Chapter 18

 

The Scoobies continued to stare at Rebecca in stunned silence. 

Buffy realised what Spike had said “What do you mean they resurrected your baby?” 

Spike gently stroked Rebecca’s stomach his eye’s never leaving her face.  “When Rebecca died she was pregnant.” 

Buffy moved to sit beside Rebecca hesitantly reaching out a hand to touch her.  The Scoobies all let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened. 

Buffy turned to Willow “We need to know what is happening?  Can you...?” 

Willow nodded slowly “Research.” She sighed and wearily rubbed her eyes. 

Buffy could sense that Rebecca was tiring ‘Why do I know what Rebecca is feeling?’  She looked at Spike who was watching Rebecca carefully, Buffy then looked at the others.  The entire Scooby gang were staring at Rebecca.  Buffy could almost hear what each was thinking.  Spike wanted to take Rebecca somewhere quiet so they could talk, Willow and Tara were both rolling theories around in their heads, Giles was thinking about someone called Samuel…and maybe he could help. ‘Hang on…huh?’  Dawn was excited about the baby and a bit…jealous maybe, Anya seemed to be fixated on Spike’s ‘Neck?’  And Xander was in a state of shock.   

“Um guys I know this is going to sound weird...but can any of you…do you know” 

“What the others are thinking” Dawn finished her sentence for her. 

Buffy nodded her head slowly. 

“Oh good lord!  What next” Giles slumped down into one of the chairs. 

“SPIKE!” Anya suddenly yelled. 

Everyone jumped and turned to look at her.  Anya was starting to get excited her hand patting the side of her neck in small rapid movements. 

“When…whatever it was” she motioned towards Rebecca’s stomach “was happening your neck was bleeding.” 

Spike’s hand moved towards the tender mark on his neck and nodded slowly “And…?” 

“How did it feel?” Anya was now starting to pace as her mind grasped onto something from her past. 

Spike frowned for a moment “Like I was being bitten over and over.”  

Anya was nodding furiously “How does it feel now?” 

Everyone turned their attention back towards Spike; he could feel the curiosity rolling of them in waves.  “It kinda tingles.  Like a fresh claim bite would, but it’s stronger.  More powerful.” 

Anya’s face lit up with excitement and she began to pat at her neck again “I know what this is!  My neck tingles too and I bet so does everyone else’s.”  

Gile’s looked at each of the Scoobies as each of them nodded that they too felt the tingling.  “Anya dear perhaps you should explain what this is.” Gile’s waved his hand in the general direction of the gang. 

“It’s a familial claim” Anya proudly announced. 

“Huh? A what?” Willow stared at Anya in confusion 

Anya moved to perch on the arm of Giles chair “A familial claim is where a vampire extends their claim to the genetic members of its mate.   It removes any previous dormant claims or markings, so that would explain Buffy’s neck.” Anya motioned towards Buffy. 

“Like a fresh start sort of thing” queried Dawn 

Anya nodded “I think what happens is that the mated pair bring all the family members they wish the claim to extend to together and then there’s some sort of spell or magic I guess and the claim extends to the others” 

“Why would a vampire do that?” Xander was rubbing his neck and staring at Spike  

“I assume it would be a safety issue” Giles theorized  

Anya nodded furiously “The claim allows each of us to connect with the others in the family; we’ll know when someone is in danger.” She frowned slightly “There’s more to it than that but I can’t remember” 

“But if it’s a familial claim why do we all feel it?” Willow questioned.  “I mean I can understand Buffy and Dawn, but the rest of us don’t have a genetic link to them.” 

“Yes we do” Tara knelt in front of Rebecca and gently rubbed her stomach 

“Ok! NO! Stop” Xander was backing away from the rest of the group “this is…it’s just.  NO!” with that he turned and ran out the door. 

The others just stood and stared as Xander fled, they could all feel his confusion and pain.  There was something else as well, an unsettling feeling that almost left a strange bitterness in their mouths. 

“Do you think someone should go after him?” Willow’s eyes were still fixed on the open door and the darkness that lay beyond. 

“I think it’s best if we just leave him be for now.  The claim will let us know if he needs us.” Giles reassured her. 

Willow nodded uncertainly; worry marring her brow. 

“Come on baby let’s go to bed” Tara gently drew her towards the stairs. 

“I think that is a wise decision for all of us” Giles consulted his watch “We have a few hours left before dawn; I suggest we get as much rest as we can.”   

Buffy smiled slightly as she watched Giles nervously fidget as he cast surreptitious glances towards Anya.  “You two are taking my room remember.” 

Giles stood “Yes well goodnight then” he lightly clasp Anya’s hand as they headed upstairs. 

Buffy waited until the couple were almost to the top “And keep the noise down will you.” She giggled as Gile’s blushed a deep red.  Anya merely laughed and promised to try. 

Buffy turned laughing eyes back to the other’s that remained “Bedtime for you too Dawn.” Buffy grabbed her sisters arm and began to pull her up before turning back to Spike and Rebecca “See you two in the morning.” 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Buffy lay in bed letting the quiet of the early morning settle around her.  Anya had said that they were all linked now, like a true family. ‘Think I like that idea’.   

She turned to look at Dawn who was snuggled deeply into the covers. A wave of tenderness washed over her as she watched her sister sleep small moans escaping from her throat every now and then.   

Buffy frowned as Dawn moaned more loudly and began to writhe slightly ‘Great I get to share a bed with the teenage hormone bomb’.   Buffy’s frown deepened as she felt a tingling sensation begin between her legs, her breathing started to quicken ‘Ok what’s going on?’   

Buffy took a deep breathe and tried to concentrate, allowing herself to focus on where the feelings were coming from.  Suddenly her eyes grew wide “Oh gross” she flew out of bed and into the hall looking around wildly, Tara and Willow emerged from their room both looking flushed and breathless.  As the feelings began to intensify Buffy could hear footsteps on the stairs ‘Ok not them, so that only leaves ………’ “ewwwwww” she flung herself towards the door to her room banging loudly.  “Ok you two break it up in there!” 

Buffy could hear low voiced inside the room before the door was opened by a displeased looking Anya “What’s the problem Buffy; you’re interrupting my orgasm time?” 

Buffy glanced over her shoulder to see Giles hurriedly pulling on a shirt “Yes well the thing is….ummmm” Buffy blushed deeply and looked towards the others for support.

Tara and Willow had finally worked out what had happened and were trying to avoid looking directly at any of the others while Spike was leaning against the wall a slight smirk on his face. 

“Buffy is anything wrong?” Giles slid his borrowed glasses on as he came to stand behind Anya. 

“Well you see it’s…..ummm……the thing is.”  Buffy could feel her face flaming even brighter as she struggled to find the right words “The claim…..and I know that you didn’t mean…..but……with the thing and you…..” 

“Just spit it out will you Slayer!” Spike was inspecting his nails with an air of boredom about him.  “What the Slayer is trying so eloquently say is that with the claim being so new and all, they haven’t learnt how to block it yet.”  He fixed Giles with a pointed glare while he waited for the penny to drop. 

Both Anya and Giles frowned as they tried to work out what Spike was saying.  Anya’s face suddenly brightened as she exclaimed happily “Oh they are getting orgasmy type feelings from us” 

Giles look aghast as he took in this information “Oh dear lord!” 

“Don’t worry Rupes, couple of days and you’ll learn how to control the link” Spike thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he rocked slightly onto his heals, he gave them all a wide smile running his tongue lightly across his teeth “Til then you might wanna try not touching Anya in her special places, that way we might all get some sleep” with that Spike sauntered back downstairs. 

Anya pouted as she looked up at Giles "What does he mean no touching, that's not fair why should we go without orgasms?"  Giles moved to close the door as she continued "I mean they get to feel all the yummy feelings that you give to me, I know that I would appreciate their orgasmy type feelings." 

Buffy stared at the closed door for a few moments before heading back to bed. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

Dawn woke up the next morning feeling quite sated ‘Wow that was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages’ she stretched slightly and turned to look at Buffy who was frowning slightly in her sleep.   

“Hey sleepy head wake up” 

Buffy grunted softly before burrowing further under the covers. 

“Come on Buffy get up I’m starving” Dawn’s stomach rumbled loudly as if in emphasis.

Buffy cracked one eyelid to stare at her sister blearily “You go get started I’ll be down in a minute” 

“Yeah right” Dawn muttered as her sister began to snore softly “Ohh pancakes” Dawn jumped out of bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen.  As she puttered around getting her breakfast Dawn could hear the sound of movement coming from upstairs.  “We’ll at least someone else is up, bet it’s not Buffy though.” She began to noisily search the cupboards for the syrup “Here syrup” she whistled softly “where are you? Come out come out wherever you are.” Dawn abandoned her search for a moment as she turned to check on her pancakes and let out a piercing scream. 

The rest of the household sprang into action at the sound of Dawn’s scream.  Buffy was the first to reach the kitchen and promptly ended up sitting on her backside in the middle of a puddle of something very sticky.  “DAWN!” Buffy lifted her tacky hand to her nose and sniffed “You screamed blue murder because the syrup was what?......possessed!” 

Dawn stared at her sister, eyes wide with fear “YES”. 

Buffy stared down at her sticky hands and began to backpedal away from the mess, clambering to her feet and frantically trying to scrub the offending substance from her skin. 

“How do you know it’s possessed Dawnie?” enquired Tara softly.  “I can’t sense anything” she turned to Willow “Can you sweetie?”  

Willow shock her head silently “Maybe you should start from the beginning Dawn, and tell us what happened.” 

Dawn took a large breath and began to speak “I was making pancakes and looking for the syrup and I turned around and there it was.”  She noticed the other’s puzzled looks “It appeared out of nowhere” Dawn was beginning to get frustrated that the others weren’t getting it “It was FLOATING people. IN MID AIR” 

 “That sounds more like magic then actual possession” Tara and Willow were all business now trying to feel any residual magic. 

“Why would anybody use magic to make syrup appear?” Buffy was gingerly pulling her sticky PJ bottoms away from her skin “What did they have something against my Hello Kitty Pajamas?” 

Tara studied Dawn carefully seemingly weighing her words before she spoke “What EXACTLY were you doing just before the syrup appeared?” 

Dawn frowned “I told you, I was looking for the syrup.” 

“But did you SAY anything while you were looking for it” 

“I was just talking to myself…..sort of calling the syrup like it was a puppy” 

“Dawnie you did magic” Willow exclaimed “Why didn’t you tell us you could do magic” 

“Huh! What?” Dawn seemed confused “But nothing like this has ever happened before” she turned frightened eyes towards Buffy “Honest Buffy I would have told you.” 

“OH” Anya moved towards Dawn, gingerly sidestepping the sticky mess on the floor “I think Dawns claim has settled in” She lifted Dawns hair to one side and inspected her neck, before moving to check both Spike and Rebecca’s necks.  “Yep it’s definitely set.” 

“Anya dear, could you please explain a little more.” Giles moved forward to inspect Dawns neck, a faint pale mark was clearly visible.  It seemed to be a mix of a human and vampire bite and perfectly matched the marks sported by both Spike and Rebecca. 

“Well seeing as we were rudely interrupted during our orgasm time last night” Anya huffed in frustration “I couldn’t get to sleep and I remembered more about familial claims.”  Anya began to move around the kitchen making herself breakfast. 

“Well!” Buffy asked in frustration “What did you remember?” 

“Ok remember how I said that it allows the members to connect with each other?” The others all nodded “Well I remembered that the connection also means that we can draw on each others strengths.” 

“So what you’re saying is that Dawn drew on Willow and Tara’s magic” 

“Cool!” everyone turned to stare at Dawn “well it is cool I can like magic up my homework.” 

Buffy shook a finger in Dawns direction “No cheating and I don’t know if I like the idea of you doing magic.  Especially as you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing.” 

“I think we better all start learning a few of the magical rules” suggested Tara “Just to be on the safe side.” 

“I think that’s a good idea” agreed Giles.  He turned to frown at Dawn who was staring intently into the glass of the microwave craning her neck. “Dawn what on earth are you doing?” 

“Trying to see what my bite mark looks like” suddenly Dawn grabbed Buffy shoving her hair back “Nope nothing yet” she moved on to the others “No, No, No, Tara you’ve got faint marks coming up”  She tugged on Tara’s hand “Come on lets go have a look in the mirror in the bathroom.”  She squealed in excitement as she raced upstairs “This is so cool, I can’t wait to tell Janice.”  

Buffy smiled wryly as she watched Dawn drag Tara from the room “I might go have a shower and get myself unsticky.” 

“And I’ll get with the cleaning of the evil syrup from the floor” offered Willow, she started pulling cleaning liquid out of the cupboards when the back door was suddenly flung open. 

Xander charged through the door intent on finding Dawn, he had been sitting in his old room in his parents basement thinking ‘Sulking’ when he had this overwhelming feeling that Dawn was in danger.  He had run all the way to Buffy’s house and had gone straight to the back door, charging through at full speed.  He didn’t see the mess on the floor until it was too late, the next thing he knew he was on his back, his head hitting the floor sharply as he fell.   

Spike skirted around the sunlight as he moved to stare down at the now unconscious Xander “Think it’s safe to say that the claim is working well on the whelp.”  Spike hoisted him up and sat him against the counter gently patting his cheeks “Come on dough boy, wakey wakey”