Call of the Slayer

By: SkyeDeploro
AN: This is a response to challenge 925. It’s my first time writing a fic to a challenge, so please bear with me. Also the last fic I was working on had really huge ass chapters, so I figure if I start writing smaller chapters, I’ll be able to update more often.

I have read most of the Anita Blake books and have watched most of the BtVS seasons, but I don’t have it glued to my memory, so if I make a few mistakes, please don’t go all psycho on me. Also, if anyone has the time, I will need a beta, so just email me or send a review w/ your email, thanks!

Challenge Requirements:

Setting: AU of bad girls except faith does not go evil. So no Dawn or glory, no additional slayers activated, etc).
Note: Was reading Her Vacation by Shadansa, and was intrigued with the slayer having capabilities of a were. I am not that familiar with Anita Blake (except from fanfic crossovers) and if Jean-Claude can call the wolves, what if someone else can call slayers (but this would not at all be like season 7 of buffy).
Pairings: Up to Author but an idea is buffy/nathanial and faith /jason or buffy/faith is awesome too.
Summery: In season 3 (during bad girls) Faith does not kill anyone instead, the watchers council go after buffy and faith because they are the strongest slayers in hundreds of years. They go on the run and eventually are pulled towards Anita's city by an unknown force. It Seems that someone can call on the slayers like jean claude can call the wolves. If you want you can have the slayers take on some abilities as weres. Eg. They can shape shift (into perhaps a jaguar, tiger or Leopard). Perhaps who ever called them can teach them how to use their powers to their full capabilities. For example have the slayers "play nice" with the local were to learn to hunt or something...protect the local packs. Would be cool to have them as "wild" as they were in bad girls ... lol. At some point they have to fight against the watchers council and their goons who have come for them.

Chapter 1: A Step Closer

Running. It was all Buffy could do to get away.

Clad in dark leather pants and jacket, the chill seeped in leaving her to feel only the cold and emptiness. Cocking her head to the side she discreetly watched her younger sister slayer from the corner of her eye.

She didn’t like to think about it, nor did she like to talk about it. She and Faith, the Boston native/smart-ass seductress, had been on the run for a little over a month now. Trying to keep low profiles, they packed their bags, then spent a good portion of the money they had been able to scrounge up and bought fake ID’s, and started taking buses from city to city just trying to get away, away from the betrayal, away from the pain.

Their plan was to keep to the cities with the larger preternatural populations, hoping to throw off the watchers tracking spells.

Yeah, Buffy knew what the world was like outside of the hellmouth. The preternatural world was out in the open, and according to the law, she had committed murder thousands of times the last three years. Luckily, the people were blind to the ‘supernatural’ on the hellmouth, and the government was none the wiser of her ‘crimes’.

She first learned of the ‘outing’ of the preternatural last year when she went on her little ‘vacation’ to LA.

Slayers were meant to be kept on the hellmouth, where the dark energies caused the vampire population to become wild, rabid like creatures. Just shadows of what they should be. Just soulless monsters.

Buffy snorted at that. Everywhere else vampires and lycanthropes were feared and hated for being ‘monsters’. Buffy knew what the real monsters were; the real things that make most people fear the night.

But her slayer side lived for the night, she rejoiced in it, the hunt, the kill, and the demise of evil. Her soul sang for sunset. But leaving the hellmouth put her off her game, not allowing her to hunt what she desired. Leaving her with pent up energy and her slayer essence to scream at the injustice of it all.

Letting out a barely audible sigh, Buffy looked over to see Faith watching her.

“You miss it don’t you?” Faith questioned her.

“What?” Buffy asked in fake ignorance. Hefting her bag higher she quickly looked away from the accusing glance her ‘sister’ threw her.

“Don’t play stupid with me Buffy, we both know you are far from it, so your game won’t work.” Faith stated. The seriousness in her voice made the blonde frown a little.

“Yeah, but we both knew the deal before we left.” Buffy answered before continuing in a quieter voice, “We can always shift and hunt animals.” She finished with a sigh.

The topic of their shifting capabilities was something they would only speak to each other, for no one else knew.

Buffy found out about her shifting abilities before she had moved to Sunnydale. She was glad to have her sister slayer to ask if she had the ability too. No one knew, not even the watchers and she wanted to keep it that way, which is why she hesitated asking Kendra, the slayer before Faith was ‘activated’ if she had similar abilities with her slayer powers. Kendra was just to involved with the Watchers Council. But Faith was a different story. Like her, the council never found out about her unit shortly before she was ‘activated’, meaning she told the council where they could shove it. Which is one of the main reasons they were on the run from them now. So finding out Faith had another form had eased her a bit. She wasn’t alone anymore.

Apparently, the slayers either kept their ‘gift’ a secret from their watchers or only the more powerful ones (which happened to be the few that were not council raised) had it.

“Not many places we can go for that ‘B’ and we aren’t exactly very inconspicuous like that” Faith replied in an equally quiet voice.

Buffy’s tense muscles relaxed a little at the nickname Faith had given her when they had first met.

Throwing her a cocky smile the blonde slayer replied “Are type just aren’t meant to be inconspicuous Faith. Big words for a big girl?” she finished with raised eyebrows.

“You liked that huh? Picked it up from that cheesy spy novel I got at the gas station in New Mexico. Don’t tell nobody though,” she paused to role her shoulders, “I got a rep to keep up Blondie.”

Rolling her eyes, said ‘blondie’ was about to respond only to perk up at the sound of a vehicle coming towards the bus station.

“Looks like us ‘B’.” Faith said picking up her large black and gray hiking bag containing everything she owned.

“Looks like it.” Buffy replied with a grin stepping up to the curve, ready to board the 9pm greyhound leaving for St. Louis Missouri.

Chapter Two: Dance Macabre

Anita hated it, but a promise was a promise, and she never went back on her word.

She and the rest of the cities main preternatural figure heads were currently sitting in a private VIP area over looking the St. Louis masses who were currently dry humping on the dance floor, at least in Anita’s perspective. She had promised Jean-Claude she would help him give a show of a united front for the master of the city by showing up to these little public shows once a month. She was just surprised he could get all the important people here

Sighing, she turned to look at the gathering spread around over the posh (of course it has to look nice, Jean-Claude does own it) sitting area.

To her left, sitting on a dark red velvet couch/settee like thing, were four members of her pard. Her Nimir-Raj Micah, her pomme de sang Nathaniel, and Zane and Cherry. They were dressed a little more in sync to the S&M theme of Dance Macabre.

Beyond them was St. Louis’ Rat King, Rafael, tall, dark, and arrogant but still nice, and his were-rats, armed to the teeth. Most of them were former mercenaries. Not many lycanthropes were gun carriers, and Anita was only glad they were on her side. Her reflexes were fast, but not fast enough to take on that many were’s with guns. They were dressed to impress. Sitting with them was were-rat Dr. Louie Fane, Richards’s best friend and boyfriend to her good friend Ronnie.

To Anita’s right were Jean-Claude and Asher. Both of them were dressed like the walked out of a set from the 1700’s. Not many men could pull off wearing crushed velvet, frills and thigh high boots, but of course they weren’t just anyone, and Anita knew they could both pull it off very well. Jean-Claude was dark to Asher’s light, opposite, yet both breathtakingly beautiful. Jean-Claude had a little smug smile on his face as he looked around at the gathering, causing Anita to roll her eyes looking away.

To their left was Richard Zeeman, drool worthy science teacher/Ulfric, or wolf king, her former fiancé surrounded by four of his wolves including Sylvie, someone else who’s name Anita couldn’t quite place, and his two loyal body guards Jamil and Shang-Da, all dressed to impress, or kill. Richards hair was growing back slowly from the tragedy that occurred in her bathroom a few weeks ago. He had hacked at it in a fit of self-mutilation. Atleast now it looked quite decent, and showed off his perfectly sculpted face and broad shoulders. They had started talking again, and were working towards friends, but Anita knew it would never be anything more, but she could still look she thought. Richard was having problems finding a replacement for lupa so it was up to Anita to fulfill that part, in the non-girlfriend more like protector kind of way. She was also the local pack’s Bolverk. Their protector and their killer. Oh, the irony.

Getting fed up of the continual posturing for the cities preternatural, Anita turned to tell Jean-Claude she was leaving to go home and get some sleep before her morning appointments at work, when she felt it.

Power. Strong and flowing like waves over the crowd of dancers. She could feel it up there and it was causing chill bumps to rise on her arms, and she wasn’t even near the dance floor.

If she were paying attention, she would have noticed every head in the VIP area turned to dance floor the same time hers did.

Using her advanced sight she scoured the dance floor for the source. There. In the middle of the floor were two women dancing with each other. If she could call it dancing. She had never seen anything like it before, they moved in sync to a beat, in an almost ritualistic, animal, raw way that made her hold her breath. She had seen a lot of crazy shit from the ‘monsters’, like that moving together thing the weird sisters from Santa Fe did, but they had nothing on this. So a soon as she noticed this, she paid more attention to their power, because it was coming from both of them.

It felt like shifter, but something else. Something so, so old, so… dangerous, but alluring at the same time.

Not noticing, she had gotten up from her seat and moved towards the railing.

The blonde she felt death magic around, while the brunette felt more chaotic. She wanted to know more.

“What is it you feel ma petite?” Jean-Claude whispered into her ear.

She jumped coming back to her sense and looked at all the others in the area with her. Most were still sitting but a few had stood. But all, all of them had looks of awe and confusion on their faces.

“I don’t know…” She replied with her hand on the butt of her gun.

Chapter Three: A Slayers Eschewal

The beat of the music was all Buffy could think and feel.

Here was her escape, her relief. She was only one in a crowd of over a hundred or so people. She was nobody, just another young person with no problems or secret life dancing and having fun.

She and Faith had been in St. Louis for nearly three weeks now. As soon as they arrived, they felt at home, like they had finally arrived where they needed to be on their journey. They had found a small motel room their first night in the city, where they were still staying. The room was only a single bed with a small attached bathroom, but it served its purpose. It wasn’t too expensive, but it was still more than they could afford. Faith fixed that by pickpocketing random people walking in the streets during the day, when people let their guards down. After all, monsters and all the bad guys only go bump in the night. Although Buffy didn’t agree with it, they needed the money bad, and the job search so far hadn’t gone too well.

Deciding they needed a night out to relieve some stress, the to slayers found themselves in the hottest nightspot in St. Louis: Dance Macabre. It was dark, loud, and all done up with an S&M theme. More Faith’s thing, but Buffy couldn’t deny the appeal. Rumour was that the Master of the City owned the club, but Buffy figured they were safe with their shielding, and being surrounded by other supernatural entities helped to hide them a bit more easily.

Clearing her mind, Buffy began increasing her movements as the music increased. Nothing but sound, sight, and touch. She moved closer to her sister slayer and felt herself drift, letting go. The music dimmed and she did what felt natural. She moved with fluid grace that put most shifters to shame. Twisting and turning made the silk of her bronze coloured tank top slide with her, and her black dress pants hugged her curves, as she moved in stiletto’s with grace most couldn’t achieve in bare feet.

A voice startled her out of her reverie. Snapping her eyes open, she was startled to see the anxious look on the brunette slayer's face. Seeing her, Buffy wondered if Faith owned jeans, because she was always wearing leather pants. She decided she would have to introduce the younger girl to the lovely world of blue jeans later.

“What?” The blonde finally asked in concern.

Shifting her eyes she replied “We were leaking power bad B…” she paused, “We just got caught up I guess… didn’t you feel it? The power, it was searching us just now, it felt… like death, like vamp vibes but, more magic.”

Buffy followed her line of sight and locked eyes with a petite brunette, whose hand seemed to be going for a weapon, on top of a balcony looking over the dance floor.

Reigning in her shields she grabbed Faith’s arm before she whispered to her, knowing her advanced hearing would hear her over the loud music, “Time to leave.” Still watching the brunette, who broke eye contact to watch her mouth.

Holding the arm of the younger women next to her, the oldest living slayer made her way through the crowd towards the door, all the while feeling eyes on her from all over the room.

She may be powerful, but she was young and still made mistakes. Letting her power leak a little in a room full of preternatural beings that were attracted to slayer’s power, was a big mistake.

She had to push and shove her way through writing dancers before finally seeing her destination.

Only a few meters from the exit, she felt it. Vampire, old, but not too powerful, not a master. Now she had to choose, she could run or turn to face it. Too bad Faith had already made the choice, swinging around pulling the blonde who was rolling her eyes at the brashness of the other slayer. Then again, slayers tend to be brash, and are good at going by the seat of their pants.

“Yes?” She heard the darker slayer ask as she looked up to meet the eyes of a tall pale vampire, with long red hair that made her think blood. But his eyes are what she focused on. Pale green eyes that held age and suffering.

Feeling a pull, she narrowed her eyes knowing the vampire was trying to roll her mind.

She was about to snap at him before he turned to look at Faith quickly and replied “Your presence has been requested by the owner.” He finished in a half bow, not taking his eyes off of us.

Before Faith could respond, Buffy cut in “Thanks, but we have a busy schedule. Maybe some other time,” she finished insincerely.

Buffy turned pulling Faith behind her before he could make a response. Moving again to her intended target, the bright red exit sign, Buffy felt the green eyed vampire move farther away from them, Buffy hoped back to his master.

Slamming the door open, both slayers took a deep breath of the cool night air.

Letting go of Faith finally, Buffy began walking through the blood district, hoping to spot a cab, before any nasties or the master’s pets came after them.

Three blocks later, after making sure no one was following them, they found a cab.

Telling the cab driver where to take them, they sat back silently both hoping that this trouble tonight wouldn’t make them leave their new home in St. Louis.

Chapter Four : Anita’s Uncanny Ability to Get Into Everybody’s Business

Turning back to the girls on the dance floor, Anita looked down to see the brunette had stopped and was looking at her.

She looked young, but Anita decided that her eyes gave her away. She didn’t know how old the woman was, but her dark chocolate eyes said she had the experience, and a sadness that she had seen before only in Nathaniel’s eyes.

As she watched, the brunette turned away to her companion and said something, but at this angle Anita couldn’t see what she said. She soon figured that it had something to do with her because the blonde turned locked eyes with her. Where the brunette had sad eyes, the blondes hazel eyes showed strength and power. While there was sadness there, she seemed to have put it behind her to continue fighting whatever it was to make them that way.

Abruptly the power was cut off and Anita nearly stumbled at the loss, but kept her eyes firmly on the blondes eyes, as when she looked away it would show weakness and the petite blonde would attack. These thoughts weren’t really hers, and they made her realize her beast had stirred at the women’s powers and was read to fight for her life.

The blonde grabbed the brunettes arm with out turning and spoke to her companion with out looking away from Anita. “Time to leave.” Realizing she broke eye contact, Anita looked up only to see the blonde moving to the exit, dragging the darker girl behind her.

Turning to ask Jean-Claude a question, she was cut off when he said “Damien, please go ask our two guests to join us here.” He finished as Damien quickly looked to Anita for permission. She gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

Anita turned back to watch the two women get closer to the exit as Damien, her vampire servant, moved unhindered through the club to get to them.

Before Damien could make them aware of his presence, the brunette turned and settled into a fighting stance. The blonde was turned around still holding the brunette’s arm before she too settled lightly onto the balls of her feet, ready for a fight and as wary as a cornered animal.

At this distance, she really couldn’t make out what was being said by either parties, but she saw Damien bow a little before the blonde replied and turned quickly making her way to the exit again.

After a moment of hesitation, Damien moved back through the crowd towards the stairs leading up to the VIP area.

As he rejoined their group, every head of the ‘St. Louis Preternatural Big Wigs’ turned to him, some with questioning looks, others giving false looks of indifference. All Anita knew, was that everyone of them were dying to know who the two new powers in the city were.

“They excused themselves, replying they had a busy schedule, and maybe they could meet some other time.” Damien replied, looking a little confused, at Anita’s questioning look.

Anita looked out over the club still thinking of the two.

Well, with their looks and the whole ‘I’m cornered’/’fight or flight’ attitude, Anita figured they had to be hiding something. Of course, if it was in this city, she didn’t like not knowing what it was.

“I wish to know who they are, what they are, and what they are doing in my city.” Jean-Claude announced to the gathered people in his thick as honey voice that caused Anita to give a little shiver.

She watched as the gathered preternaturals made plans, and turned away to watch the dance floor again.

But not before catching Jean-Claude’s second in command, Asher, with a very pensive look on his face.

Chapter 5: The Inevitable

It had been three days since the 'mishap' at the club and Buffy finally felt comfortable to go farther from the motel room than the grocery store. Well, that and money had gotten even more tight since the slayers had decided to lay low at their room, hoping that the few days of quiet everything would settle down with the local preternatural.

Wishful thinking, Buffy knew.

So now, after their... suave, here the blonde snorted, retreat, she was out job hunting while her 'sister' did the same on the otherside of town.

Not as easy as it may seem, 'cause apparently not many places were looking for a young high school diploma-less woman for hire. That and the garish jump suits they wore at St. Louis City Garbage Disposal did absolutly nothing for her complexion.

Looking at the free local paper she had picked up
outside the motel, Buffy double checked the address for the small diner before crossing the street to, hopefully, her future place of employment.

Stopping in front of the diner she made a quick
assesment. The building itself was pretty old, with weathered brick that had been painted with black and white checkers. 'Peggy-Sue's' was a 50's style diner, which even had a yellow taxi cab built into the side of the building making it look as if the car had crashed threw it.

'Clever,' Buffy thought with no small amount of sarcasm. It seemed just like the place families on vacation would bring their whining brats so the could order expensive meals that would be under cooked, all the while drinking non-alcoholic 'Shirley-Temples' from strange glasses
with a drink swirley that pierced a cherry and a lemon.

But Buffy hoped that with this job, perhaps her and Faith could afford to live in a place that had hot water, and not only on tuesdays and fridays.

The job interview hadn't taken very long, and the slayer was happily told by the manager, a robust man in his early thirties named Terry with greying hair and breath that smelled worse than a few of the demons she had slayed, that
she could start thursday.

Glancing at her watch, Buffy decided that she would go back to the room she shared with the granddaughter of her line to have a quick lunch, more than likly saltine crackers and peanut butter, and see if Faith had similar luck finding a job.

After getting lost once, or three times she finally made it back to the motel.

Nearing her room, the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand. Something was wrong, and Buffy didn't think it had anything to do with the Michael Bolton music that her neighbour tended to listen to on repeat day and night.

No, it was more like the unfamilliar scent, the non-human scent she was picking up from her room.

She knew it wasn't Faith, and she knew it wasnt a new cleaning lady, because A, she was pretty sure this place didn't have a cleaning lady, and B, the person was still in her room and the door was closed.

Nope, this was an unwelcomed guest. An unwelcomed non-human guest that was probably poking around her few meager possesions. An unwelcomed guest in HER room, HER
territory.

And now the slayer was reacting to it the only way a slayer can to such an insult.

A low growl sounded from her throat before she stalked, yes stalked, to her room.

The sight that the unwelcomed guest met was something that had left a few demons scared and running. Buffy knew this of course, but the slayer in her didn't care. All thoughts of keeping a low profile in front of the local preternatural left. Someone entered her territory unanounced. That was crossing the line in her book.

She briefly thought that the intruder better have a good, no very good explaination. Because she was not happy.

The Slayer was pissed.

Chapter 6: A Confrontation and Preparation

Slamming the door open, Buffy was met with the sight a young man who was in his early twenties, short blond hair, dressed like a college student, and a few inches taller than her, which really wasn’t much.

Rearranging the look on her face, Buffy changed her tactic.

“Breaking and entering is against the law I believe. If we were in Texas I could shoot you.” Buffy announced to her ‘guest’ in a voice that was cheerful, belying her feelings. Of course the flowery sundress she wore didn’t make her all that scary looking either.

Said guest looked up with a guilty look on his young face before putting his hands up, palms out in the universal ‘not here to fight’ sort of way, before he lowered his eyes in a submissive way that made the slayer feel like strutting around the room stating her dominance. Which also made her forget most of her anger.

“Easy there, I’m only here on behalf of my master to give you a message. He just wants to talk to you and your friend, that’s all.” The taller of the blondes said.

“He just wants to talk, huh? I mean vamps are well known for their peace talks and all.” Buffy asked with blatant sarcasm, some of the tension leaving her but still weary and ready to fight if needed.

“He told me to tell you that as long as you don’t attack any of his people you have his word that no one will attack you under his orders.” He said, “I’m Jason, by the way.” He added as an after thought.

Buffy sighed, she was tired of running, but she really didn’t want to put Faith and herself in anymore danger than they already were. Then again this was a chance to ally herself with some powerful people, and if the Watchers Council ever caught up with them an alliance would be very helpful. Realizing her thoughts were drifting, she turned back to the man only to find him checking her out. And not being subtle about it.

Narrowing her eyes she responded “Where? When?”

“Tonight at his club ‘Guilty Pleasures’. I’ll come back around 10 and pick the both of you up and give you a ride over. I work tonight anyway.” Jason said with a grin that held a private joke that she didn’t understand.

Buffy thought it over before giving a small nod.

Jason just grinned wider before heading to the door calling out “See you at 10!”

Remembering her earlier anger, Buffy ran over to the door yelling after him “Next time you break in I break your legs!” not letting him have the last word.

After she closed the door, Buffy collapsed back onto the bed thinking of what to tell Faith when she got back.

Sitting on the small bed, the two slayers were going over their final plans for the night. As soon as Faith had walked threw the door earlier that day she picked up the foreign scent and asked Buffy what was up. After a quick explanation, they started to talk about what the nights meeting could entail. They had decided that if the city’s master was looking for an alliance, they would tell him certain things but not the whole story.

Buffy was surprised the master gave them this much time to prepare, but then again they had known a meeting, or confrontation, was going to happen for three days now, so they have had more than enough time to prepare.

Faith stood pacing the little room now. The older of the two could sense the younger slayer’s nervousness but also her excitement. Buffy wondered if Faith would ever change, but her slayer side understood the excitement. Being away from fighting for so long, she felt a longing for a good fight and only hoped that longing wouldn’t cause her to do anything brash. Maybe after she started this new job she could join a gym, preferable one that she could fight in.

At five minutes after ten, there was a knock at the door. All nervousness disappeared, as if there was never even a thought of it.

Rubbing her hands together, Buffy took note of their clothing. They had dressed up to look like they could handle themselves, and they could of course. At first she had thought maybe they should down play themselves a bit, but after much convincing from Faith she agreed to make a strong show. And what a show it would be, she thought with a wicked smile alighting her face.

Chapter 7: An Introduction To Remember

“Holy items?” A flighty looking blonde asked Buffy as she walked through the door of the ‘club’.

Seeing her blank look the girl continued, “You must check in all holy items here with me before you enter. Crosses, Holy Water, Star of David, Pentagrams, etc, etc. There is a list over” here she pointed to a list on the wall, “there of contraband.”

Buffy threw an incredulous look over her shoulder at Faith before turning back to the check girl.

“And if I don’t?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“Well my good friend Mr. Buzz behind you will have to escort you from the premises.” Ditzy, as Buffy had dubbed her, replied.

Buffy turned to see a man, nay a giant, behind her and Faith, while Jason hovered worriedly beside them. ‘Mr. Buzz’ was nearly seven feet tall, about half that across, had a shaved head, and looking at the petite slayer he grinned slowly to show off two sharply pointed incisors.

“Does that work for the tourists?” Buffy inquired, slowly returning the predatory look, causing him to hesitate for a moment.

“Works for me…” Faith said with a quick leer, causing Buffy to roll her eyes at the predictable comment.

“Uhh… No problem here Buzz, these ladies are guests of Jean-Claude’s.” Jason cut in before anything could start. “If you have anything just give them to her. I swear you can get them back when you leave. It’s just one of the club policies.” He shrugged looking to the girls. “Please.” He added sincerely at their reluctance.

(Jason’s POV)

Jason had done as Jean-Claude had asked, and picked the two newcomers to the city up just after ten. He had to admit he was a little worried having felt their power that night at the club, but after the earlier meeting with the blonde, who had told him to call her Shirley, he wasn’t as worried. He had let his guard down. What could he say, petite blonde, flowery dress, she looked like she should have been at the beach, or maxing out her daddy’s credit card. But when he had picked up her and the brunette, who told him to call her Laverne, he was quick to remember the power he had felt.

Shirley was light to Laverne’s dark. It almost reminded him of Jean-Claude and Asher, except in this duo Shirley was the obvious leader of the two.

Shirley was dressed in a white leather skirt that would make fathers everywhere cringe in hope that their daughters would never wear such a thing. Her top was sleeveless, and made of a gauzy white see-threw material that allowed everyone to see what God had given her except for around her chest, which had a little more material giving her some modesty, leaving Jason slightly disappointed. The white knee-high boots she wore gave her a few more inches leaving her almost at Jason’s height. Her hair blonde and flawless, while her make-up a bit darker than her outfit, causing her face to stand out more.

Laverne was dressed in tight dark black leather pants that had straps criss-crossing down her thighs and flared at the knees. Her top was black too, and sleeveless, with a low neckline and cuts all through out the rest of the material allowing glimpses of skin. Kitten heeled boots finished off the outfit. Laverne’s hair was as dark as Shirley’s was blonde and slightly messy giving an air of wildness to her.

But as they left together, Jason got a sense of them being opposite but the same, all at once. And it really creeped him out.

You would think that after all the times he had been screwed over by women, and the list is long, he would learn to not let his guard down. Women, they really would be the end to him.

(Back to Buffy’s POV)

After scaring the wits out of the check girl by telling her she would hunt her down and hurt her if she lost it, she handed over her silver cross, noticing Jason’s thoughtful look, and continued walking into the club.

When the check girl raised her eyebrows at Faith, the brunette shrugged her shoulders muttering about ‘not having enough of her name-sake’ to carry any.

At first all Buffy noticed was the bar and the really loud music, the kind you could really dance and get ‘dirty’ to, as Faith would say. Then she looked around and saw the nearly naked men on stage.

Was that… twins?

Forgetting her companions Buffy, aka Shirley for the night, tipped her head to watch the men move. She was pulled from her thoughts when ‘Laverne’ spoke her thoughts.

“Ooh, they come in pairs?” She said with a leer. Buffy could only nod in appreciation.

Jason just grinned and held his hand out in a direction past the stage to what looked like a hallway.

The slayers just sighed and Jason followed them shaking his head not even trying to keep a straight face.

At the end of the hall they stopped as Jason stepped in front of them to open a dark cherry wood door, that Buffy thought went very well with the décor. She would really have to find out who decorated for the Master of the City, ‘cause she had to admit they had style. Anyone who could tastefully decorate a strip club and still make it seem… what was the word… ah, yes, risqué, well they had to be good.

Walking into the room first Buffy quickly assessed every possible danger and escape route. All right, escape routes… not many. Dangers… lots. And there were lots.

To her front left was a handsome dangerous looking man who was tall and tan with dark brown hair mixed with auburn, looking a little uncomfortable in the leather pants and black tank top. On both sides of him were equally dangerous looking men, one Asian with sort dark hair, and the other African American with long rows of braids with beads on the ends that matched his clothing, and both men were dressed in style. That body guard sheik, she would guess. Because they both screamed bodyguard.

To her front right was a woman about her height with dark curly hair. She was the same woman staring at her at the club the other night. She wore a pair of dark jeans and a red dress shirt that clearly showed off both gun holsters which Buffy let her eyes linger on, remembering her reaching for them last time, before moving onto the men around her.

On the woman’s right was a man her height with dark wavy shoulder length hair and from what she could tell feline like eyes. If Buffy didn’t already know he wasn’t human, being the slayer and all, his eyes definitely gave little warning bells.

The man on her left was the same vamp that had stopped them in the club a few days earlier. Old, but not very powerful. Not a master and if he wasn’t one now, as old as he was, he never would be. His red hair and strong face screamed Viking, and all Buffy could think about was all the cheesy romance novels about Vikings she had read in Junior High.

Trying to keep a straight face she moved on.

In front of the petite woman, was a submissive young man sitting at her feet. The first thought that jumped to Buffy’s mind was ‘What conditioner does he use?’ before getting back to her assessment. He had pale violet eyes from what she could see and they were lowered to the ground. If ‘VICTIM’ were stamped on his forehead it wouldn’t have been clearer. Buffy may have liked being dominant, she really couldn’t help it, but this was too much and she intended to find out if it was the gun toting lady behind him that made him this way.

Directly in front of the two slayers between these two groups was two vampires; one was dark, while the other was light.

The dark one sitting at the desk had dark curly shoulder length hair, and skin that was flawless. His eyes, from a quick glance she noticed, were a dark blue that matched his silk shirt very well. His skin was pale but had some colour showing he had fed recently. She quickly wondered from whom but pushed the thought aside for later.

The Light one had golden hair, not blonde, golden. It was displayed to cover half of his face, but from what she could see, that man, er… vamp had nothing to hide. His beauty put Angel, who was named for his good looks, to shame. His skin too was pale with a hint of warmth, more creamy than the ivory of the dark one though. He wore a lighter blue silk shirt than his counterpart next to him, and it matched his eyes. Eye’s like a Husky, not a human colour. He was breath taking and caused Buffy a moment of pause before she quickly moved on, mentally cursing herself all the while.

A few more people were about the room but Buffy could quickly tell these were the ones in power.

Of course their power and scents also had a huge role in finding that out. The slayer part of her mind quickly identified all the flavours of the rainbow. Werewolves, leopards, vamps, a few others in the room she found to be rats as well.

The room was full of tension and she could feel Faith humming behind her waiting for a fight. She had to admit Faith started a lot of her fights, but now she did as they had agreed and waited.

Her attention was brought back to the one dubbed the ‘Dark Vampire’ as he stood with the languid grace vampires have and said “Mademoiselle’s Laverne and Shirley, Welcome to The City of Saint Louis.”

The show would have been very impressive if it were not for the several snorts heard about the room.

Buffy just fought like hell to keep a straight face.

TBC

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