Buffy lightly shook Callie’s shoulders.

“Callie, honey? Come on, we have to get ready…we’re almost there.”

As Callie’s eyes fluttered open, she was reminded of a trip she and her mother took before Spike had returned. But, where there once was the promise of a warm sun and a day at the beach, Callie was now greeted with the promise of a battle that could consume them all. If Buffy had not instilled such a sense of pride and purpose in her ‘higher calling,’ Callie would have resented the life set before her.

It’s for the world…for me…for my parents and Maria, if no one else. They deserve to have a safe world to live in…and no Slayer or crazy Master Vampire are going to take that away from them if I have anything to do about it.

Callie forced herself to sit up and stretch, as her mother had always taught her to do before a battle she knew she was entering.

--

“Good God, it’s easier than ever to get fools to come to their deaths these days,” Angelus spouted through Drusilla’s thin lips.

Breaking into the cabin had been the easy part, Callie found. Dealing with a demented Master Vampire possessing another Master Vampire, and a mute, and equally as crazed Slayer, was more difficult, even with her parent’s support. Callie was now grateful for the mental link her parents rarely used to converse with her telepathically. She silently spoke to them, as they sat in meditation on the lawn outside, as she eyed up Istolna and Angelus/Drusilla.

“Mummy, Papa…I’m scared.”

Buffy and Spike had ceased to be one entity as they sat outside of the cabin, in meditation; their combined force and souls floated between them, its sapphire glow illuminating the dark forest. Their combined voice called out to Callie in a whispered hush, as if protecting itself from any prying minds.

“Callie…stall them as long as you can. The prophesy said that only you can defeat them and take Thia’s powers…but we’ll help you as much as we can…nothing ever said that your parents can’t do everything they can to protect you. Just give us a few minutes, poppet, and we’ll have your backup plan ready!”

Istolna and Angelus did not wait for Callie to make the first move. As Angelus lunged at her, Drusilla’s fangs and fingernails bared, Istolna took to launching small, razor-sharp throwing stars at Callie’s form. Expertly avoiding Angelus, but not so lucky to avoid all of the razors, Callie faltered slightly, and stooped on the floor, heaving.

“Callie! No!”

Angelus wiped Drusilla’s slightly bloodied mouth, and picked a throwing star out of her shoulder. A menacing chuckle escaped her lips, and Angelus’ evil glimmer flashed in Drusilla’s eyes. Said glimmer was eradicated as a blast of sapphire haze filled the room and ignited Callie’s form, turning her into the iridescent blue shade. Istolna’s eyes grew wide and the slightest noise escaped her lips as she hid behind the couch.

Angelus stood in a short-lived shock before Callie’s glowing form. Callie turned her gaze at Drusilla’s body, and, before he could react, shoved her into the fireplace. A deep shriek sounded through Drusilla’s frame, and a stark white flash exploded in the flames. Callie grabbed Drusilla’s limp, charred form from the blaze an instant after the flash vanished. Drusilla coughed as she rolled onto her feet, and stared at the fire, angrily.

“Naughty Daddy! Treacherous, bad, bad Daddy! She’s a part of my sweet William,” she said dreamily, stealing a quick glance at Callie. “Back to Hell, Daddy. And no more tea for you if you return! Miss Edith and I are very cross with you!”

Drusilla turned to Callie, smiling vacantly, and pointing toward the ceiling.

“The pixies are tricky, you know. Daddy couldn’t hear them, but they made him so naughty. I wish I could hush them.”

Callie was confused by this new persona inside of the thin woman’s body. The sapphire haze flushed around Callie’s head.

“That’s just Dru, poppet. Let her be, yeah? Don’t waste time trying to figure her out. Do what you need to, Callie, honey.”

Nodding in determination, Callie brushed past Drusilla to find Istolna shaking in fear behind the couch. Her eyes were as deep a brown as a fawn’s eyes were, and her face pale with terror. She looked like a tortured animal, and Callie shook her head before turning to walk out of the cottage, her blue pigment fading.

“I just…I can’t...not like this.”

A sharp pain shot through her back, and Callie’s scream mixed with Drusilla’s. Callie turned around to find Istolna holding Drusilla’s body down with her own, holding a stake to her heart. Callie could feel the blood trickling down her back, but ignored her own pain as she leapt across the room, diving onto Istolna. A loud ‘snap’ caused Drusilla to jump up and scream in apparent glee. Callie’s limp form rolled off of Istolna’s on the cold, wooden floor.

--

The loud snap resonated through the fields surrounding the cabin. Buffy’s eyes looked as if they were about to burst as she and Spike crashed into the building. Istolna’s body lay limp on the floor, her neck hanging in a strange position. Buffy looked at Spike imploringly.

“Her neck’s snapped, pet….”

“But…Callie….”

Drusilla sat on the floor, cradling Callie’s limp form, and rocking her back and forth. Spike sobbed loudly.

“Oh God…no…”

“Shh,” Drusilla hushed, “the faerie magic is working. It’s very rude to interrupt them, my poor, sweet William.”

Before Spike or Buffy could speak, Callie stirred in Drusilla’s arms. Drusilla smiled, her eyes twinkling.

“Shh…more magic, dears, they have to finish.”

As Drusilla’s words poured lyrically out of her lips, Callie’s body became rigid and began to glow in an entrancing golden hue.

“Cal…,” Buffy started.

Drusilla held an imploring finger to her lips, silencing her once mortal enemy. Callie’s body rose off the ground, the golden hue pulsating with her heartbeat, for slightly under a minute, before she slowly lowered back onto the floor. When her eyes opened, they were no longer blue, but shone in the deep, golden hue she had just been consumed by.

--


Drusilla had taken to speaking to the threading on the couch cushions after Callie was revived enough to sit up. Spike searched her back for the wound left by Istolna’s dagger, but could find nothing.

“Poppet…Callie, sweetheart, can you hear me? Can you talk?”

“Yes, Papa, I’m fine,” Callie replied in an unusually musical tone.

Callie jumped back at the sound of her voice, and Buffy’s mouth hung agape.

“Callie, honey, your voice it’s…it’s….”

” ‘s the most beautiful thing we’ve ever heard, poppet.”

Spike enveloped Callie in a tight squeeze before helping her onto her feet. A familiar cloud of smoke burst into the room. Anya, Joyce, and Tara stood in a half-circle before the immortal family. Anya sneered at Drusilla.

“Wow, she really is nuts, isn’t she, Spike? You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

Joyce frowned at her.

“Oh, Anya, hush. Buffy, honey, are you alright?”

Buffy blushed and turned to her mother, keeping Callie in her peripheral vision.

“I’m fine Mom…what happened to Callie?”

“Well, the prophesy of course.”

Tara bowed her head in reverence.

“It has been completed.”

Anya sighed and looked around the room.

“And in the most dank of conditions, too. Geez, first Sunnydale, now this podunk little town in Russia. Why can’t big things happen in nicer cities? Oooooh, like Orlando?”

“Anya, we all know about the curse over Orlando. It’s nice to think about it, but you know full well that no demon can go there until they’re hired,” Tara said.

Callie stared at her powerful and otherworldly reflection in the window.

“What’s happened to me?”

Anya ginned and clapped her hands together.

“Oh! Thia’s powers! They’re already in effect! Great! Well, Callie, you should start to feel different, invincible, as it were.”

“I already do.”

“Oh, good, then. So, when all of Thia’s powers kick in, you’ll be able to control them better, your voice is an example. Right now, it can charm the pants off of anyone…literally. Well, not with Buffy and Spike or us, because they’re your parents, and we’re just specters, so we just hear a beautiful melody, but to men…well, it used to be called the ‘Siren’s curse,’ it works on men for the most part, but you can effect women on a smaller scale to do your bidding, too. But I think being able to control men is a blessing. They’ve been controlling women for ages; it’s time for us now.”

Spike cleared his throat.

“So her powers?”

“Right. Well, along with the ‘Siren’s curse,’ comes another gift. You can give immortality to your true love, Callie.”

Callie’s golden eyes gushed with tears.

“What?”

“Your true love. If and when you find him, or her,” she said looking at Tara. “You can give them the gift of immortality.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch…but, you can only do it once, so you’ve got to be super-careful and be really sure of this guy.”

“Or girl,” Tara offered.

Callie smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“I’m not a lesbian, but that’s good to know, Aunt Tara.”

Anya flicked her wrist, signaling quiet.

“Right, right, but besides all this stuff, your normal powers have increased ten-fold. Callie, you’re the most powerful being on the planet. Use that power for good, Callie, and maybe this world won’t be so lost after all.”

As the smoke billowed around her family, Callie smiled, looking first to Buffy and Spike, who were now locked in a loving embrace, and then back to her reflection.

“I will.”

--

THE END!!!!