Selene and Zeus watched in fascination. They listened to Buffy work through all the different aspects of the coming night. They heard her different training coming out. Her hands moved to emphasis what she said. "They won't even realize it protects them from Jean-Claude. They will just feel more in control, confident, comfortable in their own skin, err fur, err whatever. Yep, that will work the best. Plant little seeds grasshopper to get great big forest says Xan Man or some confused guy. Once the Council is out-of-the-way, the Weres will be ready for freedom. In the middle of all of that, I will just bond with the Zombie Queen. Teach her how to spank her Muppet and her men and maybe have a love life of my own. I can see it now there will be shopping and mocha chinos. No big deal, I can do this because I'm super Buffy, yeah right. How do you guys do this stuff?" She finally ran out of steam looking up she saw her 'parents' smiling at her.
Selene looked at Zeus grinning then nodded letting him know that he was on his own. "You will do fine; just do what you always do. We've watched you for years and you're great at strategy." He got up hugging her when she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Thanks poppa bear."
Selene almost fell out of the chair with a snort. "Buffy I have a gift for you." Zeus handed her a necklace.
It was an opal about the size of a dime and the colors reflected Buffy's aura. Two tiny silver chains hung on each side of the stone, a moon dangled from one and a lightning bolt from the other. Buffy had never seen anything more beautiful.
"It is beautiful. Thank you, this is you and mom." She touched the tiny charms. "Is the center Zierra?" Buffy didn't want to be looked at only as the holder of their daughter's spirit.
"No, little star, that is you. The silver sparkle at the center is Zierra but the rest is your beautiful soul. We believe our daughter chose our youngest child wisely. You are exactly what this Earth needs as a Guardian; she was the first and you are the last," Zeus whispered.
Selene looked at the two golden heads with tears flowing down her beautiful face. Buffy went to Selene and laid her head in her lap. "Mother?" Selene's heart quickened. "Will you bless the amulets for Richard's pack?"
"Yes sweet, your plan sounds excellent. It will be easier for my children of the forest to adjust slowly. Is it all right if I come and visit you, when you are alone of course"
Buffy smiled nodding in agreement. "I don't feel so lonely anymore or angry at my destiny. Thank you both," she looked at Zeus, "You could drop by too if you want. Just hang out, eat pizza but no lightning. I mean if you wanted to but you're probably too busy bossing everyone around their clouds. It is okay, never mind," she mumbled.
Zeus laughed, "Pizza sounds good and I promise no lightning." He winked at her.
"You two better go before Anita wakes up. I don't want to try to explain you to her."
Selene kissed Buffy's forehead. "The amulets are on the table they will do all that wish."
Zeus hugged her and they both disappeared as the sun shone through the skylight.
Later that morning, Buffy sat down over coffee thinking of all that had happened. She realized she wasn't tired and shrugged guessing she didn't need to sleep anymore or only very little. It must be another perk. She heard Anita moving around and got another cup out.
Anita walked in looking slightly ruffled rubbing her eyes. Buffy pointed to the coffee, Anita just grumbled and poured herself a cup. She breathed in deeply opening her eyes, "This coffee is awesome, what is it?"
"Jamaican Blue Mountain, the best coffee in the world. I thought we could go over a few things today, maybe spar a little, then go by your house to get your stuff." (Believe me it is the best coffee)
Anita knew after looking at her aura last night the blonde was on their side but something about her just bugged her. She would have Edward do a background check on her anyway.
"Are you sure you want to spar? I know that you knocked me down yesterday but that was from surprise. I have taken martial arts for a long time and don't want to hurt you. Much," Anita asked arrogantly. She may be powerful magically but she can't take me one-on-one in a fair fight.
Buffy smiled. Here we go again; maybe I shouldn't have let her sleep. "I'm sure I can hold my own. We are only sparring right it isn't like we are going to try to kill each other. If it gets to be too much for either of us we just yell Uncle!"
As if, she could ever make me say Uncle. I can't wait to get her on the mat. "Bring it on Barbie."
Damn that Muppet must be super sized. "Let's go, the gym is this way." Buffy walked off expecting Anita to follow her. She led her to a large room set up like a professional gym. Every type of machine lined the walls; the center of the room was bare for sparring and on the back wall was another display of swords. "There should be some clothes you can change into. I will come back in about thirty minutes after you warm up. I've already worked out this morning so I'm good to go."
A feral grin spread across Anita's face. Oh yeah, Barbie is going down. Roughly, thirty minutes later, Buffy returned asking if Anita was ready. They assumed sparring positions. Buffy watched the emotions leak out of Anita's face. Buffy bowed to her but Anita only nodded her head. She shrugged her shoulder at the blatant insult. They each waited for the other to attack first. Buffy's stance was alert but her body was loose, her senses alert. Anita decided to wipe that stupid smile off the other woman's face.
She moved in throwing a front right lunge and a roundhouse combination. Both moves were easily blocked as she spun into a back kick moving to sweep Buffy's feet. Buffy dodged both with a back flip delivering a kick to the chin sending Anita to the mat. She landed on her butt then got up and shook her head. Buffy completed the back flip resuming her stance. Anita delivered a solid hit to her stomach with a growl. She tried to deliver another to the face but it was blocked. She spun into a crescent kick, again she was blocked. She tried for an immobilizing move to Buffy's windpipe. Her hand got knocked away leaving her open.
Buffy sent a blow to Anita's chest sending her into the back wall several feet away. Anita jumped up cursing, realizing the swords were next to her. She automatically grabbed one and rushed at Buffy. Buffy turned jumping to the side as Anita swung around to take another swipe.
This time Buffy slowed her responses, her heart rate and breathing. Things happened in slow motion, Anita in a rage cut her across the abdomen. Buffy looked her in the eyes then grabbed her bleeding stomach falling to her knees.
Anita's eyes grew large as she dropped the sword screaming. "BUFFY!" She rushed over to crouch down beside Buffy. Anita felt as if her head had just exploded. What had she done? "Buffy are you all right? I was so angry. I just had to beat you no matter what."
Buffy realized Anita realizing had no idea how out of control her anger had become. "Anita it will be okay. They are sparring swords, so they aren't too sharp. The cut isn't deep. I'm worried about you though Anita; your anger is out of control. Would you be able to live with yourself if you really hurt me or an innocent?" Buffy asked, concern written on her face.
Why isn't she angry at me? She didn't even go for the other sword. I am becoming a monster. Do I even have a soul anymore?
"Anita you aren't a monster," Buffy said causing Anita's head to jerk. "I'm not reading you mind, just your face. You can channel anger and use it but if you leave it unchecked, it can consume your soul. I've seen it before. I wasn't able to help my friend because I was wrapped up in the Buffyverse. I would like to help you if you would let, as much for me as for you," she pleaded.
"What can you do? Can you change my life so I am the perfect princess for my father and stepmother wants? Or how about not so ethnic for my ex-fiancée, or maybe my mom wouldn't have ever had to die. Can you change all the bullshit that I live? So, every vamp jonesing for a name doesn't use me for a chew toy or latest prize?"
"I can't change any of that Anita but neither can you. I can maybe just maybe help you learn to be comfortable in your own skin," Buffy snapped right back at her. "So if you're interested we can go and talk about it." Buffy got up leaving the room holding her stomach so Anita couldn't see how deep the cut was. Every weapon in the house was ready for use at any time. She went upstairs to change her clothes and wiped off the blood. Only flawless skin remained. Buffy touched her tattoo. "Wish me luck Big Bad, I'm gonna need it."
Anita waited in a living room decorated in dark greens and creams. It had leather couches with candles and antiques in silver and gold scattered about. Buffy sat on the end of a couch watching Anita, who was lost in thought.
"Do you want my help?" Buffy waited for the other woman to answer.
"I want to be in control, until it's time to not be in control. For the last year, I felt like I am being pulled all over the place. I want to be the one to decide."
"I spent several years angry at the way my life turned out and blamed a lot of people. Finally, I decided to take control and accept the things in my life that were out of my control. What I could control were me and what type of a person I was willing to be. I can teach you the tools you need to learn to control your anger and your powers, but it will be up to you to use them. If you are really interested in learning come with me." Buffy pulled her up and led her outside.
The backyard resembled a Japanese garden, with fishponds and bubbling brooks. Buffy sat down in the lotus position and motioned for Anita to do the same.
"Last night you looked at my aura, now you need to look at your own. You need to know what you are working to control. Once you are there, you can decide to do some simple healing if you choose. It is an easy chant. Or choose not to do anything but understand yourself better. It is up to you. Breath deeply and look inside yourself, you should see your shields, walk through them slowly, inside you will see your aura. I am going to leave you; the rest is up to you. Do everything in reverse when you are ready to leave."
Anita walked through her shields realizing they were made of solid steel with no door. She walked inside taking the first look at her own aura and gasped. She remembered the colors of Buffy's aura and felt nauseas. She didn't feel comfortable using magic on her aura no matter the color. There had to be other ways to change her aura and she would learn them. She slowly walked out of her shields and opened her eyes. It must have taken her a lot longer than she thought, it was already late afternoon. Anita got up and went inside the house. She thought about everything that had happened the last two days.
She found Buffy, in the study from the previous night, sitting in a lotus position, floating several inches off the ground and her eyes glowed. Anita backed into the door causing Buffy to open her eyes and float down to the ground.
She stood up approaching Anita. "How do you feel? Sorry bout that, the first time I ever did it was way wiggy. It's just deep meditation drawing all of your magic and shields into yourself. I would have warned you. But, you were gone so long that I finally had to go ahead to be ready for tonight."
Buffy walked into the kitchen bringing back some bottled water and pitched one to Anita. "Do you feel better? Don't want any details just want to make sure your head is in the right place for tonight."
"Yeah, I would like to talk to you about some of it another time. We need to get going though," she hedged.
"Council requires proper attire so I called and got your measurements. It will be easier to preserve the glamour if all the material stuff is the same. Richard gave me your sizes so there are clothes laid out for you on the bed. Follow me please." Buffy moved over to a bookcase on the far wall, a light glowed from her hand and the bookcase swung open.
Buffy waved Anita into the room. She put her hand on her weapons and went inside. Wow, this is Edward's wet dream. She saw one wall had every type of gun possible. I think I am getting my own little happy here. Another wall held swords and axes, and the next wall had knives of every shape and size, including throwing stars. In the middle, an awesome axe hung. It had a pointed wooden handle painted red and black and the head gleamed silver.
Buffy smiled looking at the scythe. It whispered to her comforting her like an old friend.
"Anita, could you pick out all the weapons that you use. There should be a matching holder or harness for anything that you normally carry. I also need to know if you have any other scars than the ones on your arms. Your back and stomach will be covered. The clothes will cover your weapons but not your scars. To avoid confusion we will switch looks."
Anita picked out the knives, guns and matching holders. She didn't take one matching to the gun in her pant holster. She was starting to trust Buffy, some. She knew that what only you knew about could save your life. Buffy watched Anita's face while she handled the weapons and could almost hear the other woman talking to herself. Anita showed her all of her scars. Buffy grabbed the amulets then sealed the room behind her.
Anita hated the dress. It was short and made of soft black leather that hugged her body with cutouts on the long sleeves, leaving bars of skin showing up her arms and shoulders. The same pattern repeated in the deep vie of the front holding her breasts up for display. The dress stopped mid-thigh and there were slits on each side. Four-inch matching heels finished out the outfit. "Looking at this dress, I would swear she called Jean-Claude not Richard about sizes, damnit. Well at least I can move and reach my weapons." Strapping all of them in place on her body, she realized she couldn't take the second gun. Anita stomped downstairs to find Buffy in the same dress only in a royal blue.
"There is no reason to go to my house so we might as well go," Anita growled.
"Wow, I thought you would at least be happy to be on your way to shooting something."
"Don't push me Barbie. I have had just about all I can take from you. Since you got here, you have turned my life upside down. What exactly are you anyways? You aren't any witch that I have ever seen before," Anita yelled.
Buffy straightened looking Anita directly in the eyes her whole body stiffened as she advanced on the dark haired woman. Anita took a step back then caught herself and stopped letting everything drain out of her eyes preparing herself for attack. She watched for the first time as real anger entered Buffy's eyes. Something came to life inside the tiny body - a predator, a dangerous one. Anita pulled her gun and in a blur of gold, the gun and her went flying across the room.
"Listen, Miss Zombie Queen, I am trying to help save those held as hostage while you keep having ego attacks. Oh yeah and that yummy vampire you keep saying you don't like, hmm and who else is on the Council's list, YOU. If you would ever pull your head out long enough to think with your brain instead of a gun. Get over it, not everyone has to bow down to the great Anita Blake. If you want to let the Travel Dude take a ride on the Zombie Express fine by me or maybe you want to be the Lion Kings new bitch. Since, you want to keep acting like this when we are, supposed to be helping those other people. It must not matter that your way is going to make sure that most of them die. But, what was I thinking of course it doesn't matter to the almighty Executioner," Buffy stomped off.
"Buffy wait, look I still don't trust you, but you are the best chance that we have of winning. We might as well get going if you're still willing to help." Knowing this was as closed to an apology as the other woman could give. Buffy nodded and moved towards the car.
Outside the Circus of the Damned, Buffy grabbed Anita's hand as her eyes glowed. Each woman looked at herself then she touched Anita's temple. It caused a feel of warmth to spread throughout her body. Her eyes narrowed at Buffy. "What did you do?"
Buffy giggled, "I thought we could see if your boys can pick you out of a line up. Let's go Queenie."
"Sure thing wicked witch," Anita stomped into the club towards the office.
Buffy caught up with her matching Anita stomp for stomp. She stopped and stared at herself. "Got to act as bitchy as you or they will know right away that it is me." Buffy continued onto the office.
Shang-Da and Jamil guarded the door as the two Anita's approached. The girls started to argue when they wouldn't allow them to pass. The others came out to see what was going on in the hall. Both women's had their hands on their hips and threatened the men with bodily harm if they didn't allow them to enter.
"Ah, ma petites, you look delicious come and let us have a better look," he purred.
They pushed past him scowling and cursing under their breath. They turned in sync and looked at Jean-Claude. "You think you know me so well. That you could find me no matter where I was. Well I am right in front of you so come and get me, the real me." The women talked interchangeably, completing each other's sentences smoothly. Everyone watched the byplay between the Anita's and the Master of the City and lastly the Ulfric.
Richard stiffened as the Anitas glared at Jean-Claude not even sparing him a glance. As if reading his mind, they turned to him. "Don't worry honey; you will get your chance. So Jean-Claude where am I?"
They challenged. He reached out with his mind confident that he would get through to Anita this time. The one in blue held the trace of Anita's power but a tight clamp held it closed. The little witch thinks she has hidden ma petite's power enough that I won't be able to feel it. The Anita in black, he felt nothing from her just like before. He smiled looking at Richard. "I will tell Jamil my answer. It is your turn my wolf."
"I am not your wolf, dammit." Richard snarled as his eyes turned amber. He approached the women sniffing them surprisingly they smelled the same. In a move born of intimacy, he grabbed one kissing her passionately. She melted into his arms, he pulled away looking into her eyes. "This is Anita." He pulled her back into his arms kissing her again.
"You are wrong Monsieur Zeeman that one has no power. That is Buffy you are kissing. Now Anita will see that I do know her," he said smugly.
Anita pulled away from Richard glaring Jean-Claude as the emotions drained from her eyes. "You do only want me for my power. Yeah right, I was the only woman to ever tell you no. You son of a bitch." Anita stalked toward Jean-Claude.
"Wow, this is better than Passions. Okay, enough of As the Zombie Turns. Anita you got some answers, yay you. They may not be what you wanted but there you go. Course, they may not be exactly as they appear either. Now back off the Musketeer. I hope you survive this, JC. It will be fun watching you try to dig your cute butt out of the crack its in. Do you own a shovel? Richard here are the amulets. Please don't lose them. They will protect you from the Beasty Boy. Anita leave Fang Face alone and come here."
Anita glared at Buffy moved to stand in front of her. When she turned back around, she looked like Buffy. Buffy started pacing the room thinking over her plan. She stopped to look at the others. "Anita, you, Jason, Damian and Sylvie are going to be responsible for getting out the Weres. Take out whoever gets in your way then come and find us. JC, me, Richard, Shang-Da and Jamil will take care of the Travel Agent and the Beasty Boy. Shang-Da and Jamil will need to get the vampires out and kill the traitor. Richard you get to keep Simba busy while Jean-Claude visits with his old friend."
"What are you going to do?" asked Damian.
Buffy smiled at him. "I am sending the Traveler his walking papers. He will think he is giving Anita's body a little spin but instead he'll be going on a one-way trip. Let's get this show on the road, I got a new dress, hell I even got a new body and I want to go show it off." Buffy smirked leaving the office.
Buffy walked out to the waiting limo and climbed in. Looking out the window at the new moon shining overhead, she closed her eyes. "Mother please watch over us. They don't realize the Council has declared war on them. Tonight will be my first strike of war against the Council. Too bad Spike isn't here; he always did like a good brawl. Hope psycho babe doesn't decide to shoot me again; I hate getting shot. I bet Faith would dig the clothes, they look like her in the whole dominatrix way. I wonder how much damage this body can handle guess we are fixing to give it a test run. I guess, I'll see what all can be done without showing the boys all my goodies. I guess it's Go, Go, Guardian Powers!!!"
The End. Book 1