8Through a mirror darkly chapter 1
Mainstream Universe, Cleveland, 2014 at 8 pm.
The petite blonde regretted not telling Spike sooner. That she will always love him. Their final night in the basement, before they had descended into the Hellmouth, Spike told her the night he had just held her and watched her sleep was the best night of his life. Before the final battle against the First. They had made love in her basement. Buffy had held him close and watched him sleep. It was one of the greatest nights of her life. And yet, Buffy was sorrowful that even after that night, her stubborn and hard-headed vampire still did not believe that she loved him.
After all, how much reason had she given Spike to make him believe in her love for him? She sent mixed messages and fought so hard not to love him, not wanting to be hurt like how she was with Angel.
Since their last meeting, Buffy and Angel agreed they were long over. Their relationship had been poisonous to them both, and it was best to leave it in the past. The last she heard Angel was working with his new crew, including his son and daughter-in-law, helping the helpless in Los Angeles.
Spike, on the other hand, was a wound that never healed. Their last meeting in the alley didn't go so well after she came with dozens of Slayers, witches, and Willow to stop whatever apocalypse Angel had started by taking on the Senior Partners in a suicide mission.
After the fighting had died down, Buffy and Spike argued endlessly over him not contacting her when he was resurrected by that Lindsey dude. Spike had started sneering and carrying on about her and the Immortal before he stormed off. Although Giles later mentioned that Spike was last seen working with Team Angel again. Stupid vampire! As if the Immortal could replace him in her heart. Buffy came to believe that men were all the same whether undead or alive.
"Buffy are you all, right?" asked a voice that startled her. She turned to see Dawn enter her room. Her sister had grown up stunningly, now thirty-one years of age, and one of their best Watchers trained by Giles personally. At least Dawnie had her happy ending, being married to a good man.
"Fine Dawnie. Just thinking," said Buffy reassuringly. She looked at herself in her mirror. Thirty-seven years old. But not looking a day over thirty. The Slayer's Organization had discovered that Slayers aged more slowly than normal people. So, she still looked as athletic as ever which attracted guys. But none of her relationships had seemed to last because her exes weren't Spike. Cleveland had plenty of creepy crawlies to keep her distracted from her pain. Beating up and staking vampires was the best therapy for her relationship problems.
"Uh huh and is it about the peroxide pest again?" asked Dawn looking both amused and concerned. Did everyone, including her sister, know that she wasn't over Spike? Thought Buffy irritably.
"Why didn't he understand that the Immortal meant nothing to me?" mumbled Buffy, knowing that she could trust her sister not to go blabbing.
"Oh Buffy," consoled Dawn, "You have to understand that the Immortal hurt Spike by sleeping with that hoe bag Drusilla, and you, he has his pride after all."
Buffy tried to stifle her sobs. At that time, she had no idea about Immortal's past with Angel or Spike. None at all. Or about Giles refusing to help Angel and Spike's friend Fred.
Dawn held up a file in her hand, "Um, it seems like this will be a bad time to bring this up, but it is our life. We have reports coming in that Team Angel has disappeared. According to Vi, Satsu, and Rona, they fell through a portal. So, it looks like your vampire exes, Faith and her husband, need to be rescued."
Buffy went pale with fear. The idea of Angel, Faith, and especially Spike falling through a portal didn't sit well with her.
She didn't know Faith's husband Connor very well but according to all reports, he was a successful demon hunter, being Angel's son and protégé.
Originally, Buffy thought the idea of Faith sleeping with and then marrying Angel's son was a little wiggy. She then briefly wondered if it was some weird kind of transference thingy that she had read about in her psychology class because Faith used to be attracted to Angel in their Sunnydale days. Where had those days gone? High school was a lot simpler back then. All she had to do was survive until Graduation. And oh yeah, defeat a giant snake with her friends.
"What is Giles doing about this?" Buffy demanded with a hard glint in her green eyes.
"He wants us all to investigate and see if there is any danger," answered Dawn. "The plane is waiting to take us to Los Angeles to hopefully save Faith and the others. So, pull yourself together, big sis, because we need Buffy the Alpha Slayer to lead the mission."
Buffy quickly packed a bag and followed Dawn to the Council's car waiting outside which drove them to the tarmac of a private airfield where a private jet awaited them. She saw Willow and Xander waiting on the seats inside the 747. Buffy then rolled her eyes at seeing Dawn kiss her husband of six years. Her best friend, Xander.
"Who knows what kind of powers Capitan Peroxide and Bossy the Cow were messing with that made them all disappear?" asked Xander, before Dawn nudged him with her elbow.
Buffy smiled at her unconventional family. Hopefully, she could find Spike even if she had to drag him up from hell itself. Wasn't her life great? She thought sarcastically.
Giles had offered her a comforting smile from his seat. Although he could never understand her past history with Spike, it meant something that he was here on the plane.
The plane was now taxiing down the runway before it took off.
"Looking forward to seeing Satsu, Will?" asked Buffy with a friendly smile. Seeing her best friend so happy with one of her proteges was good. Kennedy had been killed, which was sad for Willow but at least it looked like she was moving on.
"You betcha," replied the grinning redhead. Willow had made all the arrangements to meet her girlfriend and the LA Slayers to discuss investigating the last place they saw Angel's team.
The alternate universe in Los Angeles, CA at 5 pm in the Hyperion Hotel.
Spike was confused and worried. He remembered working with Peaches, Hellcat, and mini-Poof to investigate the strange disappearances of people in Los Angeles when they had fallen through a portal and ended up wherever they were.
It looked like the City of Angels. But an alternate one that could have been a set for a bloody horror film or a disaster movie in his opinion. The city looked dreadful with the sun being turned permanently off. It became a feeding ground for the vampires and demons. Spike and his team had tried to save anyone who was left, but most of the humans had fled or were in hiding.
"You can't catch me stud!" chortled a husky voice. Spike looked up to see Faith running into the hotel's lobby that they are staying at, with Connor at her heels.
"Oh yes, I can!" Connor shouted back, laughing before he caught Faith by the arm and pulled her to him. Quickly he pressed a kiss to her pouty, full lips.
"Eww, you stink of vampire dust," the Slayer gently pushed him off. "So, shower first and then come and find me, my baby blue eyes."
"Want to join me, honey?" Connor asked as he nibbled at her neck before he picked Faith up. Her muscled legs were soon entwined around his waist as they kissed before he carried her up the stairs.
"Way to go, Junior," commented Spike, raising his glass of Jack Daniels to them. Seeing the mini-Poof with his wife reminded him of his time with Buffy. He had complicated feelings about his Golden Girl. He would always love her but there was a part of him that was disgusted by her sleeping with the Immortal. What she saw in that smooth-talking pillock, who had tortured him and Angelus in Rome, before sleeping with the ice queen and Drusilla, Spike had no sodding idea.
But Spike couldn't drink away his feelings for Buffy, though much to his frustration. There had been times she had been the most aggravating person that he ever met. But he still had her in his heart and dreams.
He then sensed a familiar presence behind him.
"Was that Connor I heard?" asked a voice. Spike saw his grandsire and former mentor. He and Angel had been rivals, friends, and enemies for a long time being tied together by the bonds of blood and history. After Dru turned him, Angelus had been his truest sire but then the gypsy curse had robbed him of a mentor. Someone who tutored him in destruction and death. But that was irrelevant now, the days of Spike craving the approval from his monstrous idol were long gone since he had killed his first Slayer in China.
"Yup, your boy is back, Peaches," replied Spike. "Probably showering with his wife, I expect."
"Right, I'm glad that someone is happy," said Angel, wearing his usual brooding expression before disappearing into the shadows.
"So that weakling Angel is here," commented the First/ Buffy to her henchmen. They were in a wine cellar with barrels of Merlot in Sunnydale. The First had declared victory with the Buffy of this dimension, who was missing in action along with her vampire lover for about 10 years. The First chortled. The Scooby Gang and those stupid potentials did more damage to themselves by mutinying against the Slayer. The evil force thanked them before it had her boys crush their heads as part of the final mopping up.
"Yes, he isn't alone, Boss," replied Caleb, "According to the Broker, he seems to have arrived from a different world with his demon bastard, that whore Faith, and Spike."
"Disappointing news, but it must be the Powers interfering with my plans," replied the First.
"I will crush Angelus's head for his betrayal!" rumbled the Beast. who had been resurrected by the First to serve as her muscle. It had him wipe out the new set of the Ra-Tet to blot out the sun again to bring darkness to this miserable planet.
"Boy! You really have a way with people. don't ya?" chuckled the First, "Beast track Angelus down and kill him and his team."
"Yes, my master," rumbled out the Beast. His voice sounded like rocks falling down a mountain. The monster soon left.
"What about me, Master?" asked Caleb.
"Take a dozen of your best men and track down those surviving Resistance rats led by that Watcher," instructed the First, "Now go! I have other things to contemplate."
Caleb bowed his head and left. Why his Master had to pose like a woman was beyond him. In his deranged opinion, a barnyard cow would have been better and more useful.
Alternate Hyperion at 11 pm.
The sound of husky moans, growls, and heavy breathing could be heard from one of the bedrooms on the 2nd floor of the hotel.
Faith was panting hotly as her young husband met her thrust for a thrust. Their bodies were glistening with the sheen of sweat from their exertions. Their clothes were scattered all over the floor of their bedroom with her black leather pants being flung someplace she had yet to look. They had a quickie in the shower, before retiring to bed and getting it back on.
"Jesus!" Connor moaned. He was getting close to being put over the edge.
"Do you like that, huh?" grinned Faith, who was currently on top of him. She rolled her hips and used her muscles to squeeze him tightly. Connor's eyes widened once again as he let out another moan, his fingers gripping Faith's hips tightly, guaranteed to leave her with bruises. She felt him throbbing inside her. How much more can he take? Faith looked back at Connor's face, surprised to see his eyes darken. He continued to thrust up, removing a hand from her hips, and lightly skimmed down. Faith's breath hitched in anticipation. Connor lightly pressed the swollen nub, forcing her to let out a light whine. He grunted at the noise before viciously rubbing her clit. Faith screamed, squeezing his cock more tightly. Connor kept rubbing while thrusting inside her before she came with her eyes rolling back in her sockets.
"You know that I do!" groaned Connor, who came with a final grunt and a shudder through his wiry body.
"Damn, stud! That was great!" Faith laughed huskily while Connor tried to get his breathing back under control. He stroked her toned thigh. while she drew invisible lines across his strong chest. He nuzzled her affectionately.
"You were amazing, Faith," Connor said, punctuating each word with a kiss on her lusciously red and swollen lips. "Always amazing."
Faith felt she was the lucky one. She was married to someone that she loved. Someone who was fantastic in bed and more importantly cared about her as a person. Even though she was stuck in a strange dimension, it reminded her of the blacked-out Los Angeles in 2003. Faith had her two-favorite people: her husband and her mentor turned father-in-law. Not to mention her ally Spike, who was B's ex.
However, some part of Faith hoped that B and the others could find them because they didn't belong here in this messed up place. Faith also hoped that B and her vamp could make it work because the dance between them was far from over.
Finally, Faith and her husband slept, holding each other with the white sheet covering them.