Buffy massaged her temples with a shaky sigh as Spike drove through the night in their royal blue SUV. Grady was curled up in the back row of seats, having given into exhaustion and fear, and finding a brief reprieve with a few moments of sleep. Gabriella, reacting much like her father did, her fists balled at her side, sat a row up, next to Shavie, who simply stared blankly out at the passing lights. Kira had remained at their home with Chloe, and the instructions to use her Wicca training she received from Willow to transport the two of them to a safe world if danger presented itself.

An upbeat clip of “I Will Survive” broke the deafening silence in the car. Shavie smiled apologetically and quickly pulled her cell phone from her pocket. She looked over at Gabriella before answering.

“It’s Aunt Rhoda…Hello? Yes…yes I’m with them right now, Aunt Rhoda…yes…you sensed it? And you can’t see where they are now? Oh, good lord. Yes, I know…I’m sure they would appreciate…yes…yes, of course. He what? Just like…oh god, Aunt Rhoda. That’s why…yes, I understand. Uh-huh…yes, I’ll tell them…just keep working on it, and let us know if anything changes. I will. Goodbye.”

Buffy glanced at the demoness in the rearview mirror.

“What did she have to say, Shavie?”

“She sensed Natalia’s entrance to this realm, but it was so clouded she wasn’t sure what to make of it…she was going to call but she didn’t want to worry you. She isn’t quite sure where Natalia took Brayden, it’s somewhere in our realm, at least…but she can tell that their auras are connected, and that they’re both safe…wherever they are.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Spike rested his hand atop Buffy’s quivering shoulder.

“Well, that’s at least good news, in’it, love?”

Buffy nodded.

“It would help if she could tell where they are.”

“I know,” Shavie said with a frustrated look, “but Natalia’s powers have increased since she left…whatever dimension she was in is so…different from ours, she must’ve grown in power tenfold. Aunt Rhoda thinks she'll taken Brayden there because of his power.”

“His power? He’s two months old,” Spike said, “he can’t possibly….”

Trailing off, Spike’s mind meandered back to Chloe’s childish understanding of her infant brother and his powers. His abilities were scarily similar to Evan’s, though Evan’s power didn’t manifest itself until his early teens.

“He’s just like Evan…isn’t he?”

With a sage nod, Shavie met Spike’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Yes…that has to be why she took him. She doesn’t want what happened to Evan to repeat itself with Brayden.”

Tears began to form in Buffy’s eyes, and she tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe them away.

“I can’t believe she would…there was nothing any of us could have done to prevent what happened to Evan…she…she knew that…she has to know that we had no control…we couldn’t….”

“I think that may be the point, love,” Spike offered, shakily. “But we’ll find them. We’ll find them and get all of our children back.”

“Not all, Spike…not all.”

Gabriella grit her teeth, but could not hold herself back from her curiosity.

“You guys never told me or Grady what happened to Evan…you never…we’re old enough now, Mom…Dad…please. It might help for us to know if we’re going to have to fight Natalia.”

“You are not going up against her,” Buffy scolded, “you have no idea what she’s capable of. I have no idea what she’s capable of.”

Grady stirred in the back, and sat up, putting his hand on his twin’s shoulder.

“Mom, please…we need to know. We’re old enough to handle it now, and it will help us to defend ourselves, won’t it?”

The car pulled over into a small rest area. Spike pushed the key back after parking, allowing the interior lights to stay on, as he and Buffy turned to face their two children and Shavie. A shuddering sigh passed through Buffy’s lips and she gave a pleading look to her mate.

“I can’t, Spike, you…you tell them, alright?”

Spike nodded and grabbed Buffy’s hand in his own, placing a light kiss on it, before looking back to his children.

“We were fighting this evil corporation named Wolfram and Hart, yeah?”


~55 Years Earlier~

Buffy and Spike stood, blood-soaked, in front of their once calm seaside home in Wales. Natalia, whose wavy blonde tresses were stained with more than one color of demon blood, wielded a large axe, and was making short work of the green tri-horned monstrosity fighting her. Pockets of Slayers fought against the teaming horde of demons, and many bodies, both demon and Slayer, fell onto the scorched ground beneath them, if not into the crashing waves of the sea Buffy and Spike’s home sat painfully high above.

The cause of the battle was an area of some speculation in the group. A few among them, Giles included, argued that Wesley, elderly and confused, had accidentally summoned another apocalypse after Illyria, who had taken over the body of his love, Fred, expired, and the god had moved to take up residence in another host. Others contended that Wolfram and Hart were predestined to attempt to overtake the world, and the easiest route to that end was to attempt to kill off all of the Slayers. Whatever the case, the battle raged on in front of Buffy’s home at the worst possible time. They had only recently learned of their fifteen-year-old son Evan’s metaphysical gifts, and they were in the process of training him, as he had very limited physical strength. As more and more lines of demons ran forward, Buffy made a decision.

“Everyone, pair off and split up! We have to cut them back!”

Spike grabbed his daughter’s attention, motioning to a four-legged snake creature that looked intriguing. Personality-wise, Natalia was almost identical to her father, even if her body and face appeared so similar to Buffy’s. She grinned, broadly, at Spike, and they ran into the fray with a similar battle cry. Buffy stayed by Evan’s side, keeping the demons at bay, and allowing him to throw a few good hits in at the demons. A look of horror covered her face when she saw Giles’ rutted old body fall before a centaur-like demon, who, all of a sudden, galloped away, leaving the man to die, surrounded by free space. Not stopping to wonder why the demons had vacated the area around Giles, Buffy grabbed Evan’s hand and they ran toward the elderly form of her dying Watcher.

Evan tripped.

A dragon flew down from the sky, much to Buffy’s dismay, and before she could react, a blazing hot stream of fire shot from its mouth, enveloping her beloved son’s frame, and charring him beyond recognition. Blind rage overtook the Slayer, and she ran forward, thrusting her sword into the dragon’s chest, not caring at the moment if she died as well. The beast fell over in a heap before her, but she paid no heed to it, as she collapsed in front of her son’s lifeless and burnt form. Scooping him up in her arms, she rocked him back and forth, quietly humming the song she sang to him while he was an infant. As her vision blurred, her mind did as well, and she blacked out, awakened moments later by the bloodcurdling scream of her daughter, and the intense scent of burnt violets.

They hadn’t seen Natalia again since that day, but had heard of her exploits later on through Andrew and Dawn’s powerful daughter, Rhoda. The once strong and controlled child of Slayer and Master Vampire had become broken and disconnected from reality, leaving this realm for a strangely different one, where she honed her metaphysical powers, and jaunted in and out of worlds, kidnapping male children who held the same potential as Evan had. She hadn’t found one who survived her tactics.


~Present Day~

Small sobs escaped Buffy’s lips, and she leaned on Spike for support, her head resting at the nape of his neck. Gabriella’s eyes were red, her face puffy and wet, and she could find no words to express her feelings. Grady, sensing his twin’s emotions, spoke for her.

“We have to find Natalia…she needs help…there was nothing you could have done, Mom…Dad…there…it was beyond your control, and if she…if Natalia is as confused and crazy as you say she is…we have to get to Brayden before she can do any harm.”

Shavie nodded.

“We’ll find them, Grady…if she’s still in this realm, her powers will be weakening…slowly, but enough for us to find her. Aunt Rhoda said that Natalia can’t make the jump between realms so closely together…she’s here, somewhere…we’ll find her.”

“And we’ll do whatever we can to help her,” Buffy added, shakily.


--

Natalia cradled Brayden in her arms, humming a vaguely familiar tune to him as he slept, peacefully. Staring out at the crashing waves beneath her, Natalia felt a strange sense of dread and remorse creep into her heart, but she pushed them back, and conjured up a beautifully crafted crib to place her infant brother in. Checking the air for energy fields, she smiled and raised a small building around them, nothing more than a main room and a bathroom, but it would be enough to house herself and Brayden for as long as it took to regain her energy and take them both back to her new home world. With a quick flick of her wrist, she conjured up a cushy bed for herself next to Brayden’s crib, along with a small table covered with a few canisters of food, and a jug of milk, set in a bucket of ice. A strange feeling of exhaustion came over Natalia, and she bypassed the nourishment, and fainted onto the charred ground beneath her.