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

Giles' Residence
Home of one of the many who doesn't seem to need work
Vampires please go away

"Where have you girls been!?" Giles demanded as soon as he opened the door.

"Good to see you too, Giles," Buffy said pointedly, sidling her way past him, closely followed by her friends and the two goddesses.

Giles would have none of it. "It just so happens we are in the middle of an emergency," he said pointedly. "This is no time for you to be doing who knows what who knows where!"

Buffy fought back a grin. "Chill, okay? We were just trying to show our visitors a good time. We were at The Bronze. Now what's the big emergency?" "The Initiative," he said without preamble. "Their meddling has caused us to have a serious problem."

"When doesn't it?" Anya snorted derisively.

Giles shot her a glare. "They somehow managed to knock out all of the electricity on the University campus while chasing Adam. Now all the electric security locks on campus -and all the lights- are out, and Adam is running rampant."

Buffy sighed. "And still Riley had the time to come and threaten us," she muttered.

NutMeg giggled.

Willow looked at her. "I don't suppose you two could..." She waved her hands about for a second, "make it *poof* all better?"

Cynamin shook her head. "Our powers are...restricted outside our own domain. And if Kirshana's involved in this...which wouldn't surprise me...we wouldn't be able to anyway."

"Alright Giles," Buffy said, sounding none too thrilled. "Break out the good weapons. It looks like we're going hunting."

U.C. Sunnydale
Institution of Higher Learning and Lower Scum
Don't trust the Frat Boys

Campus...was dark. And not just night dark, but lights-out-and-the-clouds-are-covering-the-stars-and-moon dark. It was strangely quiet too. As if all the students were hiding. Of course, it *was* one in the morning. And they probably *were* hiding. Occasionally a grunt or other demonic sound would carry across the silent lawns, unearthly and creepy.

Willow shivered. "I don't like this," she whispered. She was holding a good sized club with a hook on the end so hard her knuckles were white. "I really don't like this."

Buffy turned to look at her, barely able to see her in the dark. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't like it either," she whispered.

"Oh yeah, that makes us feel a whole lot better," Xander replied sarcastically, having arrived on the scene only shortly after the rest of them had.

"We'll cover more ground if we split up," Buffy suggested.

Anya made an odd sound at that. "I don't think it's a good idea to be without supernatural powers right now. If I was still a demon, I'd say 'cool, let's split up' but as it is...I'm sticking with the Slayer." "You have more supernatural powers in this group than that you know."

Anya glanced back at NutMeg, who had spoken, and Cynamin. "Oh, yeah."

"Good then," Buffy nodded. "Anya and Xander go with Cynamin. NutMeg come with Willow and I. We'll cover the dorm side. You three start at the other end," she motioned at Xander's group.

Cynamin looked a bit grumpily at the group she'd been given. "Come on then," she said, managing to sound annoyed even when whispering, and lead the two to the other end of the campus.

"Nice to know we're wanted," Xander muttered as they walked away.

"Shhhh!" NutMeg just grinned as her sister headed off.

"Let's go," Buffy motioned with one arm, and the Slayer, the witch, and the goddess headed for the dorms.

Angel's car
A true classic
Stylish by night, essential by day

"There it is!" Cordelia shouted happily, jumping up and down and waving at the approaching lights.

"Finally," Angel sighed.

"Aren't you glad I brought the cell phone?" she said smugly.

"Thrilled," Wesley's reply was only *slightly* sarcastic.

"You know, if you'd checked the gas gage before we left we wouldn't be in this mess," Cordelia pointed out.

"Yes, well, if you had filled up the car the last time you 'borrowed' it I wouldn't have had to," Wesley retorted.

Angel sighed. *Am I the boss or the baby-sitter?* he thought briefly. "Let's not place blame here," Angel said. "Let's just get some gas, and get on the road again. Alright?" "Okay," Cordelia agreed just to be agreeable.

The tow truck hooked up the car and the three of them crammed into the tiny cab with the cute but very un-rich tow truck driver, George. It was a twenty minute drive to the nearest gas station, and Angel thought he might scream if he had to listen to Cordelia and George flirt for another moment. As they got down out of the cab he was just happy to be able to stretch.

George winked at Cordelia one last time and then nodded at Wesley and Angel. "Hey, this one's on me."

"Thanks," Cordelia smiled as he drove away. Then she turned to Angel. "I just saved you fifty bucks. I think *someone* deserves a thank you."

Angel looked at Wesley. "Wesley, thank you."

Wesley grinned back. "You're most welcome."

Cordelia didn't have time to ask what they were referring to before she was unceremoniously dumped through the back window of the car.

"Hey!" she cried when she found herself sitting in the back.

Chuckling Angel went around to the driver's seat. Wesley sat next to him, and then they were off once again. With any luck, they might make it to Sunnydale before sunrise...

U.C. Sunnydale Library
Full of New ideas and Old tomes
Don't let the dust get you

Cynamin stalked quietly through the old building, warily keeping an eye -and a minor magic spell- out for Adam. She was going to throttle her sister if she ever figured out how she managed to get to go with Buffy, while *she* was stuck with Xander and Anya!

Okay, so Anya wasn't really that bad. I mean, they'd been friends once. of course, at the time Anya had been a vengeance demon and Cynamin had just gotten off this really bad relationship...so they kind of had common ground. This new, powerless Anya was *very* strange. And she thought most mortals were weird!

She heard something. None of her magical alarms went off, so it wasn't Adam, but there was someone else here. With a shushing motion towards her charges, Cynamin crept forward to the source of that strange whisper.

She peered around the corner and stopped dead. It wasn't the *last* thing she expected to see, but it was close. This was the perfect opportunity to find out what was going on. Motioning Xander and Anya to be quiet, she gave Xander the hand signal to turn on the hand-held tape recorder he had brought. She was glad now that he had thought to bring it in the first place. *We've got you now, Kirshana.*

The pitiful vampire was cowering in front of the angry goddess, her black clothing blending into the shadows around her. He would not look her in the eye.

"Please," he begged. "To go up against the Slayer like that...it's suicide!"

Kirshana looked at him with angry fire in her gaze. "Of course it is!" she whispered harshly back. "This isn't about you. This is about darkness. This is about showing my sisters once and for all what the stronger force in the universe is. You will do as you're told," she ordered. "You will fight, and you will die. Meanwhile, the real plan will go into effect. You are the distraction only - be a good one."

The vampire quivered and bowed, then turned and ran.

Kirshana was grinning viciously. "This is working out better than I thought. The mortals on this world are even stupider than the last one I was on! Perhaps I should follow my siblings more ofren. This is *so* amusing." With a chuckle, she vanished.

Cynamin turned to Xander. "Did you get that?"

The dark-haired guy grinned. "Every word."

"We've got to get back to the others."

The trio quickly exited the building. Unaware of the eyes on them from above.

Kirshana smiled to herself and went off to find her next target.

The Quad
Center of dorm life on campus
Anybody up for Frizbee?

Buffy crept silently through the bushes outside one of the girls dorms. NutMeg and Willow had made a quick detour to Stevenson to pick up a book of spells Willow thought might be useful. Buffy continued to scout. She hadn't seen anything yet. Not even a camouflaged member of the goon squad. The bushes rustled behind her and she spun, stake drawn.

"Calm down," a voice said, coming from what had just been in front of her. Buffy spun back around to come face to face with a woman in black. The outfit was clearly goddess. Buffy recognized it because it was similar to an outfit NutMeg had shown them from her home...dimension. "My my aren't we jumpy?" the woman smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile.

"What do you want?" Buffy glared at the woman.

"To warn you," she replied calmly. "My sisters are here for Angel."

Buffy's heart clenched. "What do you mean?"

Kirshana laughed. "Isn't it obvious? My sister Cynamin is absolutely obsessed with your vampire. She'd do anything to ensure his happiness. Even take him for herself."

Buffy looked stricken. "You can't...She wouldn't!"

Kirshana just smiled in a knowing way. "If you insist," she said lightly. "Of course, you could always wait until he arrives to find out for yourself."

"He's coming here?" Buffy said in a strangled voice.

"He should be...over half way here by now," Kirshana clarified.

Buffy wasn't sure what to think. Anya and Willow trusted the other two. And this one was supposed to be the sister causing trouble. But, why would she lie? "I don't believe you," she replied. "Angel has no reason to come to Sunnydale."

"You're presuming he comes of his own free will," the goddess smiled. "Compulsion is a very simple spell to master."

Buffy was completely floored by the suggestion. "Angel...he's very strong willed! They couldn't...she wouldn't..."

But Kirshana could see the doubts brewing in Buffy's mind. "Perhaps," she said in a tone suggested that she thought Buffy completely wrong. "We shall see soon enough, won't we?" With that, she disappeared as quickly as she had appeared in the first place.

Buffy was still staring at the empty space where the dark goddess had just been standing when she heard her name called from behind. It was Willow and NutMeg.

"What were you staring at?" Willow asked as they approached.

"Oh, nothing," Buffy replied. She didn't want to say anything to make the goddess standing next to her best friend suspicious. "Thought I heard something. Turned out to be a squirrel."

"Out this late?" Willow asked. "That's unusual."

Buffy just shrugged, preoccupied. "Yeah, I guess..."

"Oh!" Willow said suddenly. 'Maybe it was a were-squirrel! Or a vampire squirrel!"

That made Buffy grin slightly, and she tried to shake off the horrible feeling she gotten since Kirshana had spoken to her. It didn't work too well, though, when she was standing right next to another goddess. A goddess whose purpose was now more in question than ever. *Maybe Riley was right.*

NutMeg watched Buffy carefully as they continued scouting, and noticed that the Slayer was eyeing her warily, though she knew the Slayer couldn't tell she was being watched herself. Something had happened while she and Willow were gone, and she would bet Kirshana was at the bottom of it. As they neared the center of campus, she stepped behind the other two and searched outward with her mind for her sister.

She found her not far away. *Cyn...*

Cynamin's mental reply was bubbling over with excitement. *I just ran into Kirashana! Not run into...she was talking to this vampire. They were planning something...I got it on tape!*

NutMeg had trouble getting her own thoughts heard. *That's great. Have you been taking lessons in babbling from Willow?*

A mental chuckle. *No.*

*Well...we've got a problem here.*

Cynamin was instantly serious. *What sort of problem?*

*I don't know. Buffy's acting strange. Like maybe she doesn't quite trust me.*

*But why wouldn't she? She seemed to earlier.*

*You think maybe Kirshana got to her?*

*Why would Buffy trust her?* Cynamin asked, worried.

*Kirshana's got the strongest skill in compulsion out of all of us.*

*That could be how she convinced Riley we were bad news,* the older sibling replied.

*But what could she have said about us that Buffy would easily believe, or that might leave her vulnerable to suggestion? A Slayer's mind has always been strong against that kind of thing.*

Cynamin gave a mental sigh. *She's human she has weaknesses. Friends, family... Fears we don't know about. We'll just have to wait and see which one is bothering her.*

NutMeg's mental nod was answer enough. *Though you know this will come back and haunt us later.*

*I know,* Cynamin agreed reluctantly. *Right now, I don't see that we have any other choice.* A pause. *We're heading back over to where you are. Just...keep your eyes open, okay?*

*Eyes, ears, and empathic sensors wide open, sister dearest," NutMeg replied lightly, even though the undertones confirmed that she was dead serious.

Part Seven

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