Authors: Tim Knight & NORJC

Title: In Perfect Harmony

Copyright: February 2004 Rating: R (for sexual situations and violence)  Spoilers: Buffy: Season 2 until Phases. Specific Episodes: Homecoming. Highlander: Season 5 until Season finale. Richie Ryan lives.  Keywords: Buffy/ Highlander/ X-Files/ Xena: Warrior Princess/ Forgotten Realms. 

Summary: A young woman suffers a terrible ordeal, loses everything that’s dear to her, yet is able to recover with the help of the Slayerettes.

Legalese: All characters except those noted below with their respective rights, properties, and copyrights are the property of the respective creators, authors, owners, producers and agencies. These characters are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended or meant, and no money will be made from this story. This story may be copied in its entirety, and may be distributed as long as all copyright information remains.  The character of Shaw Hunter is Tim Knight’s.

The characters Steven St. Wolf, as well as numerous other characters and the universe in which this story takes place, are property of Steve Pantovich. Steve can be reached at steve711@concentric.net.

Author's Notes: This is a story taken from a synopsis written by Tim before he passed away.  I hope to keep his spirit alive by finishing some of his stories for you, the readers he so loved.  NorJC a/k/a Jack Caynon.  

Dedications by Tim Knight:

 To Steve, He Who Shall Be Obeyed In The Wandererverse At All Costs, for giving the "do it" command on these ideas.

 To Jack, He Who Shall Correct All Errors and Walking Kama Sutra Of The Wandererverse, for making these stories even better, and offering suggestions that do help you enjoy them even more.

To Mike and Anne, fellow authors whose IM discussions helped me flesh out these ideas, despite the time differentials (Anne being 16 hours ahead of me and Mike, which of course means she gets to celebrate holidays a day before WE do). Couldn’t have done it without you.

To Tenhawk, with whom a talk from months ago turned out to really help with the second fic. Thanks, Oh Grand High Poobah-J. 

Here are the changes from your regular shows, which might play a part in this story:

 Buffy:

1. Buffy is an Immortal in the tradition of the Highlander movies and series, having become Immortal when she was drowned by the Master in Prophecy Girl. She continued Slaying and didn’t know about her Immortality for almost a year before Steve St. Wolf came to town and explained her nature to her.

2. Kendra was summoned by Buffy’s (first) death as in Buffyverse continuity. With the split from Buffyverse continuity in February 1998, Kendra didn’t come to Sunnydale to fight Acathla. Instead, she came to help out against Katherine Plantagenet in Los Angeles in July 1998. She suffered life-threatening injuries fighting a sixth-circle demon and temporarily flat lined on the operating table, but was revived by the surgical team.

3. Faith was summoned a month later in the Wandererverse, and lies spun by the Council ensured that she and her Watcher, Linda Pryce, would not encounter Buffy or her Sunnydale team. Her Watcher lived until January of 1999, when vampires working for Kakistos killed her. Faith was found by Mulder and Scully, who teamed up with the Sunnydale team to vanquish Kakistos.

4. Xander and Cordelia are still together. Xander remembers the things that he got from his tour of duty as Private Harris and uses it to full advantage on patrols. Cordelia accidentally summoned Artemis in late February of 1998 and became an Amazon warrior, allowing her to do something other than be vampire bait. In May of 1999, Cordy’s mother ran off with the money that the IRS should’ve gotten as tax payments, but as a result, Cordelia moved into an apartment with Xander and the two still live together.

5. Willow and Oz are also still together. Willow is still the Super Hacker, but also has her witchcraft. While not as powerful as Season 6 or 7 Buffyverse Willow, the Wandererverse Willow has greater skill and control than the Willow of Season 4. Oz is still a werewolf, but can control his changes at will except during the full moon. He’s still laconic and a Zen musician.

6. Jenny is still alive and engaged or married to Giles. She is the formal teacher to Willow and Amy in their witchcraft, and she is also a High Priestess of Artemis. She still teaches Computer Science at Sunnydale High, where Giles is still Master of the Book Room.

7. Amy joined the team in February of 1998 and started taking lessons from Jenny to hone her powers. She has not become her mother (who in fact, eventually got out of the trophy and redeemed herself), and the two have patched up their relationship. Amy is still blonde and hasn’t had the misfortune of spending three years in a cage. 

Highlander:

1. Richie is still alive. Nuff said.

2. Connor is still alive. He never entered the Sanctuary and has been dragged into a few Boy Scout missions by Duncan and Steve. He is still running his antiques shop in Upper Manhattan.

3. Amanda is still dating Duncan and living with him in Seacouver. Thus, there is no Highlander: The Raven continuity. But she still gets Duncan into trouble and still occasionally "keeps in practice" with her thieving skills.

4. The Watchers pretty much now know that Adam Pierson is really Methos, although he still works for them on that "Methos Project," sifting through his Chronicles and telling them what’s real and what’s not. But he still loves a good beer over taking a head any day.

X-Files:

1. Mulder and Scully are married. They’re Immortal. Skinner’s their Watcher. Nuff said.

 Xena:

1. When Xena and Gabrielle were separated during a battle in 500 BC, Xena couldn’t find Gabby’s body. Ares offered her godhood a few months later and she became a Demigoddess in the Greek Pantheon. She eventually left Earth sometime before 1000 AD and fell in love with Tyr, a God in the Norse Pantheon (the same Tyr from the Forgotten Realms).  She only returned to Earth in February of 1999 when she discovered that Gabby was still alive. 2. Gabrielle is a Highlander-type Immortal. She was found by Red Sonja and became the swordswoman’s student.  Eventually, the two started a relationship. Gabrielle was the Queen who disbanded the last tribe of Amazons, sending some into hiding while 200 older warriors gave their lives to make the Romans think they had been obliterated. In February 1999, Gabrielle was named as the Queen of the reborn Nation by Artemis and has since made strides in repairing her relationship with Artemis.

3. In 504 BC, Xena and Gabrielle trained a Spartan woman named Alika, after she had been invested with power by the Greek Gods to become the first Vampire Slayer in Wanderer mythology.

Bierce Drive Sunnydale, California            

27 July 1999, 2351 P.S.T.

“Blondie, what IS your problem?”

Harmony Kendall glared into her rear view mirror and spied the annoyed look that her friend shot toward the back of her head.  “I’m not the one with the problem, Torch.  I just don’t get why you went out of your way to embarrass Wayne in front of all those losers at the Bronze.”

Lysette Torchio, the eldest ‘princess’ of one of the few affluent Italian American families in Sunnydale, snorted. 

“Oh lighten up, Harm!” she drawled.  “It’s not like I’ll ever see that dweeb again after I start at GWU in August.  And you gotta admit...wasn’t it fun to see him squirm where he could do nothing about it.”

Harmony scowled.  Right, Torchio, if you call unzipping a guy’s fly, dragging out his tool, getting him all hot and bothered, and tipping over the table while shrieking ‘Oh my god, get this perv away from me’ and publically humiliating a decent guy a good time, she thought.  However, she said, “Maybe I wouldn’t have minded so much if you hadn’t dumped my drink on me when you decided to torture him like that.  And...ewww!  I can’t believe you actually touched his ‘thing,’ Lysette!”

She saw Lysette’s reflection roll its eyes in the mirror.  “That’s not saying much coming from you, Harm.  I mean, you’ve never even touched a guy’s cock and you’re starting  college in the fall for God’s sakes!”

Harmony gritted her teeth.  “I’m waiting for the right guy, Torchio.  Nothing wrong with that.”  

Aura then decided to jump into the conversation.  “I’m kinda with Harm on this one, Torch.”

Lysette snorted.  “Geez, you guys, what’s with you?  If Cordy had done something like this before she left us to hang with that loser Summers and her friends, you’d have been fawning all ov–”

“Hey!” Harmony snapped, cutting her off.  “For your information, Cordelia may have been a lot of things but she was a good friend.  She never went out of her way to hurt anybody.  In fact, she saved my life once.  So don’t go there, all right?”

Luckily, Harmony pulled her car over to the curb in front of Lysette’s house at that moment.  She stared at her friend’s narrowed eyes in the rear view mirror for several seconds before the other girl blinked.  “I guess this is my stop,” Lysette murmured.

“Guess so,” Harmony replied.

Aura opened the passenger front door, climbed out, and tilted her seat forward to allow Lysette to exit the vehicle.  As Aura climbed back inside the car, Lysette leaned over and asked, “Harm . . . are we okay?”

Harmony hesitated for a moment before she gave her friend a thin smile.  “Yeah, Torch, we’re great.  Call me tomorrow?”

Lysette grinned.  “You’ve got it, Blondie.  Later!”

As they drove off, Harmony watched Lysette wave to them in her passenger side mirror for a brief moment before she turned her attention to the road ahead of her.

*****

After Harmony’s car’s had made a right turn onto the next  street, Lysette turned toward her front porch.  She strolled past some bushes that rustled from the evening breeze with a frown on her face.  Well, she huffed, that blonde bimbo may have her panties in a bunch over the stunt I pulled, but I thought it was a screa–”

Suddenly, her musings were dashed by a hulking form that sprang at her from behind the bushes.  As she opened her mouth to scream, a hand with a grip of steel clamped over it, while a powerful arm wrapped around her body and dragged her toward the tree-line at the rear of her property.

She struggled in vain as her heels plowed through the undergrowth before she peeked up and discovered hideous, golden eyes staring down at her.  Panicking, she bit into the hand that silenced her, hoping the pain would make her captor release her.  Instead, he laughed and said, “Oh, you’re such a good girl...you saved me the trouble of feeding you myself, my pretty.  I bet you’ll ‘turn’ out to be a fine childe.”  Then she felt his cold breath against the side of her face as she caught a glimpse of sharp fangs in the moonlight.  

Presidio Center Mall

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 1311 P.S.T.

“No fuckin’ way!” Cordelia Chase cried.

The Virtual Amazon Nation’s Warrior Princess stood in front of the display window next to her Amazon sister and best friend, Willow Rosenberg, the Wicca Princess, along with the Immortal Slayer, Buffy Summers, their friend, comrade-in-arms, and leader of the Slayerettes.  Willow’s reflection wore a shit-eating grin on its freckle-speckled, pixie-like  face as the trio stood in front of the Nine West™ shoe store and ignored the pointed stares of the Mall’s patrons in response to Cordy’s outburst.

“Nice goin’ there, Subtle Girl,” Buffy quipped.  “Do you kiss your father with that mouth?”

Cordelia ignored the Slayer and whined at the red head.  “They skipped you ahead into two junior level computer classes and gave you credit for four lower level courses?!?   Netgirl,” Cordelia sighed, trying to regain her composure, “sometimes I really, really hate you!” Cordelia Chase snapped with mock indignation.

Buffy was more subdued in her response.  “Wow, Will . . . way to give us an inferiority complex!”

Willow smiled wickedly at her two friends.  “I know!  It’s so cool, isn’t it?”  Then, her expression became greatly subdued when she apparently noticed the wry look on Buffy’s face and the dangerous look on Cordy’s.  “That is...um...I mean...it isn’t really a big deal...just a computer thing, that’s all...could’ve happened to anyone...and...please don’t hurt me!” she babbled.

Buffy wrapped an arm around the red head’s shoulders as the trio started to stroll toward the Victoria Secret’s outlet.  “We’re just yanking your chain, Will,” she offered as she shot a warning glare at Cordy who was about to disagree with the Slayer but thought better of it as Buffy continued.  “We’re really proud of you.  Your talent is a gift and I’m sure it’ll lead to big things for your future.”

Willow smiled warmly at her blonde friend.  “Thanks, Buffy.  And I’m so happy for you guys, too!  I mean, Cordelia, I was so jealous of you for getting that full scholarship from VAN to study Business Administration.  But after all the crap that happened to you last semester, it was inspiring to see you come out on top like that!”

Cordy grinned.  “Yeah, yay me!  Thanks, Willow.” 

Willow nodded in response, then turned to Buffy.  “And how about you, Buff–a big-time English major.”

“Does that mean she’s going to study all that is Giles,” quipped Cordelia.

Buffy smirked at her.  “Yes...I shall immerse myself in all that is tweed and scon–”

“–ard from Lysette?” Two conversations overlapped and collided in midstream as the Slayerettes bumped into Harmony and her gang. 

Buffy and Cordelia narrowed their eyes as they regarded the four other girls.  “Harmony,” Cordelia said frostily.  Then almost as an afterthought she murmured, “Oh, hello, Francesca, Aura, Lishanne.”

Surprisingly, Harmony smiled brightly at the Warrior Princess for one brief moment.  “Cordelia,” she whispered.  Then, she seemed to catch herself and a haughty expression clouded over her lovely face.  “Oh, hello, Cordelia, Rosenberg...Summers.”

The witch and the Slayer nodded in response.  The two groups regarded each other awkwardly for several moments before Aura broke the silence.  “So...Cordy...are you going to go to Southern Cal with me or to Columbia?”

Cordelia shook her head.  “Actually, Aura, I’m going to UC Sunnydale.  I got a full scholarship there.”

“Wow,” Harmony said breathlessly, “that’s great, Cordy!  I’m glad that thing with your mom didn’t stop you from going to college.”

At first Cordelia thought about going medieval on Harmony until she realized that her words were genuine.  Somewhat taken aback, she said, “Er...thanks, Harm.  How about you?”

Harmony smiled.  “Francesca and I are going to Stanford and Lishanne’s attending Miami.  And you remember Ambrosia and Lysette, right?”

Cordy cocked a wry eyebrow at that.  “How could I forget?”

“Well, Ambrosia’s going to University of Texas and Lysette is heading back east with Lishanne, except she’s going to George Washington University.”

“That’s nice.  How come they’re not hanging with you guys right now?”

“Well, Ambrosia’s off to Toronto with her parents for some conference her Dad is attending but I’m not sure what the deal is with Torch.  She was supposed to call me today but I haven’t heard from her.”

“So, Rosenberg, Summers,” Aura asked, “where are you guys going this fall?”

“Oh, we’re staying here and attending UC Sunnydale with Cordy,” Buffy said.

Aura chuckled.  “Unlike Cordy, I suppose you guys couldn’t get into a “real” college.”

Cordelia’s eyes narrowed at her former friend.  “Actually, Buffy got accepted by Northwestern University.”

With a sly smile, Buffy added, “But that doesn’t even compare to the places Willow could have gone.  Lay it on ‘em, Will.”

The red head smiled cheekily at the popular cliche and said in an excited, husky voice, “I was accepted by MIT, Yale, and Oxford, you know, the place where they make Gileses…”

The Harmonettes regarded the Slayerettes with wide eyes.  Lishanne sputtered, “then why in the Hell would you stay in this godforsaken town?”

“Well,” Buffy explained, “I’d rather have the California sunshine than the Illinois winters.  But what is more important, we’ve got men here in Sunnydale that we wanted to be with.  We did it to be with our friends, girls.  At least we’ll *have* our friends with us.  All of you can’t get away from one another fast enough.”  Then she flashed her patented thousand watt grin at the Harmonettes.  “Now, if you’ll excuse us...” she drawled as she, Willow and Cordelia waded through the other girls.

Just before the Slayerettes parted company with the Harmonettes, Harmony said, “Cordy!”

The Warrior Princess turned and regarded her former friend warily.  “Yeah?”

“I’m happy for you...really.”

Cordelia smiled warmly at the blonde girl.  “Thanks, Harm.  Catch you later,” she said as she and her two friends strolled away. 

For almost a full minute everyone except for the leader of Harmony’s group could do nothing more than glare at the backs of the Slayerettes, while Harmony pensively watched the retreating figure of her beautiful former friend leaving her behind once again.  Then, remembering that she had to leave the past behind, Harmony’s face suddenly brightened.  “Who’s up for a unicorn run to the arts and craft store and then Old Navy?”

*****

Kendall Residence

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2144 P.S.T.

Her body still tingled from the hot shower as Harmony finished moisturizing her skin.  She reached for her sports bra and panty set and put them on so she could try on some of the outfits she had bought earlier in the day.  Just as she reached for a cute pants suit ensemble she’d purchased at the Limited™, she heard the chimes of her doorbell play the opening bars of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“Tommy!” she called out to her little brother and then remembered that he was out at a movie with some friends.  “Damn it,” she muttered.  Sighing to herself, Harmony grabbed her terrycloth bathrobe, threw it on, and bounced downstairs to answer the door.  As she approached it, she spied her cat, Buttons, stretched out on the couch.  “You better get off of there before Dad and Mom get home, sweetums,” she cooed as she idly stroked her cat’s chin.  When the doorbell rang again, Harmony left her cat and crossed over to the foyer.  When she peeked through the peephole, the blonde spied Lysette Torchio standing on the other side of the door.

Harmony flung the door wide open and Lysette smiled warmly at her.  “Hey, Blondie.  How’s it hanging?”

“Hey, Torch.  Where the heck were you this afternoon?  You totally missed out on our shopping binge!”

“Oh, I was out late last night,” the other girl answered with a coquettish smile.  “I met this guy who was SO hot!”

Harmony’s eyes brightened.  “Well, don’t just stand there, girlfriend!  Get in here and dish the dirt!”

Lysette’s smile grew even wider as she strode across the threshold of Harmony’s front door.  Then just as the blonde turned to close the door, Lysette wrapped an impossibly strong hand around Harmony’s throat and forced the blonde to face her. 

Harmony didn’t have even enough time to struggle as Lysette lifted her off her feet using only a single hand.  However, when she saw that her friend now possessed a face filled with craggy ridges and sickly golden eyes, Harmony couldn’t even summon the will to resist.  “Oh my God. . . oh my God,” she croaked.

“No use calling for divine intervention, Kendall.  God can’t help you now.”  Then Lysette shifted her around like a rag doll and out of the corner of her eye she saw a group of things with faces just like Lysette’s standing in front of her doorway.  Then the creature that had been her friend licked its lips and purred, “Invite them in.”

Harmony tried to swallow against the viselike grip around her throat.  I’m going to die, she thought.  They’re going to kill me.  Yeah, she was toast but she wasn’t going to make it easy for them.  Gritting her teeth, she narrowed her eyes at Lysette.  “No.  No way!” she wheezed.

With a wicked grin, Lysette reached for Harmony’s wrist and drawled, “I was hopin’ you’d say that!  I guess we’ll just have to do this the hard way, Blondie.”

Even Lysette’s preternaturally strong hand around the blonde’s throat was unable to completely silence Harmony’s screams.

*****

Sandoval Drive

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2311 P.S.T.

“Walking home was a lovely idea, Zev.  It’s so beautiful with all the stars out tonight.”

The Reudian snorted.  “Compared to you, Joyce, the heavens themselves are vastly overrated.”

Joyce Summers smiled warmly at her companion.  “Why Mr. Mundac, I do declare,” she purred in a passable southern belle’s accent, “you certainly do make a girl’s head swim with such notions!”  Zev chuckled at that and Joyce reached up with her right hand to gently caress his left cheek.  “Thank you for dinner, Zev.  I had a wonderful time.”

“As did I.  Would you like to have dinner again this weekend?”

 “I think I’d like that.”

  “Of course,” Zev Mundac drawled, “whether or not we ever have the opportunity for another date is dependent on several factors beyond our control.”

 Frowning warily, she asked, “Such as?”

 “If,” he said, ticking off his reasons on his fingers, “Buffy hasn't killed me for dating her mother and Faith hasn't driven you insane fishing for juicy details about the two of us.”

 The Slayers’ mother regarded him with a smirk.  “As for Buffy, I can handle her.  She still squirms when she hears my ‘mom’ tone of voice.  As for Faith, well, there haven’t been any ‘juicy’ details to tell her...”  Joyce glanced shyly down at the ground for a moment, then peered up to meet his questioning gaze with a sensuous smile on her face. “Until now,” she whispered as she drew his face down to hers. 

Joyce brushed her lips against the Reudian’s and teased them open with the tip of her tongue.  He responded immediately, meeting hers with his own as they shared a carnal and languid soul kiss.  As Joyce's tongue teased and dueled with Zev's, the alien’s left hand roughly drew the Terran woman against his body.  As they continued their impassioned embrace, Joyce opened her eyes, stared into his, and shivered from the fire that passed between them.  She moaned and pressed herself against him.  She desired him, needed to be as close to him as his own skin–she couldn’t get enough of the man.  As she reveled in his response to her, he dragged his lips away from hers and clamped them onto the pulse point of Joyce’s swanlike neck.  When she groaned in ecstacy from the things he began to do to her, a scream in the distance startled the new lovers from their torrid embrace. 

*****

On the second scream, Zev grabbed Joyce’s hand and charged toward it.  “Come on, Joyce!”  The pair dashed down the sidewalk until they saw a girl that looked around Buffy’s age standing in the doorway of a well-heeled home screaming her head off.  Zev and Joyce raced onto the porch and Zev yelled over the girl’s screaming, “Miss!  Miss!  Are you injured?  Is something wrong?” 

“Ohmigod!  Ohmigod!  They’re dead!  They’re dead!”

“Dead?” he parroted woodenly.  Zev slowly turned to peer inside the doorway.  His jaw muscles became as taut as a bowstring when he spied what appeared to be the bloody remains of a man’s hand and forearm lying on the floor where a sidewall met the foyer hallway.  He looked away from the grisly scene back to the girl who was now shaking her head side to side, apparently trying to deny the horror she’d witnessed. “Girl...girl!” he snapped.  At that, she stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.  “What’s your name?”  When she appeared to be unable to recall that simple fact, he shook her gently and snapped, “Your name!”

“Aura,” she whimpered.

“Aura...do you know the people who live here?”

Aura nodded sullenly.  “The Kendalls.” 

“Aura, you stay with my friend, Joyce, all right.”  Then he turned to the Slayers’ mother and said, “Take care of her.” 

As Joyce hustled Aura out of the Kendall home, Zev entered the house.  He strode toward the appendage on the floor and when he reached the threshold between the foyer and the living room, he was able to see the entire room.  In the middle of the room the torso of the man whose arm he had seen from the doorway lay on its back with the rest of his appendages scattered helter-skelter around the room.  Nearby the body of an attractive middle-aged woman was on the floor.  One of her forearms stood straight up like a frozen stalk of wheat, while blood, purple against the ivory carpet, pooled beneath her corpse.  Although her injuries were severe and her clothing torn away from areas that clearly demonstrated the extent of violation she suffered before dying, the woman’s face was unscathed and angelic as her eyes stared up toward the ceiling.  As he turned away from the dead woman, Zev spied what appeared to be the body of a young boy jack-knifed across the back of the couch.  Blood had poured down the cushions from the apparent wounds on his neck and the claw-marks on his bare buttocks.

The bone-weary alien reached for a dial on his watch and flicked a button.  The device emitted a small ball of energy that hovered in the air, then grew until it rivaled the dimensions of a baseball. The energy ball zipped to and fro for a full minute, taking in every room of the house and all the details of the murder scene before it returned to its master.

The Reudian regarded the scene one last time before he turned to leave.  As he drew his cell phone to call the police, his skin began to redden from the emotions that he struggled to keep in check.

After he had placed a call to both the police and the Wanderer, Zev stepped out onto the front porch.  When he appeared, Joyce flashed a relieved smile at him and reached out with her left hand.  A grateful Zev took it and gently kissed her forehead. 

“Zev...I only caught a glimpse.  Was it...was it really–”

“Joyce...remember how, even after you found out they weren't real, the images of those two children you’d thought had been murdered stayed with you always?”

“Yes.”

“Then you don't want to know what that room looked like.  Not now, not ever.  If you knew, I’m afraid you’d carry that nightmarish image to your grave."

“Oh dear Lord,” she muttered, then wrapped her arms around him, gracing him with her comfort.  “How can you stand it?”

“I've seen worse, on a global scale, twenty times over. But it doesn't make it any easier.”

“Who could do something this horrible, Zev?”

“I'll find out.  And Jurden help them when I do because they’re going to die badly.”

*****

An hour later, Zev had finished going over his story with the police for the third time when he saw two whirlwinds, one blonde, the other brunette, rapidly approaching him from over the detective’s shoulder.  “Excuse me, Detective Winslow,” he murmured as he stepped out to head off the Immortal and Dark Slayers.

“Mundac!” Buffy snapped, “You are SO dead!”

He cocked a wry eyebrow at the little blonde.  “Well, hello, Buffy...Faith.  So nice of you both to join us here this evening.”

“Shut up!” she ordered.  “You’re not sneaking your snooty butt out of this one, Zev.”

“Yeah, Z,” Faith drawled, “what B said.  So why don’t you just take your ass-whupping like a good little E.T., ‘kay?”

Unimpressed, Zev asked, “And why, pray tell, am I scheduled for a dismantling at the hands of a pair of Vampire Slayers?”

“Because you dragged our mother into a potentially dangerous situation where she could have been hurt or killed, you moron!” Buffy said sharply.

At that, the omnipresent smirk on his face skittered away.  Zev blinked a few times and said nothing, trying to absorb the gravity of what she’d just said.  After several moments, the proud alien sighed in defeat.  “Although I loathe admitting this, Summers, you’re absolutely right.  It was unthinkable for me to do so and I hope that both you and she will forgive me.” 

“Wow!” Faith drawled, “this sure is a Kodak™ moment, hearing Space Boy actually own up to screwing the pooch for once.”

“Girls!”  

Buffy and Faith whirled toward their mother’s voice and sprang to engulf her in a loving group hug.  In return, Joyce fiercely held onto both girls.

“Oh, Mom...” Buffy whispered, her voice nearly cracking.

“Hush, babies, hush.  I’m fine.  Zev took good care of me.  See?  Not a scratch!”  

“Then I guess he’s off the hook for the moment, eh, B?”

Buffy pulled back a bit as her face clouded over.  “I’ll get back to you on that.”

By this time, Steven St. Wolf joined the reunited Slayer family and the Reudian.  “Well,” the Wanderer said, “I was able to pull some strings and get Detective Winslow to fill me in,” he indicated a tall, handsome black woman with a nod, “and here’s what she’s pieced together; someone broke in and murdered Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, their fourteen-year-old son, and the family cat.  Aura, who lives a few houses down the block, happened by and noticed the Kendall’s front door was wide open at this time of night.  When she checked it out, she discovered the carnage.  Unfortunately, this thing gets worse.  There was an almost identical multiple murder of the Torchio family earlier this evening not that far from here.”

"You’re saying there was another massacre in Sunnydale?” Joyce screeched.  “And no one thought to inform us about it?"

Steve shrugged.  "The police were trying to keep it quiet for public safety–"

“Oh, yes,” Zev interrupted with a smirk.  “Heaven forfends that the authorities should warn people about mass murderers on the streets.  Ignorance isn't bliss in this Jurden-forsaken place,” he scoffed, “it's suicide!"

“Steve,” Buffy asked, “what about Harmony?  Did they find... her in the house?”

“No,” he replied.  “Detective Winslow believes they found evidence supporting that she had been here but that she was taken unawares before the others came home and spirited away after the rest of the family was murdered.”

“Then she might still be alive?” Joyce asked.

“Maybe.  But these people were killed slowly.  If they kept her alive for a reason...God help her.”  The group grew silent for a moment, then Steve’s eyes narrowed.  “Buffy, call in the team.  Tell ‘em we’re on the clock as of this moment.  Zev, if you don’t mind, we’d appreciate the help–”

The Reudian waved him off.  “Say no more, Steven.  I want to help track down these animals both to help this girl and for ruining my dinner date with Joyce.”

“Thanks,” Steve said.  “Faith, escort Joyce home and meet us back at my house.”

“And Faith,” the Immortal Slayer added, “make sure that Dawn knows she better not set foot outside the house tonight, got it?”

The Dark Slayer nodded as the quintet turned to leave the scene.  “No problemo, Boss Man...Buff.  B‘sides, it’ll give me a chance to grill Den Mom here about that wicked hickey on the side of her neck...”

Buffy stopped short at that.  “What?!” she snapped, then shot a killing look at the alien.  “You gave my moth-er...”she drew the word out dangerously, “a hickey?!?”

While the Reudian cringed under the Immortal Slayer’s glower, Faith wrapped her right arm around Joyce and led the bemused Slayer Mom away from the scene of the Immortal Slayer’s impending thermonuclear explosion with a spring in her step and a Cheshire Cat grin on her face.

“Sometimes,” she purred, “it’s just too easy.”

*****

Darkened Mansion

Pimlico Avenue

Ventura County/Sunnydale City Limits

28 July 1999, 2315 P.S.T.

A scent, both rancid and sickly sweet, assaulted her as the vampires dragged her into the dimly-lit room.  After the horror she’d witnessed in her home and the powerful blows to her head, Harmony was ready to surrender to the hopelessness of her situation and lose consciousness.  In fact, she probably would have collapsed if the vampires hadn’t been there to keep her standing.  With her right hand, she cradled her swollen left wrist along with the left hand and its crooked fingers.  As she winced both from a flare of pain she felt from a bruise on her chin and the throbbing around her left eye, the whimpering girl’s ears perked up when she heard Lysette say, “Master, I have returned with the virgin!”

A gravelly voice from the murky darkness drawled, “Impressive, little demon.  Your performance almost makes me regret destroying your sire for disobeying me and turning you without my permission.”

Harmony could hear the sneer in Lysette’s voice.  “No need for regrets, Master; he was a loser anyway.  Now that I serve you, you don’t need him.  I will never fail you.”  Then the thing that had been Harmony’s friend glanced at the blonde.  “What do you want me to do with her?”

“Place the human in the dungeon and prepare her for the sacrifice.”

At that moment, a wide-eyed Harmony began to scream.  Immediately, Lysette grabbed her by the hair, leaned in close, and displayed the ridged face that would haunt Harmony for the rest of her life.

“Shut up, Kendall!  Or I’ll finish what I started, you stupid cow!”

“Please, Lysette.  No more.  We’re friends–”

Lysette spat, cutting her off.  “Friends?  Who in the Hell would want to be friends with a worthless sheep like you?”

Narrowing her eyes, Harmony growled.  “I am NOT a sheep!”

Lysette regarded Harmony with an evil smile on her face just before she reached down to break another finger on the blonde’s left hand.  Harmony screamed, dropped to her knees, and began to sob as Lysette stood over her, sneering.  “When you’re right, you’re right, Kendall.  Calling you a ‘sheep’ or a ‘cow’ is an insult to livestock everywhere.  You’re more like a worm...a fucking, pathetic worm.”  Then, the female vampire whirled to face her minions and roared, “Get her out of here!”

Immediately, the other vampires dragged the sobbing girl onto her feet and started toward the stairs leading down to the basement.

*****

317 Brant Terrace

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2331 P.S.T.

“Harris, the level of your torpidity truly astounds me at times,” Zev observed incredulously. “You determined this dastardly deed has to be the work of vampires and demons solely because it happened on the Hellmouth?” 

The alien shook his head as he regarded the Slayerette team comprised of Giles, Jenny, Willow, Oz, Steve, Buffy, Cordelia, Xander, Larry, Shaw, Robin, Liam, Amy, Spike and Drusilla.  “I’ve seen mundane entities do things that put this incident to shame.  For instance, that lovely German political party of yours in the 30’s and 40's readily comes to mind.”

“Whatever, Z-man.  I’m just saying such mindless mayhem is par for the course when you think about whom they snagged here.”

An exasperated Zev sighed.  “As usual, I’m not following you, Harris.”

A puzzled-looking Cordelia asked, “Yeah, I’m kinda lost, too.  What do you mean by that?”

Xander chortled.  “Well, compared to Harmony and her pals,  vampires or demons are the only things that are dim enough to kidnap and attempt to turn her.”

A smirking Willow nodded.  “I mean, can you imagine HARMONY as a vampire?

Buffy snickered.  “No.  She’d die if she had to go through unlife without a reflection.”

The laughs of the three original Scooby Gang members died a quick death at the grim-looking visages they saw on the older people’s faces and the downright hostile look on Cordy’s.

“What the Hell is the matter with you people?” Cordelia snapped.

“Although it pains me to agree with Chase here,” the Reudian began, “sadly I must.  Let us review, shall we?  This poor girl was taken from her home after she probably saw her entire family murdered right before her eyes.  She has been abducted for Jurden knows what purpose and is most certainly in grave danger at this very moment.  Yet the best you can do while this girl is probably suffering unimaginable cruelty and torture is to stand here and insult her intelligence?”  He paused for a moment and regarded the trio with thinly disguised revulsion.  “I see that your race hasn’t come so far from those who helped that German political party sixty years ago.”

While Buffy had the good sense to look ashamed, Willow said in a small voice, “I guess after the way Harmony treated Xander and me and a lot of other kids all those years from elementary school through high school, we couldn’t help but feel like there’s some cosmic justice to this.”

"Rosenberg,” Zev said, “I think you're pushing the limits of good taste, even for you lot."

An angry-looking Giles clucked as he whipped off his glasses and began polishing the lenses furiously.  “I must agree with Zev on this.  While I found both Lysette and Harmony a bit insipid and annoying at times, they are still human beings and do not deserve such a lack of kindness."

“Look,” Xander pleaded, “it's just that after all they've done, for us to just go and help them like they're--"

"What?” Drusilla offered, cutting him off.  “Helpless and in need?"

“I just wish they were more worth it," Xander muttered.

A misty-eyed Cordy regarded her lover with a stunned look.  “A year ago, if something like this had happened to me, would you guys have said the same things?”

At that, Xander regarded his soul mate with a horrified look.  “Honey...how could you say that?  I’d never...I’ve always...” but his voice trailed off as he appeared to finally consider how his earlier words must have sounded to her.

At that moment, Steve said, "Buffy...you yourself have told me how you weren't all that different from Harmony before you were Called."

“Well, yeah, okay, but..."

"Oh, Steven,” Zev drawled, “I’m certain you could do much better than that!  At the very least, endeavor to match Chase’s indication just how low her paramour has sunk.  It’s such a kick seeing you and the Amazon act so...Reudian."

"Zev,” St. Wolf snapped in mock exasperation, “no need to be so insulting."

Then the Dark Gypsy spoke.  "I think you're all forgetting what happened to their families.  Whatever you may think of Harmony and Lysette, their families didn't deserve such ugly deaths."

"Hey,” Amy offered as Faith strolled into the room from the foyer.  “We're sorry too. But we've all seen nasty."

"Really?" Zev asked.

"Really," Amy said.

"We all have, Zev Mundac," Shaw agreed.

The Reudian sighed.  “I wasn't going to do this. But I suppose if it's the only way to get you all to treat this situation with the proper modicum of concern, well...” 

Then, he reached for his watch, pressed the button, and recalled the energy sphere.  At his whispered command of ‘recall,’ the sphere began to pulsate and flashed everyone in the room with all that it had recorded in the Kendall house.  Finally, when it finished pulsating, the sphere reentered the face of his watch and left the room’s occupants to absorb the disturbing images.

"You know...” the laconic Oz whispered, “I kind of wish he'd shown us what Roz did to all of those worlds again rather than...that."

*****

Several seconds after the energy sphere had returned to the Reudian, Cordelia, Spike, and Shaw, all wearing grim faces, immediately started for the front door.  Steve called to them to stop, but they weren’t listening.

Only Jenny, who stood near the door and moved with the speed and grace of the Amazon High Priestess, was able to delay them for a brief moment.  “Wait!  Where are you going?”

“To Willy’s,” Cordelia growled.  “He’s bound to know something.”

“Bitchin’!” Faith drawled.  “I’ll come with.  You know how I just love to beat the info outta him.”

Cordelia glanced at the Dark Slayer and nodded her agreement.  As Faith crossed the room to Cordelia’s side, Xander started forward.  “Xander!” Cordy snapped as she held up her hand to stop him in his tracks like a shot.  “It’s not a good idea for you to be with me right now.  Just stay here, all right?”

As a stunned Xander regarded his lover like a deer caught in the headlights of a rapidly approaching eighteen-wheeler, Steve put up his hands in an attempt to calm everyone down.  “Now, wait just one damn minute!  I don’t think...”

“I don’t give a damn what you think, Wanderer!” Spike snapped.  “The bloody bastard who did this is going down.  Count on it!”

“Spike,” Jenny began, trying to soothe him, “we know it was bad–”

Spike whirled on her, in game face, cutting her off.  “No, ducks!  This wasn’t bad.  What I did to people before I got my soul back was bad.  What Angelus did to your little ancestor was bad.”  As he seemed to calm down a bit, the peroxide blond vampire’s face changed back to its human visage as he continued.  “Jenny, I might have been a sadistic son of a bitch, but I swear to you, to God, Arty, or whatever bloody All Powerful Bloke or Bird you damn well want me to, even MY demon had its bloody limits!  Even the DEMON in me never violated a kid!  I’m going down to Willy’s and I’m going to bloody well beat the shit out of that little weasel until he gives me what I want!”

“And if William does not succeed,” Shaw added as Faith, Spike, and Cordelia strode into the foyer, then her face appeared to shift into a vampire’s game face by the use of her glamour powers, “wait until they get a load of me!”

When Shaw turned to leave with the others, Buffy whispered into Willow’s ear, “I think someone’s watched Batman one too many times.”

*****

Darkened Mansion

Pimlico Avenue

Ventura County/Sunnydale City Limits

28 July 1999, 2335 P.S.T.

“Strip her,” Lysette purred.

Harmony whimpered and struggled against the cold, preternaturally strong hands that held her immobile.  Then Lysette drawled, “Kendall, Kendall, Kendall!” and with mocking gentleness gripped Harmony’s chin.  “Calm down...okay?  Just take a look around.  Does this place look like we mean to hurt you in any way?”

Swallowing her fear, the girl did as Lysette suggested.  The ‘dungeon’ didn’t match the dingy, dank places Harmony had seen in those movies set in the Middle Ages.  No, the well-lit room probably had appeal for those, shall we say, with special tastes.  As the vamps started to rip her robe and nightie, Lysette strutted over to an equipment rack and returned, carrying a long piece of wood shaped like a corkscrew.  “You know, Harm, considering what’s gonna happen to you, I could help you out by making you a woman now.  All I’d have to do is lather this sucker up and do you.”  Then she regarded the terrified girl with a lascivious smile.  “Might even take your mind off of the broken wrist.  So what do you say, baby?” she cooed.  “Want Torch to make it all better?”

A wide-eyed and stunned Harmony actually found Lysette’s attempted seduction even more frightening than the earlier violence.  No, her mind screamed, the only person who’d she’d ever wanted to touch her in that way was now forever lost to her.  In an attempt to escape her current nightmare, in her mind’s eye, Harmony lost herself to the brilliant white teeth, chocolate brown eyes, and dark, silky hair of the beautiful angel who visited her in the blonde’s winsome, midsummer night dreams.  However, when one of the vamps palmed her left breast, it shocked Harmony out of her stupor. 

Launching forward, the blonde kneed the male in its groin, causing him to stagger into Lysette and sending the two to the ground.  Then, as she heard a growl behind her, Harmony whirled to find the only vampire standing in the room stalking her in its game face.  As she crept backward away from the approaching beast, the girl tripped over Lysette’s leg and fell on her butt, hard.  That’s when the thing pounced on her. 

Reacting on instinct, she flailed around for something...anything to use as a weapon to defend herself.  She grabbed the wooden device Lysette had just showed her seconds earlier and held it above her chest in a desperate attempt to keep the vampire from springing on top of her.  A second later, Harmony was astounded when the minion impaled itself on the device and exploded into dust.  After that, she saw her opening, scrambled up from the floor and sprinted toward the door leading to the stairs.  Unfortunately, Lysette’s hand flashed out and snared her ankle, tripping the battered young beauty. 

“Nice try, Harm,” the vampire bitch said with a snarl, “but playtime’s over!”  Harmony barely saw Lysette’s foot flash toward her head.

Then she saw nothing at all.

317 Brant Terrace

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2340 P.S.T.

"I've got something,” Zev said, “and I guarantee you won't like it."

"Coming from you, that's a given," Xander grumbled.

In response the Reudian rolled his eyes and shot an exasperated look at the tall and lanky teen.  "Oh do shut up, Harris!  Now, I’ve found a record of a credit card purchase made by a Lysette Torchio earlier this evening."

"Smart,” the Wanderer observed.  “They're using her card to cut down on their expenses."

"Steven...it's worse than that.  Ms. Torchio’s card is one of those that have a photograph on it."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, this doesn't make sense,” Amy said.  “What...did the demons just grab her and drag her to this store and make her buy things? I don't get it."

"Sadly, I do.”  Zev sighed.  “She's dead."

"But they never found--"

The Reudian interrupted the little red witch.  “They never found a body, Rosenberg.  That doesn't mean she's alive."

"Oh my god!” Buffy said with a gasp.  “Willow...didn't Harmony say something about Lysette not being around this morning?"

"She was--Oh, Goddess, that means..."

"Now we know how the vamps got in,” St. Wolf said.  “Even Harmony wouldn't be foolish enough to invite a pack of strangers inside her home. So, Lysette came, Harmony invited her inside, then she either tricked Harmony into inviting the others in or..."

"Or snapped bones until she did."

As the rest of the people in the room glared at the alien, Steve drawled, "Tactful as ever, Zev."

Nonplused, the Reudian said, "There's...something more. I accessed the coroner reports on the Torchio family. The daughter...eight years old, had her throat slashed as well as several gouges along her body and in her...private areas...apparently caused by a female hand.  Inside the vaginal area, the coroner found a Lee Press-on nail, pink color."

Willow sputtered, "That...that was Lysette's favorite–omigod!  Oh God, no!"

A somber Xander could barely swallow the lump he now found lodged in his throat as tears poured from Willow’s eyes.  “I’d better call Cordy...she needs to know.”

A visibly shaken Giles fell sullenly onto a nearby couch while Jenny dropped down beside him and hugged him tenderly.  "Dear God...her own sister?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, and with you lot, I use those terms loosely, even for vampires we are dealing with sick minds. So it's time, as you say, to go medieval on someone’s ass!"

Willy’s Alibi Room

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2338 P.S.T.

As Willy’s head was pressed hard against the surface of his bar, the tavern owner noted wistfully that it really needed a good polishing.

It had all happened so quickly he hadn’t even seen it coming.  One second, he was polishing some glasses and placing them in the rack over his head.  The next, he was kissing wood. “Slayer?” he grunted.  After all, in this burg, it was a safe assumption.

“‘Fraid not,” said a feminine voice, cold and hard.

Willy shuddered and winced as strong hands wrenched his face off the counter and whirled him around, slamming the small of his back against the unyielding edge of his bar top.  Sweat dripped down his forehead when he saw the dark, gorgeous, and lethal eyes that regarded him without a trace of mercy.  Holy shit, his mind screamed.  It’s Chase!  What the fuck does that Hell Bitch want from me?

"Hi ya, Chase!  What’s cooking?” he asked, making sure he did nothing to cause her to think he was being anything but respectful.  Then he saw the brunette Slayer standing alongside the former cheerleader.  “Slayer!” he exclaimed brightly.  “To what do I ow–”

The snitch didn’t even have the opportunity to finish his sentence because his windpipe was throttled by the immensely powerful right hand of the New Amazon’s Warrior Princess.  Then, as she held him suspended off the floor without even so much of a twitch of the muscles of her powerful right arm, Cordelia said in a quiet, deadly voice, “All right, Lame-o...listen carefully because I’ll get really cranky if I have to repeat myself.  The Torchio and Kendall families were butchered earlier this evening.  Some vamps did it.  I want them.” 

A wild-eyed Willy simply nodded.

“I hear they turned my friend, Lysette, and also took my friend, Harmony Kendall.  I want her.  Are you with me so far?”

A wild-eyed Willy slowly nodded.

“Good.  Now I want YOU to spill your guts like never before.  Tell me everything I could possibly want to know about who might have taken her.”

A wild-eyed Willy fervently nodded. 

“Now, if I get everything I want tonight, you just might avoid going through what’s left of your miserable life drinking your dinner through a straw.  Now did you get all of that, or do I have to repeat myself?”

A wild-eyed Willy furiously shook his head. 

“Smart boy!” she cooed.  Then she set him down gently on the floor, released his throat, and regarded him with the smile of a cat toying with a mouse.  “Now...talk to me.”

Minutes later, Cordelia had to bitch-slap him just to make him shut up long enough for her and her companions to begin the hunt for her prey.

*****

In spite of himself, Spike was truly impressed by Cordelia’s skill at scaring the living daylights out of the snitch.  Then, while lighting a cigarette and sauntering behind the three women as they strode away from Willy’s bar, a harsh voice called out to him from the darkness of a nearby alley. 

"Spike, what the Hell is the matter with you?  Why are you hanging with the hunters?"

In response, the platinum blond, souled vampire swung around and strutted toward the voice.  He was able to make out the form of a veteran vampire accompanied by his crew along with a smattering of lesser demons.  In response, William switched on his “bad-ass” persona and said with a sneer, “Well, it’s like this, mate.  This one vamp, newbie, just got made last night and killed her family."

One demon shrugged.  “So?  That's pretty much what you all do, isn’t it?"

"Well...yeah, to feed because when you’re first turned the hunger controls you.  However, we don’t ravage, claw, and damn near rape our own kid sisters just to get off on it. As for what she and her buddies did at the Kendall house, especially to a fourteen-year-old kid------"

"Wait a minute,” the lead vamp said.  “These assholes wasted two kids?"

"Let me clear things up for you, Chuckles.  Wasting would be just biting them or snapping their necks. No, this bitch and her friends cut, slashed, maimed and damn near raped both of these kids. Now, I don't think I have to tell all of you how that reflects on us. People already think we're animals, we don't need them reinforcing it. I don't expect all of you to step forward but I think there's enough of you here to know how much trouble this kind of thing can bring us and will pitch in a bit to get these bastards taken out for the good of us all. Thank you for your time."

"And,” Faith added as she narrowed her eyes at the group of demons, “if that doesn't convince you, let me put it to ya this way.  He's Spike.  William-the-Bloody, himself. I'm the Slayer, the Boogeyman that scares the Hell out of you creeps.”  Nodding to Shaw, she continued, “She's the Hunter.  THE Hunter.  Waiting for us are THE Wanderer and the OTHER Slayer.  Now, think about this very carefully.  William the Bloody, the Slayers, the Hunter, and the Wanderer are teaming UP to waste these sick fucks.  If that doesn't tell you what kind of scum we're dealing with, then think Westley Allan Dodd with fangs."

In response, the group of demons grumbled their understanding, muttering something about seeing what they could dig up as they melted into the night.  When they were gone, Cordelia raised a wry eyebrow at the Slayer. 

“Not what I’d call a Spartacus moment.”

Faith shrugged and graced Cordy with a quirky smile.  “Yeah, but it’ll do.”

Just then, they heard a squeaky voice say, “Chase!”

The group whirled to find Willy standing at the entrance to the alleyway.

“I think I’ve got something for you...but you ain’t gonna like it.”

*****

Darkened Mansion

Pimlico Avenue

Ventura County/Sunnydale City Limits

28 July 1999, 2344 P.S.T.

She groaned at the lights that assaulted her eyes as she regained consciousness from what had to have been a horrible nightmare.  Then, when she tried to rise, Harmony found she couldn’t move.  Confused and frightened, her eyes popped open.  She swivelled her head from side-to-side and discovered that she was spread out, totally naked, on a padded X-frame, with straps buckled around her wrists, elbows, biceps, waist, legs, both above and below her knees, and her ankles.  She almost began to scream until she finally noticed the hulking form of the demon that her former friend, Lysette, was working for. 

The demon chuckled and drew a craggy finger gently down her cheek.  “Hello, my pretty,” he drawled.  “So nice of you to wake up just before the main event.”

Harmony blinked several times at that.  That certainly didn’t sound like a good thing.  “What...what are you going to do to me?”

“Oh, nothing much,” he said with a shrug.  “We’re just going to take your virginity and offer both it and you to appease a major demon.”  Then he smiled wickedly at her.  “You see,” the demon explained in a light conversational tone to the sobbing girl, “I need you because you can provide the two critical ingredients; the blood of a virgin, which, I’m sad to say, is a rare thing these days and the sacrificial victim who must be unique; a woman of age who loses her maidenhood to a demon, who, I am happy to say, happens to be...me.”

At that moment, Harmony stopped sobbing and cocked a wry eyebrow at the fiend.  “Wait a sec...hold the phone.  Are you saying...me and...you?”

The demon nodded.  “Yes...that’s what I’m saying.”

Harmony screwed her face up like she had tasted the tartest lemon in the world.  “Ewwwwwwwwwwww!  Over my dead body, asshole!”

“Over your dead body?”  The demon seemed mortified by the idea.  “I don’t think so, young lady.”  Then in a low voice, he hissed, “You see, you little bitch, you’d be amazed at how much abuse the human body can actually suffer and survive!”  Then, he turned toward Lysette and commanded, “Do whatever you have to do to collect her blood, but make certain you do not kill her.  And keep her awake so she can experience the whole ordeal.  Remember, she must survive long enough to fulfill the requirements of the sacrifice.”

Lysette smiled.  “Right, boss.  Just remember, I solved your problem by getting you a two-for-one deal on the ingredients.”

The demon nodded and returned the vampiress’s smile with a grin.  “I remember well, little demon.  Be assured, when we raise Aeurelius, you shall be rewarded with more power than you could possibly imagine.”

*****

317 Brant Terrace

Sunnydale, California

28 July 1999, 2355 P.S.T.

“Bloody Hell!”

The gang all turned to regard Spike and his companions as they entered the living room.  “They’re going to raise Aeurelius.  They’re going to bloody raise bloody Aeurelius.”

Although Drusilla gasped and Giles became almost as pale as the ensouled vampires, the faces of all the other people in the room clearly expressed their confusion.  “Excuse me,” Buffy asked, “but who’s Aeurelius?”

Giles answered the Slayer.  “Buffy, the Master was the head of the Order of Aeurelius.  Aeurelius was one of the most powerful Old Ones in existence.”

“I’ve never heard of him,” Steve said.

“In most books he’s called Chthon,” Spike noted.

At that moment, both Steve and Jenny grew as pale as Giles.

“How exactly powerful is this Chthon?” Zev asked.

Giles responded by whipping off his glasses and furiously polishing their lenses.  “Well, compared to most of the established Powers, his level rivals that of the Egyptian god, Set.”

Zev snorted.  “Mr. Giles, please provide us with an example that WE would recognize.”

“Zev,” Jenny said, “Chthon would be an even match for the head of any Pantheon.  Think Zeus...Odin...Ra...Vishnu.”

At that it seemed like all the air rushed out of the room. “Holy shit,” whispered Xander, “if that sucker comes to play, I move we get the Hell outta Dodge!”

A sick looking Willow languidly raised her hand.  “I second that motion...”

Ignoring the two childhood friends’ gallows humor, Steve asked, "If Aeurelius arises, how bad can it get?"

Goodfellow shuddered.  "Imagine a love child of Kahn and Tiamat mixed with what the Mayor had hoped to become."

As everyone in the room grimaced at that image, Steve whispered, “That bad, eh?”

“No,” Robin added, “a hundred times worse."

Zev shook his head and noted, “And people say I’m overly dramatic."

*****

The eerie silence that permeated Casa St. Wolf made even Zev Mundac uncomfortable.  The usual prattle and joviality was gone as several of the Section Seven members worked tirelessly on various tasks to help them find Harmony and deal with those who’d taken her.  As he sighed and turned back to his computer, the machine beeped, indicating that it had completed its search.  “Steven,” Zev called out.  St. Wolf, Summers, and Chase immediately walked over to him to stand behind the seated alien.  “I’ve found that two anonymous buyers have purchased two homes in Sunnydale during the past few days.  The problem is that they’re at opposite ends of the city.”

St. Wolf grimaced.  “That’s not good.  I don’t like that we have to split our forces against an enemy we’re likely to face.” 

Cordelia grunted.  “Can’t be helped, Steve.  I’ve put in a call to Gabrielle.  She and Sonja are on their way, loaded for bear.  They’ll be here soon.  Might as well suit up ourselves.”  At that, the gang began to dress for battle.  Amazons slid into their U.S. Army 2025 modified armor with chameleon capabilities and the others into their Order of the Grail-based suits.  The sounds of swords sliding into scabbards, clips being inserted into rifles, and packs being loaded, filled the air.

When the Amazon Queen and her consort arrived, St. Wolf said, “All right, we’re splitting into two teams.  Team One will be lead by Buffy; Team Two by me.  Team One’s personnel are as follows: Buffy, Gabrielle, Cordy, Willow, Amy, Robin, Jenny, Spike, Dru, and Giles.  Team Two will consist of myself, Faith, Randi, Sonja, Xander, Oz, Larry, Shaw, Liam, and Zev.  Team One will scout the house located on Pimlico Avenue; my team will head for the one on Beale Street.  Remember.  We’re there to recce at first, not to engage.  However, if things start to go bad, we will immediately call for the other team.  If we run into a shit storm, call in Joe and Kendra off of patrol, although I hope it doesn’t come to that.  Any questions?”  In response, nineteen heroes shook their heads.  “All right then,” he murmured as he drew his Order of the Grail communicator from his belt and spoke into it.  “Open channel D...open channel D.”

“Roger, channel D open.”

“This is St. Wolf.  Put the Knight General on.”

A few moments later, the Knight General responded and Steve explained the situation to him.

“You’ll call if you’re victorious?” the Knight General simply asked.

“You can count on it, Marc.”

“And if you can’t stop the sacrifice?”

“Then you probably won’t get that call, Marc.”

The Knight General’s voice grew very quiet.  “Of course.”

As the others listened in on the grim conversation between St. Wolf and his superior, Xander muttered, “You know, sometimes...it feels like it never ends.”

“Although I know I’m going to rue the day I asked this of you, but, what exactly are you talking about, Harris?” Zev asked.

“Hear about a threat, take the fight to the bad guys, stop the sacrifice in the nick of time, save the world.”

“Since when?”

Xander scoffed.  “What do you mean, since when?”  Then he began to tick them off on each finger.  “The Master.  The Judge.  Los Angeles.  Corvo.  DeBrachy.”

Zev smirked at him in response.  “Oh, you mean, such as...Roz.  The Crystal.  Tiamat.”

Xander glared at the Reudian.  “What does it take to get the last word with you?”

“More than your feeble mind could possibly comprehend, Harris.”

*****

At the same moment that Xander and Zev continued their verbal battle with each other, Shawukay gently touched her lover on his shoulder.  "Liam...ever since Zev showed us what happened at Harmony's home...you have been closed off."

The leprechaun stared quietly into his woman’s almond-shaped eyes for a moment before he granted her a tiny smile. "Aye, lass...what they did...what that woman did to her own family...I suppose...it brought back some bad memories for me."

Shaw nodded and pressed her chin gently against his back.    "Kathleen."

She felt the shudder go through his body.  "Aye.  She was in terrible shape when I found her, so bad that I could only..." he hesitated and couldn’t continue.

Shaw hugged him tightly.  "Oh my love!  I...I am so sorry she suffered so, Liam."

"I know you are, lass.  It’s all right, I've talked to her since then and it lessened the pain for me. But Harmony, that poor bairn, it's gonna be so hard getting it together again."

 "If she does it half as well as you...she will be all right."

A tear fell onto her skin as he lifted one of her hands to his lips and kissed it.  "Shaw, lass, I love ye so very, very much."

 A tear of her own trickled down her face to land on the back of his neck.  "I love you, too, Liam...so very, very much.”

At that moment, Giles gently rested his hands on both of their shoulders.  “Excuse me,” the Englishman said in his soft, cultured voice, “is there something wrong?”

“I do not believe so, Giles,” Shaw said. “However, the task ahead of us shall be quite difficult.”

Giles regarded her with a curious expression.  “Shaw, I believe our skills will be up to the task, don’t you agree?”

In response she raised a well-groomed eyebrow.  “I do not mean it that way.”

Then before he could ask for an explanation, Shaw turned and strode away.  As Giles looked at the priestess’s retreating form, his youngest Slayer pressed against his side. 

“Lemme explain it to ya for my soul sis, G-Man.  When she says it’s gonna be hard to kill these pieces of shit, she means it’s gonna be hard to kill ‘em without having a little ‘fun’ while we’re at it.”

At that, Jenny Calendar gasped.  “Faith!  I hope you don’t mean ‘fun’ like I think you mean it!”

The Dark Slayer glared at the Amazon High Priestess.  “Yeah, Lady J, that’s exactly what I mean!  They VIOLATED those people.  And keep in mind I like taking out vamps!  If *I* want to give these assholes some payback, imagine what Redeye and Beefcake are feeling right now.  They suffered through that kind of shit and I bet they think they know what Kendall’s going through right now.”

When the Watcher, the Dark Slayer, and the Amazon Priestess heard hearty laughter, the trio whirled to find an amused Reudian standing next to St. Wolf as he regarded them.  “You see, Steven, that,” he indicated Faith with a sweep of his hand, “is why she’s my favorite!”

In response a caustic St. Wolf noted, “And that fact surprisingly offers me very little comfort.”

*****

“Hey, Buff.”

The Immortal Slayer turned to find her best male friend standing behind her.  “What’s up, Xand?”

The boy lowered his voice and asked quietly, “Do you think you can pull a few strings and switch someone on your team for me?”

She studied his face intensely.  “Cordy,” she said simply.

He nodded.  “Yeah...that transparent, am I?”

She shook her head.  “Nah...just that much in love.”

He rubbed the five-o’clock shadow on his face with his right hand and Buffy noticed for the first time that night that he looked a bit haggard.  “You know, Zev is right–I am a moron!  Cordy’s friend is in trouble and good old ‘idiot-boy’ here had to go and run her down to my girl’s face.”  He half-sobbed and glanced up at the ceiling.  “Look, you and Will are on her team.  You’ve got a chance to make it up to her, to watch her back.  I just want to make it right between us, Buff.” 

The Slayer sighed.  “Look...give me a chance to talk to her first...see if I can work something out.”

“Okay, Buff...and, thanks,” he offered with a wan smile.

The Slayer returned his smile with one of her own before she turned to seek out the Amazon’s Warrior Princess.  When she saw her arming herself near Gabrielle and Sonja, Buffy mentally girded her loins and strode purposefully over to her friend.

“Cordy,” Buffy said, “can I have a word with you?”

Cordelia regarded Buffy cooly.  “It’s your dime,” she said as the two moved to a private corner.

The bottle blonde girl drew a deep breath and exhaled it noisily as she looked up at the statuesque Amazon.  “I owe both you and Harmony an apology for those stupid remarks I made earlier.  You have every right to be pissed off at me for my tendency to open mouth and insert foot.  I’m really sorry about what I said and I wanted you to know before we go.  I also wanted you to know I’m going to apologize to her when we get her back.  You can take that to the bank, Cordy.”

Cordelia stared at the Slayer for a moment before she offered her a thin smile.  “Coming from you that means a lot.  You don’t normally apologize for anything, Buffy.”

The Slayer pouted.  “I know.  I’m a bad person.”

Cordelia cocked a smug eyebrow.  “I wouldn’t say that.  I’d say...you’re just a shallow bitch.”

Buffy regarded her with a wry expression on her face.  “Chase...isn’t that kind of like, I don’t know,  pot...kettle?”

“I just call ‘em the way I see ‘em, Summers.  After all, I am THE expert on the subject...” the brunette noted with a self-deprecating smile.

Half-bowing, Buffy quipped, “I yield to the master.”  Then she continued.  “Cordy...Xander feels as awful as both Will and I do about this.  He wants to switch to our team if you’re okay with that.  How about it?”

Cordelia simply stared at Buffy for a few moments before she responded.  “I know he feels badly about what he said before, but I can’t deal with Xander’s guilt right now.  I’ve got to keep my gameface on for Harm’s sake.  I can’t do that if I’ve got Xander walking on eggshells around me.  Do you understand?”

Buffy nodded.  “Yeah...I got it.  I’ll let him know.  Ready to mount up?”

Cordelia closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them, they had the hard glint of stainless steel.  “Let’s do this.”

The Slayer nodded once and turned to go to Xander.

“Oh, and Buffy?”

The Immortal Chosen One glanced over her shoulder at the Amazon Princess.

“Do try to keep up,” Cordelia added as a predatory smile dawned on her face.

#

Darkened Mansion

Pimlico Avenue

Ventura County/Sunnydale City Limits

28 July 1999, 2358 P.S.T.

“Kendall?  Oh, Kendall...” a singsong voice cooed.

Lysette wrapped Harmony’s blood and sweat soaked hair around her icy cold fingers and yanked on it, but Harmony said nothing.  Apparently, the girl was down for the count.  The frustrated vampiress pouted and released the unconscious girl’s head from her grasp, letting it flop lifelessly.  Then, she turned, strutted toward the door, and climbed the stairs from the basement to the foyer.  Once on the ground floor, she opened the door and strode into the living room to report to her master.

“Little demon,” her master growled, “has the required amount of blood been drained from the sacrifice yet?”

“‘fraid not, boss,” Lysette noted with a demure smile.

The demon glared at the vampiress for a moment before it narrowed his eyes at her.  “Although you should be cringing in fear at this very moment, you appear to be very confident in the face of certain destruction.  Pray, elucidate.”

“Look, boss.  We tried it your way and it’s not working.  You should see her; she’s a wreck.  Not much I can do without sending her over the edge and making us need to get another cuddle monkey for you and your boys to party down with.”

The demon appeared to consider her words for several moments before he nodded.  “All right, then.  What do you propose, infant?  We are running out of time.  Those reputed to defend the Hellmouth will discover our presence if we wait too long.  I want the amount of blood I need and I want it–NOW.”

Lysette smirked in response.  “Well, that’s the thing, oh fearless one.  You had me using a knife or claws to get it while keeping her alive.  Well, guess what?  It’s not happening!  I guess that’s the problem with demons.”

The demon icily glared at her.  “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, for one thing, vamps were human once; we know how to handle humans.  And, boss, we need to get a move on.  So, we should take another route.”

“Exactly what kind of ‘route’ should we pursue?”

Lysette held up two tourniquets along with blood bags and intravenous needles from the blood bank.  “Ain’t technology  grand, Oh Lord of the Dungeon?  Welcome to the 20^th century!”

*****

Several moments later, Lysette returned to Harmony’s side to find the imprisoned girl finally beginning to stir.  The vampiress tenderly caressed her former friend’s cheek, then raised her fingers to her mouth to lick the drops of Harmony’s blood from each digit.  Nearly swooning from the taste, Lysette purred, “Don’t worry, Harm.  I know what I’m doing.  We’re entering the home stretch now, baby.  When I get through with you, you’ll be thanking me for thinking of this,” she drawled as she wrapped the rubber strap around the blonde girl’s pale biceps and searched for a place to insert the needle.

###

2011 Beale Street

Sunnydale, California

29 July 1999, 0014 P.S.T.

When Steve’s group arrived at the Beale Street target, the Wanderer turned to the Dark Slayer and asked, “Faith, do you sense anything?”

The brunette bombshell closed her eyes momentarily and reached out with her senses.  A few moments later, she grunted.  “Well, I definitely have that Midol feeling...but it ain’t a five-alarm warning, Boss Man.  I don’t think this place is hosting the main event.”

Steve sighed.  “Well, we can’t just leave it and risk having these vamps reinforce the main force.  Okay, Liam use magic to seal off the exits. Larry, you and Xander take sentry in the back while Randi and I rush them through the back door. Faith and Oz, you two take the front with Shaw and Zev…”

“Hey,” noted Faith, “where’d Space Boy go?”

After looking around to find the alien no where in sight, Steve narrowed his eyes and uttered a nondescript curse word.

*****

Inside the house, a vampire turned to a chaos demon and said, “I don’t get why we’re cooling our heels in this dump. We did our part at the Kendall house.  It’s just not fair that we aren’t around to enjoy the show!”

The chaos demon chuckled.  “Ah, relax.  We’ll be able to really enjoy ourselves when Aeurlieus rises.”

Just then, a shadow fell across the foyer and several demons were startled by the body of a grappler demon crashing to the floor from the upper landing. A moment later, its head followed.  As one, the creatures looked up and found a figure staring down at them with pure and utter hatred in its eyes.  With a howl of rage that would do Wolverine proud, Zev leaped upon them, with his spikes out and flashing.

*****

When the team heard the screams of terror from inside the house, it raced toward the front door.  Faith and Steve didn’t even slow down when they hurtled into the door, their great strength smashing the heavy wood door aside like it was made of balsa wood.  However, both the Slayer and the Wanderer stopped short when they found Zev, standing in the foyer, demon corpses and piles of dust strewn about, his clothing stained with different shades of blood.  As he turned to the others, who stood staring at him in numb disbelief, the alien murmured, “Everyone needs a cathartic release now and then.”

At that, Steve shot an askew glance at Faith and said, “I’m too old for this shit.”

#####

When Buffy’s team had arrived within a quarter mile of its target, the Immortal Slayer winced from the cramping that nested in her abdomen.  “Must be the place,” she murmured under her breath.  As her team crouched behind a row of tall shrubs near the large house, Buffy gritted her teeth and whispered, “Will, use your cell; tell Steve to get over here on the double.”  As Willow made the call, Buffy glanced over her shoulder at Cordelia and Gabrielle.  She cocked her eyebrow and sent a silent message to the pair of warriors who’d just returned from scouting the perimeter.  Cordelia nodded and motioned to the right side of the building with her right hand and held up four fingers with her left. Gabrielle then waved to the other side of the building with her left hand and she indicated five plus one with the fingers on her right hand.  Buffy pursed her lips.  Ten vamps.  No sweat, she thought. 

“Will,” she whispered, “have you raised Steve yet?”  The little red witch nodded.  Just as Buffy reached for the cell phone, the Slayer spied a familiar female form exiting the front entrance to the house.

Buffy glanced at Cordy, then frantically pointed at the woman who sauntered toward their position.  “Lysette,” the Amazon Warrior Princess whispered, and in response, Buffy narrowed her eyes and shifted into huntress mode.  She almost leaped from her hiding place to take the demon down; however she realized she needed to do it with the minimum of fuss to avoid revealing their position to Lysette’s allies.  Forcing down the instinct to take her prey no matter the cost, Buffy whirled and whispered to Spike and Drusilla, “You two...I want you to play undercover vamps and bring her to me.  Go!”

As the vampire lovers moved to do her bidding, the Slayer motioned for the rest of her team to hold tight while she conferred with the Wanderer.

###

The pale moonlight played across the sleeves of Lysette’s shiny black leather jacket as she strutted toward the Bronze.  The vampiress smiled and chuckled under her breath.  Draining the blood from her former friend had really made her hungry.  Her stomach had growled several times during the past fifteen minutes, reminding her she’d really hadn’t fed much when she’d led her minions to raid both her parent’s and the Kendall’s homes.  As she considered the type of prey she’d probably find at the nightclub, two figures stepped from the shadows in front of her.  Reaching out with all of her senses, she detected the age and power reeking from the undead pair who stood before her.  They were both quite lovely, she thought.  The male was lanky with peroxide blond hair, his face handsome in a wicked sort of way, locked in a permanent smirk.  The female was dark and pale, with hypnotizing eyes and luscious lips.  The heady combination of their demons’ power and their beauty drew her to them like the moth to the flame.

“Master...mistress, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?”  Then she flashed a sensuous and wicked smile their way.  “I wouldn’t be averse to satisfying any of your desires, if you know what I mean.”

Spike grinned as he sauntered toward her.  “Hello, luv,” he purred.  “Look, Dru,” he said while glancing over his shoulder at the pale enchantress, “I think we’ve just found our playmate for the evening.”

Drusilla nodded.  “Oh yes, my darling Spike.  Miss Edith says she’s perfect for our little game.”

“And what game would that be?” Lysette asked.  “Not that it matters or anything...just wondering, that’s all,” she added with a coquettish smile.

“Oh it’s quite a nice, little game, dearie,” Dru drawled.  “It’s called, ‘nighty-night.’  Spike, shall we play now?”

“Anything you say, ducks,” he said.  Then, at that moment, the blond vampire whirled and slammed a right cross across Lysette’s chin, followed by a crescent kick with his left foot to the same spot.  The unexpected blows were so powerful that the young vampiress dropped to the ground like a sack of wheat.  As she struggled to recover, a small, but powerful hand grabbed her right shoulder and flung her onto the flat of her back.  Like an avenging angel, the dark woman with the singsong voice straddled her, the woman’s fist prepared to strike.  “Nighty-night, dearie,” was the last thing she heard before she fell into a dark place.

###

"Don't suppose Dru could put the ‘Whammy’ on her." 

"What have I said about using that word around me, Will?" an annoyed Amy snapped at the little red witch.

As Lysette began to stir and regain her consciousness, Drusilla sighed.  "Contrary to what you may see at the cinema, not all vampires possess such abilities. Unfortunately, my hypnotic powers were a benefit of my insanity. When I regained my senses, I lost that gift."

"I’d say it was a fair exchange, luv."

The dark vampiress flashed a demure smile at her lover.  “Oh, Spike, you’re such a dear!”

Lysette opened her eyes to glare at the English vampires and growled.  “You bastards!” she spat, her face changing into its demonic form as she struggled against the rope that mystically bound her.  “Unless you want to die a horrible death, I’d suggest you’d better release me!”

Suddenly, her head snapped to the side courtesy of an Amazonian bitch slap.  “Shut up,” Cordelia said.  “The only thing I want to hear out of your mouth is where you’ve stashed Harmony and what kind of monsters you have in there with her.”

A cruel smile came over Lysette’s ridged face.  “Well, well, aren’t we the ball busting bitch?  Hello, Chase.  Still hanging with your loser friends, I see.”

Owls have looked upon mice with kinder expressions than the glare Cordelia gave Lysette.  “I don’t have time for this, Torchio.  Listen and listen good.  You’ve got one shot to tell us what we want to know before we do it the hard way.  Don’t force us to get down and dirty to get what we need.”

Lysette cackled loudly.  “Oh, please!  You expect me to roll over just because you threaten me?  Do your worst, Cordy...’cause if I’m lucky, you might actually manage to do enough damage to make my night a little interesting.”

Cordelia stared into her adversary’s eyes as she barked, “Robin!”

The sprite strode to her side.  "Don't worry. I've got a way."

"Oh, my Goddess,” Amy muttered.  “This is gonna get nasty."

"Good," Cordy said.  “Robin, knock yourself out.”

“With pleasure,” the sprite said as his eyes began to glow.  As his incandescent glare bored into the vampiress’s eyes, he drawled, “I want you to know, in your last moments, how incredibly satisfying this is going to be, not just for me but for all of us.”  Then her eyes widened as Lysette began to shiver.  Suddenly she screamed for a millisecond before the sound immediately clipped off, to be followed by gurgling noises.

"What the Hell?" a stunned Buffy whispered.

Amy hugged herself as she said, "Remember what Cal did to Roz?"

"My word...he’s done the same to Lysette?" Giles asked.

"No. He shredded her mind, extracted everything she knows. Everything.  Roz has a tiny semblance of sanity so she’d still understand that she was being punished.  Robin didn’t leave this bitch even that."

Moments later, Robin’s eyes lost their glow.  He shook his head and stepped back from the vampiress.  The thing that had been Lysette Torchio’s mouth hung open as its eyes stared blankly into the night.  Drool poured down its chin as the hollow thing uttered unintelligible gibberish.  

While Buffy cringed as she regarded the mindless creature, strong and slender fingers touched the Slayer’s business hand.  Buffy looked up to see the teary and pleading eyes of the Amazon Warrior Princess.  She passed her stake to the tall Amazon and Cordelia thanked her with a sad, somber smile.  Then Cordy whirled, stepped forward, gently cradled the vampiress’s check in the palm of her left hand, and tenderly planted a kiss on Lysette’s forehead.  Then her right hand stabbed the wooden spike forward into Lysette’s undead heart, sending the demon that had possessed her former friend’s body screaming into the night as Lysette’s body crumbled into dust.

As Cordelia continued to stare at the dust lying at her feet, Robin clasped her gently on her right shoulder and said, “I’m sorry for your loss...princess.”  As she struggled to hold back the tears, she turned and gave him a regal nod.  He smiled gently in response and gave her shoulder another squeeze, before he released a deep sigh and said, “Okay, conference time!”

After Robin relayed every detail of the mansion and its occupants to the Scooby Gang, Buffy turned to Willow and Amy.  “We can’t wait for Steve and the others.  You two, do a gate spell and take Cordy and me inside.”  Then she glanced at Gabrielle.  “Gabby, you’re in command of the rest of the team.  Sweep up the guards on the outside, then crash the party.  Spike,” she said to the vampire, “you and Dru wait here for Steve’s team to arrive, then lead them into the house.”  Then, the Slayer drew Vampire Slayer and snapped, “Okay...let’s crash this party!”

###

“Begin the sacrifice!”

The horror of those words barely registered in the feverish mind of Harmony Kendall.  After they’d been spoken by Lysette’s master, a reptilian looking demon cloaked in a hooded robe began to spray her body with crimson drops of liquid as it chanted, “with the sacrifice’s own virgin blood, I prepare the vessel for our demonic lord’s arrival.”  Then it uttered something that was completely incomprehensible to the rapidly fading girl as a cloud of darkness began to form over her body and ooze into the pores of her skin.

Then, when the demonic priest was just about to drive a dagger into Harmony’s heart, the sound of gunfire halted his killing stroke.  The demon in charge bellowed, “The Slayer’s Army, damn them to the Circles of Hell!  Vampires!” he screamed as he glared at the undead demons.  “Outside now!  Stop them, no matter the cost!”

As the lackeys and minions poured from the room, leaving only the leader, three guards, and the priest, there was a flash of light that coalesced into four feminine figures, three of them petite, the other, tall, dark, and buxom.

As the Satan’s spawn gaped at the four teenage girls from Sunnydale High, the Master Demon laughed.  “Who in Baal Zebub’s name are YOU?  This accursed town’s Pep Squad?”

After witnessing the furious expressions on her three companions’ faces, Willow smiled winsomely at the demon, shook her head, and drawled, “Oh, man...you REALLY shouldn’t have gone there, demon boy!”

The demon scoffed.  “Do tell, little girl...do you truly believe you are a match for us?”

Buffy regarded him with her vapid, Valley Girl look. “Gosh golly, demon boy–you just might be right.  I don't see how four demons with psoriasis and a fashion-challenged reptile boy could possibly lose to a Slayer, a pissed-off Amazon, and two bad-ass witches.”

The demon looked confused.  “What?”

Buffy simply smiled wickedly at him.  “Hit it, ladies.”  Before Buffy had even finished talking, Amy’s eyes turned  as dark and cold as the depths of outer space.  The teen witch whipped her head toward the door and reached out her right hand, her fingers curled like a raptor’s talons.  “Goddess Hecate, work thy will!  Bar this way from those who walk after death!”  At her words, the doors slammed shut and glowed with an eerie blue light as the immense mystical power flowing from the blonde witch left all the demonic beings awestruck in the room. 

That is, until, they heard the low, earthy voice of her red headed sister chanting a spell.  As Willow eyed another demon from the Master’s species, she said, “For what you’ve done to Harmony, I owe you...pain!” and pinned the hapless creature against the wall with chain lightning that ripped from her outstretched fingers.  Soon, the crackling and sizzling of the electricity splitting open the creature’s skin joined the demon’s screams as the only sounds in the room for the moment.

Not to be outdone, the blonde witch floated through the air, her hair streaming in the eldritch wind that flowed around her slim body as she stared at a chaos demon and the demon priest.  A cold, cruel smile formed on Amy’s angular face as her black eyes regarded the cringing creatures with the regard of a hawk for its prey.  “Goddess Skadi, Hyperborea’s own,” she murmured, “heed my call!  Destroy thine enemies with the power of the north!”  Suddenly, copious streams of snow and hail flowed from her outstretched hands, driving the two demons to the floor and encasing them in tombs of hardened ice.

 When the two remaining demons attempted to band together for their mutual protection, Buffy and Cordelia stepped forward to cut them off.  As the combatants jockeyed for position before they launched their assaults on one another, Cordelia brusquely shoved the Slayer aside and strode toward the Master.  “Take demon boy’s fraternal twin,” the Amazon princess muttered. “This loser is mine.”

Swallowing down the uncomfortable lump that had formed in his throat after these slips of a girl had ruined his sacrificial rites, the Master Demon snapped, “You are a fool, woman!  You seek mortal combat with me rather than allow the Sword Bearer to stand in your place?  What drives you to this insanity?”

Cordelia shrugged.  “With Buffy, it’s a destiny thing.”

“And you?”

Cordelia narrowed her eyes and drew her Masamune katana in response.  “With me...it’s personal,” she growled, then leaped through the air, her sword held high.  She cleaved it through the ozone laden air created by Willow’s electrical attack and struck the Master Demon’s left arm.  When her blade penetrated the demon’s skin, she expected the sword, backed by her meta human strength, would sever the beast’s limb.  But the sword bounced back as though it had hit a petrified stump, leaving his arm virtually intact.

The Amazon’s Warrior Princess ducked the creature’s shell-encrusted arm and continued to press her attack.  She  slashed the beast’s unprotected left thigh, scratching it, yet penetrating no further.

While Cordelia’s battle raged on, Buffy’s enchanted sword had made short work of her demon.  After she drove her blade through his chest into his heart, killing the beast, she turned from her fallen foe to witness the sole remaining battle in the room.  The Slayer chewed on her bottom lip, impressed by the skill of both opponents in their dance of death.  While the demon possessed a tough hide and speed, Cordelia countered him by exhibiting grace and power in every movement.    

Thus, when the end came, even the Slayer was caught unawares. The demon made a fatal mistake when he stepped in to launch a killing blow toward Cordelia’s lovely face.  The punch never landed because the Dark Amazon melted to the side, somehow anticipating that particular attack.  Then, she snap-kicked with her right leg and slammed the creature’s left knee with her foot.  When the demon went down on one knee, Cordelia threw all of her strength behind the hilt of her sword and drove the point of her blade through the unguarded skin of his jaw upward into the demon’s brain.

Cordy released her sword and let the creature flop over like a puppet that had just lost its strings.  Looking around, bird-like, she found the other girls untying the near-catatonic Harmony.  Cordelia raced over to her friend’s side and began to sob when she saw the bruised and broken body lying before her.  “Oh my God,” she rasped.

“Cordy?”

 A frantic Cordelia shot a pleading look at Willow.  “Find Jenny and Shaw; they need to cast some healing spells.”  As the two witches called to their third sister via their arcane senses, Cordelia whispered to the nearly comatose girl lying in her arms.  “Harmony?  Harm, can you hear me?”  As tears streaked down her face, she growled, “Damn it, Kendall!  Don’t you do this, you hear?!  Don’t you dare die on me!”

At that moment, Harmony whimpered and her eyes fluttered open, but they didn’t see anything.  “Help me.”

Cordelia hugged her friend gently.  “Shhhhh.  It's gonna be okay, Harmony.  You're safe now.”

 “Mommy?” Harmony muttered.  “The bad thing...it’s here...inside me.  Mommy...make it stop!”

 Almost hysterical, Cordelia glared at Willow and Amy as she struggled to comfort Harmony by gently stroking the girl’s hair with her trembling hand.  “Jenny–Shaw–NOW!”

###                           

Moments later, Jenny, Giles, and Gabrielle rushed through the doors that had been warded by Amy Madison.  Cordelia glanced up as they raced to her side and locked her gaze with the Amazon’s Witch Priestess.  “Jenny, please help her,” she said.

“I’ll do my best,” Jenny said.  “Gabrielle,” she said over her shoulder.  “I could use a little help.”

“Right,” the Amazon Queen said.  Then she handed Purity, her Sword of Destiny, to the High Priestess of the Amazon Nation.

As Jenny placed her palm on the flat of Gabrielle’s blade, she chanted, “Lady Selene, Daughter of the Moon, hear me, your servant, Artemis’s own.  Channel your power through thine vessel to heal this victim of pure evil in her hour of need!”  All of a sudden, Jenny’s body glowed with the light of the full moon.  She placed her hand above Harmony’s heart and the broken girl gasped deeply as the illumination flowed from Jenny’s fingertips into the blonde’s body.  As bone and tissue struggled to knit and heal, the Gypsy woman winced.

Cordelia shot a worried glance at her elder sister. “Jenny...what’s wrong?”

Jenny’s eyes narrowed as sweat beaded upon her brow.  “Something is fighting my magic...something dark and evil... inside her.”

Cordy gasped.  “What?  What are you saying?”

Giles stared deep into Cordelia’s eyes.  “Although we stopped them from completing the ritual, the fiends must have formed a connection with Aeurelius.  Someone must bond with Harmony on the spiritual plane and defeat the aspect of the demon, or else, it will oust her soul and allow Aeurelius a vessel to enter our plane of existence.”

“How do we do that?”

Giles ran the palm of his hand over his five o’clock shadow and cupped the back of his neck.  “With the help of Willow and Amy, I believe I can do it, or help send someone else.  It would be best to send someone she trusts, someone who loves her.  She’ll be more willing to side with that person against the invading demonic force.”

Cordy shot an askew glance at Buffy.  “Is this something he picked up at Watchers school?”

A concerned Slayer shook her head.  “Er...no.  I think he picked it up when he cavorted with demons during his ‘I’m-mad-at-the-world-ticking-time-bomb-guy’ phase.”

“Oh,” the Warrior Princess simply said. 

The Watcher rolled his eyes at the Slayer in exasperation.  “If you’re quite finished,” he snapped and the Slayer had the good grace to look elsewhere for the moment.  Then he turned to Cordelia and said, “This is not something to be done lightly.  It is quite dangerous...the traveler could lose and lose oneself along with Harmony.”

Cordelia gave them all a steely look.  “Well, based on Buffy’s and Will’s earlier comments, I’m the only member of this merry band of Slayerettes who can help her now.”  At that, both the blonde Slayer and the ruddy haired witch looked down toward their feet, unable to meet Cordelia’s glare.  “I’m your girl, Giles.  Let’s get this show on the road while there’s still time.”

Giles pursed his lips and nodded.  He called for the two teen witches to join hands with both Cordelia and him as they formed a circle around Jenny and Harmony.  Then the  Watcher glanced at Cordelia.  “Cordelia,” he said softly.

“Yes?”

“You are one of my girls.  As such, I shall do whatever I can to help you in this endeavor.  What we are about to do will open your entire being to all who participate in this ritual.  Nothing is hidden, nothing is secret.  Focus on your love for your friend and the love you both share.” At that, Cordy gulped and glanced around at the other people in the circle like a trapped animal.  “Cordelia!” he snapped, dragging her attention back to him. Then he said in a gentle voice, “Nothing we may see in there could ever make us think badly of you.  Maintain your focus–stay strong and you will survive.  I promise.”

She exhaled noisily.  “Okay...focus...be strong...got it.”

He nodded, closed his eyes, then flashed them open to gaze at her with undisguised adoration, a look normally given to his Slayers after a hard fought victory against the forces of darkness.  “Cordelia, go with both the knowledge that you have made us so very proud and Artemis’s blessings.”

She squeezed his left hand gently with her right hand and graced him with her special thousand watt grin.  He responded with his shy, self-deprecating smile, while the two teen witches gazed upon her lovingly.  Then he centered himself and began to chant something in Etruscan.  Soon, both of the witches’ heads snapped back as energy flowed from their breasts into Giles, and then the streams of light blazed from his eyes to drive themselves into Cordelia’s mind.  Suddenly, she saw only bright light, shortly followed by...nothing.

*****

Harmony awoke to find herself in a field of long soft grasses and tall shade trees. The sky was cloudless and there was no hint of rain. A gentle zephyr caressed her bare skin.

She blinked twice.  Bare skin? <Holy shit,> her mind screamed, <I'm naked!>

Indeed she was; however, for some reason, she quickly recovered from the shock and felt pretty good about the whole thing.  <Wasn't it just a beautiful day?> she noted.  The sun was shining, the bluebirds were singing, there was the smell of barbecue in the air...

Barbecue?!?  Harmony’s mouth watered.  Man, she was starving!  As her nose tracked the delicious aroma, she passed through a familiar grove of trees leading to a wide opening.  Suddenly, the blonde couldn’t believe her eyes.

She found herself at the edge of the backyard behind the mansion where the Chases used to live. From the back of the house, Harmony could see across the swimming pool that lay next to the large redwood deck that was attached to the house under its expansive sliding glass doors.  At the far end of the deck was a large hot tub that made soft bubbling noises. Near the sliding glass doors was an enormous Vermont Castings built-in, stainless steel barbecue grill that had wisps of grey smoke rising from under its blue porcelain hood.  Nearby, there was a large picnic table covered with numerous dishes and fixings.  Everything was there for the tasting: baked beans, carrot salad, paper plates, napkins, forks-spoons-knives, potato salad, greek salad (with black olives, red onions and feta cheese), macaroni & cheese, dressings, steak sauce, catsup, tortilla chips, fresh cut onions, salsa...and guacamole?  All of it looked yummy.  Next to the picnic table were two large coolers, both stuffed with ice and filled with soft drinks, fruit juices, and bottled water.

Harmony's belly growled at the wondrous sight.  As she approached the steps onto the deck, she looked around and saw that the well manicured lawn was randomly sprinkled with common games like badminton, horseshoes and croquet.

The lawn itself was composed of soft short grasses that tickled the bottom of Harmony's bare feet.  She crouched down and gently flexed her toes.  Then, she ran her fingers through the verdant softness.  As she knelt down, she realized that the backyard had been freshly cut...the odor of snipped grass tickled her senses.  She glanced up and saw that there was one tree at the end of the lot: an enormous willow tree that had an English garden around its base and a broom leaning against its trunk.

Harmony shook her head, puzzled.  She didn’t recall having seen a tree or a garden like that on the Chases’ property before.  Then she chuckled to herself, stood up, and resumed her journey toward the food.  All at once, she heard a sound that froze her in her tracks. The glass door had just slid open and out from inside stepped a tall, vivacious brunette with tanned skin and a flawless complexion.  Except for a large cooking apron that bore the words "Kiss the Kosher Cook" on its front, she too was nude and barefoot. In her hands, she carried a tray that was covered with filet mignons and chicken breasts drenched in a brownish sauce.

"C-Cordelia?"

The brunette stunner turned to her guest, her brown eyes twinkling. "Hey, girlfriend! Are you hungry?"

The surprise on Harmony’s face was plainly evident as her jaw nearly hit the floor. She watched with a mixture of fascination and apprehension as Cordy crossed over to the pre-heated grill, lifted its lid, which released the odor of the smoking whiskey soaked oak chips, and began to place the prepared meat on the cooking surface. "Uh...what? Huh?"

Cordelia turned to see that Harmony hadn’t budged an inch. She chuckled and said, "Come here, you ninny. I won't bite. Help yourself to some chow; I kinda overdid it, so there's plenty to go around."

As Harmony came closer, her face revealed the growing fear within her. "Uh...Cordelia, where am I?"

"Why, Harm," Cordy offered with a smile, "you're over the rainbow."

###

At that moment, a dark cloud came from out of nowhere and obscured a portion of the summer sun, casting a dark pall over the backyard.  Harmony snapped, "Cordy, that's not funny."

(**ohmigodohmigodohmigod**)

(**helpmehelpmehelpmehelpme**)

"Uh, I guess you're right, Harmony, it really wasn't. I'm sorry. Gal pals again?"

(**thedarkthedarkimafraidimscared**)

The cloud moved away and, once again, the backyard was bright and sunny. "Sure, Cordy." Harmony said with a smile and then frowned.  “You don’t mean, like, Xena and Gabrielle type gal pals, do you?"

Cordelia tittered delightfully.  “Oh, Harmony!  You’re such a kidder!”  Then she turned to glance at the grill top and used the large two pronged fork to remove a filet.  “Your steak, my lady, medium with a touch of pink, if I remember correctly." She motioned to the meat cooking on the grill. "I hope you don't mind, but I seasoned the steaks with some  wine and pepper.  You okay with that?"

"Sounds heavenly."  Then Harmony added, "Cordy, help me out here...I'm a little confused."

(**helpmehelpmehelpmehelpme**)

The clouds threatened again.  Just then, Cordelia set down the fork she’d held and strode over to the blonde, who began to shiver a little.  She took Harmony's hands in hers and said, "Harm, would it do, at least for now, to know that you are in a safe place where no one can hurt you? I won't let them."

Harmony fidgeted. "What, like you’re some kick-ass martial artist, who can, you know, protect me?"

Cordelia’s's eyes slowly went from brown to solid black as her apron was morphed into skin tight, onyx-colored armor.  The brunette had a scabbard with a sword on her back and a pair of huge pistols in holsters gracing her womanly hips. "Oh, Harm, I've become so much more than that."

Harmony’s eyes filled with alarm. The clouds began to move in on the sun.

(**imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry**)

Then, just like that, Cordy's eyes changed from black to brown and she was back in the apron again.  The brunette’s smile was warm and friendly. "And you're right, Harmony.  I can protect you.  Don't listen to all that stuff coming from the shadows.  Right now...it's just you and me. Okay?"

"Um...okay."  The clouds began to roll away.

Cordelia stepped up so she was inches from Harmony's face. She placed the fingers from her left hand under the other girl's chin.  "Do you trust me?" She looked deep into the blonde’s blue eyes.

After a second, Harmony nodded and sighed deeply. "I’ve always trusted you...completely."

As the last of the clouds drifted away, Harmony gently cupped Cordelia’s chin in the palm of her hand...and then, bathed in warm sunlight, the two women shared a gentle kiss.

As Cordelia drew back from the blonde’s tender salute, she saw the relief and happiness in Harmony’'s eyes, which were beginning to water, as well as the girl’s quivering lower lip. "Shhh, honey. It'll be alright...I promise."

Composing herself, and looking slightly embarrassed, Harmony nodded. "Okay. Y-yes, it'll be okay. It'll all be okay."

Cordy then chirped, "Well, I’d say the grub is done! Starved?"

Harmony smiled. "You know it, girlfriend! Let's dig in. Hey, that is spicy barbecue sauce on those breasts, right?"

"Darn tootin’!"

###

“Cordelia.”  

At the sound of Giles’s cultured voice, Cordelia shook the idyllic visions from her mind’s eye.  Now she found herself in a place filled with light.  As she panned and took it all in, she spied nothing, no grass, no backyard, no walls, windows, or doors–just Giles, and a gawking pair of teen witches who regarded her with their mouths wide open, standing nearby.  Cordelia scowled and shot a withering look at the little red head.  “Rosenberg, where do you get off on putting me inside Harmony’s head wearing nothing but an apron and a smile?”

*****