Real Estate
(or, "A Unique Fixer Upper")
by Cynamin and NutMeg

The Road into Sunnydale
Demons make up a large part of our tourist population
And you wonder why the houses are so cheap?

The vampires approached stealthily, but they were in the open now. NutMeg was *not* happy with this situation. Fixing up torn romances was one thing. Fighting vampires? Definitely not what she's signed up for. She clutched a piece of sharpened wood in one hand and waited for the vampires to advance.

Cynamin stood calmly, her hands at her sides...but inside she was panicking. This wasn't what she'd had in mind, either. Still, the vampires couldn't hurt them.

Right?

With that thought came a realization - maybe the vampires couldn't hurt them, but they could certainly hurt the vampires. No weapons needed, either. Just a little flexing of power, and...

Nothing happened.

"NutMeg?"

"What?!" her sister snapped, clutching the stake so hard her knuckles were white.

"I just tried to...teleport the vampires...and it didn't work."

NutMeg cursed in some alien language.

Cynamin's eyebrows went up, but this wasn't the time to scold her on that. "We're not alone here. One of our family must be involved - we can't go up directly against one of our own." She was tempted to curse as well.

NutMeg sighed. "I'll give you two guesses as to who it is."

"I don't need two guesses. One will suffice." The vampires were less than ten meters away now. "Seeing as how we can't fight them, running would be good."

So they ran. The vampires gave chase for a while, intent that these would be easy prey. The sisters were agile, and with a bit of thought managed to cloak their appearance. They didn't stop running, though, even when they no longer heard any pursuit.

They didn't stop running until something stopped them.

Someone. In army gear. "Are you two alright?"

Cynamin groaned inwardly. Out of the entire population of Sunnydale, why did it have to be 'I've-killed-17-hostiles' Riley Finn?

NutMeg grinned. Perfect! Who better to help them get to Buffy than her current...and soon to be ex if she and Cynamin did this right...boyfriend?! The ironic twist was too amusing. She put on her best innocent-little-woman-in-trouble face, which worked well with her traditional blond curls and deep blue eyes, and -jumping into character- grabbed his arm. "Some--THINGS are behind us!" She gasped vacuously. "They had funny-looking faces and ratty clothes." She glanced over her shoulder the way they had come, as if in fear, but really so she could make eye contact with her sister. She glared at her and mouthed *Play along.*

Cynamin glared back at her. She was fuming inside, but couldn't say anything without making a scene or ruining what disguise they had. So she sighed, put on her best valley girl impression, and ... played along.

Riley looked with a smile at the two girls frightened and out of breath in front of him and smiled reassuringly. "No one's there now. It was probably just some local gang. They sometimes put on masks to scare people."

It was hard for Cynamin to stay in character. *Just a gang. Sure. Whatever you say.* Instead she smiled and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well, it worked, she said. "I've never been so terrified in my life."

NutMeg nodded along. "Thank you so much...uh..."

"Riley."

"Right, Riley." She put on her best flirtatious smile. "Say, you look like you could maybe help us get where we're going. See, we just got into town, and we'd *hate* to run into another of those gangs."

Riley smiled. "Where are you going?"

He seemed to have forgotten Cynamin was there, what with being NutMeg's hero. Silently Cynamin praised this turn of events. *Sister, I'll have to thank you later.* "Stevenson Hall," she spoke up. "I have an old friend who goes to U.C. Sunnydale." She thought quickly. "Willow Rosenberg."

Riley blinked. "Really? Where do you know her from?"

NutMeg thought quickly..."Summer camp! We were in the same cabin."

"Aha. I'm sorry," the blond guy in military get-up said, "I didn't get your names."

"Oh," NutMeg almost lost the adoring smile on her face. "I'm...Nu-alisha Winters."

"Nalisha?" Riley said, obviously making sure he'd pronounced it right.

"Uh..yeah." *I can't believe he didn't catch that!* NutMeg thought as she simpered up at him.

"Very pretty," he smiled back. "And you...miss?" he looked at Cynamin.

Cynamin stared back and forth between Riley - looking at her expectantly, and NutMeg - trying to urge her on with her eyes. She looked back at Riley again, smiled vacantly, and replied, "Sylvana."

Riley nodded at that. "Nice to meet you both." He began to lead them into the heart of Sunnydale.

NutMeg elbowed Cynamin sharply. "Sylvana?" she asked under her breath. "You just came up with that on the spot?"

"Umm, no," Cynamin whispered. "Ginger called me that once. I don't know why. But I like the name."

"Huh. She always was partial to names other than the ones our parents gave us. Figures." NutMeg sighed and moved back up to stand next to Riley. "So what do you do? Are you military?" *Not like it isn't painfully obvious in the camo.*

The semi-good looking blond smiled. "Uh, yeah. I'm army."

*Which doesn't explain why you're in uniform in the middle of the night running around in the dark. BOY are you stupid!* "That's so cool! You must be very brave," she gushed. "So, how do YOU know Willow?"

Riley's slightly mushy smile made her want to gag. "I'm dating her roommate."

"Really?" NutMeg pretended to look disappointed, glanced back over her shoulder and made a gagging face in Cynamin's direction. Her sister covered her mouth to hide her chuckles. "That's nice." She moved a little closer to him. She could tell he was responding to her closeness, even if he was trying to deny it within himself. She was a goddess, she could tell these things. *If only Buffy could see how he's responding....* She wondered what Cynamin was thinking.

Cynamin was both pleased and dismayed. Pleased that riley was so quickly falling into a position where they could justly undo his relationship with Buffy, dismayed that it was so easy. *Does Buffy have /any/ clue what a looser she's dating?*

Now if only it was as easy to bring relationships together as it was to tear them apart.

Downtown Los Angeles
Home to the starving artists of the US
The city of angels...and devils

Angel moaned as he awoke, sure that his entire body was going to break at any moment. Fighting witches was completely different from fighting demons. It left anything with an element of demon with a deep-seated exhaustion, caused by the magic used against them. Witch spells cast against a demon would also retard their healing abilities. In other words, Angel was in serious pain.

When they had gotten back and Cordelia had left, Wesley had obviously been far too exhausted, and injured, to make it home on his own, so Angel had invited him to stay. While both men could have used a good stiff shot - or three - of something seriously alcoholic, the only things in Angel's apartment had been some chips and a *lot* of root beer. The carbonation, caffeine, and about a quart of blood - Angel's choice, not Wesley's - had been enough to make the exhausted vampire *feel* like he'd been drinking a good malt whiskey.

Stretching stiffly, Angel yawned, opened his eyes--and nearly fell out of the chair at the sight of the dark-goddess standing above him with a predatory gleam in her eye. He was startled that he hadn't felt the presence of such a strong magic user the moment she had entered. "Who are you?" he asked.

The goddess chuckled darkly and sat down on the foot stool. "Is it really that important? Very well, I am called Kirshana."

"What do you want?" Angel wriggled into a more upright position, glad he had only removed his shirt before crashing in the chair the night -well, early morning- before.

"Cordelia let me in," the dark haired goddess said matter-of-factly. "Actually, she didn't *let* me in. I'm not sure if she'll remember that she saw me at all. It's been a while since I performed that particular trick."

Angel did not move from his seat, even though he wanted to get away from this strange...being. She made him feel decidedly uncomfortable, and he had the horrible feeling that her visit forebode terrible events to come. And what had she done to Cordelia? "You're not...human. Or demon," he said with certainly.

She did not reply. Kirshana looked at him, gazing up and down and staring at his chest for a moment. She smiled, and Angel cringed inwardly. "I can see why she's so taken with you," she said. "Of course, she'd never admit as much. She's...much too prissy."

*She who?* Angel thought. *She can't mean Cordelia...and Buffy's not 'prissy.'* The vampire was utterly confused. *I should definitely find some good whiskey when I get out of this,* he sighed. "Just WHO are you referring to? Some of us can't read minds you know."

Kirshana smiled, flashing perfectly white teeth that, while not pointed, somehow made the vampire just as uneasy as he might have if she were.

Angel had a feeling a stake through the heart or banishment spell would do no good here.

Suddenly the woman laughed, but where some laughs could warm an entire room, this one was somehow cold. "Who am I? What do I want? What am I? Who am I talking about? You're just full of questions, aren't you?"

"Well, it would be polite to answer, considering you did enter my home and woke me up," Angel replied a tad belligerently.

"And you know all about politeness, don't you?" she said, smiling indulgently. "Alright, I'll...answer your questions."

Somehow, that didn't make Angel feel any better.

"My name, as I said, is Kirshana," the woman began, sitting in the chair across from him. "I am...a goddess. At least, that is the closest word you would understand. As for what I want, I was just checking on you...seeing how my work was going."

This situation seemed to be getting worse by the second. "Your...work?"

"You're fascinating, I must admit, if a bit pathetic," the goddess said. "All this moping around in the dark when there is so much else you could be doing. It caught my sister's - yes, that's who I was referring to before - eye as well. And she went and roped in our youngest sister into *her* plan, which I must say has made this *much* more interesting."

"Plan?" Being a pawn between three goddesses could *not* be a good thing.

"Oh, don't worry, Angel. We won't harm you. We just want you to be...happy." Seeing Angel cringe, she laughed very lightly. "You have nothing to fear from me. After all, I've already been around for months. I can't say the same for them, though.

"You see, we have different ideas...plans for you. So, yes, I was checking on you. And passing on this warning."

"Oh?" Angel asked, trying to mask how this whole situation made him nervous.

"Avoid my sisters, Angel. Stay away from Sunnydale."

Part Three

Feedback

Go here for more of Cynamin's stories.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page