The Golden Queen Series:
The Golden Queen
by Damia

Chapter Eight

Balteiar

Methos looked across at Zanial with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Are you sure?” he asked, bringing his hand up to scratch his dark chin. He was sitting behind his desk in his private chambers, alone in the room save for the tall figure of his most trusted ally and spy, Zanial.

The tall Vampire nodded his dark head. “Yes, Sire. Your son is most defiantly on Earth, I saw him there myself.” Zanial didn’t know what to expect from this meeting, Methos’ anger usually showed itself at the oddest times. He knew that the young Prince had left Balteiar, he had been in the Gate room when it happened, and he would always shudder at the thought of how Methos vented his fury after that one....

Zanial was used to it though, he had been Lord Methos’ Second in Command for over 500 years, and had been hunting the Tessionare’s for long before that...

He was a frightening figure, that he knew. With his massive height, piercing silver eyes, and strong jaw bones, terror had been the last emotion of many of his victims.

Methos’ discrete cough made his eyes sharpen to what was being said, his head snapping around to regard his master thoughtfully. “What is to be done, my lord?” he asked, knowing very well how *he* would fix the situation.

Methos didn’t say a word, only continued to stare at the far wall, deep in thought. Zanial remained silent, standing tall in front of the huge desk that his master was seated at, letting Methos think.

“Do you know what he was doing there?” Methos finally spoke, and Zanial nodded his head.

“He was in a country called ‘America’, my lord. In some sort of party, there were humans everywhere.” He looked up and found Methos watching him intently. “He was dancing...with a girl.” he concluded.

Methos’ head shot up, eyebrows quirking in amusement. “Really?” he said, chuckling.

Zanial frowned, not wanting to see what his reaction to the rest of his report was going to be.

“The girl is known, my lord.” he said, and Methos’ eyes flinched. They turned hard and flashed deep silver.

“Who is she, Zanial?” he asked. Zanial took a deep breath and said quickly,

“It was Lady Nimisha, Sire. Everynne must have sent her to Earth.”

Methos’ jaw dropped and he stood up quickly. Leaning forward he said loudly, “He was dancing with Lady Nimisha!?” Zanial flinched, but nodded slowly.

Methos was breathing quickly now, his silver eyes wide with a mixture of excitement and fear. “Do they know who each other is?” he asked Zanial. The tall man shook his head. “His eyes were blue, my lord. He must have changed them somehow. You know as well as I do that Lady Nimisha would only have known him by that, she has been protected her entire life.” They looked at each other. “She would not recognise a Vanquisher otherwise.” Zanial concluded.

“Well,” Methos muttered. “At least we know where she is now. Good one, Everynne. I’d have never thought to look there...” he trailed off.

The room fell into silence. Both men thinking of the horrible consequences that could come out of this meeting. Then suddenly Methos started to chuckle, deep in his throat. Zanial looked up at his Master in concern, wondering what possibly could be funny.

Methos noticed his reaction, leaving his desk to come and stand before him. They regarded each other in silence, their dark Vanquisher faces blank of any emotion.

“Go to Earth, Zanial. Keep an eye on both of them.” he said firmly in a low voice. Zanial nodded his agreement respectfully. “We can turn this meeting around, Zanial. Use it to our full advantage.”

Zanial looked across at his Sire, wondering what his hidden meaning was. “Are you sure that is wise, my lord?” he asked, frowning. But Methos only laughed, patting him on his back as he turned around and went back to his desk. But not sitting down he turned and faced his 2IC, his lips crushed together and his eyes hard and violent.

“I will not let that boy get the better of me, Zanial.” Methos told him in a low voice, his anger barely contained. “If he wants to unwittingly lead us to his lady love, then that is his problem.”

His eyes flashed. “I will get that girl, and my dear son is going to help me every step of the way.”

Zanial smiled.

In Sunnydale....

Nimisha gaped. Her eyes open wide as she stood frozen in front of the tall smoking form of her half-brother. Spike was watching her right back, wondering why the hell she was looking at him like that.

He bent down at waved a hand in front of her face, getting her attention. “Are you alright?” he asked. “You’ve been staring like that for ages.”

Nimisha shook her head, sputtering. “What the hell are *you* doing here!?” she screeched, waving her hands wildly. Spike frowned and put his hands on his hips, stamping his cigarette out under his boot. “Now, that’s not very nice, is it?” he shot back at her. “I was here first, so I get to ask the questions!”

They faced each other, both had their hands on their hips, eyes flashing with barely contained anger.

Nimisha laughed, her black hair bouncing down her back. “And if I don’t answer them?” she shot at him, sarcastically. He said nothing to that, only raised his eyebrows.

“Well, darling. If you don’t wanna answer my bloody questions, then i’m gonna have to tie you up and drag you over to Giles house. And i’ll tell you now, he’s got some very good ways of making little smart mouthed, brats like yourself talk for information.”

Nimisha narrowed her eyes, making them flash a bright yellow and taking a step towards him. “Just you try it, Spike. I’m not like mama, and I *will* kick you ass out of Sunnydale and back to Dru.”

He looked down at her, confused. “i’m not like mama...” he muttered her words back to himself, and Nimisha opened her eyes wide as she guessed just what she had said.

She opened her mouth for a reply but it was cut off as Spike quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her close as she tried to get away. She let out a little scream in surprise.

Spike had felt it the second he had come in contact with her skin. The tingly, sweet sensation that he knew all to well. His eyes opened wide. It couldn’t be.....

He released her quickly, flinging her away from himself so forcefully that she rocked back on her feet, gripping her head in pain with the sudden movement.

“Just who the bloody hell *are* you!?” Spike yelled, stepping back to separate the distance between them. His legs were spread, a fighting stance that Nimisha knew all to well. Looking up she saw that his eyes were golden, loose anger fighting to gain control. But it was confusion that she saw hidden deep within him that made her stop from bolting away from the scene.

Nimisha looked down, her long hair falling across her face, hiding her frustrated look. She couldn’t help but sob, her mother was going to be *so* mad....

Spike noticed, and let his hands fall to his sides. Taking small steps towards her, he let a few feet separate them. He was completely baffled, not knowing how in hell a simple rescue mission had suddenly spun so out of control. This wasn’t how it was meant to happen!!

He looked down at her, noticing for the first time that her shoulders were shaking. He tightened his jaw, not wanting to get involved, but trying to ignore the weird pull he felt towards the girl. He looked at her, really looked this time. Letting his eyes travel up the length of her body, from strong legs, to well formed hips to her smooth, pale neck and long black hair. Reaching out slowly he put his finger under her chin and lifted it so he could get a good look at her face.

He gasped and almost dropped her chin. The moon was visible, shining brightly in the night sky. Nimisha sniffled, raising her green eyes to meet his. They stared at each other, Spike knowing that he was falling into those green eyes that he knew so well...

“Buffy?” he whispered longingly, not really knowing what possessed him to say that. He saw the girl flinch, breaking eye contact and ripping her face out of his grip.

She took a few steps back, watching his tall figure warily. “Why do you say that?” she asked in a little voice, and Spike was reminded of a scared, little girl, just as baffled as he was.

He frowned at her question, asking himself the same thing. “I dunno.” he answered, spreading his hands wide. “You just remind me of a couple of people thats all.”

Nimisha smiled sadly. “Yeah, I guess I would.”

That got Spike’s attention all right. “Now what the hell is that supposed to mean, you little chit!?” he yelled in a loud voice, no longer confused, but just plain angry.

And it was at the moment that Sita jumped out of the bushes, having heard the yelling miles away. She jumped in front of Nimisha, holding a staff in her hands that the girl didn’t even want to asked where she got it from. But seeing just who it was that was threatening her charge, Sita’s eyes narrowed, her body tensing for a fight.

Spike jumped back, raising his arms in surrender when he saw her intention. “Whoa!” he said in a surprised voice, wondering who this beautiful, lithe woman was and just where in the world she had come from.

Getting her bearings, Nimisha yelped, yelling for Sita to stop. “Hey! It’s okay!” she yelled, stepping out from behind Sita - a fact that Spike had noticed with interest - and moved to stand in between the two squaring off fighters.

Sita ignored her, her eyes narrowing with fury. “Leave this place, Vampire!” she hissed, her hands tightening on the strong staff in her arms. “How dare you threaten my Princess!” she raged in fury.

Spike looked panicked, not knowing what the hell was going on or what he had fallen himself into. “Just who the bloody hell are *you*!?” he yelled, falling into a fighting stance again to protect himself if necessary. The two elder immortals faced each other, the tension flickering between them.

“Hey!” Nimisha screamed loudly, finally getting their attention. They both turned to her, eyebrows raised. “Thank you!” Nimisha said as she saw she finally had them back.

“Sita, cool it, will you?” she told her friend, walking over to lay a hand on her arm. “Its only Spike, he would never hurt me.” she added quietly, but Spike heard and shot her a baffled look.

“Like Hell I wouldn’t!” he told them, sputtering. He took a step closer and Sita growled in warning.

Nimisha shot him a look, frowning and telling him to lay off. “Do you want you ass kicked?” she asked him firmly. He turned to her small form, eyes opening in surprise at her statement.

“Cause if you do, your going the right way about it, Spike.” she told him. “Just back off, let me handle this.”

The girl turned back to Sita, who was watching her with a confused look on her tanned face. “Nimi?” she asked quietly. “Who is that?”

Nimisha sighed. “Its Spike. You know, Papa’s Childe.” Sita’s eyes opened wide, understanding filling them.

“I thought he was unable to fight?” she hissed, panicked.

Nimisha answer was cut off when Spike started to speak. “What do you mean, Papa’s Childe?” he asked. Nimisha sighed, forgetting that he had unnatural hearing.

She turned back to his confused form, almost laughing at the completely baffled look on his bleach-blonde head. She put her hands on her hips and inclined her head to the side. “Well, you are Angel’s childe are you not?” she asked in a no nonsense tone.

Spike frowned. “No, actually i’m not.” He grinned at their startled looks. “I’m Drusilla’s technically.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Just what have you got to do with my Yoda anyway?” The Vampire asked in a casual voice, trying to pretend he wasn’t really interested by lightening up another cigarette and taking a drag slowly.

Nimisha scrunched up her nose as she smoke reached them. “That’s disgusting.” she told him, shrugging her shoulders when he shot her a look that obviously said, ‘yeah, so?’

The three of them fell into a comfortable silence, the two girls not really trusting the Vampire, but knowing that they were not going to be attacked any time soon.

“So?” Spike pushed. “Are you gonna answer my bloody questions or not?” he asked. “Who the hell are you and what you got to do with Peaches?”

Nimisha frowned, annoyed that she put herself and Sita in this situation in the first place. But, she thought. It would be good to have someone else that knew. And as fighters went, Spike was one of the best.

She looked at him, measuring the possibilities. She knew that if he found out just who she was to Angel and Buffy....yet alone to *him* he would never hurt her, Vampires cared very protectively for their close family, this she knew more than anything.

Making her decision, Nimisha took a step towards Spike - ignoring Sita’s cry of surprise as she figured what she was doing - and walked to stand before his chest, looking up into his suddenly wary face. Without a word, the girl gathered his hand in her’s and lay it above her heart, letting him hear the soft heart beat ring throughout her small body.

The relief that washed over Spike face was almost comic, save from the fact that confusion settled back on his features. “So your human.” he told her quietly. “Or human enough to have a heart beat, but that still doesn’t explain who you are.” he added in a serious tone.

Nimisha didn’t answer, only raised her eyes to lock them with her brother’s, knowing deep inside him he knew just what she was going to say. Spike startled, opening his eyes wide as he looked down at her standing so close to him, a familiar sensation washing over him...a feeling that he knew so well, even if he hadn’t felt it in so long...

“Buffy?” he asked her again, complete confusion in his seemingly human eyes.

Nimisha smiled sadly, knowing that he was sensing the Slayer in her.

“That’s right, Spike.” she told him quietly.

He looked down at her in horror, jumping back out of her reach. “Your *Buffy*?” he yelled, getting freaked.

Nimisha chuckled, knowing what he was getting at. “No, i’m not Buffy, Spike.” she told the Vampire, who was by now watching her as if she had grown another head.

“I’m her daughter.” she told him finally, feeling sorry for him.

Spike froze. His head raised to look at her, understanding flooding in. His posture relaxed for the first time that night, knowing now that she wasn’t a threat. He stared at her, at everything about her, only then noticing just how much she looked like a mixture of Buffy and....

“Oh, god.” he whispered. “Your *their* daughter.”

He looked at her, wondering why she was here in Sunnydale...why *now*...and where her mother was...

Nimisha smiled at him gently, knowing just how deep his shock ran. Then suddenly he moved, walking slowly over to where she stood, bringing a shaking hand out to touch a handful of her long black hair, chuckling softly.

“You had to go and have *his* looks didn’t you?” he asked, laughing now. Nimisha beamed, knowing this was the real Spike...the funny Spike that her mother talked of so often.

Then he became serious, both of them missing the retreating form of the smiling Sita, who quietly left the scene, knowing they had to be alone.

“Something is happening, isn’t it?” he asked her, letting his hand drop to his side.

Nimisha grimaced and nodded her black haired head. Spike sighed. “Just tell me this,” he asked her softly, Nimisha’s head raising in confusion. “You mother is alive, isn’t she?”

She looked up at him, a blank look on her face, as if she was now going to reveal her deepest secret, something she knew she shouldn’t be doing. Finally she bit her lip and nodded slightly.

Spike sucked in a tight breath, only to let it out again. His voice shaky.

“Oh, crap.” he said, putting his hand under Nimisha’s chin to raise her face, smiling lopsidedly down at her as she sniffled.

“Whats that bloody Slayer gone and gotten us into *this* time?”

Nimisha laughed and gathered her brother into a warm hug.

The Next Evening....

Day 4

“Come on Nimi. It’s easy!” Jesse told his frowning friend happily from where they both sat the next day at the study table in the now deserted Library. School had been out for over three hours and the two teenagers had headed straight for the silent comfort of the Library for a long over-due study session.

Alex and Karan, who conveniently had other plans for their afternoon, had decided to pass. So that left just the two of them in the musty room, even Giles had taken the afternoon off - his eyebrows raising above his glasses as to why any teenager that were *not* to do with the Slaying would want to be there after school - as he gave them free rein of his beloved abode.

Nimisha sighed in disgust and threw her pencil across the other side of the table as she pushed her text book away from her body. She would so rather be talking somewhere with Spike than doing boring homework even if it meant that she *never* learned about History. The girl smiled wistfully at the thought. After their little confrontation in the Cemetery the night before the two of them had become glued at the hip. Nimisha had finally gotten back to Willow and Oz’s house just after three in the morning after staying up all night explaining everything to Spike. He had taken it rather well considering.

“Who cares about American History anyway!?” she wined after seeing the surprised look on Jesse’s face at her violent outburst. But seeing that she wasn’t serious, the boy grinned. Nimisha (or Nimi, as she’d insisted on being called) was so different from the rest of the pupils at this school. She was more like the mystical Princesses from the beloved Science Fiction novels he soaked up in his spare time or in the weekends.

Jesse was still so surprised that she had wanted to be his friend in the first place, never having expected to hear from her again after their abrupt meeting in the bleaches a few days before. But, to the surprise of not only himself, but to others in the school, Nimisha *had* sort his company more than they would have originally liked.

It was little things at first. A quick ‘hello’ in the hallways between classes, a smile at lunch as they passed each other. Then she had asked to sit with him the day before in science, that had been the shocker. To everyone. Jesse remembered clearly how the whole classroom had gone dead quiet as every pair of eyes flew towards the strangely calm girl with the piercing green eyes as she took her seat beside the sputtering red headed boy and looked coolly towards the front of the classroom, her chin tilted proudly.

He had been impossibly proud of her for that. He knew what guts it would have taken to take such a leap of faith. Also since everyone knew Maria Chase had taken such a violent dislike to the beautiful, quiet girl.

Jesse grinned again, knowing how lucky he was to have her as a friend as he reached over the table and pointed to a certain section in the page.

“American History *is* important, Nimi.” he told her calmly, trying not to smile when she shot him a quick look of shear disbelief. “You have to know where your ancestors come from.” he continued, ignoring her snort of disagreement.

Then Nimisha laughed suddenly, causing him to look across at her in surprise. “Jess, my ancestors *dont* come from America.” she told him, still laughing with a bright smile on her dark featured face.

He frowned, wondering secretly if she was finally going to open up and give him some more information of her past...

He looked confused as he asked her in a bemused voice, “But, uh, you *sound* American.” He looked truly baffled. “I just assumed your family came from here.”

She smiled softly at him, showing of perfect white teeth. “My mother was born in America, Jess.” she told him, deciding that *that* wasn’t going to let anything slip. “My father’s Irish, although he has lived in America for a long time.”

Jesse raised his eyebrows, storing that information for further use. “But why are you staying with Miss Rosenburg?” he asked her, knowing like everyone else that the new girl was somehow related to the awesome teacher.

Nimisha grinned at his curiosity. “Willow’s my Aunt. I’m staying with her for a few weeks while my mothers overseas.”

Jesse just nodded, letting the subject drop when Nimisha turned back docilely to her thick text book. They stayed like that for about 15 minutes, Jesse getting more and more surprised as the minutes ticked by as Nimisha lack of knowledge of American History showed its ugly face.

“My mother *tried* to teach me.” she told him, catching his baffled glance. “But she isn’t to hot on History either, so that didn’t help.” she added laughing.

Then he remembered something. “Hang on!” he told her, jumping up from his seat and jogging in the direction of the stacks. “Where are you going?” she called after him, halfway rising from her seat to join him as his head poked out from between a handful of books and he called down to her,

“I just remembered that Mr Giles has the perfect book in here for beginners History!” His voice was muffled. “Stay there, and i’ll be down in a minute.” he added.

Nimisha raised her eyebrows at his sudden enthusiasm for the subject as she sat back down in her wooden chair and looked back and forth between the books that were scattered across the table top.

Idly flicking through the top few, she noticed that the library had gone completely silent, not even Jesse could be heard anymore.

“Hey, Jess?” she called up towards the stacks. There was no answer. Thinking that he had probably found a fascinating book up there and was totally engrossed, Nimisha shrugged and looked back towards the books on the table.

A notebook caught her eye. One she hadn’t noticed before. Frowning in confusion, the girl flicked her long black hair over the shoulder and reached over to grab the notebook from where it sat, partly hidden by A4 pieces of paper.

It was a small, hardcover, blue ringbinder. About the size of a diary. Gently playing her delicate fingers across the smooth cover, Nimisha traced the words,

‘Jesse Phoenix, 1984-’

She shot a quick look up into the stacks, dreading what her friend would do if he came back down here and found her looking through what was obviously very precious to him. Nimisha bit her lip, weighing the possibilities.

But curiosity winning the siding vote, Nimisha silently lay the small book on the table top and open the cover.

She gasped in shock.

Willow hummed to herself as she made a quick sweep through one of the busier Cemeteries in Sunnydale, stuffing her cold hands into her overall’s pockets, wishing suddenly that she had decided to wear a jersey over her shocking pink turtle-neck top.

Silently she heard Sita falling into step beside her as she came back from effortlessly killing a Vamp. Looking up into the tall, brown haired woman’s face, Willow smiled. Even though she reminded her so suddenly of when Cordelia used to come Patrolling with them because she was wearing tight black nylon pants and a black spaghetti strap halter top, Willow was actually quite surprised to find how well the two of them got on together, they had hit it of from the start.

But it served its purpose well, both woman gaining from the friendship. Sita, who had told Willow quite sheepishly that she had never set foot on Terran soil before in her life, tried to learn all she could about this strange new world. From shopping, to technology (a fact that Sita found quite amusing) Sita practicality guttered Willow and Oz’s brains for information.

Willow on the other hand - who normally would have killed for an opportunity to even glance at their advanced technology - was more interested in finding all about Buffy and Nimisha’s lives for the past 16 years. So, knowing exactly what the Witch was doing, Sita told her everything she could remember. And that was actually a lot, since she was probably the closest civilian, save Afraya, to the Imperial family.

She even got Afraya to secretly send some holograms of Nimisha’s childhood for the pair through the Stargate, which Sita then Teleported from Ireland across to America using Telekinesis. Willow had then sat, glued to the floor with a pile of holograms in her arms and scattered on the carpet around her.

There were hundreds of them and Sita knew she had done the right thing when she had looked up and saw the excited look in Willow’s eyes soften as she gently picked up and picture of a three year old Nimisha laying in her mothers arms from where they both lay of the ground, flowers sprinkled in their hair and with long green grass around them.

Sita chuckled, remembering just when it had been taken. Willow looked up at her, confused at her sudden humour, but Sita just waved her hands, telling her everything was alright.

“And you do this often?” Sita then asked her new friend. Willow grinned, spreading her hands out wide.

“You mean Patrol?” she asked. Sita nodded. “Yeah, usually one or two of us do it every night.” she told her, explaining the lore. Then she shrugged sheepishly. “Its not as good as having a Slayer, but it tends to keep the Vampire population down so it’s bearable.”

“Ahh, I can understand that.” Sita cocked her head over to Willow’s direction. “That was mainly what Buffy was worried about when she first left Earth for Allrelen. That you guys would want to take over the Slaying and get yourselves killed.”

Willow frowned, not sure if that was a complement or not. “Well, we’ve done okay, I guess.” She shrugged. “Stopped a few big baddies on our travels, killed a few demons.” She smiled up at Sita gently. “Buffy always did it better though. With more punch, I guess you can call it.”

Sita smiled back down at her. “But you took over Slaying once before, no? When Evie ran away the first time after she sent Nimisha’s father to Hell?”

Willow looked up at her in surprise. “Just how much about us do you actually know?” she asked, jokingly.

She laughed and shrugged fake-snobbishly. “A lot!” Sita told her. “Buffy used to tell me all about you guys when we first met.” She grinned. “Okay, so I was 11 years old, and I think I was more of a therapist than anything else, but I listened, and she needed someone to talk to...so,” she shrugged, the rest obvious.

Willow stopped in her tracks, reaching out to gently grab Sita’s hand as well, stilling her. Sita looked back at her, confused. But Willow only tightened her grip and smiled softly up and at the tall, lithe woman.

“About that.” Willow whispered softly. “I just wanted to thank you for looking out for Buffy and Nimi for as long as you have. You can’t imagine how reassuring it is to me to know that they have someone like you there for them.” Willow shrugged. “Its just good to know she has had someone to talk to, I guess.”

Sita smiled back at her, falling back so they were side to side. Giving Willow’s arm a quick squeeze, she told her, “I know, Will.” She cocked her head. “Although i’m not to hot on the idea of me being there for a substitute for *you* all those years, I know she needed someone.”

They both smiled at each other, suddenly knowing they had a lot more in common than they originally thought.

“Well, isn’t this just classic.” A crisp voice drawled from the shadows. “If it ain’t a flame’in crying party.”

Both woman spun around, but visibly breathed with relief when Spike’s blonde form stepped out from the shadows. Willow frowned, putting her hands on her hips.

“I thought we talked about you being Cryptic?” she asked.

Spike only shrugged, getting a cigarette out from inside his duster and lighting up. Completely ignoring her question, the Vampire looked around the clearing with a eager smile on his face, jumping excitedly from foot to foot, as if searching for something.

“Well?” he asked. “Where’s my lovely little sister this beautiful Sunnydale evening?”

Willow sighed, giving up on the total lost cause that was Spike. “She’s at the library studying with a friend.” she told him, trying not to smile visibly when the smile fell from the man’s lips and a pout took its place.

“You can see her afterwards, Spike.” Sita told him, grinning. She knew all to well how well Nimisha and Spike had hit it off. And from what Willow and Oz had told her, it seemed like Spike was well and truly on his way to being smitten with his younger sister. Although no one doubted the main reason was Spike trying to get back at his Grand-Sire by becoming chummy with his only daughter...a fact that everyone *knew* Angel wouldn’t be happy with if he eventually found out about Nimisha.

Although he *did* had a point, only a certain amount of Spike could be tolerated at once. And truthfully, he wasn’t exactly the best influence for a 16 year old girl. Let alone one who had just spent her entire life living in outerspace.

They all knew Angel would have a few choice words to say about *that* one.

“So?” Spike asked, falling back so that he was walking between the two woman. “What’s happening in Sunnyhell lately?”

Willow raised her eyebrows and looked at the Vampire oddly. “Spike you live here just like the rest of us, you should *know* whats happening.” She cocked her head to the side. “More actually, since your a Vampire.”

Spike put his hand on his chest, dramatically making a show of swooning. “Red, you insult me so!”

Sita laughed, still amazed that they actually got on quite well with Vampires. Let alone ones as different as Spike and Angel.

“Seriously though.” Spike said, becoming just that quickly. “After what Nimisha told me last night, you’d be expecting Alien Vampires to be overrunning the place.”

Sita shook her head. “We’re still hoping on the account that they don’t *know* we’re here on Earth at all.” she told her friends, both who had turned to regard her thoughtfully.

Spike frowned. “But they must be figuring it out sooner or later, surely.” he asked. “If I know my Buffy as well as *they* think they do, their bloody gonna click that she sent Nimisha here.” He shrugged when the looked at him in surprise.

“Buffy may be many things, my sweets. But original isn’t one of them.” he told the startled woman beside him. “Come on guys! She’ll be as predictable now as she ever was.” He snorted. “More probably, after spending 16 years without Giles to give her a kick up the bum every time she gets lazy.”

They both laughed, even though Sita quickly spoke up for her absent Queen. “Hey! It’s not like she hasn’t been practicing at *all*” she told her grinning friends. “Afraya and I make sure she stays in shape and fit. Although the Tessionare traits keep her that way all the time anyway.”

“But getting back on track,” Willow said, getting a serious face once again even as she turned in Sita’s direction. “How long do you think Nimisha will have to stay here on Earth?” she asked, knowing that however long it was it wouldn’t be long enough for her, she’d want Nimi to stay forever.

Sita bit her lip, knowing that what ever way she went around this the answer was going to be the same.

“Well,” she drawled. “If our calculations are right, Methos and the Vanquishers will be attacking in seven days from now.” Willow’s face fell, and Sita smiled reassuringly down at her. “Although i’m sure Evie will be wanting to stay here longer after everything is gone and done.” She pattered Willow’s shoulder gently. “Remember Will, she’s just found you guys after 16 years, she be in no hurry to leave, I can tell you that.”

Both Willow and Spike smiled. But Willow soon faulted as she remembered something. “What about Angel?” she asked Sita, wishing with all her heart that Buffy could somehow find a way to tell their friend about the sudden arrival of his darling daughter.

Sita expression turned regretful as she nervously flicked a lock of shoulder length light brown hair behind her ear.

She turned to Willow just as Spike inclined his blonde head to look at her, interested as well in the answer, as the three figures turned the corner and headed deeper into the Cemetery.

“Willow, you know as well as I do that if Angel finds out about Nimi - let alone that his one true love is actually *alive* - that he not gonna let them go again.” She let out a deep breath of air. “There’s no easy way to look at it, either way he’s gonna be mighty *pissed*.”

Willow frowned as Spike snorted in denial. “Okay, that’s probably true.” she told Sita. “But I seem to remember me having a temper tantrum soon after Buffy and Nimi arrived on my doorstep.” It wasn’t a joke.

Sita just looked down at the dark ground as they continued walking. “I know Will.” she whispered quietly. “I think Buffy’s just dead scared at what he’s going to say.” She looked over at the Witch. “You should know more than anyone how Buffy hates letting him down or having him disappointed in her.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “To just have a 16 year old kid thrust in your face, let alone a kid with *Buffy*, is bound to get anyone’s hackles up.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, each individual lost in thought. Until, “Well, I think she’s being a little selfish, if you ask me.” Spike said, breaking the dead air. They both frowned and looked at him oddly.

“Why do you say that?” Sita asked, curious to what his answer was going to be.

Spike took another drag of his cigarette as he reached up and moved a low hanging branch of a Willow tree out of the way so the two ladies could pass under it.

“I’m just saying, that if you asked me the same question a few days ago - if Buffy should tell Peaches about Nimi that is - id’ve said not a chance. Let the bloke suffer without her...” Willow grinned and thumped him none to lightly on his arm, knowing Spike’s ‘apparent’ view towards the souled Vampire.

“...Hey! I’m trying to be physiological here! Be good and let it in, cause it won’t be happening often. *Anyway*...where was I. Oh yeah. But now that i’ve actually met the kid, i’m sorta leaning towards telling Angel.”

Sita and Willow looked at him in surprise. He just shrugged and smiled down at them wolfishly. “She’s actually pretty cool, for an alien that is.”

“Hey!” Sita cried, laughing. “I resent that!”

Spike shot her a sleazy glance. “And I care, how?”

Willow just rolled her eyes, slowing down slightly now that they had reached the outer gates of the Cemetery where they where meant to be meeting Oz. She sighed, wishing she hadn’t had to lie to Giles when she told him she had Patrol covered that evening.

Even if Xander had looked at her oddly and Anya had told her quite bluntly that if she got herself killed Patrolling on her own not to coming running to her for sympathy, she had to bite her inner lip when she muttered that Oz would be joining her.

“Remember Willow.” Giles had told her kindly that morning in the library. “We can’t afford to take risks, not after...” He had cut of but Willow knew he was about to mention Buffy.

The Witch sighed again, wishing so deeply that she could somehow remove the stress line around the Watcher’s eyes that just seemed to become more prominent in the last four year by telling the man that his darling Slayer was actually still alive.

Willow snorted. It was all well and good fighting over telling *Angel* about Buffy and her daughter, what about Giles, Xander, Cordelia and the others? There were other people to consider with the decision, Willow just hoped everyone took that into consideration.

But by then they had made their way out of the huge metal gates and all three of them took seat around the entrance, Willow sitting up of the grass, Sita finding a spot of the cool concrete pathway with Spike as they all waited for their missing Werewolf to join them.

“Hey, guys!” they heard Oz call from further down the street, and they all turned to watch him walk up to them. When the three of them all finally got a closer look at his face from when he stood under a glowing lamp-post they saw that he was positively glowing.

“Good night?” Sita asked, smiling as she watched Willow jump down from her seat and give Oz a quick kiss in welcome. The Werewolf rested his hand on his girlfriend’s hip as he turned them both in Sita and Spike’s direction from where they both still sat on the ground.

“I just got a call from Cordy as I was walking out the door, thats way i’m so late.”

Willow frowned in confusion and looked up and her boyfriend. “Cordelia?” she asked, baffled. “Why in the world would she be calling us?”

Oz just shrugged, obviously just as lost as she was. “That’s the thing.” he told them. “She wouldn’t say, just wanted to know if Angel’s place of Crawford Street wasn’t in use.”

Then he waved it off. “But that’s typical Cordelia for you. You don’t get a call in months - from *her* not Angel - and then she goes and asks stupid questions.” He shrugged again.

“Truthfully? I don’t think i’ll ever get how that girl’s mind works.”

They all laughed as they walked down the street towards Sunnydale High to pick up Nimisha.

Missing completely the retreating form that had been following them from the start of the travels in this particular Graveyard, hearing all their fascinating conversation. As she saw they were leaving, Faith smiled softly to herself, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder as she moulded back into the shadows, trying to absorb everything she had learned tonight...and at the same time trying to figure out just *what* she what she was going to do with it.

“B and Angel got a kid, huh?” she said softly to herself as she craned her neck to watch the group of the Werewolf, the Witch, the Vampire and the Alien bodyguard walked down the street.

“Who would’ve thought?”

Nimisha mouth fell open in a silent gasp as her startling green eyes racked over the impossible picture in the journal. Monsters...Demons...Vampires...they all stared back at the girl as her shaking fingers gently flicked through page after page, the images in the notebook getting more disturbing, more realistic, more *detailed* as the book went on.

The outside world seemed to disappear as she looked, everything she had thought she knew about her caring, sweet new friend seemingly flying out the proverbial window.

Everything must have been a lie, she thought wildly, throwing a desperate glance up into the stacks as if she expected the redheaded boy with the blue rimmed glasses to come exploding down the stairs and kill her.

“How can he know all this?” Nimisha said in a stunned whisper as she turned yet another page and found herself confronted by what was obviously a Keval Demon. It was exact. Even down to the three pointed horns on its forehead.

This was impossible....

“What are you doing!?” A angry voice made her scream as she quickly dropped the book and jumped up out of her seat, only to rush over to the other side of the table so that the wood seemed to separate them.

He looked hurt at her reaction, and Nimisha suddenly realised he was only angry that she had been looking *at* the book, not what she found.

Silence fell in the deserted room as Jesse looked down at the table, his eyes opening wide as he noticed just what she had been looking at, then up to a terrified Nimisha, wary as to what her reaction was going to be.

“Don’t you like my drawings?” he asked in a modest voice and Nimisha startled. Not expecting that question to be the first out of his mouth.

“Ahh, yeah. Their great.” was the only words she could seem to get out of her suddenly dry mouth. She nervously licked her lips to get some water of them.

They both went silent again, Nimisha finally allowing herself to relax as they both stood, tense on either side of the large, wooden study table. Jesse started to look through the book himself, seemingly trying to will his body to loosen up. Finally flicking through the pages, the boy calmly let it rest of one of the ones at the back, lowering his eyes to regard the picture for a few moment intently.

Curious to just what had made Jesse stop, Nimisha craned her neck to look at the page. Seeing what she was trying to do, the boy calmly picked up the ringbinder and held it up so that it faced the girl.

Nimisha willed her face blank as she saw just what was on the lined paper when she noticed that Jesse was watching her face nervously, as if afraid of her answer.

“You like?” he asked. Then without waiting for her reply he looked across at the drawing and seemed to frown, confused, as if he had never seen it before.

“It seems to me that ive got a big imagination.” he laughed, trying to cover it up.

Nimisha put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side, letting her hair fall in front of her shoulder. Raising her eyebrows she told him in a serious voice, “That’s gotta be one *hell* of a imagination you got there Jess, if you can draw a Alamarrin demon from scratch.”

The boy’s mouth fell open as he eyes popped. Wordlessly he dropped the book back on the table as he took a step back.

“What are you?” he whispered in a stunned voice.

Nimisha laughed, throwing her head back. She could imagine what she looked like just then, with her hands on her hips and her black hair flying wildly around her shoulders. Bringing her head back level her eyes danced as she told the shaking boy in a laughing voice,

“I see you are wise enough to ask *what* I am, not *who*.” Obviously not the answer he was hoping for, Jesse gulped and nervous eyes flew towards the swinging doors, seemingly weighing his luck to dive for the door.

“Don’t even try it, kid.” Nimisha told him in a stern voice as her eyes flashed.

She hadn’t meant to get so worked up that her eyes changed, but Jesse obviously saw them because he started to pant and he quickly backed himself against the wall.

“Your a Vampire!” he managed to hiss out as he once again started to breath heavily

She lost whatever humour she had once possessed. “What I am is no concern of yours.” she told him coolly. “What you don’t know won’t get you killed.”

He gaped, his glasses frosting up. Seeing that she wasn’t about to get anymore information out of the boy in his present state, Nimisha calmly stepped around the table once again and took a seat. Jesse watched her movement, warily, but then he too, cautiously pulled out a chair so that they sat side by side. Noticing that her friend was still terrified, Nimisha gently reached out and pattered him hand, trying to sooth him.

“How is it that you know about Vampires, Jess?” she asked in a soft voice, not wanting to scare the boy anymore than he already was.

Jesse looked down, his shoulders going tense. He didn’t answer at first, so long in fact that Nimisha wondered if he had heard her question at all. But then his shoulders sagged and he exhaled shakily, as if he was suddenly about to reveal a horrible secret he shouldn’t even be mentioning.

“I was 11.” He said in a low voice, Nimisha having to call on her vampiric hearing to hear his confession. “My family and I were camping up at Lake Mead for the summer, my mother and father and my little sister, that is.”

Nimisha felt dread wash over her as she somehow knew just what he was going to say.

He carried on, looking down at the table, obvious to her sudden distress. Looking up, Nimisha saw that he had tears leaking out of his eyes. She watched one circle his cheek bones then fall with a quick ‘plop’ onto the wooden table.

“We were in a tent, you know. The typical family vacation.” He grimaced and looked up at her, smiling sadly when he noticed her mouth was slightly open and horror was edged on her dark featured face.

“They hit so quickly, Nimi.” he whispered. “I was almost awake by the time they had finished butchering my family. I was sleeping under a bunch on blankets. Thats probably the only reason they didn’t realise I was there.”

She winced as they locked eyes. “My sister was six years old, Nimisha.” He smiled sadly again. “Her name was Annie and she was *six* years old. And they killed her.”

“Oh, Jess.” Nimisha moaned, covering her face with shaking hands. “I didn’t know.” But he only pattered her hand and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. “How could you? No one here knows what happened to them, we were living in New York at the time. I live here in Sunnydale with my Grandmother.”

“What did you do afterwards?” Nimisha asked, curious to how the boy had survived. But Jesse only shrugged his shoulders.

“Not much really. I spent the next few years with my nose in a book learning all I could about Vampires.” He looked at her sheepishly. “Not that I would be able to do something if I actually *faced* one, I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing when I knew what was out there.”

Nimisha smiled softly at him, struck to just how similar he sounded to how her mother had told her about Willow and Xander’s first reactions to the whole Slaying thing.

But then Jesse sat up straighter and looked at her intently. “What about you?” he asked in a low voice. “What’s your story?”

Nimisha startled, her head flying up. Jesse just laughed at her reaction and leaned back in his chair. “Come on, Nimi.” he told her, grinning. “After hearing that, you can hardly expect me to let you off the hook so easily.”

She hesitated. “It’s a long story, Jess.”

“Well,” he retorted, raising his eyebrows. “I’ve got all night.” But Nimisha only sighed and got out of her chair, only to start pacing across the floor. Jesse watched her from his seat, cautiously remaining silent as she worked out her problems.

Then suddenly she stopped, turning so that she faced him. Putting her hands on her hips she cocked her head to the side and looked at him oddly. “So, i’m to take it that you’ve been checking up on me.” It wasn’t a question.

But Jesse surprised her, throwing his head back and letting out a bark of laughter. “Are you kidding?” he asked her when he finally settled down. Nimisha frowned, not sure if she liked that answer to much.

But he didn’t wait for her answer, quickly jumping out of his chair and jogging around the side of the table so that he stood in front of her. Reaching out, he grasped her forearms - which she had firmly folded across her chest in a nervous gesture - and squeezed them reassuringly.

“Nimi, I’ve literally been gutting the school computers trying to get information about you.” He chuckled at her startled look. “Don’t worry,” he told her, grinning. “Your files are so heavily guard I bet even *you* couldn’t get into them.” He didn’t sound sorry in the least for the invasion of her privacy.

She looked down. “Why?” she asked in a small voice. He frowned at gave her a strange look. “What do you mean ‘why?’ he repeated. “Your like the puzzle of the century. Fixing people’s broken glasses one minute, making enemies that even the gods would stare clear of the next...”

He put a hand under her chin and raised her face. “...You might not have figured it out yet, Nimisha. But most of the people in this school are *mighty* curious about you.”

She frowned and quickly stepped out of his arms. “Well, thats a bad thing!” she yelled. Jesse looked at her in surprise.

“Jess! I can’t continue to have people checking up on me!” she explained. He just continued to look completely baffled by what she was saying.

“Why ever not?” he asked, terribly confused.

Nimisha stopped her pacing once again and walked across to him, only to grip the boy firmly by the shoulders to push him down so that he found himself perched on the side of the table. He looked up into her suddenly stern face and gulped.

“Now listen here, mister.” Nimisha started in a firm tone. “You have to understand something. Something very important.” He opened his eyes wide, finally guessing she was about to tell him something.

“The reason i’m in Sunnydale in not as simple as I told you.”

He grinned. “Even I can see that, Nimi. Is miss Rosenberg even your Aunty?” he asked, jokingly. But the smiled wiped completely off his face when he heard her answer.

“No, she’s not. Well not technically anyway.”

He gaped. “Jesus, Nimisha.” he breathed in awe, looking at her in a new light. “Are you like, running from the law or something?”

She chuckled. “Not exactly.” She looked at him silently, deciding to open up a bit. “Willow and my mother are best friends.” she told him, only to raise her eyebrows when Jesse frowned, confused.

“But I thought miss Rosenberg’s best friend was that lady who died here four years ago?” he asked her, grimacing when her eyes opened wide.

“You know of her?” she said, although she couldn’t quite keep the smile of her face.

Jesse looked at her oddly. “Of course I know about her, everyone does.” He shrugged. “Something Summers, I think. She disappeared on evening. Used to go to this school as well.”

Then a thought stuck him. Leaning closer to his friend he asked in a doubtful tone. “That dead chick’s your *mother*?”

She frowned at the term. “Although she doesn’t go by ‘Dead Chick’ anymore, yeah, she is.”

“Holy moly.” he breathed.

But Nimisha waved *that* topic away, getting on to more important details. “The thing is Jess, I’m sorta meant to be in hiding here in Sunnydale until my mother can come and get me again.” she told him, smiling when he nodded, taking the information in.

“But I can’t be in hiding when I have people checking up on my computer files.” he poked his chest none to gently. “Files that are meant to be *confidential* anyway.”

He grimaced. “So call me Sherlock Homes. I like to investigate.”

She rolled her eyes and ignored him. “Just promise me you won’t try that again and I *swear* i’ll tell you everything I know.”

He looked up, pleased finally to were this conversation was heading. But Nimisha saw his grin and clipped his around his ears jokingly. “But only because you could be some use to us in the Vampire Lore department.”

“Cool!” he said, rubbing his hands together. Then he frowned and looked up at her where she was standing in front of him. “Do I get awesome superpowers as well?” he asked, chuckling.

But Nimisha only looked at him oddly. “Thats another thing I was meaning to talk to you about.”

Jesse looked at her expectantly as she inclined her head.

“Have you ever heard of Telekinesis?”

Meanwhile on the bad side of town....

The room was dark. Silent, save for the gentle tapping of a keyboard. The room was bare, sad gray walls hung lifelessly while mouldy white nets framed a small, dirty window. A single bed was all the room had in its possession, and even that was nothing to be proud of. It was covered by a single, thin gray blanket. The place looked for all the world like Faith’s old apartment that she had stayed in briefly before turning to the dark side.

But in one corner, life stirred. A fake, bright light could be seen in the darkness, along with a lean figure sitting in a creaky old chair. His fingers dancing expertly on the computer’s keyboard as he brought it back to life.

The figure continued to dance, getting further and further through the boundaries that did not poss a threat to him as they did to mortal hackers. He chuckled at the thought. And they thought they were so advanced, living in their own brilliance. Not knowing that only about 12 light years away was a planet that housed a race who could wipe them off the face of the Galaxy with a single push of a button.

He snorted. Humans....

Then he stopped abruptly, his silver gaze locked on the top-of-the-range Laptop computer’s screen. He had thought to check in the Los Angeles Police Records for the latest deaths that may have been Vampiric, but he knew he would have no luck, this girl would be smarter than that...Well, he *hoped* she was smarter than that.

Ash sighed. He wished for about the hundred time in the last few days that Sati and Jadis would hurry up and tell him just *why* was meant to be searching the entire LA for one teenage girl, who could she be that was so important anyway?

He snorted. They could have narrowed the search down just a little, but nooo. The bloody Oracles had to go and leave out the fact that Los Angeles has *suburban* cities that were still in its boundaries. So now he would have to go search them as well!

“Bloody humans.” he muttered. “Why they have to hide from everything is beyond me.”

But then his face softened, his mind drifting to a certain beautiful black haired girl he had meet the night before. The way she smiled...

He shook his head forcefully, mentally telling himself to get back on track. But the thought was still there, in the back of his mind that would ever so often push forward, as if wanting attention. She ran from you, Ash...the voice told him. But he knew that sounded weak even to his own ears.

She had been scared.

Of what, he had no idea what so ever, but the point was that she *had* been scared. And he knew it has something to do with him.

He sighed in frustration. He would never get woman. But, knowing he must, Ash turned back to his computer and continued his search.

Not knowing of course, that the very female he was searching for was dancing in his dreams.

A few hours later....

Oz and Spike held open the swinging Library doors so that Willow and Nimisha could walk slowly thought, their feet dragging on the floor. It was now well and truly night, Willow thought checking her watch. Only to gasped when she saw that the it would be morning in a few hours.

And they hadn’t got a wink of sleep.

She yawned at the thought, grinning when she saw Nimisha follow suit. They had just stepped through the front door about an hour ago after dropping Jesse off at his Grandmothers when they had gotten a call from Giles, telling them all to get down to the Library as soon as possible.

Of course, ‘them all’ didn’t mean Nimisha, or Sita for that matter. But after a very much delayed begging session - of which Nimisha had afterwards firmly denied for she didn’t *beg* for anyone - Willow had eventually caved in and said she could come.

“Just don’t come running to me when Giles bits your head off.” she told the grinning girl, wagging her finger in her direction. But now she only sighed. It would be so much easier if they could just *tell* Giles about Nimisha knowing about Vampires it would solve a lot of problems.

But after talking to Buffy this very evening through Telepathy when she dropped a line (so to speak) to check up on her daughter, she knew her best friend had a point when she said *she* would be the one doing any telling.

< I just have to be there, Will > Buffy had told her, Willow having no trouble picturing the Mental wince on the Slayer’s beautiful face.

“Ah, there you all are.” Giles voice broke through. Willow looked up and was confronted by not only Giles, but Xander and Anya who were already seated at the large wooden table.

“Hey there, Will!” Xander chirped, raising one large, tanned hand to give her a friendly wave. She returned the gesture, but it faulted when she caught sight of the frown Giles was giving Nimisha, who was standing slightly behind Spike and Oz still a little shocked with seeing these people for only the second time.

“Hello, Nimisha.” Giles said kindly, even though he seemed to be frowning at Willow at the same time.

“Hey.” she answered quietly as Willow walked over to get a thick book that was laying next where Giles sat, perched on the end of the table.

“I didn’t know you were bringing you niece, Willow.” Giles said in a low quiet tone, only heard by her, Xander and Anya who sat not to far away, as Spike and Nimisha went over to sit of the stairs and started to talk softly to themselves. Oz too, took and chair and straddled it.

Willow sighed and turned on him. “What was I meant to do, Giles? Leave her at home in a strange town by herself?”

Not, she added silently, that she would be alone, for Sita was out Patrolling around the school boundaries somewhere waiting for the - hopefully short - meeting to come to a close. They all agreed that having two new people barge in on a usual small meeting, people might start to get suspicious. Not taking into account that Sita was meant to be a new staff member at the school.

Giles just sighed in frustration and pushed his glasses off the bridge of his nose. “Well, there is nothing that can be done now, I guess.” he said quietly. “But you will have to tell her to go into my office when the real reason for this meeting comes to light...”

He trailed off just as the twin doors swung open and three dark clothed figures walked into the room.

Everyone went silent as all heads turned in their direction.

Nimisha had frozen the instant the doors started to swing. Her head starting to spin so badly that she reached up and gripped her scull, crying out softly as she winced in pain.

“You alright, Nimi?” Spike asked, breaking off his train of conversation. She didn’t answer, only flying her head around to stare at the door as the figures entered.

The room went silent.

Spike followed her gaze, his eyes opening wide when he was the first to recognise the newcomers as they stepping into the light. He gasped, crushing his sister’s hand in his own beside them.

“Nimisha...” he hissed warningly but didn’t have to bother. She was right there with him. Her eyes open wide even as one of the figures stepping in front of the others and began so speak.

“What’s the matter with you guys?” Cordelia asked, putting her hands on her hips as she looked from face to face of the people sitting on the table, not having noticed Spike and Nimisha sitting on the stairs to the side of her.

“Willow, I know you face is usually pretty pale, but I swear you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Nimisha shot Willow a quick glance, her mouth falling open as she noticed that yes, Willow face was deathly pale, her eyes wide with shock. Her mouth was slightly open but no sound came out of it.

Giles, Xander and Anya were completely baffled as they too, looked at Willow.

“Will, you okay man?” Xander said calmly, making to get out of his chair to help his childhood friend even as Anya wined and pushed him back down.

But Willow didn’t notice. “Oz..” she whispered in a panicked voice. Everyone turned to look at the Werewolf. But he didn’t look much better, his body frozen in shock as he eyes just continued getting bigger and bigger as he stared at a figure behind Cordelia.

“Oh, shit. Are we in for it now...” he whispered. “Willow, get Evie.”

Nimisha let out a deep breath, suddenly thankful that Oz used her mothers Royal name not her Earthly one. But it was gesture that alerted everyone else of her presence. “Woops! Didn’t see you over there...”

Cordelia broke up with a stunned gasp.

Now it was Angel and Doyle’s turns to be confused as they - along with everyone else - wondered why Cordelia had broken off her sentence.

Both men spun around.

And found themselves confronted by a beautiful, black haired, teenager who was sitting next to Spike. They were silent as she slowly got to her feet, her hands shaking so badly that Spike tried to still them in his own as he stood up beside Nimisha’s terrified form.

Angel gasped as he got a look at her eyes. He knew them somehow...

Doyle on the other hand was completely confused. Looking back and forth between Angel, Cordelia, Willow and the girl, he could feel the tension rising with every breath.

Nimisha was panting so hard she could hardly breath. This wasn’t meant to happen!! she raged to herself in her mind as she raised her eyes and locked them with her father’s, grimacing when she noticed the mixture of emotions that were flitting across his edged face. Confusion, surprise, fear, and something else she couldn’t place...

And with that thought she felt her head spin out of control. The next moments seemingly happening in a blur.

She barely noticed herself sway and Spike cry out....

Willow giving a scream even as she broke out of her stunned stance and raced across the floor towards her...

Angel looking at her in surprise at her reaction...

And Cordelia’s sudden burst of recognition on her face was the last thing Nimisha saw as she gave a piercing scream...both physically and mentally and fell silently to the floor.

But words filled her shattering mind...

What has been done, has been undone...
The future is changing...the Balance is shifting...
The Players are chosen...
The Lines are set...
Let the Games begin...

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