only kept track of those that warranted close watch, like them. Their history, as well as their dad's, and the reputation they had made the Council nervous; so the Council kept tabs on them. A good and bad thing at the same time.
However, Giles explained that the last thing the Council wanted was to call attention to Hunters because then they would have to admit to knowing about the things that go bump in the night and that would bring the Slayer under scrutiny which meant the Council wouldn't be far behind. Hearing this, Dean and Sam relaxed a bit but were still quite unhappy. When patrolling was done, Giles invited the Winchesters to his place the next day so they could see the file the Council had on them. Technically Giles wasn't supposed to show any Hunter the file the Council had on them but considering he was no longer a part of said Council due to refusing to risk his relationship with his slayer by giving her the antiquated trial, he had no problem showing Sam and Dean; snubbing his nose at his former employer.
When Sam and Dean arrived at the apartment, Giles ordered pizza for all. The group continued their exchange of information and stories over lunch. Well, Sam and the teenagers talked while Dean and Giles mainly listened, adding a bit here and there. Both groups were amazed at what all the other dealt with on a regular basis. Sam explained how they found cases to look into and the Scoobies were amazed at the amount of travel they had done. When asked if they ever missed having a home to go to, the brothers had shrugged and stated it's what they knew, it made the Scoobies feel sad for the brothers, everyone needed a home to go to.
SPN & BtVS
Dean and Sam spent two weeks in Sunnydale helping before another case, one right up their alley, popped up and they bid the Slayer, her Watcher and the Scoobies goodbye. Giles told them they would be welcome any time they were in the area, which the boys appreciated. In turn Dean and Sam gave Giles a number to get a hold of them, one only they and their dad had, if he ever needed them, which Giles appreciated. He knew there could never be enough "proper" contacts or allies.
~Fin~
AN: According to Google, Mississippi, at the time of writing this, had the highest murder rate followed by Louisiana, New Mexico and Alabama. Also Oklahoma has the highest missing persons followed by Louisiana and Arkansas.