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This page was last updated: October 09, 1998
(c)October 1998
URL: willow18.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.
"PUT ME DOWN!!!!!!!!! LET ME GO!!!!!!!!!! XENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Willow struggled like a woman possessed-- which, in a sense, she was. "LEMMEGOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" The girl was sobbing now, uncomprehending of what she had seen and not realizing that the rules that bound mortals were not those which bound Xena and Gabrielle. "LEMMEGO!!!!!" She could smell the musk of sex on Xena's half-dressed body-- the scent familiar from her hesitant explorations of her own body. Another saltier, more metallic tang warred with the aroma, and Willow realized with a sickening jolt that it must be blood. Xena's blood... Aunt Gabrielle was feeding on her... She renewed her pointless struggle.
"Shh...." Xena concentrated on holding the girl without hurting her, letting her struggle but not letting her go. "Shh..." she crooned, "I got ya... shh..." She continued to make nonsense soothing noises, until the girl rested limply in her arms, exhausted from her efforts. They sank slowly to the floor in a dim puddle of light provided by the tiny night light in the hallway. Xena's arms still encircled the girl snugly from behind. "It's okay, Willow... shh..."
The girl twisted her head so that she could look in Xena's eyes. Unable to hold their vibrant, pulsing violet, she glanced down at the warrior's wrist, where the blood still trickled. "How can you say that?" she asked helplessly. "I can't believe you let her..." Willow shook her head viciously. "She's no different than..."
"Yes, she is." Xena's response was swift and harsh. "Listen to me, Willow. She and I... it's different than it would be for a Kin and a mortal."
"I don't believe you." Shattered trust fragmented the soft green of Willow's eyes, and a part of Xena's heart ached.
Why do people always lose their innocence around me?
"Look at my arm." She turned the girl's head to focus on her damaged wrist, refusing to let the girl twist free. "Look, Willow."
As two pairs of eyes focused on the slashed skin, it began to heal itself. Slowly at first, then more rapidly until the only evidence of Gabrielle's mark was a slight reddening of the skin. It had taken centuries for the scar on Xena's breast to become permanent, and then only because the warrior had requested it-- had wanted to be branded by her lover's mark.
"See?" the warrior murmured softly into the girl's ear. "Her bite doesn't turn me, doesn't harm me."
Willow studied the bronze skin in fascination. Her fingers slowly unpried themselves from the warrior's arm and lightly stroked the newly-healed place in fascination.
Xena felt the touch all the way down to her center-- the area still-sensitized by her lover's attention-- and shuddered in response.
Willow jerked her head up in alarm. "Does that hurt?"
Xena let out a strangled laugh. "Uh... no, Willow. It..." She cursed silently as she felt her face warm with a flush. "It feels good."
"Is that why you let her do it?" Fair, almost invisible, brows lifted in disbelief. "Because it feels good?" Not realizing exactly what it was she was asking.
The warrior knew she should have seen that question coming, but she hadn't, and it made her uncomfortably aware of her bare breasts pressing into the thin fabric of Willow's night shirt. Gabrielle's release had given her one of her own, but she was by no means satiated. Talking about what gave her pleasure was not the smartest thing to be discussing right now, but she sensed a lessening in the tension in Willow's body as the girl's natural curiosity began taking over. "Yes, it does feel good." she finally answered the question. "And I don't let her do it, I want her to," she added, unwilling to let Willow think that any of the attentions she received from her mate were unwelcomed in any way.
Seeing the tips of the girl's ears redden at the comment, Xena breathed a sigh of relief. Early in her traveling days with the bard, that same blush had always indicated that Gabrielle was too embarrassed to continue a conversation-- one that usually centered, like this one did, around sexual desire.
Unfortunately, the warrior hadn't taken into account the intervening two thousands years and the very simple fact that Willow wasn't Gabrielle. "So... that's what makes you..." The teen's voice faded on the last word. She had courage enough to ask the question, but not enough to complete it. "You know."
Xena wanted to smack the back of her own head against the wall until she passed out. Anything at this point was preferrable to continuing the conversation. Oh, my bard, do you ever owe me... But after what Willow had seen, she had to understand and accept it if she was ever going to be truly at ease around Gabrielle again. With a stoicism centuries old, Xena grit her teeth and settled into the conversation. "A lot of things make me... you know..." she replied, picking up the girl's euphemism. "And they're the same things that make you... well, you know.." she added, teasing Willow just a little to see how she would respond.
Pale skin flushed darkly, and the girl studiously examined the fibers in the carpet-- although what she could see in the dimness escaped Xena. "I'll just have to take your word for that," came the almost inaudible whisper. "I don't really have a lot of... first-hand experience... in that department."
Xena had leaned in closer to hear the halting words, and with a wry smile she murmured softly in the red-head's ear. "Your time will come, Willow. Don't rush it."
A jerky nod, but no response.
Feeling Willow begin tensing in her arms again, Xena rapidly changed the subject. "Gabrielle and I aren't like everybody else."
"Because you're immortals." Annoyance echoed in Willow's voice. "I know that."
"Right," Xena agreed, relieved that her abrupt shift in topics was readily accepted by her young friend. "And Gabrielle's different from the Kin."
"Because she can walk in the light. And she doesn't drink human blood," Willow promptly answered, ever the apt pupil.
Xena paused, wanting the full weight of her next words to be measured. "That doesn't mean she doesn't want to." Hearing Willow's slight gasp of surprise, she continued. "Every day for two thousand years she has challenged and conquered what she's supposed to be. And at first, it was really hard." That's the understatment of the millenium, Xena thought to herself, remembering the raging nights when the Blood screamed in her mate's veins so badly, the warrior thought Gabrielle would go mad from the pain of deprivation. Ultimately, the bard's resolute determination not to inflict needless harm on any creature had conquered her Sire, and she had triumphed. However, it had taken years for the bard to subdue the pain of the song of the Blood, and she hadn't completely eradicated it. Two thousand years later, she had accepted that she never would.
"Is it still hard?" Willow asked breathlessly, love for her Aunt overriding her fear of what she had seen. "She's okay, right?"
Xena smiled quietly. "She's perfectly fine. She's done it for so long that it's completely second nature to her now." She shifted the girl gently in her arms. Here comes the hard part... "But, Willow, with me... she doesn't have to worry about fighting those instincts. In fact, I want her to indulge them. Because she's safe with me. When we..." Xena hesitated briefly, taking a deep breath. "When Gabrielle and I make love, neither one of us has anything to fear. She can finally stop fighting and just be."
"Because you're an immortal too." Willow said softly, almost to herself.
"Right," Xena agreed. "And everything we do is for each other-- and ourselves. There's nothing that Gabrielle could do that I wouldn't want." Xena remembered how deeply she had been inside her lover, how roughly she had ground her body into Gabrielle's. A heavy silence hung over the two women, bearing witness to everything Willow had seen and prompting the warrior's next words: "Even if sometimes it doesn't look like it."
Xena could almost hear the thoughts tumbling over each other in the young woman's mind. "Is it--" Willow stumbled to a halt, then gathering her scattered courage, pressed on, "Is it always like that with you?"
Choosing to interpret Willow's you as referring to her and her lover and rather than herself alone, Xena replied, "No... only sometimes. It's something we choose." That was stretching the truth a little-- since they had reunited, the lovers were oftentimes at the mercy of their immortal senses-- but Xena didn't consider it a lie because every time the ochre crept into the bard's eyes, Xena's body responded with a volcanic desire; and when the snapping Fire claimed her blue eyes, it never failed to raise the Sunwalker's Blood.
"So you can be gentle?"
"She usually is..." The answer came from the darkness. Gabrielle's eyes flickered brightly as she approached, but the bard stopped well short of her niece. "Xena's the most gentle lover I've ever known."
Willow's body tensed at the sight of the Sunwalker, but the warrior's strong arms provided a counterpoint of security as the teenager gazed at her aunt with newly aware eyes. "I knew you were..." She motioned at the bare hint of fangs still visible. "But I didn't really know you were..." Willow shook her head. "You know?"
The warrior chuckled at the convoluted reasoning, and Gabrielle smothered an indulgent smile. "Yeah, Willow. I know." Hesitantly, the bard moved closer until she too was in the small circle of light that encompassed the warrior and Willow. She had thrown on a shirt and jeans, knowing that Willow probably would be uncomfortable with her bare skin. Although she doesn't seem to have a problem with Xena's... the bard noticed wryly, taking in the warrior's exposed torso. "I'm sorry about what you saw," Gabrielle began quietly. "I should have thought about how you might feel." Even though it was something that Willow was never intended to see. "We just got..." Now it was the bard's turn to blush furiously. "We just got a little carried away."
"Giles says that hormones are nature's way of short-circuiting the brain. He says the whole human race exists because we don't stop to think when we're having sex," Willow said earnestly.
Gabrielle grinned her agreement. "I think Giles is on to something." The three shared an easy laugh as the last of the tension dissolved from the teenager's body. The bard waited until the last chuckles had died away before regarding her niece solemnly. "Are you okay with everything? I mean, what you saw? Xena and I--"
"It's okay, Aunt Gabrielle," Willow interrupted. "It's really none of my business." She flushed once more. "I mean, I'm not sure why I woke up... I was dozing and then I heard this noise. It sounded like scuffling." She flicked an apologetic glance between the immortals. "I was afraid that maybe Angel had come back. And then-- well-- when I realized he hadn't.... I should have just..." Willow shook her head violently. "I don't know what came over me."
Gabrielle's eyes found Willow's, their gazes meeting and holding with quiet accord. I bet I know what came over you, my sweet Willow... probably the same thing that came over me the first time I walked in on Xena making love to someone... Gabrielle thought, suppressing the smile that rose to her lips. I can still hear your blood, Willow... rushing so furiously through your veins... while your body settles so comfortably into her arms. It's a safe place, isn't it, little one? I know it's the safest place I've ever been, and I don't begrudge you that comfort. You need her, don't you? And you don't even know why...
She felt Xena's questioning glance, and looked over her niece's head to her lover's pulsing eyes. With silent grace she stood and offered her hand to Willow, who took it without hestitation. "Sure you're okay?"
Willow nodded vigorously. "Yeah... Xena... she explained... I mean..." Tangled in her own words, the teen stopped, then started all over again. "Yes, I'm fine. Everything's okay."
"Good." Gabrielle looked from her niece to her lover, the tiny hint of a grin playing on her face. "Well then, maybe we should all get to bed now. It's been one Tartarus of a night."
"Sounds like a good idea," Xena echoed.
Impulsively, the red-head stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the slender bard in a tight hug. Gabrielle returned the motion just as effusively, her last doubts trickling away at the gesture. "G'night, Aunt Gabrielle." Then the bard was gone, leaving Xena alone with the young woman.
Willow turned to the warrior who had so patiently held and comforted her-- and felt the wind kick out of her as she absorbed Xena's bare skin. "Oh wow..." she murmured, unaware that she had spoken aloud.
Xena bit down savagely on the inside of her jaw. Laughter would not be kindly received right now. "Think you can get some sleep now?" she asked nonchalantly, ignoring both her own nakedness and the teen's reaction to it.
"Uh... yeah... I think so," Willow replied between dry lips. "I mean, Aunt Gabrielle's right. It's been a really long night."
Unsure of why she was reluctant to leave the girl, Xena shifted uneasily. "Then... I guess it's good night." She turned to go, but was stopped by a soft tug on her arm.
"Xena?" A question of her name. A question in her eyes.
The warrior smiled, her eyes softening as the movement reached her eyes. "C'mere." She wrapped her arms around the slim girl, absorbing the warmth of Willow's body, the untapped strength in her arms and legs. Xena allowed herself to feel a dizzying range of emotions at the touch, pressing her lips tenderly over the girl's forehead as she stepped away. "Sleep well, Willow," she whispered, releasing the girl and slipping back into the shadows.
Blood and Roses Realm | Fan Fiction Site | Home Page
This page was last updated: October 09, 1998
(c)October 1998
URL: willow18.html