The Seventh SlayerBy Kantayra
Chapter FiveAjaya awoke at the pleasant hour of ten to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She opened her eyes to a large room with cherry wall panels, a fireplace in the corner, and snow? outside her window. It took her a second to remember where she was.
The knock repeated.
“Coming!” she called out, wrapping the green silk robe she’d been given around her shoulders. She rushed over to the door and opened it.
Outside were three mischievous-looking old women.
“Oh, sorry!” Willow said. “We didn’t know you were still asleep!”
“No problem,” Ajaya insisted, ushering them in. “I should have gotten up hours ago, anyway.” They followed her in.
“So,” Willow asked, “we just stopped by to see how you were settling in…”
“This room is spectacular,” Ajaya said enthusiastically. “I am most impressed with your facilities.”
“No problems?” Willow inquired.
“None at all,” Ajaya said. “Fletcher’s sales pitch is most convincing.”
“Yeah, he’s actually good at what he does,” the old woman Ajaya had seen tease him with Willow the day before stated. “Don’t ever tell him I said that, though,” she gave Ajaya a wink.
“And,” Willow budded in, “I wanted to give these crotchety old ladies a chance to meet you.”
Her friend gave her a slight whap, and the other stuck out her tongue at her.
“As you can see,” Willow continued to grin at them brightly, “we may age, but we never mature.”
Ajaya laughed slightly with them.
“Well, since Will doesn’t seem to be getting around to it,” Willow’s friend gave her a good-natured scowl, “my name is Aida Doogan.” She extended her hand to Ajaya, and Ajaya shook it, amazed at the power beneath it in the same way she had been when she shook Willow’s hand for the first time.
“Aida’s the headmistress of our witchcraft program,” Willow said, “as well as my lovely wife.”
“The school,” Ajaya said. “I heard about it briefly on the tour. You teach magic?”
“From apprenticeships right up to high sorcery,” Aida agreed. “We’re one of only three schools on the continent, and the best one at that.”
“You’re lucky to catch Aida during break,” the other woman said. “She’s impossible to get ahold of when school’s in session.”
“I think Nina and I managed to live next door to each other for six months before we finally met,” Aida said jovially. However, her expression darkened a bit when she remembered the young woman’s fate. “It’s such a shame what happened to her…”
“She sounds like someone I would have liked to meet,” Ajaya agreed. She turned to the other woman, wanting to change the subject. “And you are?”
“Dawn Salvatore,” the woman shook her hand.
“Salvatore?” Ajaya’s brow furrowed. “I’ve heard that name somewhere before…”
“You’ve probably met some of the kids or the grandkids,” Dawn informed her.
“This place is literally overrun by Salvatores,” Aida teased. “They just keep coming and coming, and they’ve all got weird powers.”
“Weird powers?” Ajaya asked curiously.
Dawn gave her a wicked smile. “Get dressed,” she told her, “and I’ll show you.”
Ajaya reemerged from the dressing room only a couple minutes later. “OK,” she gave Dawn a wry grin, “let’s see this.”
“Don’t blink,” Dawn winked. And then they were overcome by a bright flash of green light.
“What did you—?” Ajaya’s questioned was answered for her when the light dimmed, and she suddenly found herself in the courtyard. “How?” she amended her statement.
“I’m a Key,” Dawn laughed at her utter bewilderment. “I can open the doors between dimensions…or just crack them open a bit and slip through to somewhere else,” she explained.
“She once closed an entire Hellmouth,” Willow provided. “It was pretty impressive.”
“Yeah, and it put me in the hospital for two weeks,” Dawn shuttered. She turned back to Ajaya. “Anyway, my husband’s half Kayeri Demon, so between the two of us we ended up with some kids with wacky powers.”
“A word of advice,” Aida told Ajaya, “never ever agree to baby-sit for a Salvatore.”
“Oh god!” Dawn started giggling. “Remember that time when Spike was watching Teresa?”
Willow chuckled a bit before explaining to Ajaya. “Spike’s like this ultra-bad-ass vampire, so Dawn just dumps two-year-old Teresa in his lap one day and says he has to watch her.”
“A Salvatore during the terrible twos,” Aida shuttered. “So before Spike has time to react, Teresa’s crawling across the ceiling of the drawing room…”
“…which is about twelve feet up,” Dawn chimed in. “So he’s got to climb his way up the credenza to try to get at this kid on the ceiling…”
“…He takes off his shoes and all and climbs up the thing,” Willow broke in, “and he’s trying to grab this toddler off the ceiling…”
“…Meanwhile, Teresa’s laughing and running away from him, thinking this is such a great game,” Aida added, “so he has to chase after her. He starts hopping around across the furniture in the room…”
“…and then he lands on the end table, and the table cloth slips out from under him,” Dawn took over. “We all hear this really loud crash, and we run to see what’s happened…”
“…so we all rush in, and there’s Spike, laying on his back in the middle of the room with a potted plant fallen over on his chest and Teresa floating down to poke his nose…”
“…and no shoes on,” Dawn giggled, “which is how we find out that he’s got these little pink hearts painted on his toenails…”
Willow was practically in hysterics now. “And he’s still trying to act all Big Bad…”
Dawn affected a terrible British accent. “ ‘Oh, bollocks, an’ bloody ‘ell, an’…’”
“And then he realizes we’re all laughing at his feet,” Aida giggled.
“You’ll never see a vampire flee so fast in your life,” Willow finished.
“And we can never ever stop teasing him about it,” Dawn said gleefully. “Poor baby…”
Ajaya couldn’t help but laugh herself. This was one person she had to meet…
* * *
Isabelle entered the club and instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Slipping out of Mr. West’s grasp hadn’t been easy, and she’d been afraid the entire time she’d been heading to the club that his car would pull up beside her, and he’d catch her shirking her duties. However, now that she was inside, she allowed the steady, pulsing rhythm of the band of stage to wash over and began to relax.
This was one of the things she missed most about being a Slayer: hanging out in a fun place with lots of people and just being. She sat down at the bar and ordered a lime soda. She was sipping at it lightly and watching the lead singer on stage when she felt him.
She glanced around the room, trying to spot the familiar presence among the throngs of people, but she couldn’t spot him. Given the way he’d vanished into the crowd before, she wasn’t exactly surprised. However, it did pose a slight problem for her.
She stood up on her tiptoes and looked over the heads of the crowd of dancers. There were times when being almost six feet tall had its definite advantages.
“Hello, Lioness…”
She held back a yelp of surprise when the voice suddenly purred right in her ear. She spun around and found herself once again captured in those brilliant blue orbs.
“Long time, no see,” she managed to say breathlessly. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a jackhammer, and she didn’t think it had much to do with being startled, either.
“Only two days, luv,” he gave her a seductive smile, and suddenly her eyes became riveted on his full lips. However, he took a step back, and she almost slumped at the loss of his nearness.
“Yeah,” Isabelle shook herself and recovered the intelligent part of her brain, “well that’s how long it took me to get a look at the Watcher diaries.”
“And?” The smug look on his face indicated that he already knew exactly what she had found.
“Six Slayers,” she agreed. “You were right.”
“I always am,” he replied flippantly.
“So…” Isabelle didn’t exactly know what to do know.
“You want to dance?” he asked abruptly.
“Huh?”
“Dance, Slayer,” he rolled his eyes. “You. Me. Music.”
“I know that!” she retorted. “But—”
“Good.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. Before she knew what had happened, he had his arms wrapped firmly around her as a slow song came up. She froze stiffly in his arms for a few seconds before allowing herself to relax and swaying with him. She found to her surprise that he actually wasn’t too bad a dancer. And the feel and smell of him…
“Easier to talk this way,” he whispered into her ear. “No one can hear us.”
It took her a little while to process his words, she was so absorbed in the feel of his body. It had been a long time since a man had touched her…
“You with me, Lioness?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” she took a deep breath to steady herself.
“Your Watcher’s lying to you,” he told her.
“I know that,” she agreed. “What I don’t know is what to do about it.”
“Do you like working for the Council?” he asked.
“Not particularly,” she shrugged, “but it’s not like I’ve got any choice.”
“You do have a choice,” he insisted. “I can show you another way…”
“And what’s that?” she demanded, turning to look at him.
“SCBI,” he replied.
“You want me to join you,” she said, not surprised. “Just out of the blue, I should trust you? I don’t even know your name!”
“I’ve already been more honest with you than your current employer,” he responded. A slight smile quirked on his lips. “And it’s Spike.”
“Spike?” she repeated, raising one eyebrow. “Spike… OK, Spike, let’s suppose hypothetically that I’m with you. What happens then?”
“I take you to one of our facilities,” he answered. “You check things out, see if they’re to your liking…”
“And if they’re not?”
“Then you come back home, safe and sound.”
“Again, I should trust you?” she eyes him warily. “Just leave my Watcher behind and run off?”
“Your Watcher is the one that can’t be trusted,” he said. “And as for me…”
He leaned in close, and she was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that his lips were mere millimeters from her own. Her eyes fluttered half-closed in response, and she could almost feel the unnatural chill of his lips.
“I can be trusted not to…take advantage,” he whispered, suddenly pulling back to their previous position.
Isabelle’s eyes opened wide at what she had almost allowed to happen. “I…you…!” she sputtered.
“Think about my offer, kitten,” he brushed an auburn lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ll be waiting for your call.” He gave her a wink and once again vanished into the crowd.
“I hate it when he does that,” she said to no one in particular…
* * *
Ajaya giggled as the four of them slipped through another portal, barely avoiding capture by their pursuers.
“Fletcher is finally going to kill us for doing this!” Aida said gleefully.
“I bet he’s in his office rubbing his nose right now,” Willow agreed when the portal faded, and they found themselves in the dinning room.
“And muttering about how he can’t get any respect,” Ajaya added, feeling a bit giddy from the chase.
The sound of footsteps running toward them caused a new outbreak of laughter.
“Here we go again!” Dawn announced, and there was another flash of green light.
“Dammit!” Ajaya heard Nicolas swear right before they vanished.
“They’re never going to catch us!” Ajaya squealed in delight when they landed back in the courtyard.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” a low voice hissed from the bushes.
Ajaya spun around just in time to see the jaguar leap at her. She didn’t manage to let out more than a surprised squeak before she was tackled to the ground.
“Ha! Gotcha!” Buffy exclaimed as she rounded the bend and came upon the four runaways.
“Shame, shame…”
Ajaya turned abruptly back to the large spotted cat on her chest when it spoke. She was more than a little shocked to see that it had transformed into an exotic-looking young woman.
“Kidnapping Slayers and going on the lam?” the were-jaguar got off of her and shook her head at the three old women mock-sadly. “Really, Grandma, what kind of an example are you setting for our family?”
“At least I’m not the one sneaking into closets with a certain vampire,” Dawn retorted.
“Grandma!” the were-jaguar’s face turned bright red. It was quite an interesting contrast to her olive complexion.
“Oh!” Buffy’s eyes widened. “Who?” she demanded.
“Aunt Buffy!” the feline woman looked cornered now.
“If we’re adding another vampire to the family, I want to know who it is,” she crossed her arms in front of her.
“Er…I…” she turned helplessly to Ajaya and spotted her escape. “Hi,” she said brightly, “I’m Monica Salvatore. So nice to meet you.”
“You’re not fooling me,” Ajaya said, laughing slightly. “I want to know who it is, too.”
“Well…you see…this was kind of…er, I mean I’m not really…” Monica sputtered, flailing her hands about dramatically as she did so.
“Haven’t you got her yet?!” Fletcher’s voice suddenly screamed from the mansion.
“Got her!” Monica called back, grateful for the diversion. “Fletcher wants to have a word with you,” she said, taking hold of Ajaya’s arm and leading her back to the main building.
“Saved by the bell,” Dawn called out behind her.
Ajaya let the pack of women usher her over to a very annoyed-looking Fletcher.
“I just know you two were behind this,” he cast an accusing scowl in Willow and Aida’s direction.
They gave him innocent, beatific looks in return.
“I swear, one of these days…” he muttered under his breath as they made their way to the library.
They met up with Nicolas once they’d reached the inner sections of the mansion that saved vampires from the sunlight, and together they all waited for Fletcher to speak.
“Now that that little circus has come to an end,” his suspicious gaze met the eyes of everyone in the room, “we have important matters to discuss. Ajaya, have you given any further thought to our offer?”
Ajaya bit her lip for a second. “I don’t want to work for the Watcher’s Council,” she finally said, “but I don’t really want to be the Slayer, either.”
“Not unusual,” Buffy encouraged her to continue.
“No matter what, I’m going back to school,” Ajaya insisted, “but my school is so far away…”
“We can hook you up with the Tokyo division,” Buffy shrugged. “You’re within an hour’s flight of there.” She chuckled slightly to herself. “Angel runs that branch. You’d have fun with him. His hair contorts in amazing ways and the only thing he ever does is brood. ‘Oh alas, for I am Angel. Woe is the souled vampire! Everyone look upon me and get really, really depressed!’ “
Ajaya raised an eyebrow.
“My ex,” Buffy clarified.
“Ah!” Ajaya said in sudden understanding.
“Plus, he’s absolutely impossible not to mock,” Dawn added. “You should see Cordy go at him. The funniest thing on the planet…”
“Yes, well,” Fletcher cast them both an irritated look, “the just of this all is that you could still be a Slayer and continue at your college.”
“Maybe…” Ajaya said reluctantly.
“Why don’t you just check it out first?” Buffy suggested. “See what it’s like before you decide.”
Ajaya looked at Fletcher, and he raised an eyebrow in her direction.
“OK,” Ajaya agreed with a small smile. “I’ll give it a shot…”
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