Chapter 17



Buffy’s foot was tapping restlessly against the leg of the coffee table. “I don’t get why we have to talk about it again, Giles. Seriously.” They’d already wasted an hour going over her meeting with Adalberto and the plan on what to do next, and she was feeling stupid for deciding to let her friends in on it. She, Spike and William should have gone through with it all and tell them about it afterwards.


Shaking his head the man gave the only answer he could. “Because we have to, Buffy. You can’t just all jump in there; we have no clue what awaits you.”


Spike and William were an odd sight now that they looked exactly the same. Their matching bored expressions made Dawn giggle.


Giles just raised an eyebrow and the girl mumbled an apology, stifling a second giggle when both vampires cocked their scarred eyebrows at the same time.


“OK, this is unnerving. At least go to opposite sides of the room,” Xander groused.


“Focus, people.” Willow snapped her fingers impatiently and nodded for Giles to go on.


“Right. Well, according to your deal with the Immortal, all three of you will be sent to the universe Spike—” he tilted his head towards one of the blonds flanking Buffy on the couch, only to be informed with a smirk that that was William. “Well, you know who I mean,” he replied haughtily before continuing. “To the universe Spike was taken from. Buffy, you and William will be allowed half an hour there before being returned here. Correct?”


All three nodded this time.


“Right. Do you have any inkling as to what point in time you will be sent to? What do you and William hope to accomplish in half an hour there, whenever that there may be?”


Buffy took a deep breath, closing her eyes before saying, “We don’t know when it’ll be there. We know it’s gonna be before the Sunnydale apocalypse, but nothing more than that. And I don’t know about William, but I mean to have a chat with other-Buffy.” She looked at her ex-Watcher challengingly, but the man just nodded.


“What if it is too close to the apocalypse? Spike doesn’t have his soul back; he will not be able to help! And you know very well that the Immortal cannot be trusted. What if this is a ploy to leave you all stranded there, giving him the freedom to run amuck here?”


“Spike went to Africa,” Buffy replied. “And Adalberto could try and get rid of us another way if that was what he wanted.”


“Spike went to Africa? He got his soul back?” His eyes shone with something Buffy recognized as respect.


“Oi, stop talkin’ about me like I’m not here!” He didn’t think the Watcher would appreciate the reward he got instead of the soul, not with his trust issues.


“I do apologize for my rudeness, Spike.” He didn’t sound very apologetic. “But I’m worried that you’re all going head first into a situation that you haven’t the faintest how to handle.”


William interjected. “We’ve handled it before, Watcher.”


Giles’ eyes softened. “I know. I remember what it did to all of you. For the last time I ask you to reconsider. Either do nothing, or let Spike go alone.”


“We’ve tried for so long to get him back there, Giles. What’s wrong with you?” She couldn’t believe the man’s reluctance to go along with the plan. Of course, that might be because nobody had bothered to fill him in on the details of the plan.


“Yes, well, we’ve tried convincing the Immortal to help, and I’m quite aware of what he demanded in return. You have yet to tell me how you managed to work around that.”


“I had a pretty compelling argument.” Sitting back, she crossed her arms in her patented Buffy-has-had-enough-of-this-conversation stance.


“Your reasoning has indeed always been your stronger quality,” Giles said sarcastically. “I passionately dislike being in the dark, Buffy. Tell me what exactly you promised him to acquire his assistance.”


Buffy opened her mouth hoping an elaborate yet convincing lie would jump out of it, but Kennedy all but hopped by the living room on her way to the kitchen, cutting all conversations short with her eerily giddy hello.


“Well, we should be going,” the blonde uttered with relief, pointedly ignoring her ex-Watcher’s glare. By the silence and weird looks the others exchanged upon the second Slayer’s entrance, she knew nobody would push the point in front of Kennedy. Jumping off the couch, she gave Giles a reluctant hug. “We’ll be fine. All of us.”


He closed his arms around her. “Good.” His voice sounded choked.


Dawn lunged at Spike the moment he stood up, squeezing the air out of his lungs. “Tell my other sister to take care of you, or I’ll find her and kick her ass, ok?”


Blinking rapidly to hold back the tears that threatened to make an appearance, he nodded.


“Please be well.” She squeezed him again, then let him go so she could hug William. “And you be back.”


“Will do, Nibblet.” He kissed her cheek.


Willow and Xander also said their goodbyes, the one-eyed carpenter surprising them all by telling William there was no return policy on Buffy and so he had to come back in one piece and suffer her, and telling Spike he hoped his version of Buffy and the Scoobies saw the light earlier.


Kennedy re-entered the room unnoticed while the hug-fest was still going strong, with Giles actually telling Spike it was interesting meeting him—and meaning it. “What’s going on? What did I miss?”


Willow shook her head, wiping at her eyes with the heel of one hand. “Spike is going back, we found a way.”


The smile on the brunette’s face was shark-like. “Really? Good for him.”



~~~~ A few days earlier



He had her the moment he suggested taking power from Buffy and giving it to her, they both knew that. Still, they both kept up the pretence.


“I’m listening.” Kennedy was more than interested in how exactly he meant to achieve what he wanted.


“Buffy needs to send Spike back, correct?”


Kennedy scoffed. “If she decides to look beyond what her cunt needs for a change.”


“She will, cara. The vampire won’t let her keep him here; he longs and worries for his own Slayer.” He grinned. “Which suits us both perfectly.”


She arched her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain.


“The only way to send him back is for me to help her. The spell that brought him here has been veiled so well that your little witch will not be able to find traces to lead her to the right universe.”


“And what will you ask for, in order to help her?” She expected to hear him say something along the lines of having Buffy take the power-stripping serum.


“I shall ask that she become my lover for a year.”


She stood so fast she sent the armchair skidding a couple of feet back. “Your plan is about how to fuck her? You got me here, drugged me, made me listen to your supposedly grandiose ideas, so you could fuck her?”


“Sit. Down.” All charm had left the man. “I am not finished, and I do not need a plan to fuck some… zoccola who beds vampires.”His voice was a menacing roar.


Kennedy hated herself for actually feeling threatened by the man in front of her, but did as she was told.


Granting her a satisfied smile, Adalberto went on, like his outburst had never happened. “During the year that Buffy will be… indisposed, you will make sure everyone knows why exactly she is not fighting the… come si dice…?” He looked up, as if waiting for the words to drop from above. “Ah, yes. The good fight.” He reached out and circled the young woman’s wrist with his fingers. “You will make sure they all know her priority was a vampire, and that it’s because of him that she now sleeps with a Hell God.”


Kennedy’s eyes widened, but before she could say a word, Adalberto spoke again.


“And you’ll have to kill William when I tell you it’s time.” He placed his hands on his lap, fingers entwined. “You will be the Slayer army’s new leader. You will have to erase the things that could challenge that.”


That wouldn’t be exactly a chore for Kennedy. William had been grating on her nerves for more than just being a vampire. All the slayerettes kept talking about how he’d helped in Sunnydale, how he was smart, and strong, and so many things they always mentioned wide-eyed. He wasn’t the only one who fought on the Hellmouth, and Kennedy knew that deciding to go white-hat out of lust didn’t mean he ceased being a vampire. She wondered how people kept forgetting that. Well, they’d remember once she slew him! “There’s someone else who could challenge that.” Seeing the man narrow his eyes, she explained, “Faith.” She spat the name out as if it disgusted her. And it did. The second of the older Slayers had offered to lead them in Sunnydale, only to give up and follow Buffy when things got too dire. Ken had seen her smoke and joke with Spike, and had heard the stories about her. She was only better than Buffy in that she wanted to sleep with the enemy, not marry him.


“Accidents do tend to happen on Hellmouths. Especially to nosy slayers.” His chuckle was disturbing.


Looking straight into his eyes, Kennedy asked a question out of pure curiosity. “What do you get out of all this? Other than a Slayer in your bed.”


“That alone should be enough, but it’s not my goal. It’s just a means to making the Slayer line pure again.”


He was lying through his teeth, but she didn’t mind.



~~~~~*~~~~~



Kennedy should have minded, but she was too focused on getting what she felt was rightfully hers to worry about it.


Of course, that was what the Immortal had been counting on.


The LA almost-apocalypse would have been good enough to last him for a full century, but his silly stunt with Buffy in the nightclub had made him miss it. He’d make sure to rectify that. With Kennedy as his pawn and Buffy as his slave, he could feed undisturbed and rejuvenate himself in safety.


The gate buzzer brought him out of his reverie. He smiled. Soon he’d get what he wanted.


Or so he thought, having left one factor out of his equation and not knowing about another.



~~~~~*~~~~~



Sofia knew the time was near for whatever Adalberto’s plan was to be set in motion. She knew bits and pieces of it, had heard things he obviously hadn’t expected her to make sense of, and she’d figured out that whatever his plan, it entailed her being replaced.


She would have rejoiced at that thought if it didn’t mean she would die and her soul would remain his to either keep enslaved or devour. Her only hope for escaping that fate would be to get help, and she knew just where to find it. Her comings and goings from the house were monitored—if not controlled—by her master, however. What was more, he would know her thoughts unless she made sure to shield them at all times, and even then she wouldn’t be completely safe. Not if he decided to probe more.


Then there was the issue of what would happen to her mother’s soul if she managed to escape. She knew where Adalberto kept it—had noticed the hidden passage in the crypts under the castle during the Immortal’s underground spell the previous year. Still, she had no clue how to free it. If anything more than physically releasing it was needed, she was at a loss.


She had to act fast and she had to be careful. Extremely careful.


Way more careful than she had been with the young Slayer Adalberto had lured in the other day. Sofia smiled sadly. That girl was so misguided, despite her potential for good. She’d hoped that she had found an ally in Kennedy, but she’d given up on that hope when the girl had shaken hands with Adalberto before leaving for town. Shaken hands with the Devil.


Hearing the buzzer she rushed to the front door. She had to play hostess to her Master’s guests… and maybe help save all of them.



~~~~~ Earlier that morning



Much though they all wanted to keep the world outside and remain lost in one another, all three knew they had a few last details to discuss.


“We have to make sure the Immortal doesn’t find out about the claim,” Buffy mused. “He may realize what it means if he does, and then poof goes the deal!”


“I think if he doesn’t know by now, there’s no reason to worry.” William was sitting at the edge of the bed, waiting for Spike to give him a cigarette.


“Oh come on. Do you have to take that up again?” Buffy scrunched her nose. “It was the only part of you I didn’t miss.”


Spike arched an eyebrow, making a show of bringing his own cigarette to his lips, and smirking around it when Buffy’s eyes followed the motion entranced.


“Stop with the distractions, already!” Pulling the sheets higher, she sat up. “We all get there, convince the other Buffy to let you help and me and William are zapped back here.”


William nodded. “Try to save demon girl too, while you’re there?” Buffy pinched his ass, and he squealed indignantly. “What? You like her, too. He knows how it all plays out, no reason to let the same fuck ups happen!”


Shrugging noncommittally, the Slayer said, “I hope my other self is less stubborn than me.”


Both vampires snorted.


In a hurry to avoid Slayer-wrath, Spike asked, “What about when you get back here? Half an hour there could be months for as much as we know.”


Buffy shook her head. “Adalberto said time moves faster there, so no fear of that. What I’m worried about is where we’ll come back to.”


*You think he’ll pull a fast one?* William was so shocked he hadn’t thought of that, he forgot to ask aloud.


Lost in thought, Buffy didn’t realize the question was in her head. “No. I really don’t know. He might do anything.”


Spike looked from one to the other, eyes narrowed. “Did I miss somethin’?”


He was fine with it, once they explained. He really was. Sure, it was a cool thing that he and his own Buffy would most probably never share, but that should be the last of his concerns. After all, their telepathy might be what ultimately saved their lives. Spike wasn’t self centered enough to believe Buffy’s and William’s trouble would end once he was returned to his universe. He just hoped they proved mightier than the powers that would try to tear them apart.






Tbc.