Dark Promise

The 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.

Remember, this is all meant in fun!

Willow looked at the object in her lap. Two sienna colored pieces, joined in the traditional cross. She didn't quite gulp, but her body felt shaky. It kind of hurt to breathe.

She was confused. Kin? Whose Kin? 'If Aunt Gabrielle is my Kin, and she looks like that, does that make me . . .?' She looked over at Buffy, who was still looking a bit dazed. Well, she looked how Willow felt. "Kin?" the lithe young woman squeaked. Then she looked at her aunt and regretted it. Her aunt Gabrielle had fangs, dangerously pointy ones.

Gabrielle patted the young woman's knee and spoke gently, without lisping or issuing that slurping sound that some vampires did. "Kin. Yours, very very very distantly. Mine.. .not so distantly."

Willow stuttered, "but I don't have teeth." She didn't mean it that way, and felt terrible for implying the worse, but still. 'I mean, I have teeth, but Not those kind. I . . ." She felt horrified, "How can I be related to vampires!! I hate vampires. They suck people's blood and they kill. . ." Willow was starting to scare herself.

Gabrielle spoke quickly, "You Don't have to worry about that aspect, sweetheart. You're nothing like them. You'll never be like them. Even if the blood did quicken, you wouldn't have the same kind of," she paused and smiled gently, "appetite." She spoke soothingly to Willow, trying to reassure the young woman "As I said the relationship is Distant, very Distant and from my line, not theirs."

"The Demon's you mean." Buffy had moved closer, much closer. Her quick mind was putting together information and she was frightening herself, but in a way, she felt better knowing, guessing. These were the real thing. That was Xena and this was Gabrielle. The bard. Harmless. Yeah, Harmless. Now why didn't she believe that? The young blonde sat down on the coffee table. Now that she knew where the buzz was coming from, the intensity had lessened. She could concentrate.

"Sons and Daughters of Bacchus, the Blood. Yes. I don't really like the term demon. It has..." Gabrielle's gaze seemed to move far away. She bit her lower lip, thinking.

"unfortunate personal connotations," Xena finished for her lover. She shifted softly, letting her hands rest in her lap. Gabrielle returned to the present and looked at the warrior, who looked peaceful now, but who knew a thousand and one ways to destroy, to maim, to love.

"Yes," she said quietly, remembering. So many levels of hell to choose from, and the dark kin so persistently filling them up. Then she smiled softly again, "Besides, there are so many different. . . kinds of kin these days. Not all of them bad." She smiled winningly at Willow, "You could just as easily be from the fairy side of the race."

"Fairy. There are real Fairy? As in Spock ears type fairies?" Willow wavered between disbelief and absolute joy. She'd always loved fairy tales. The idea that she could be related to an elf kind of tickled her. It would explain so much. Like why she always felt so out of place in this world. Maybe she was. Simple really.

Xena smirked and settled back into the chair with one leg crossed over the other. "You could say that. Though they've blended so much with mortals I doubt that there is many true form out there." Gabrielle wasn't the only child of Bacchus whose blood had sweetened rather than become tainted. But that had been so rare a thing, so incredibly rare. Goodness attracted goodness. Her blood had blended with theirs a long time ago. Xena smiled gently at her bard, "It's still likely that you'd be from her line."

"There are a few truebloods," Gabrielle affirmed. She liked knowing where her relatives were. Willow was looking directly at her, beginning to lose her fear, to feel the pull. The bard had to smile at herself. 'Why aunt Gabby, what big teeth you have.' Fortunate for this young maiden that her aunt was quite satiated. She hid the smirk, 'and most happily so.'

"Oh?" Xena sat up a little. She'd been gone such a long long time. There were too many things she'd missed; chunks of history, fairies in the Americas, the world wars. If she'd been alive, you could bet women would have been going to the front. Though maybe it was good that she hadn't been. Hitler's life would have been much shorter, most definitely. There might not have even been a second war. She'd have recognized the signs right away. The world managed without her though. Janice and Melinda had done them proud. And Gabrielle. ..she'd. .fought her own battles.

"I'll take you camping when the nights are warmer." Gabrielle promised, forgetting for a moment who she was talking to. Who was going to take whom? She gave Xena an apologetic look and received a gentle understanding smile. Then she brought the topic back, "We can talk about that all you want later. Right now, I just need to know when they started bothering you and then we can work on why."

"Hellmouth." Gabrielle swiveled her head and narrowed her gaze to look at the young blonde. Buffy returned the look seriously. She wasn't sure why she believed "aunt" Gabrielle, but she did. There was just this feeling that she had, now that the buzz had passed. She wasn't sure what to make of this, but. . ."Sunny Dale is . . .There's a Hellmouth here."

Xena and Gabrielle looked at each other knowingly. It was one of the old entry ways. That explained everything.

"Well, that and," Willow ignored the headshaking warning look that Buffy was sending, "Buffy's boyfriend turned bad again."

"Boyfriend." The ancient bard stated, "What Boyfriend?"

"Willow." Buffy warned.

In this case, Willow's intuition won over her love for Buffy, "Buffy's boyfriend was a vampire," she explained. She still wasn't comfortable with the idea that Vampire were her kin. Fairies okay, that was cool. Demon spawn. NO Way. She used the terminology that made her feel better, "But he was a good one," she hastened to reassure her aunts. She didn't want them thinking badly of Buffy. Her friend already got enough guff from her mom and besides, they seemed to understand. She explained, "He was cursed."

Xena sat up, abruptly. Her feet thumped to the ground "Cursed?" Willow nodded. "What happened?"

Buffy, who was tired of the runaround, twisted her arms together and sighed, "We had sex."

"He got really happy," Willow amended. She looked at her aunt Gabrielle, "He wasn't supposed to."

Xena couldn't help the smirk, "I'm sure." Buffy looked miserable. Xena cut the smirk. She stood up, and crouched by the young woman. She was a formidible presence, but her words were gentle, "There was no way you could have known. It's not your fault."

Buffy pulled away, toughened up, "Yeah, well, doesn't really matter." She looked Xena in the eye, but couldn't hold the gaze without tearing up. She turned her head away.

"What was his name?" Gabrielle asked.

Willow replied, "Angel."