<see Part 1 for disclaimers>

Awakenings Again

Red Moon Series, Book 10

Frau Hunter Ash

www.hunterash.com

Part 2

Buffy threw a right cross that caught Faith across the jaw and rocked the dark haired Slayer back a foot. Faith countered with a boot under Buffy’s chin, dropping Buffy to the ground. Faith pulled out a vicious looking dagger and started for Buffy but yelped when a fire ball burst on the ground between them.

“Whoa, Red to the rescue!” Faith laughed and pulled back as Dawn and Willow rushed towards the two Slayers.

Faith dived behind a tomb as Willow sent another fireball in the rogue Slayer’s direction. Dawn started to run after her, dagger in hand. “No!” Willow shouted and ran to where Buffy was sitting up and shaking her head. “Faith can take you, trained or not, she’s a Slayer.”

“Okay, steel toed boots is not playing fair,” Buffy mumbled.

Dawn watched as Willow checked Buffy’s jaw and then kissed the Slayer gently on the cheek.

“Hi, baby,” Willow said softly. “You okay?”

“Yeah, she’s been practicing with somebody,” Buffy sighed. “Cold day in hell when Faith can drop me, damnit!”

“Come on, let’s go for pizza,” Dawn urged. “Tara called and said they had a run in with Rack but it was a draw again.”

Willow pulled Buffy to her feet and brushed Buffy’s coat off of leaves. “Good, there’s something I wanted to talk to Giles and Tara about. There’s this really weird... energy in Sunnydale.”

“It’s Sunnydale, what could be normal about it?” Buffy asked, somewhat grumpy.

“Well, it’s just... different and... evil,” Willow said softly. “Kinda like the evil werewolves, a feeling of being... stalked.”

“Dad was saying a few college and high school girls have gone missing,” Dawn added as they headed out of the graveyard.

“We have got to figure out how to get rid of Faith and Rack,” Buffy complained. “We need to focus on the usual Sunnydale stuff, end of the world prophecies, vampires running amuck, and being slimed by demons.”

“We’ll figure it,” Willow said softly. “Come on, Buffy. Let’s grab some pizza and spend some time at the Bronze. Xander and Anya are complaining they haven’t seen us in over a week and we need a break.”

“Let’s go,” Buffy nodded.

# # #

The outing at the Bronze turned out to be a Scooby affair, with everyone showing up for pizza and dancing, even Joyce and Giles. After the return of Giles and Dawn from an alternate universe, they had slowly adapted back into life in Sunnydale. At first Dawn had been nervous and paranoid whenever Giles was out of her sight. Now that was easing up and Dawn helped on patrols and research.

Buffy watched as Giles leaned back into Joyce’s arms on a sofa at the Bronze. After playing a cross between Van Helsing and John Carter, Warlord of Mars for a year in a demon controlled realm, he seemed willing to lean on the others, especially Joyce and Buffy was very happy to see it. He was there for them again as father figure and researcher but had pulled back from helping on patrol.

The exceptions were dealing with Faith and Rack.

# # #

Willow hung up the phone with a frown. She, Tara and Buffy were planning on moving into an apartment again to give Joyce, Giles and Dawn more space in the house but not until the mess with Rack and Faith was settled.

This phone call just added another monkey wrench to the mix.

Willow went in search of her wives and smiled when she looked into the living of the Summers-Giles house. Joyce was sitting on the sofa with Giles lying with his head in her lap, looking relaxed for once. They were watching something romantic on the DVD and Willow watched them for a moment.

Things were definitely better with Giles and Dawn back from whatever realm that damned Key gate thingy had sent them.

Willow sighed and glanced outside. It was a warm sunny spring day in Southern California and she wasn’t surprised to find Xander, Anya and Dawn sunning in the middle of the grass. Being Sunday, the Magic Box was closed and Xander had the day off in between jobs.

The witch headed up the stairs towards the bedroom she shared with Buffy and Tara. A mental “ping” and Willow smiled. Tara was doing homework and Buffy was napping. Willow was grateful not to be interrupting snuggles between the two. Not that they’d mind if she joined in it was just that Willow had other things on her mind.

Willow walked in and hesitated. Buffy hadn’t been sleeping much since Faith’s return and Willow hated to wake her wife. Tara looked up from her books as she lay on the bed, facing the opposite direction than the Slayer. Willow thought they looked adorable.

“What’s up, Willow?” Tara asked softly. She began frowning. “Something wrong, baby?”

“I had a phone call, I need to talk to you and Buff,” Willow said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Buffy, baby, need to wake up.”

Tara shook Buffy lightly and smiled when the Slayer mumbled and pulled a pillow over her head. “Just five more minutes, Mom.”

Willow smiled and leaned over Tara, kissing Buffy’s neck and moving to nibble on her ear.

“Okay, that had better be one of my wives,” Buffy said softly and came out from under the pillow. “What’s up, Will? Something wrong?”

“Kinda,” Willow said, pulling back and sitting against the headboard. “I had a call from Lupercalia.”

“Your werewolf town?” Tara asked, sitting up.

“Yeah, they’re asking for help,” Willow said softly. “There’s a developer from the outside that wants to build a huge casino and expand the road through the town. It’ll bring in a lot of tourists day and night.”

“How can we help?” Buffy asked.

”He’s also a sorcerer and is using black magic against them and the earth around them,” Willow explained. “The Elders say my magic is the perfect balance against his. Just enough grey but firmly based in my lycanthropy.”

“We can’t leave with Faith and Rack after Giles,” Buffy said with a frown.

”I know,” Willow said with a sigh. “I’m torn here, guys.”

“What do we do, Will?” Buffy asked as Tara frowned, snuggling into Willow’s arms.

“I need to go and help them,” Willow said softly and was surprised when Buffy nodded.

“Yeah, they’re your pack and stuff,” Buffy said slowly. “They helped us major.”

“I need to stay here with Buffy and protect everyone,” Tara said after a few moments. “Giles can do the magic but...”

“He’s been afraid to,” Willow said, sighing. “He’s afraid Rack can key into his magic and that Giles might give into the dark stuff. I’ve got a feeling he did some major black stuff over there in that other dimension.”

Buffy frowned and snuggled into Willow’s arms, “Gonna miss you! And worry and everything.”

“Me too!” Tara added, kissing both of them gently.

“I’ll be back as quick as I can,” Willow promised. “I love you both so much and there’s danger happening but... I can help the town and stuff.”

“Damn,” Buffy sighed. “Faith and Rack have been keeping kinda a low profile, maybe they’ll stay that way until you get back.”

“How are you getting there?” Tara asked after a few moments.

“Flying to Redding and renting a car,” Willow said, somewhat absently as she played with Buffy’s hair.

“We’re going to h-hate this,” Tara said softly, kissing Willow gently.

# # #

Gabrielle pulled to the curb and looked around. “Well, Small Town USA.”

Xena nodded and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt to her forearms. Sometimes she really missed her bracers. It was daylight in Sunnydale but she could feel an energy, an aura that made her uncomfortable. The warrior glanced at her wife, worried.

Gabrielle looked over and reached over, squeezing Xena’s hand. “I’m alright. I’ll focus on staying balanced.”

”Are you sure about this, Little One?” Xena asked softly. “We’re going to be here over the full moon.”

”And this place feels like the Bacchae forest so long ago?” Gabrielle asked, not surprised when Xena nodded. She leaned over and placed her head on Xena’s shoulder. Even after centuries, just the simple act of touching her mate could calm any fears she had. “We’ve dealt with my bacchae side for how long now?”

“It’s also been centuries since we crossed paths with Bacchus,” Xena pointed out, gently touching Gabrielle’s hair and cheek. “I love you.”

”Back at you, my warrior,” Gabrielle said gently. “How do we find the heroes and the bad guys?”

“Go where the trouble usually is, docks, graveyards or dance clubs,” Xena said thoughtfully. “I wish Aphrodite had told us more about this danger.”

“I know but she’s been a no-show to any requests for a one-on-one,” Gabrielle sighed, sitting back up. “Just that Bacchus was here in this realm and the heroes were swamped.”

“Considering no one even knows the truth about Bacchus and bacchae, I’m not surprised,” Xena nodded. “They think Bacchus is only some god of wine and parties.”

“Well, this town might learn differently,” Gabrielle said softly, her jaw muscles tightening.

Xena looked out at the campus of the local university with a worried frown. It had been centuries since they had dealt with Bacchus and Gabrielle had suffered every single time they had dealt with the dark god, the last time having been the worst. Xena wasn’t sure how her mate was going to face Bacchus if it came to it, not after torture and sexual assault. Or almost losing herself totally to her bacchae side.

“Let’s get to the house you rented and look around,” Xena suggested.

Gabrielle nodded and started the car again. “It’s near the campus, I figure the bacchae will mostly likely prey on college and high school students. How do we fight him this time, lover? He won’t fall for either of us becoming bacchae and sending a dryad bone through him again.”

”Well, we do have the power to hurt gods,” Xena pointed out. “Perhaps with a dryad bone, we could hurt Bacchus enough to leave.”

“Xena,” Gabrielle hesitated as she looked at street signs. “I can’t go through becoming bacchae again.”

Xena looked over at her wife, her eyes going once again to the wide silver bracelets with gold inlay that Gabrielle wore. Bracelets that covered the scars of spikes that had been driven through the bard’s wrists, twice. Both of them wore scars, most of them faded to small white lines that would show against a tanned skin but the wrist wounds remained bright and visible, as did the claw marks across Gabrielles’ right shoulder. Xena remembered the Northern Amazon rite of passage with pride, Gabrielle had accepted those scars easily. The ones from being crucified always bothered her mate, Xena knew.

They had been a variety of things throughout the centuries; warriors, correspondents, farmers, trappers, resistance fighters, and always together.

“We’ll make it through, Gabrielle,” Xena said firmly. “We’ll stop Bacchus and find out what type of heroes this small California town might have produced.”

# # #

Tara walked up behind Buffy as the Slayer watched the crowd below in the Bronze nightclub. The Slayer leaned back into Tara’s arms. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey,” Tara said in Buffy’s ear. “I miss her too.”

Buffy sighed and nodded. “It’s like part of us is missing and she’s only been gone a few hours.”

Tara nuzzled Buffy’s neck softly. “We’ll be okay and so will she. Willow’s r-really strong and s-she has good control over the lycanthropy now.”

Buffy noticed Tara’s lapse back into slight stuttering but didn’t say anything. The further Willow got away from them, the more off balance they both felt.

Both Tara and Buffy smiled suddenly as a wave of love emotion hit them from afar.

“She knows we’re thinking about her,” Buffy said with a small laugh. *Love you too, Will,* she sent mentally to her wife.

“So, looking for Faith, Rack and whatever is causing young college girls to disappear?” Tara asked as Willow shifted her focus back on driving, moving further away from her wives to aid her fellow Weres in Northern California.

“Yeah, I would suspect Rack but not all of them can have the magical energy that he siphons,” Buffy said as she looked at the crowd below. “A lot more Goths these days, I thought that was fading.”

Tara looked down and noticed Buffy was right. There were the usual small groups of Goths of both sexes but there seemed to be more Goth girls in pairs roaming the dance floor and the sitting areas. “Kinda strange. Are they vamps?”

“I don’t think so,” Buffy said with a frown. “They normally don’t advertise like that. Unless they’re a… like family group or something. Maybe they’re pretending to pretend to be vampires to lure wanna-be types in?”

“Wow, that would be sneaky,” Tara said, moving to stand next to Buffy.

“It’s been done before, like that vampire cult I saved from real vampires,” Buffy pointed out. “Why don’t we split up and meet back here in an hour? Yell mentally if anything happens or you see either of the gruesome-twosome?”

“Okay, just be careful,” Tara said with a smile, kissing Buffy’s cheek. “We’ve got plans later for video night with Dawn, Giles and Joyce Mom.”

“Check,” Buffy said, nodding. The Slayer went down stairs and started mingling with the crowd, moving closer to some of the Goth girls.

Tara moved down the other staircase and looked around. She didn’t want to take on Rack or Faith by herself but figured she could yell for help or get away with a burst of magic in the crowded Bronze if they dared show up.

# # #

Xena reflected that bars didn’t change much over the centuries. Alcohol and drink, throw in music, maybe some food and people and you had a bar. She thought her mother, Cyrene, would have loved the Bronze. All the young people determined to have a good time and not a sword in sight.

Gabrielle glanced around and smiled, touching Xena’s arm. She could almost read her mate’s mind. There were many times she missed the first 20 years of her life with Xena. She especially missed the clothes. She could dress almost as scantily as they had in their travels in Greece but it was damned hard to carry a sword or sais openly.

On the other hand, there weren’t many as skilled as she and Xena were at hand-to-hand combat. That came in handy when you couldn’t carry weapons easily.

The warrior bard felt a chill run over her body as she spotted some of the patrons of the bar.

Xena looked down, Gabrielle’s hand was clenching Xena’s arm tightly. The taller dark haired warrior looked at her wife, concerned and followed Gabrielle’s shocked gaze and felt her blue eyes narrowing.

“Bacchae,” she whispered. Xena pulled Gabrielle to a staircase leading to a balcony.

“Xena!” Gabrielle squeaked.

“I know, Gabrielle, I know, I saw them,” Xena nodded as they headed up the stairs. They were both dressed in jeans and Xena was in a dress shirt with leather vest and boots. Gabrielle with a tight baby doll t-shirt and tennis shoes. The warrior wished they had on their native clothing. Flipping over a balcony railing and landing safely was hampered in jeans.

“There’s at least six here,” Gabrielle said urgently, watching the crowd below. “By the Gods, they could multiple to half the female population before Harvest.”

“We have to follow them and find Bacchus, there has to be a way to drive him back to Olympus or Tartarus,” Xena said firmly. “We have to make sure they don’t infect anyone.”

“How do we do that?” Gabrielle asked with a worried expression clouding her face. “I don’t remember being bitten, just dancing at the Harvest dance.”

“I don’t know,” Xena admitted with a frown. “We know you and the others have fangs and have to bite. You bit me twice as a bacchae.”

“And numerous other times as a half bacchae demi-god?” Gabrielle asked, somewhat bitterly.

“And I like those bites,” Xena countered. “Come on, let’s find a pair and follow them.”

Warrior and bard walked back downstairs now that Gabrielle was a bit calmer and determined. They had dealt with many types of vampires since Gabrielle had tasted one drop of Bacchus’ blood, condemning her to the bacchae desire for blood, especially on full moons, fall harvest and when injured or starving. They had learned to deal with the desires and needs quickly with the bacchae side of Gabrielle seldom overcoming her, sometimes it even aided them.

That didn’t mean Gabrielle liked being partially bacchae. Being the daughter of Apollo meant immortality after her death on the cross, tasting Bacchus’ blood meant an eternity of thirst for blood and rough sex.

The only thing that kept the young bard sane throughout it all, including all the centuries was Xena. The daughter of Ares, she had gained her immortality during a shamanistic death ritual and both were given the power to hurt the gods on an equal level when they went to war with Ares over the daughter he had with Xena.

A lifetime spent with the Germanic tribes after fleeing Rome, another two life times spent with the Germanic tribe that became the founders of Russia, the Russ clan. Then time in England and Ireland, meeting up with their immortal son in the wild forests of England as he fought oppression in his own way, becoming the hooded man. The one known as Robin until his death. Returning to Italy and France. Exploring the New World and colonies, aiding or defending against rebellion and wars throughout the world. Always it seemed there was a fight following them or just ahead of them.

Xena nodded in the direction of a lounging area where several college students were talking among themselves. Standing nearby with a young woman on the fringe of the college group were two bacchae.

Warrior and bard began making their way towards the bacchae and young woman.

# # #

Buffy moved through the crowd, her “spidey” sense tingling whenever she got near the Goth girls she and Tara had spotted. Something was different about them, though. It wasn’t quite like the tingling she got around vampires and when she got near two of them, they seemed to sense her as well and moved away, melting into the crowd.

The Slayer decided it was time to find Tara and get closer to the Goth vamps outside.

Buffy stopped suddenly, her eyes widening. A wave of... what the hell was that? Tara was confused and... feeling sexual? Buffy moved faster.

# # #

Xena and Gabrielle looked around when they reached the small college crowd sitting around in an alcove on two sofas. “Where’s the girl?” Xena asked Gabrielle as they searched the crowd.

“There,” Gabrielle said, pointing towards the corner of the dance floor. The lovely young woman was dancing with the two bacchae, her eyes closed as her body melded next to one of the bacchae, the other behind her, stroking her hair gently.

The bard moved across the small space with a growl, her fangs extending slightly as her eyes shifted from blue to green-yellow. The bacchae, sensing her, looked up and hissed in unison.

Xena rushed up beside Gabrielle, her blue eyes flashing her own challenge. She opened the vest slightly, showing the joint end of a bone stuck in her belt to the bacchae.

The two Greek vampires drew back without a word, fading into the crowd as Gabrielle grabbed the intended victim.

Gabrielle shook the girl lightly and started leading her towards a chair against the wall.

“Is she?” Xena asked anxiously.

“I don’t see any bite marks but you didn’t see any on me either,” Gabrielle remarked.

“Hey, vampire!” a female voice said loudly and firmly. “Let go of my girlfriend.”

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