Blood and Roses Realm | Fan Fiction Site | Home Page
This page was last updated: March 07, 1998
(c)March 1998
URL: willow7.htmlThe following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights. If you don't agree or disapprove, please go read something else.
This story is part of an Altaverse based on Bite Me and the Fonder Heart. It can be found, along with other such stories, at The Realms of the Xenaverse, under Blood and Roses. Xena is Ares' Daughter and Gabrielle is Bacchus' Daughter
Characters from Buffy: Vampire Slayer have also been borrowed for the purposes of this story. All of this is written with the utmost affection and the no desire for renumeration (except for possible emails). The same above disclaimer is in effect. There are certain changes that have been made to accomadate this particular Xenaverse. Buffy's Vampires are really part of the Kin, renamed for purposes of this story
Xex Alert: Yes, there definitely will be, between two consenting immortal women even. Maybe even more
Violence Alert: Yes, probably, given that this is a story involving slayage and Xena.
Silence rarely fell in the roaring cacophony of the Bronze. The idea that that many teenagers collected in one place could be quiet for anything less than a natural disaster was incomprehensible.
But silence is what dropped over the assembled youths as Xena strode through the door. It wasn't a deadly silence... the music still played blithley on, now seeming twice as loud as before without the counterbalance of youthful voices raised in excitement.
Adults didn't come to the Bronze. No way. No how. It was like an unspoken rule... the kids didn't get into trouble here, and their parents didn't soil the teens' playground with their... well, parental-ness. One look at Xena, however, told everybody she wasn't anybody's mom. Slowly, reluctantly, the teens returned to their conversations-- one eye still on the beautiful woman in their midst.
Buffy felt her the minute she walked through the door... normally demonspawn sent this creepy prickling down her neck and a sharp, lancing pain through her stomach, but her response to the immortals had been different. At least to this immortal... A slow burn began working its way through Buffy's body, the heat increasing exponentially as the tall, dark warrior made her way through the club, until Buffy was staring into those endless blue eyes and thinking that her organs might well be roasting inside her body in all that heat.
Seeing Buffy's eyes harden at someone approaching, Xander whipped his head around, putting on his studliest face and preparing to... Oh man... At the sight of the sleek warrior his jaw dropped open and a tiny sqeak whistled through his lips. And I thought she looked good in that T-shirt... The warrior had changed into what Gabrielle called her "hunting clothes." Nothing special, really, just some black jeans and a black leather vest that left her arms bare and gave her a full range of motion.
Xena smirked at the slack-jawed youth sitting below her and curled a lazy eyebrow upwards. The taste of Gabrielle she'd had left her hungry for more, and she couldn't help but tease the lad. "You keep walking around like that and you'll start catching flies." A long finger rested underneath his chin and gently lifted, closing his mouth with an audible click!
She touched me.... he thought through the hormone haze. I can die happy...
With a booted foot, she kicked an empty chair away from the table and sprawled elegantly in its seat. "Willow said I might find you here." This addressed to Buffy.
The blond girl admirably kept her face blank, despite her rampaging slayer-sense, as her eyes drifted over the warrior. With her dark clothing and hair, Xena seemed to gather up all the surrounding light and focus it in the hypnotic brightness of her pale eyes. "What to do you want?" Buffy asked flatly.
Xena's jaw clenched tightly, and she bit back the urge to smack a little sense into this girl. She knew Buffy was young, but honestly... "Look, do you want to sulk or do you want to hunt?" Her eyes hardened into crystalline gems as she leaned forward, her face only a hairsbreadth away from Buffy's. "You're supposed to have more talent than the Center has seen in centuries..." she growled. "But quite frankly, all I see is a spoiled little girl who doesn't want to play with the other kids in the sandbox." The warrior shook her head angrily. "And I don't have time for that. I'm here to help Willow because she's family... Your fucked up love-life doesn't interest me in the least. Now get over it and work with me or get out of my way."
This close, the warrior smelled of leather and blood and sex, and Buffy's senses reeled as she inhaled the heady combination. Through slitted eyes she could see a faint scar near the top of where Xena's breast began its curve downward, and she wondered if this was where Gabrielle fed on lover. And with a sense borne of centuries of clan-memory she had no way of understanding, she knew that Gabrielle did feed on this magnificent woman... What did Xena take in exchange for the saltysweet gift of her blood?
Angel hadn't touched her with his teeth... his kisses had been curiously delicate, as if he knew a part of her had rightly feared this part of him. Their lovemaking had been tender and sweet, she couldn't have asked for a kinder first time. But the fire... which had burned so brightly between them before... had been dampened when they had at last touched because of all the darkness within that still stood between them.
Xena, however, had no such fears it seemed. Her mate was the most powerful of all the immortals; Buffy had sensed the connection surging through the two women's bodies almost immediately. It was almost palpable-- this tie between warrior and bard-- glowing and pulsing with the lovers' strength and devotion. Silently the slayer wondered what it would be like to surrender to a love so powerful that it survived everything. Even century of death and the measureless weight of eternity.
She had thought at one time that she and Angel might have a love like that. She realized now, however, that the Cosmos had stacked the deck against them. Not just by making them slayer and vampire, or placing a curse between them and then killing the only woman who had a chance of removing it. No, Buffy understood now, those were the least of their obstacles. The most powerful thing that stood between her and Angel wasn't any one of these formidible obstacles-- it was fear.
Plain and simple. Hers-- of what he was. His-- of loving someone completely. Theirs-- of the trust needed for that kind of consummation.
Looking into the pale flame of the warrior's eyes, she saw the face of a woman who had faced all of these things and come out the other side stronger than any creature mortal or immortal on the gods' planet.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded slowly. "Let's do it."
Xander had finally regained what few wits he had left when Xena and Buffy rose to leave the table. "Slayage... Cool!" He leapt to his feet as the two hunters surveyed him, one fondly, one not.
"You're staying here," Xena told him curtly. The dramatic fall of Xander's face almost made her feel sorry for him and relent. Almost. She couldn't take any chances on having a civilian in the middle of a hunt, not when everything was an unknown. She couldn't guarantee that she could protect him, and she wouldn't have the weight of this innocent's death on her head. Not when there were so many others already there.
"Look... I've done this before."
Xena flicked a look at Buffy, who shook her head imperceptibly. The warrior ran a hand through her hair roughly and blew out an exasperated breath. "I'm sure you have, Xander, but I need you to stay here and wait for Gabrielle and Willow." She grinned. "Anyway, my ride only seats two."
They had worked their way through the packed club, Xena's sleek frame still drawing resentful stares from the girls and lustful ones from the guys. Now they stood just outside the door, the warrior gratefully breathing deep gulps of air-- free of all the designer perfumes these mortals seemed so fond of.
Buffy glanced around for the limousine she had first seen Xena arrive in. "Where's the tank?" she asked as her eyes dropped to the sleek motorcycle parked arrogantly on the curb. It was a beauty, and she hadn't ridden since... well, since Los Angeles when all this slayer stuff started.
"I thought it was a little... ah... indiscreet for our purposes." Then Xena flashed a wolfish smile at the teens. "Besides, Max gets sooo angry when Gabreille and I get blood on the upholstry."
A tiny shiver worked its way through Buffy's spine, and if Xander's eyes got any wider, the slayer swore they'd pop out of his skull and start rolling around on the asphalt.
"The cemetary's all the way across town," Buffy commented. "We need a ride."
Blue eyes flashed in pure pleasure as she gestured at the bike on the curb. "We have one."
Buffy walked all the way around the bike, taking her time, absorbing the subtle curves and power of the machine. "A Triumph Thunderbird?" She glanced at the dark woman standing opposite her and then continued her perusal. "I woulda figured you for a Harley."
Xena chuckled low in her throat before throwing a comfortable leg over the bike and settling herself easily. "I'm not that butch."
The wicked grin on the warrior's face was too powerful to resist; and Buffy allowed herself to relax, her features lighting up with the smile. She slipped behind the warrior gracefully, her arms automatically sliding around the woman's slender waist. Oh boy.... she thought as Xena kicked the cycle into purring life and pulled away, leaving Xander standing forlornly on the sidewalk.
As they rode, Buffy realized something fundamental about the warrior who rested in her arms. The sensuality she had perceived as so calculated and planned... simply wasn't. Xena was essentially a wild creature... with energies reaching out to everyone around her. Her aura wasn't so different from the seductive power of the demonspawn-- except it didn't have the rotten stench of death surrounding it. Instead, somewhere on one of those blood-soaked battlefields that the dark warrior had stood upon-- Xena had chosen life. Now it manifested itself throught the powerfully erotic presence of the tall, dark warrior. Her body radiated power, sex, and life.
No wonder the slayer couldn't stop herself from responding.
As Buffy shouted directions over the roar of the wind, Xena guided them through the town's mostly thin traffic... Sunnydale, despite its pretensions, was little more than a glorified small town. They had a mall, some movie theaters, the Bronze... and vampires.
It was a unique distinction... and not one Buffy suspected would ever make it into the city Welcome Guides.
Feeling the muscular expanse of the warrior's back pressed against her was increasing the heat rushing through the slayer's veins. Together they leaned into the curves, their bodies instinctively responding to the bike's demands. "You ride well," Xena commented as they roared up to a stop sign.
"It's been a while since I've been on a bike. I have ridden in ages. I miss it."
"Old boyfriend have one?"
Buffy began to fire off an angry retort, but she saw the teasing glint in those blue eyes. Will wonders never cease... "Hardly," she scoffed.
"So you know how to steer one of these things?" Now there was a hint of a challenge in the warrior's voice.
Buffy leaned back, silently grateful for the whoosh of cool air that filled the space between her and the warrior now. "What do you think?"
"I think I'm tired of you yelling in my ear to give me directions." The leggy warrior dismounted the bike. "If you think you can get us there in one piece, switch with me."
The leather seat was warm where Xena had been sitting when Buffy slid forward. The immortal slipped behind her, long arms encircling and sheltering the much-smaller slayer. If Buffy had thought the inferno raging in her blood could get any hotter, she quickly changed her mind. Sighing deeply as the now-familiar scents of the warrior flooded her nostrils, Buffy instinctively leaned back into Xena's strength, completely missing the speculative smile on the dark woman's face.
Blood and Roses Realm | Fan Fiction Site | Home Page
This page was last updated: March 07, 1998
(c)March 1998
URL: willow7.html