Thanks Michelle... dreams have always been important in this fic and damnit they are easy to write! I mean there does not even have to be continuity!
Part 49 below Kittens - this deals with a few loose ends and shows a little of what else is going on.
Enjoy!
Katharyn
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Title:
The Sidestep Chronicle – Doo Dah Doo Dah (Part 49)
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome.
katharynrosser@hotmail.comSpoiler Warning: Pretty limited. The story occurs in an alternate universe though reference is made to events that occur in both realities. However see notes below.
Summary: Tying up… a few storylines. Bringing others closer together.
Disclaimer: I still don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc, etc. I am making zilch from this series of stories.
Rating: 15
Couples: G/J, VW/T
Notes: This part contain material that is based on events and characters in S6. However they are not named or explicitly dealt with. This is not technically spoilery… but take care if you want to be a total S6 virgin.
Thanks To: Hey Xita!
The Sidestep Chronicle
Doo Dah Doo Dah
By
Katharyn Rosser
He was arisen. Finally brought to his rightful station in the existence that was to be his world. He was the chosen and he was the ruler of all that was within his sight. All that was beyond his sight. Every world… Every time.
Everything.Everything was his for the taking when and how he chose. All was his. He just had to make every person, every thing… aware of that.
Starting with that tasty morsel in the hot red dress strolling down the street. She was walking though his darkness as if she hadn’t a care in the world. She wouldn’t soon… That was within his power to deliver. He had that power… to bring her into his darkness.
Or possibly through it into the glorious black place that was his world.
It was the ultimate power… and if he chose he could bestow the greatest gift upon her. The gift that he had received himself from one who was not worthy of it. His creator was dust now. It was a fate that was fitting for the unworthy. The only one that was fitting was him. Suffer not the unworthy to continue to taint the world.
Not when it was his world.
He was the only one who was worthy. He was the only one who could decide if another was fit to join him. He was the only one who could bestow that gift in the proper manner. His greatness was magnificent. He could bring her to his side. He could create his disciples and they would assure him of his rightful place in the darkness. She would have no choice in the matter. But she would thank him for it very quickly… when she arose. Recreated in his own godlike image.
If she was worthy.
He knew that he would decide based purely upon her taste. It was all that she had that he wanted right now. If the taste of her elixir pleased him then he would choose to bless her. And if not… then there would be no loss. No wastage. She would simply be the nutrition he required of the cattle. And then he would go out to seek another to join him.
And another.
Until one day his army would be legion and Order of Gary would rule this place. Only the worthy. The Master and his brethren would be dust. But only after they had bowed to his greatness and acknowledged his place in the rightful scheme of things. Only then would he free them from their cursed existence.
He would see it all come to pass.
Starting right here.
Right now.
With her. He was arisen and the power suffused him. It had all come to him so quickly. What he had to do. Out of his grave but three days and already he had a purpose worthy of a god. And an eternity to make it come to pass. Not that he would need that long. Oh no… it would move much faster than that.
The Master’s Brethren who had turned him away… they would suffer before he released them from inadequacy.
He hoped that she would prove worthy. She had a lovely voice… she was singing to herself as she walked. Maybe she was singing to him. “Dooo dah… Dooo dah…” Out there in darkness she was singing. Bold. She was brave… or touched with madness. Either way… she might just satisfy his needs. But it would be the taste that that finalised her fate not the voice.
If she was given rebirth and his blessing as one of his servants then he might ask her to sing again. He had always enjoyed that song…
Now.
He reached out from just behind her and made to grab her shoulder – to see if her face pleased as well. Not that it mattered. It would be the taste that did it. Or not. This human face was simply the disguise that the demon she might become would hide behind. It was the demon that he would value. And command.
His hand never made contact with her shoulder – though she did spin around anyway. There was something between them. A force… and her eyes. The eyes. He liked those eyes. Maybe, if she did not please him he should keep those. They were pure black… and they were boring into his brain.
“Incende” she said and he did not understand. Was she foreign? Was that where the eyes came from? His human self knew about foreigners… they were strange and they were different. But did they have black eyes?
She didn’t have to talk. That was not necessary she just had to taste good, then obey or give him her eyes. Those black, black eyes.
The fires of hell would consume her just as –
He felt suddenly hot and then he felt nothing at all except for those black eyes burning through him and a faint protest in his brain… but there was so much still to do to rule this place.
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Amy smiled and started back towards her destination. The vampire was already forgotten. Just another little itty-bitty trick. Hardly a challenge and definitely not the sort of fun that the magic required of her as it filled every atom of her being. She knew that she was already starting to come down… the best time had already passed. The best time… that had been there. Right after… he had given her the gift. And taken his price. He continued to take… he enjoyed her high as much as she did. Bless him for it. She needed to find something… she needed to vent the magic. She needed to have
fun. Otherwise the crash down was going to hurt. As it always did. “The Camptown racetrack’s two miles long…”
This was supposed to be a fun night… and so far it had been. The rush… the rush was still with her. Just… Why did it fade so quickly? Sooner, sooner every time. She had to go back to him more and more often. She needed more to feel it. She needed it more often to enjoy herself. She needed it just to exist…
And the price was getting higher, but she had to pay.
Without the magic…
Magic was not enough. She needed that extra buzz and she had been put on warning… her supplier was getting close to being bored with her already. She needed to give him something new… she needed new experiences to trade for the magic… She shuddered suddenly. Was that the thought of the
trade or was the magic leaving her already? She looked at a trashcan and suddenly it was a canary singing in a cage. With black feathers…
Like a dark crow. But small.
The magic was still with her. Thank god… it was just the trade that had done it. Time to seek new experiences. Quickly. She didn’t want to come right down… she couldn’t take the crash. Not again. But to pay… she needed something new.
“Oh, de doo dah day.”
The world was so drab without it. What had life been before the magic? It didn’t bear thinking about. Stuck in her dear mother’s body… the victim of magic – not the practitioner. Feeling it working on her, constraining her but unable to harness it. Within her but not bending to her will.
Hell, pure hell. There couldn’t be anything worse than feeling the magic inside her and not being able to do anything with it… Direct its flow to the places that she had needed it to be.
Of course there was something worse… when there was no magic at all, before her Mother… and there was being cut off by him. She couldn’t be cut off. Not even for a day. She needed something new to trade. That was why she was heading for the club… there was always the chance of finding something new there. Something he hadn’t had before. Or something of which he wanted more.
“Dooo…” she trailed off. What were the next words? She wasn’t sure and with a single frustrated glance three lemmings appeared on the lip of the building she was walking past, flung themselves off and landed at her feet. One. Two. Three.
Amy stopped. Looked at them, fascinated for all of a few seconds. Then shook her head. Nothing that she could trade with him there. Nothing at all.
Shit.
He wasn’t even interested in what she did with the magic. He had more magic that than he could ever need…. He wanted experiences. For that he gave her the charge.
When she traded herself for the charge… the magic could flow. Just like that. It was so easy to use… it flowed now. But already it was stagnating… thickening in her veins. In her brain. When she had just gotten that charge it was as easy as blinking. As natural as drawing breath. So much power and it felt soooo good inside her… In every part of her. Every part.
Even
he felt good when he was giving her that…
She missed it when she didn’t use it… and when she missed it, then it hurt. Amy didn’t like to be hurting. Not like that.
It was her life now… she had dropped out and just spent her days seeking the experiences she needed to give to him. She couldn’t even remember how she had found him.
Oh yes she could… her Mother used to go to him. Once upon a time. ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ Those were the first words he had said to her, without even knowing who she was. But she had realised. Her mother had taken
her body here… she had put that body through things to feed him. And yet he was good enough to realise that she was not her mother. She had new things for him.
Same body.
New experiences.
She thought that he would have liked it if she had taken that witch that had visited her… he liked that sort of thing. That would have bought her some time. And it would have been come recompense for the loss of her mother’s hard earned detayat. Much as she liked having her body back, that detayat would have been very useful. Why was she thinking about that witch now? She had no idea… Oh yes. Maybe she did…
Sparks crackled at Amy’s fingertips as she recognised the witch she had just been thinking of entering the club with two other people… and one of those stank of power. He liked power. Maybe she could… find some new experiences for him. It might see her through the week… one good night and she might have enough for a whole week’s worth of visits to him.
He never took it all at once. He was very careful not to get overwhelmed and addicted to his customers. He just took what he needed from her. From all of his friends.
Just as she was stepping up to the doorman, seeing him recoil from her waving her by with a terrified ‘come in,’ someone grasped her arm… “Amy hi!! It’s been so long! I can’t believe this! Ooooh we are going to have such fun.”
And once more… Shit.
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Tara and Jenny stood in the corner just watching Faith at work. No one had ever claimed that the Slayer was a patient young woman. Nor inhibited. Anyone who had said that would have been called a blatant liar after this little display.
It was a bit like looking at a book of photographs and twisting your head, then the book, to figure out what the picture was showing you… except in Faith’s case it was actually pretty clear. She was out to have fun. Her brand of fun.
They had arranged the night out on a whim – which they had just agreed was actually Faith’s whim – after the now dancing Slayer had bemoaned the lack of any ‘fun’ for awhile. It was also sort of a celebration of them returning from the attach on El Eliminati without anyone getting hurt. Mr Giles had, of course, politely demurred. It seemed that he had more vivid memories than Jenny of the last fun his fiancée had indulged in with Faith. In this very club. Perhaps it was the alcoholic haze of the last occasion that had let Jenny accept the invitation.
The teacher had been up for a repeat – with, she promised, less alcohol this time – Faith had kept her safe and as she had put it, trying to persuade Tara to join them, ‘How much safer will I be with you
and Faith?’ It had sort of seemed vital to Jenny that Tara be there too if her fiancé was to be mollified from his initial objections.
This was not the sort of place that Tara particularly liked to be though. It was crowded, it was noisy, and it was full of smoke. There were slippery floors where drinks had been spilled. There were all sorts of people here, doing things and substances, that she would not dream of imitating. The stink was going to be in her clothes for days and days and there was no Willow. Even if she had wanted to be here then the club was invitation only.
Not her idea of fun at all.
Of course Tara’s idea of fun had been shaped by a childhood of strict parental control, adolescence without that many friends and late teens living from night to night hunting vampires. Finally, and most recently it was the caress of one of those vampires that was shaping her.
Moulding her deliciously.
So what did she know about ‘normal’ fun? Before tonight maybe not too much… after a couple of hours in Faith’s company… there were definitely lessons being learned. Particularly about what she would not be doing at any point in her life.
Faith had showed up at the apartment with Jenny pretty early on in the evening and as Willow wasn’t there she had been able to invite them in. For a few moments she had been worried that the Slayer, with her unique nature, might be prevented from entering by the protection spell that she still maintained on the place. It was intended to protect against anything that was not human. How literally a Slayer could be interpreted as human… she hadn’t known. But now she did. Faith had just breezed in and made herself right at home with Tara’s bowl of chips, feet stretched out on the couch and watching the cartoon channel that Tara had on whilst getting herself dressed. She had been skimping on the cartoons lately. She had found something else to fill her time.
Someone else.
Meanwhile Jenny had looked the place over with the practiced eye of someone who liked to check out places that they might want to go and live. Not that Tara wanted to think about Mr Giles as a neighbour, mainly because she didn’t want to think of how she would be able to hide Willow in such circumstances. She was actually amazed that as yet no one seemed to know. Apart from the Mayor, Lilah, the doorman of the building and, according to Willow, maybe The Master.
No one who mattered then.
Willow had dropped that last one on her in the midst of a shower. As she sometimes did. The vampire really didn’t much care. And besides, they were safe here; from vampires at least. There was no way for them to get in.
Faith’s considered opinion, considered from the perspective of the couch, had simply been ‘swanky place T.’ Jenny had been a bit more analytical but no less impressed. It had made Tara feel uncomfortable, having a place like this. It was really, really nice – as good as the apartment Mr Giles and Jenny, and now Faith, shared. And yet she was barely more than a kid – living here alone, as far as they knew. She only had it because she had made a deal with a devil… and they all knew it. Every one of them.
They didn’t have to mention it for her to know that it had to be on their minds. After all it was always on hers… or at least lurking. Where was the girl who had slept in abandoned basements? On a concrete floor?
She was getting used to the comfort now. Too used to it. All of it.
Also making her uncomfortable was her choice of clothes – or rather lack of choice. Before their arrival she had dressed and redressed. When she had been to clubs and places like the Sanctuary before she had been there strictly for the hunt. It hadn’t mattered what she wore because she was only there to kill all the vampires and then to get out. Now that her time was divided between work and hunting there had been no need to change her wardrobe. Willow… being with Willow didn’t actually require her to have much in the way of clothes. They couldn’t go out… neither of them wanted to. And in here… clothes were not the most important thing.
That had meant that dressing had been a chore and it was only the slow fall of night that had hurried her along. The possibility played on her mind that Willow might show up, with Faith also there, after dark. Eventually she had pulled on her first choice of her black jeans and T-shirt and headed out with them. It had been quickest and the sort of clothes that would work anywhere at any time. She had even forgotten the pendant.
She had only remembered it when she thought back to Willow’s touch earlier that day. Only Willow had been able to take it off her. She had never dreamt of removing it herself… except once… but the vampire was right. In Willow’s presence it was a distraction. She didn’t need the pain of it to remind her of what she was doing. Penance maybe, but it was only while they were… intimate… that it came off. They could be intimate for hours and hours… intimacy had come to mean just being with Willow. As little as that counted now.
That intimate time and the occasion on which she had tried to give Willow the gift of magic. When she had failed and snapped. Those were the only times it had come off. It had saved her life so many times. Now it was becoming what? Inconvenient?
She felt naked without it. No not naked, just tremendously vulnerable. For some reason nudity no longer made her feel that way. And that too was a bad thing – she had come to accept the risks of being with Willow. Being naked had come to mean being with Willow… comfy… That should never have been with a vampire. Never.
It looked, right now, as if Faith was trying to get ‘comfy’ with any or all of the three guys and a girl that she was dancing with and around. Well maybe not the girl, who must have been the girlfriend of one of the guys. She was looking mad as hell at Faith which made Tara smile as the girl was still dancing with them. She really had no chance against Faith. The guys… the guys in a cartoon would have had their tongues hanging down around their ankles, so deeply had the Slayer sucked them into her orbit. Faith, after ‘working’ hours, was living a life of abandon. By her own admission she was a regular here.
The Slayer wasn’t Tara’s type – perhaps only Willow was, Willow-type. She liked that – but she could definitely tell why they found Faith so… appealing. The young woman oozed sexuality in a way that Tara had never seen in a living person. Just in Willow. In some ways they were so alike. Forces.
“Y-you’ve done this with her before?” Tara asked Jenny as they looked on wondering how the teacher could reconcile visiting Faith’s life like this with her tweed clad fiancé and day job.
“I never did that…” Jenny replied. They both tilted their heads again, all the better to see as Faith ended up in some impossible limbo pose between one guys legs before straightening up again.
“Do you think that hurts?” Tara asked as they straightened their necks again sipping their drinks in harmony.
“It has to ache in the morning,” Jenny told her. “I mean… like… the…” she demonstrated with her fingers and found that she couldn’t even do it with them, “you know, limbo thing.”
Tara nodded. “Well I guess that she is, you know, the Slayer and all,” Tara suggested to explain both the obvious flexibility and the amount of energy that Faith was demonstrating.
“Yeah,” Jenny agreed, “the Slayer. That’ll be it.” They stood watching for a minute more until the music changed. “She knows how to have fun,” the teacher finally concluded.
“Is that fun?” Tara asked.
“I think so… I think it used to be,” Jenny was no longer shouting the second half of that reply as Faith sashayed her way over to them, one of the guys following on behind her, hands resting possessively on her hips. “I wouldn’t know anymore… I’ve been off of the market too long,” Jenny told her happily.
Tara smiled at that, and the fact that the teacher was so happy, then they turned their attention to Faith who reached out and grabbed both of their hands before she even said a word, pulling them towards the pulsating throng of people who were either desperate enough, brave or stupid enough to go out into the darkness of Sunnydale to have a good time despite all the dangers.
Just like lemmings Tara thought as she resisted Faith’s tug. Lemmings… weird thought to have. She looked around, suddenly feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
“Come on T,” Faith shouted, “It’s time to lighten up and have some fun.”
Tara waved her glass to indicate that she had a drink. In response Faith took it off her and downed what remained in one, before pulling her face at the taste. “Water!? You definitely need to find the fun Tar,
come on!”
Faith could have pulled Tara bodily but she wasn’t applying that much force, just trying to persuade and cajole in a pretty determined way. And whilst Tara thought that she might resist, self-imposed rules about ‘don’t sing, don’t dance’ in her head, she kept shaking her head.
That worked only until Faith was joined in her efforts by Jenny, who took Tara’s other hand and as if synchronised they moved into step beside her, Faith’s guy grinning to himself, his hands still on her possessively. Tara knew without doubt that if anyone was going to be doing possessing – or otherwise taking advantage – it was going to be Faith. With the two of them instep beside her what choice did she have but to follow on?
It was moments like that this that made her really wish she were out in the cold hunting vampires and risking her life. At least she fitted in there.
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“Did I tell you yet how much I love your contacts Amy?” the annoying one asked her again.
Only about five times. In amongst all the other detritus that she was dredging up from that empty hole that she probably called a brain. Oh Goddess Hecate… Actually who even needed Hecate? All she had to do was look at the bitch… think of what she wanted and there it would be – there was charge enough for that.
Even a subconscious desire was likely to be enough. Yes, she still had enough of the charge within her. She could feel it bubbling, eager to work for her… and deplete itself. Then she would be forced to go back and get more.
Trading.
“Yes, yes you did.” Amy gulped down the drink she had in her hand. It wasn’t the drink that she had bought… It seemed easier to create the drink than magic up the ID. If she had been challenged then the barman would literally be a bar fly. All buzzy… she was still that charged. And with no barman how was everyone else going to get whacked enough to want what she wanted… the sort of fun that she had to offer to him to get what she needed. To get the charge.
So she had turned the water into wine. That was a miracle… especially when she then turned it into bourbon. And it was a shot that never seemed to go down no matter how much she drank. It was even taking the edge off the process of coming down. Wasn’t doing much about her former classmate though was it?
Oh no…
Would she never shut up? They had never been friends. Never… and now they were supposed to be so chummy and ‘old friends.’ The only thing that stopped her sending the stupid blonde into orbit was that she wasn’t sure how long the charge would last. She couldn’t deplete it just for that and mad as she was at the bitch she knew that she would do something impressive, and depleting, if she let herself. The drink… now that was important. That was taking the edge off. But doing something to this young woman would have forced her right back to him. She might even have had to go back to him
tonight for more… she might have had to beg. Because right now she had nothing to offer him.
Nothing at all. He had taken everything he had wanted from her. She needed more. New experiences. The sort that he liked. The lust. The pain. The death. Any or all of those would do.
“Do you remember that statue of your Mom? That was so cool. I went out and bought a statue that I pretended was my Mom too.”
Oh yeah. Mommy. Dear Mommy… still comatose in a hospital bed somewhere in New England after the unfortunate car crash. A crash caused by Tara Maclay swapping them back. She really would have to do something about that body in the hospital. One day… when she was charged up… she would take herself there and she would wake Mommy up.
He would like that… the pain she would cause her Mommy. That would do her for several visits.
As for Maclay. The witch was still there with a couple of dark haired women. She had never really thanked the witch for swapping her back. And for breaking the detayat. She could have done such great things with that. Things he would have liked and traded much for.
Yes thank you Tara Maclay.
Wait a second. “You bought a statue and pretended it was of your Mom?” Amy asked wondering if it was a lingering high of the magic or if the slow fade of the charge was sending her crazy.
“Yeah, cool huh!?”
“Right… cool.” Whatever, she retreated back into her thoughts while the other woman yapped at her, like a small annoying dog. The sort for which people bought coats.
Tara Maclay was another reason that she didn’t lash out at the dumb, false, bint. She had been in the witch’s mind… and she knew the power that there was in there. Restrained maybe but she had picked apart one of Catherine Madison’s spells. Amy was the proof. Tara Maclay had skill and she had power and any big use of magic now, well the witch was bound to feel it. And even with the charge she wasn’t sure she wanted to go up against that woman.
Yeah if it had been a full charge… then… yeah, sure. She could have zapped her into a hell dimension in a heartbeat but now, part way down, she was getting antsy. Not that her annoying shadow was helping any. Besides she was kind of interested in the younger of the dark haired women. The wild one.
The one with the power who wasn’t afraid to display it… If one knew how to look for it.
Amy wondered if she was Tara’s girlfriend. They were there together. Perhaps it was the older one who looked like one of her old teachers… Yeah it was. Miss Calendar. Well what do you know? Of course Miss Calendar was with that librarian guy. Amy had been in Tara’s head and knew that she was jonesing for someone. Someone, back then, that she didn’t have.
Well if it was the young powerful one then she was definitely sharing her around. The girl was a slut-bomb. Just the sort of thing that she might have to
do to get her charge from him and with the power that radiated from the dark haired woman… she might even enjoy it. Or not. She didn’t need to enjoy… she just had to gather the experiences for him. New experiences. She had already debased herself in a dozen different ways for him and he had drunk in every one. Now he wanted something different again.
And if that hurt Tara Maclay too then that would be an incredible bonus. She would do anything she had do. She had to build up some credit for her next charge. She just had to.
“Another drink Amy?” the vacuous blond asked her as Amy stared at the powerful one across the dance floor.
She was going to have to do something about the annoyance if she was going to get closer to the dark haired slut. But right now… she just waved her glass, which of course was still full. “No thanks Harmony, nice of you to ask though.”
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Tara looked at her watch, a little beyond one in the morning and she was shattered. She routinely stayed up into the small hours of the morning – sometimes after sun up – hunting and more recently returning to Willow’s attentions too. But something about this evening had sucked energy right out of her.
Nonetheless she appeared to have satisfied Faith that she had found the fun. The three of them plonked themselves down onto a two person sofa and, after a brief mock fight, Jenny ended up sat on the arm. It seemed unbelievable that she was a teacher. Tara had never though that teachers could be like that. They were usually more… well more like Mr Giles. With less tweed and less Englishness of course. Unless, she guessed, they were in England. English teachers might all be like that.
“I’m not dancing again,” Jenny announced. She was, by her own stated estimation, still just this side of happy and determined not to get at all drunk this time round. Merry would do her just fine. So she had said.
Tara nodded. “It’s… too hot and I’m too tired.”
“Wusses” Faith told them, but even she didn’t seem to be about to get up any again time soon.
“Where’s…?” Jenny searched for a name. Tara didn’t think that they had even been introduced.
“Studley?” Faith checked. For some reason that struck Tara as funny and, absolutely sober, she started to laugh. Until she noticed that the other two were looking at her as if she was mad. Then she stifled it, barely.
“Studley,” Tara said as if that explained it.
“Off to get a… stuff… drinks… other things,” Faith told them and then slapped her hand down on Jenny’s thigh. “So you’ve got your own Studley back home.”
“Oh yeah,” the teacher smiled, seeming lost in that thought.
Tara knew what was coming before that hand came down on her denim clad thigh.
“So what about you Tar?” Faith asked. Tara could feel Jenny looking, also curious. “Who is it that you keep sneaking off to when we get done hunting? Who’s scratching
your deep down itch? What’s the name of your studdess girlfriend and why haven’t you brought her over to tea?” Jenny laughed as at the way that Faith asked the question.
“N-no one,” Tara told them.
“Okay,” Faith said, “hands up if you’re not convinced.”
“Leave it be Faith,” Jenny told her jerking her own raised hand down. “Tara doesn’t have to tell us anything. Just because you like to over share…”
“No. Come on Tar,” Faith pressed. “Just gimme a sign here. No names. Just give us a clue. Do we know her?”
Tara felt her face flush an even deeper shade of scarlet and struggled to form words. She wasn’t sure which words but they would almost certainly be words when they came out of her mouth. Maybe. Faith just kept going, totally ignoring Jenny’s slightly dutiful protests. The teacher was as interested as Faith. That was, Tara guessed, the down-side of friends. Keeping necessary secrets.
“Come on… I’ve seen you glow sometimes. I
know that glow,” Faith told her. “How could I avoid it living with Jenny and G?” Faith grinned as Jenny started to protest and then seemed to remember the truth instead. “Either you have some hot little honey stashed away…”
Actually she was cold… dead cold.
“… Or,” Faith continued, “I want the name of the manufacturer and the model number.” The Slayer grinned.
“Faith!” Jenny exclaimed, sounding shocked but with a smile still on her face.
And suddenly Tara didn’t want it to be a total secret… she couldn’t tell them. God she never could do that. But she wanted them to know that there was someone… “Sh-sh…she’s All Natural Mark-One Redhead,” Tara finally said, looking down into her drink as she realised that joke might have sounded a little too much like what Faith had been insinuating. But the Slayer got it. They both did.
“You see,” Faith said to Jenny, “I
knew there was something going on.” Then Faith seemed to stop and think. Placed her hand back on Tara’s arm. “Hey Tar… just having a little-” With the return of her Studley Faith’s attention was diverted. “Fun.” She got up and took a bottle of beer from him then dragged him with her back towards the dance floor. Quality alone time with a hundred or so people. The girl was a true romantic.
Tara looked up, face still deeply flushed, and glanced at Jenny, who was looking right back at her. She slipped into Faith’s vacated seat, a curious look on her face, before she gave a tiny shake of her head and the look changed to a little supportive smile. It sort of said that she knew all about the Slayer.
Yet they both liked Faith anyway. She was just a force of nature. Like hurricane.
Like Willow.
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“And do you remember the cheerleader try-outs when Amber got incinerated? Waaay too freaky for my tastes,” Harmony just kept going on and on and on. Oh yeah, and on.
Actually Amy didn’t remember that at all, but she had a damn good idea what had caused it. Mommy dearest. She looked at Harmony and nodded as if she was paying attention. Some immolation would have gone down
really well right now.
“Her not making the team, or like even making school again, let you become Captain though and we got all state! Yay us!”
It was riveting. An entire life in high-school about which she had no clue. Actually if Catherine had been forced to put up with this sort of shit then she might have had been the better end of the deal – and cheerleading? The idea of pom-poms was making her physically sick. Though that could also have been the booze. The edge was creeping up on her and she was drinking more and more to keep it at bay. The need was sobering her up as fast as she could keep herself drunk.
More likely the charge. It was almost gone… she could feel him calling to her already. ‘Come back for more… but bring me something good.’ The powerful one had vanished… but that still left Tara Maclay. With the magic she could tell what they had been saying. The powerful one was called Faith… and she wasn’t Maclay’s girlfriend at all. That wouldn’t hurt the witch. Telling her friends though… about what her Mother had done. About what she had found in that brain.
Willow.
That might have been fun. And she knew that she could have found something that he would have liked with the witch. But the charge was next to gone and without that she knew that she was nowhere near the witch that her mother had been. And Tara Maclay had beaten her mother.
Later for her. Later for Tara Maclay.
After the next charge. Or maybe the one after that. They were fading so fast that it might still be soon.
But she still had to do something that would get her the trade. She had to have currency. Maybe he would like some pain… She looked at Harmony again. Seeing the annoyance in a whole new light. Karma was a bitch after all and this girl had bad karma coming out of her ears. Sort of like Amy’s brains after listening to her for
hours.Fun… and then hurting… Maybe hurting and then fun.
He’d like that. He really, really would. She had figured out his tastes by now… the perverse, the unusual and the painful.
Harmony gave her the friendly, if somewhat vacant, smile that showed that she was well used to falsifying her emotions. He would like what Amy was going to do to her. Those emotions wouldn’t be so false.
Later for Tara Maclay and her powerful friend. Maybe he would like Amy to have a little Faith… a little of her.
Harmony turned to look at the DJ, rocking to the music whilst Amy noticed Faith come back to the other two, collect them and head towards the door. Someone walked into her as she was staring across the room at them and her was drink spilled all over her dress. She turned to the clumsy oaf and all of a sudden he was down there… about six inches tall. She smiled and lowered the spike of her heel right onto the bewildered midget’s head. She fancied there was a tiny scream but she could never have heard it. Not so close to the speakers.
She’d have to remember to clean her shoes. Wouldn’t want to be tramping midget skull into the waiting room. Harmony turned back to her. “Your dress is all wet,” she said.
Save me from the obvious.“Let’s get out of here, Harmony. Do some more catching up where it’s quieter. ‘Kay?”
“Sure Amy! It’s good to find a friend again.”
Doo dah… doo dah.
-------------
Jenny was between her and Faith their arms linked as they walked through town. The Slayer had teased the teacher about having to carry her part of the way home last time they had done this and Jenny had laughed it off. She had kept the promise she had made to herself. Three a.m. and she was just the right side of merry. They could all see that.
Whether that would hold for first period tomorrow was slightly more debatable. Merry might not be the order of the day. Dark glasses. Those might be better. At least, Tara knew, she and Faith didn’t have any such deadlines. It was a bonus to their lives.
“What happened to Studley?” Tara asked.
“Used him and moved on,” Faith replied, some disbelief in her voice that Tara would have to ask. As if to expect her to do any more was somehow ridiculous.
“Used him?” Tara was almost afraid to ask. And really, she didn’t need to.
“You know,” Jenny said flipping her hips, “Used him.”
Maybe just the
other side of merry. Tara looked at Faith who just grinned and didn’t deny it at all. The look though just said ‘we have to get her home.’
“You going to your Natural Mark One Redhead?” Faith asked her as Jenny continued to giggle.
“N-None of your business Faith,” Tara told her, teasing, pretty much resigned to the fact that she was going to have to put up with this for a while yet. She had been let off easily in there when Faith had been distracted by Studley. Just so long as Faith never found out just what it was she was doing.
Really.
And with whom.
What.
Willow.
They walked on a little, Jenny calmer again and still supporting herself which was a good thing. The teacher, Tara guessed, was not at all a regular drinker and without a Slayer’s constitution had no chance of keeping pace with Faith. Which was good, it just meant that when she did have a social drink… it hit her a bit harder. “This is your stop Tar,” Faith told her as they reached the intersection.
“I’m taking her home,” Tara told her.
“We can manage,” Jenny announced with a good natured punch on Tara’s arm. “And who’s her? The cat’s mother?”
“What she said,” Faith said rolling her eyes. “We can manage, right Jen?”
“Absolutely. Besides, my intended is going to be mad,” Jenny cracked up again.
But she was probably right. “You’re sure?” Tara asked, uncertain. But Faith was the Slayer and there was Willow. There was always Willow waiting. Not that the vampire would be worried but… she wanted to get back. She wanted…
“Go get your itch scratched,” Faith told her with a grin. “I’ll be making a sweep after I get Jenny home. Sometimes we get to have nights off okay… I’ll be doing it strictly for the fun.”
------------------
It wasn’t all about getting the itch scratched. Not even mainly that… though if she did have an itch, or even if she didn’t then Willow was the one to see to it. Always Willow. Sometimes the scratches were more passionate than other times.
When she opened the door and snuck in she wanted to find the vampire there. But she was hoping that she could just snuggle up to her. She wasn’t looking to get anything scratched right now. What she found was Willow, asleep on the couch. No surprise there, the vampire rarely went to the bed alone and without Tara. She would follow Tara as soon as she went. She liked her Kitten all ready for her. Actually all Tara wanted to do was to curl up beside her right where she was… but there was no room on the couch unless they were side by side. Curled up.
And talking of kittens. On Willow’s chest lay the small cat. Miss Kitty opened one eye and observed Tara entering the room and approaching the couch and Willow. She looked as if she was daring Tara to disturb her resting place.
Tara dared , picking her up and lowering her to the floor and the cat slunk away disgusted. There could only be one Kitten for Willow at a time.
She teased at Willow’s hair. When she was asleep… apart from being so pale. Who’d know? Really who would know what she was?
I would.“Hello Kitten.”
“Hello sweetie. Snuggle now?” Tara asked.
“Snuggle now.” Willow let Tara lead her to the bed without even mentioning whoever she had eaten that night. And there would have been someone. Without the pendant to burn her, Tara almost wished that she would.
I would always know.And she’d know too.But without the reminders it was a nice end to an interesting, and fun, night. Snuggles. Real snuggles and hopefully they could dream again too.
Dreams helped her forget what she was doing.
----------------
It was time, Amy thought. She’d killed before but never quite like this was going to go. It had to be good for him. But not
too good. Otherwise where would she go the next time? Not too much… she had to build up to it all. Just enough. But not too much.
Besides there was the whole… ‘how to begin’ thing. Maybe just a little immobilising spell. He would want Harmony conscious - that was vital. He would want to feel her pain through Amy… at least for as long as Amy could manage to keep her former classmate in that state. Eventually the brain would shut down to protect itself.
It would be a challenge, but the charge. She needed the charge. There was only that. She needed to be able to trade. Doo dah, doo dah…
“What’s that you keep singing?” Harmony asked her.
Amy hadn’t even realised that she had been doing that. She just needed some currency for him. Something to trade. She didn’t turn around, still not sure what it was that she was going to do to Harmony. “The Camptown Races…” she murmured. Inspiration would take her. Improvisation was good. Coming at it without a plan would keep it fresh surely?
“Nice,” Harmony said from right behind her. The blonde woman’s hand was on her neck, brushing her hair back. “I never learnt the words.”
Could it be that simple, Amy wondered? Did she even have to kill Harmony? Could she just make herself do this, what Harmony seemed to want and then let her go? That would be something new for him and then… another time… she could deal with the annoying bitch as she needed to…
After all Amy thought, there were lips, Harmony was kissing her neck. And she hated the cool touch. Cool? No…
Harmony sank her teeth into Amy’s throat, ripping the jugular open and drinking deep in a few, powerful, sucks then letting her former classmate fall to the ground. Scavengers would be along soon for the body. Maybe, if Amy was lucky, the police. She wiped her mouth clean and looked down at the fallen woman.
Harmony had never liked her though it seemed that the now dead woman might have had some feelings for her. Well ewwww. Still Amy had given her something. Harmony started to hum that little tune that had been going around in Amy’s head all night.
Turning to go she suddenly felt a slight itch, reached up to scratch it and found four inches of wood sticking out of her dress. Well that just wasn’t very friendly…
Faith pulled the stake back. She had been too late for the girl, but still, another night another vamp. She was getting all hungry again. Time for breakfast. “The Camptown Ladies sing this song. Doo dah, doo dah.”
**************
You hear that baby? I am going nowhere.
by zero » Wed Jun 05, 2002 9:49 pm 
I don't think I'm even near halfway done with it. But totally wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed every moment of it so far. And when I complete it, I'll more than likely head over here to start reading this one. 
at: 6/6/02 12:32:43 pm
at: 6/6/02 1:18:48 pm
