Post by Saasha on Sept 19, 2012 22:40:12 GMT -6
Saasha dug her nose further into her crossed arms, her shoulders rising and falling as she deeply inhaled. As usual, she had found her self wandering here and there looking for something to do for the remainder of the night. During this wondering, she had decided to stop at a local tavern to relax for a bit and have a small drink. It was quiet, even more than was usual for the town. The damp, cool air swirled in and about the buildings and towers, making it seem colder than it really was. And the moon cast it bright sheen down upon the seemingly deserted city, basking even the darkest corners in an off white glow.
Underneath her black jailors hat, one dark blue ear perked a bit to pick up on any approaching sounds- but at this time of night that was unlikely. She sighed and sat up from the table, carefully slipping a small vial from her messenger bag in the same movement. Saasha removed the cap and poured an amount of the contents into her glass. The viscous liquid that sloshed out was dark in color- almost black one would say. She screwed the cap back on and sighed again, taking a sip of her drink and letting her eyes wander. Nothing, absolutely nothing. The only people nearby were inside of the bar. Other than that though, she could not smell anyone. Maybe it was the booze under her nose that kept it at bay…. She took another sip.
Yup, she was getting bored. It would soon be time for her to continue her wanderings. This thought fresh in her mind, she chugged the rest of her drink, being careful to not leave a trace of her ‘addition’ to it and rose. She tossed the pay on to the table and strode off. Maybe she could find something to play with. Her soft leather boots didn’t make so much as a scuffle on the cobblestone streets as she passed building after building, winding from street to street and crossroad to crossroad, letting her feet lead the way. After a time, the smell of the ocean breeze caught her attention- she had been lead close to the docks. But, even though it was a great temptation to tread along the wooden boardwalks and listen the sea waves crash into the stone walls, she opted to turn back. For some reason, she had gained this nagging sense in the back of her mind. Something that had suddenly begun to pull her back to town. She inwardly frowned, but followed the silent order and retraced her steps back through the semi-empty town.
It was just about one o’clock by the time she got back to the center of town. It was here that she stopped for a moment to pull the vial from her bag again. She had been sipping on blood a lot more frequently than usual. Then again, lower classes only did so much for her, and she was not used to fighting in her current form so going against uppers was out of the question for the time being. So she was forced to settle for what she could get. She took a swig and carefully swiped her tongue over her teeth to rid them of any residual before concealing the bottle again. Why had she done this? What was she even doing here?
She sat down heavily on a nearby bench and slumped her arm over the back. She crossed her legs and let her head loll forward to gaze unstaring at the ground. Tony wouldn’t be back at the house tonight if not for a few days, Joshua was probably tearing up his room trying to find his tail- She felt something shift inside of her messenger bag… A loud cry of exasperation echoed throughout the park square. It quite resembled something between a scream and a moan. She had found the tail. The moving stopped and she slipped her hand into the bag. Her fingers touched warm scales- yup, she had found it. A small tongue flicked her hand and a head rubbed into her palm. Saasha stroked the creature for a few minutes before removing her hand and letting the snake continue whatever it was doing. Sleeping most likely. Some joke about not seeing a snake and getting bitten floated into her mind.
She lolled her head back to stare at the sky through the rustling leaves above her. A crisp breeze tussled her hair and sent a collage of scents floating toward her; the fresh smell of the park, the smoke from the chimney tops, humans finally starting to fill in the town, a squirrel grooming itself in the tree across from her, the earthy scent of vampire- wait.
She leapt from her seat just as a cold blade brushed her leg, cleaving the bench clean in half. She landed on all fours and whirled to face her attacker- time to play. Before she could react, the being was rushing at her again, sword tip dragging the ground causing flares of sparks to rise up around it’s ankles. It swung the blade upward at her gut, viciously twisting it as it went.
She barrel rolled over herself to the side, missing the blade by a few inches. She landed on all fours again, launching herself back at her attacker. It was her turn. She reached out to rake her claws across the his throat, her other hand shooting out to stave through his chest.
Unfortunately, he turned out to be faster than she thought. He twisted around her form, letting her fly past him. As he turned, his glowing red eyes met her blood brown ones and that smell hit her nose again- vampire. She dug her claws into the concrete, leaving twenty deep trails in her wake. But as she stopped, she realized that there was one other scent in the mix… But what was it?
She rose to two feet and weaved toward the vamp. Too bad she wasn’t used to this body quite yet- Saasha knew she was probably in for a bit of a struggle. Nonetheless, it was not in her nature to shy from a kill. She lashed out with a small snarl, claws at full length and eyes flashing silver in the dim moonlight. Even with her sight though, she still couldn’t make out what the sword looked like- it must have either had a lot of details on it or it was oddly shaped. With how fast he was moving it, all she could make of it was a blur of metal.
The exchange went on and on, both staying toe to toe with the other. Blow for blow, swing for swing, neither could touch the other. They were so on time with each other that Saasha was beginning to have memories resurface. But, why were they of she and Xander? Oh, that’s right, she and Xander used to go toe to toe with each other all the time. Although they would not be trying to kill each other, they did stop just short of that last blow. She snapped back to reality as his hand shot past her face, slitting her cheek ever so slightly. No, more futzing around… Her ears flattened out and she bared her elongated teeth in warning, not that this guy would take it.
There was something nagging at the back of her mind this entire time. The way this guy moved, the way he so easily danced around her, how precise yet vicious his attacks were… Saasha’s mind kept slipping back to Xander. And it was beginning to piss her off. This guy was nothing compared to her brother- her teacher, her partner. Next to him, this guy was a weakling!
She reached a hand out and let her energy unleash. She could feel the dark liquid like force flow through her so easily, it was almost… comfortable. Although he couldn’t see it, she could see it perfectly. A black river of twisting tendrils and streams racing to steal this creature’s senses. Her other hand drew back to deal the ending blow and strike through his chest to claim his heart for her own.
The only move he made was a slight flick of his wrist. This brought the sword up to his face and the red crystal just below the blade began to glow eerily. It was only when it stopped moving, his eyes glowing bright red through the ornate wing offs of the blade, that she was finally able to make out it’s shape- and it was a sight that made her heart go completely cold… It was her father’s sword- Cryious.
She felt her aura ripped from her limbs and absorb into the blade itself. Her heart dropped. She was as good as dead. The being whipped the blade around his head once, letting the power fully absorb. Then, with one final flick, turned it to point directly at her face. Her attack had turned on her and now she could no longer see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything- She was a dead dog. Cryious had the neat little trick of taking any demonic ability and absorbing it; then unleashing that attack back at any time the wielder desires. How Midas had acquired the sword in the first place was a mystery to all but himself. But as soon as Saasha had seen her father wield it even once, it was evident that Cryious was far from normal. But how had this vamp gotten it?
She tried her best to keep the man from getting to her, swinging her claws this way and that at the slightest tingling of her sixth sense. But it was no use, even though she couldn’t feel, she knew she was clawing at air. She stopped swinging when she could sense that she had been knocked over and must have now been lying on the concrete. It was then that all of her senses returned all at once. She was indeed lying on the ground- and over her? The vampire on one knee, straddling her, the rippled edge of Cryious pressed to her throat. She was just about to strike out again in one last attempt to remove her captor, but then something in the creature’s features made her hesitate.
His slender face held some small thing that triggered a hesitation. Why had he stopped? He simply loomed over her, not moving from his position in the least and obviously not having any plans to let her up either. That smell wafted into her nostrils again- vampire and- what was that? Cinnamon and… apples? She began to search the red unglowing eyes that stared back at her with a solemn coldness- she knew those eyes. That hardened expression that made his entire face turn to stone, that made his whole body seem to solidify into a marble statue- unshaken by anything, unstirrable. The way he held the blade at her throat with just enough pressure to make her feel threatened, but not enough to break the skin. Her breath caught in her throat as a single name slipped its way into her mind and out of her lips by mistake- “Xander.”
The vampire stared back at her for a moment more before, slowly, a crooked smile crept across his face. It was in that moment that Saasha no longer saw the vampire crouching menacingly over her. Rather, it was her brother smiling down at her after one of their skirmishes, his face beaming with pride. A single tear tried to escape, and she let it. It rolled down the side of her face, but was caught by a gloved finger. He removed the sword and extended his free hand to her. She hesitatingly accepted it and was pulled to her feet. The image faded to be replaced with the vampire once more. But this time, she saw the familiar face of her loving brother gazing back at her. Yes, he had changed and he didn’t look exactly the same- but it was still enough for her to see now. She leapt into his outstretched arms silently, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder while tears slipped down her cheeks. Brother and Sister had been reunited after thirty-two long years….
Meanwhile, a very dizzy snake lay upside down in the messenger bag, pinned by a drink container and a very heavy journal, it’s tongue hanging limply out of the side of its open mouth. Stars danced around the poor creature’s head as it wondered why it had not just stayed home in the first place.
………………………………...........................................................................
Saasha smiled as her brother nudged her shoulder with his, pointing out a rather handsome man that had been cautiously sneaking glances at the pair. She giggled behind her delicate fingers and shoved him with her knee, “Come on Xander, really?” She lowered her tone a bit.
Xander raised his hands a bit in defense, “Just pointing him out.” He studied the man for a few moments out of the corner of his eye. After a pause he turned back to his sister with a slight frown. “Nevermind.”
“What?”
“He is carrying a pocket pistol.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” She asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“The smaller the gun the bigger the dick.” He said nonchalantly.
“And that’s a bad thing?” She echoed her previous comment. Saasha knew that the punch line was coming so she rushed to swallow. This was gonna be good.
"A gun that small, those kind of eyes his is giving you? He is probably so lonely he cuddles it to sleep.”
Too late she couldn’t swallow in time. She ended up half choking and almost spitting her drink back into her glass. She managed to save her dignity though and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. Nothing had changed. It had been thirty-two years and nothing had changed. Xander was lamely trying to hook her up, she was rolling eyes with a broad smile, they were sitting in a run down bar, and not a demon in sight. Go figure.
She shook her head gently at her dork of a now vampire brother.
“What?” He chuckled out keeping his hand down by his leg, ready to flip off the poor guy next time he stared at his busty little sis. It didn’t take long.
“How did you find me? I mean, I jumped two worlds from ours. How in the heck did you do it?”
“Well it wasn’t easy, I am not gonna lie.” He rested the elbow of his occupied hand on the bar top and uncurled a long nailed finger from the glass to point accusingly at her nose. “You, Ma’am, are not easy to follow. And you don’t pick the most open-doored people to hang out with.” He took a sip of his drink then replaced it on the bar top, keeping his fingers curled around the cool glass. If he was going to retell the story, he was going to need it.
“Oh were oh were to start?” He looked up at the ceiling in mock thought. “Oh! How about I start where I got worried sick when an African medicine woman answers your cell phone. Then she tells me that you were there but will tell me nothing else until she sees me in person. I know we don’t use GPS when we travel but it sure would have been nice to have had it then. It took me two months- two months. Not including the trip just to get to the freakin’ continent. And I couldn’t take a plane cause I found out I had that fuck-face bastard of a lizard on my tail. So that meant that I had to take boats planes, and trains to get there. Most of it was on foot though. You brat, making me walk everywhere….”
She laughed and lightly thumped her head on the bar counter. Saasha knew that the “long arduous journey” had been far less of a problem then he made it out to be, he had been on much longer trips. But he loved to try to make her feel bad, guilt trip her into doing something for him. Then again it always worked so why would he stop now? She had a feeling that now was going to be no different.
“Speaking of which,” He reached into his coat pocket. She knew it. “I have something for you.” He paused then withdrew his hand. “I will give you that later.”
Saasha set her glass down with a thud, “You always do that to me. Stop that.”
“I know. Now then, where was I?”
Queue another eye roll from the wolf.
“Oh yeah. The village. Well, When I got there I had been told that you had been transformed to save your life and thrown into another world to keep you from going ape-shit on that one.”
Her face fell a bit, “Yeah well, the world they dumped me in wasn’t so lucky…”
“Oh I know,” he cut her off. “But that doesn’t really matter now though does it? Isa that was over thirty years ago and you have saved more lives than were lost those months. Now you can’t erase what you did but you didn’t do it willingly.”
She nodded solemnly. He was right, but she still couldn’t quite shake the guilt from her marrow. But that was in the past and now was not the time to wallow in her sorrow. She cleared her throat, “Yeah I know… So what happened to you? You go shopping and decide to get a new species while you were out?”
He chuckled and shook his head, “Hey all I know is that that crazy medicine woman said ‘You will not find her alive in that body. You are to weak to fight the monsters that surround her.’” he said, imitating the woman pretty well actually. The scratchy and droning voice matching quite well.
Saasha‘s brows knit together in worry, “And you agreed? Xander-”
“Nah-ah-ah-ah! Don’t you give me that.” He took a swig of his whiskey and pointed an jokingly accusing finger at her, “Look what you got turned into.”
“’Cause I was dying! Gosh darnit, Xander. C’mon!” She was a bit aggravated and upset by this time, her tone showed it too.
“Look it doesn’t matter cause I am not like the vamp we are used to. Trust me this is much better.”
“How so?” She asked with a mild head tilt.
“You will see later I am sure.” Xander downed his drink and plunked the glass on the bar top. “But for now, I have a couple of things for you.”
“Oh?”
The barkeep came by and refilled his booze and topped off her tea. All the while Xander didn’t say a word, he just watched the barkeep work. “You know they have some good booze around here,” He commented as he raised the full glass to his lips.
She scoffed with a smile and bumped the bottom of the glass playfully, causing him to have to lurch forward to keep from spilling any of the golden liquid on himself, trying to keep from laughing and making the situation worse. He swallowed and let his mouth fall into a fanged chortle. “Alright, alright Isa.” He reached into his coat with his free hand…
Then stopped, “First you have to tell me about this Anthony guy.”
Saasha groaned and dropped her arm from the bar and into her lap with a muffled thud, “Xander!”
“Nuh uh, is impotant.” He tapped the bar top with one nail to signify the topic’s relevance to him, “I wanna know who this guy is.”
“Was.” Her tone went flat.
He paused for a moment, his face fell when he heard that word. “Was?”
She nodded solemnly and looked down to the drink her hands curled around, “He… passed away recently…”
“I’m… I’m sorry Isa. I heard you and he were really close…”
She nodded again, she shoulders falling with her exhale, “Yeah. But at least… at least he is at peace now… I-” She lifted her head sharply and rested her chin in her hand, propped up on the bar, eyes closed.
She was hurting… wow. He had only seen her that torn up once before and that had been back when their parents had been killed. He laid a soft hand on the one in her lap. This seemed to snap her back to reality. Her eyes opened and she inhaled sharply, clearing her throat again and draining her glass completely. Xander ordered her a shot, which she took in one hit.
She tried to cover up her slip up by giving a small laugh, “You know, it’s funny. When he died, he left me under the care of someone in this world. Guy by the same name ironically. Different person-” she waved her hand to show her she was thinking of the right words, “Worlds.. merging and all of that.” She chucked uncomfortably again.
Xander just watched his sister with concern. She wasn’t hiding her emotions as well as normal…
“Good guy. I haven’t seen him in a while though. Uh-” She waved her hand a bit again, “I’m sure he’s fine, though.” Another laugh and another throat clearing and she seemed to be somewhat to normal.
Xander gave an encouraging smile and stroked the side of her face, “As long as he’s being good to you.”
“Oh trust me he is. He’s the only reason why I remember you.”
“What do you mean?” His hand stopped by her ear.
She smirked in jest and shook her head, “Long story.”
“So you really did lose your memories.”
“Not so much ‘lost’ as… they were locked away. Obviously not a problem anymore.” She smiled and took a sip from her re-filled tea. The barkeep was getting a good bill tonight.
Xander just shook his head and leaned on the bar again, “Narissa Strong…”
“Yeeees~” She sing-songed.
“Sometimes I wonder how I put up with you.”
She simply smiled, “’Cause you love me.”
“And that is code for ‘show me what you brought me already’, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He snorted a laugh and stretched, “As soon as we get somewhere more private, I promise. No more stalling.”
Just then a thought came to her for some reason, "Wow. I forgot about those."
"Those what?" Xander looked up from his drink.
"The seals... I wonder if I still have them."
"Well I do, so why wouldn't you? C'mon, it's not like Dad and Sparda would have left us high and dry. Remember what Dad said? 'Even in death, you shall be watched. Both our death's and yours.'"
"True." She looked down to her forearms in thought. "Well, hey if that's the case then we are even more badass than we used to be, eh Bro?" She raised her glass to him.
He laughed heartily, "Oh we could get more kick-ass?" his glass clinked with hers. Both downed their drinks in a single gulp and looped their arms around each others shoulders.
It was good to have her partner back.
That had been months ago. And now, Saasha stood on the roof of Hunter's Manor, gazing down at the glittering edges of Cryious. It was time to see what her father's sword could do...
Underneath her black jailors hat, one dark blue ear perked a bit to pick up on any approaching sounds- but at this time of night that was unlikely. She sighed and sat up from the table, carefully slipping a small vial from her messenger bag in the same movement. Saasha removed the cap and poured an amount of the contents into her glass. The viscous liquid that sloshed out was dark in color- almost black one would say. She screwed the cap back on and sighed again, taking a sip of her drink and letting her eyes wander. Nothing, absolutely nothing. The only people nearby were inside of the bar. Other than that though, she could not smell anyone. Maybe it was the booze under her nose that kept it at bay…. She took another sip.
Yup, she was getting bored. It would soon be time for her to continue her wanderings. This thought fresh in her mind, she chugged the rest of her drink, being careful to not leave a trace of her ‘addition’ to it and rose. She tossed the pay on to the table and strode off. Maybe she could find something to play with. Her soft leather boots didn’t make so much as a scuffle on the cobblestone streets as she passed building after building, winding from street to street and crossroad to crossroad, letting her feet lead the way. After a time, the smell of the ocean breeze caught her attention- she had been lead close to the docks. But, even though it was a great temptation to tread along the wooden boardwalks and listen the sea waves crash into the stone walls, she opted to turn back. For some reason, she had gained this nagging sense in the back of her mind. Something that had suddenly begun to pull her back to town. She inwardly frowned, but followed the silent order and retraced her steps back through the semi-empty town.
It was just about one o’clock by the time she got back to the center of town. It was here that she stopped for a moment to pull the vial from her bag again. She had been sipping on blood a lot more frequently than usual. Then again, lower classes only did so much for her, and she was not used to fighting in her current form so going against uppers was out of the question for the time being. So she was forced to settle for what she could get. She took a swig and carefully swiped her tongue over her teeth to rid them of any residual before concealing the bottle again. Why had she done this? What was she even doing here?
She sat down heavily on a nearby bench and slumped her arm over the back. She crossed her legs and let her head loll forward to gaze unstaring at the ground. Tony wouldn’t be back at the house tonight if not for a few days, Joshua was probably tearing up his room trying to find his tail- She felt something shift inside of her messenger bag… A loud cry of exasperation echoed throughout the park square. It quite resembled something between a scream and a moan. She had found the tail. The moving stopped and she slipped her hand into the bag. Her fingers touched warm scales- yup, she had found it. A small tongue flicked her hand and a head rubbed into her palm. Saasha stroked the creature for a few minutes before removing her hand and letting the snake continue whatever it was doing. Sleeping most likely. Some joke about not seeing a snake and getting bitten floated into her mind.
She lolled her head back to stare at the sky through the rustling leaves above her. A crisp breeze tussled her hair and sent a collage of scents floating toward her; the fresh smell of the park, the smoke from the chimney tops, humans finally starting to fill in the town, a squirrel grooming itself in the tree across from her, the earthy scent of vampire- wait.
She leapt from her seat just as a cold blade brushed her leg, cleaving the bench clean in half. She landed on all fours and whirled to face her attacker- time to play. Before she could react, the being was rushing at her again, sword tip dragging the ground causing flares of sparks to rise up around it’s ankles. It swung the blade upward at her gut, viciously twisting it as it went.
She barrel rolled over herself to the side, missing the blade by a few inches. She landed on all fours again, launching herself back at her attacker. It was her turn. She reached out to rake her claws across the his throat, her other hand shooting out to stave through his chest.
Unfortunately, he turned out to be faster than she thought. He twisted around her form, letting her fly past him. As he turned, his glowing red eyes met her blood brown ones and that smell hit her nose again- vampire. She dug her claws into the concrete, leaving twenty deep trails in her wake. But as she stopped, she realized that there was one other scent in the mix… But what was it?
She rose to two feet and weaved toward the vamp. Too bad she wasn’t used to this body quite yet- Saasha knew she was probably in for a bit of a struggle. Nonetheless, it was not in her nature to shy from a kill. She lashed out with a small snarl, claws at full length and eyes flashing silver in the dim moonlight. Even with her sight though, she still couldn’t make out what the sword looked like- it must have either had a lot of details on it or it was oddly shaped. With how fast he was moving it, all she could make of it was a blur of metal.
The exchange went on and on, both staying toe to toe with the other. Blow for blow, swing for swing, neither could touch the other. They were so on time with each other that Saasha was beginning to have memories resurface. But, why were they of she and Xander? Oh, that’s right, she and Xander used to go toe to toe with each other all the time. Although they would not be trying to kill each other, they did stop just short of that last blow. She snapped back to reality as his hand shot past her face, slitting her cheek ever so slightly. No, more futzing around… Her ears flattened out and she bared her elongated teeth in warning, not that this guy would take it.
There was something nagging at the back of her mind this entire time. The way this guy moved, the way he so easily danced around her, how precise yet vicious his attacks were… Saasha’s mind kept slipping back to Xander. And it was beginning to piss her off. This guy was nothing compared to her brother- her teacher, her partner. Next to him, this guy was a weakling!
She reached a hand out and let her energy unleash. She could feel the dark liquid like force flow through her so easily, it was almost… comfortable. Although he couldn’t see it, she could see it perfectly. A black river of twisting tendrils and streams racing to steal this creature’s senses. Her other hand drew back to deal the ending blow and strike through his chest to claim his heart for her own.
The only move he made was a slight flick of his wrist. This brought the sword up to his face and the red crystal just below the blade began to glow eerily. It was only when it stopped moving, his eyes glowing bright red through the ornate wing offs of the blade, that she was finally able to make out it’s shape- and it was a sight that made her heart go completely cold… It was her father’s sword- Cryious.
She felt her aura ripped from her limbs and absorb into the blade itself. Her heart dropped. She was as good as dead. The being whipped the blade around his head once, letting the power fully absorb. Then, with one final flick, turned it to point directly at her face. Her attack had turned on her and now she could no longer see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything- She was a dead dog. Cryious had the neat little trick of taking any demonic ability and absorbing it; then unleashing that attack back at any time the wielder desires. How Midas had acquired the sword in the first place was a mystery to all but himself. But as soon as Saasha had seen her father wield it even once, it was evident that Cryious was far from normal. But how had this vamp gotten it?
She tried her best to keep the man from getting to her, swinging her claws this way and that at the slightest tingling of her sixth sense. But it was no use, even though she couldn’t feel, she knew she was clawing at air. She stopped swinging when she could sense that she had been knocked over and must have now been lying on the concrete. It was then that all of her senses returned all at once. She was indeed lying on the ground- and over her? The vampire on one knee, straddling her, the rippled edge of Cryious pressed to her throat. She was just about to strike out again in one last attempt to remove her captor, but then something in the creature’s features made her hesitate.
His slender face held some small thing that triggered a hesitation. Why had he stopped? He simply loomed over her, not moving from his position in the least and obviously not having any plans to let her up either. That smell wafted into her nostrils again- vampire and- what was that? Cinnamon and… apples? She began to search the red unglowing eyes that stared back at her with a solemn coldness- she knew those eyes. That hardened expression that made his entire face turn to stone, that made his whole body seem to solidify into a marble statue- unshaken by anything, unstirrable. The way he held the blade at her throat with just enough pressure to make her feel threatened, but not enough to break the skin. Her breath caught in her throat as a single name slipped its way into her mind and out of her lips by mistake- “Xander.”
The vampire stared back at her for a moment more before, slowly, a crooked smile crept across his face. It was in that moment that Saasha no longer saw the vampire crouching menacingly over her. Rather, it was her brother smiling down at her after one of their skirmishes, his face beaming with pride. A single tear tried to escape, and she let it. It rolled down the side of her face, but was caught by a gloved finger. He removed the sword and extended his free hand to her. She hesitatingly accepted it and was pulled to her feet. The image faded to be replaced with the vampire once more. But this time, she saw the familiar face of her loving brother gazing back at her. Yes, he had changed and he didn’t look exactly the same- but it was still enough for her to see now. She leapt into his outstretched arms silently, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder while tears slipped down her cheeks. Brother and Sister had been reunited after thirty-two long years….
Meanwhile, a very dizzy snake lay upside down in the messenger bag, pinned by a drink container and a very heavy journal, it’s tongue hanging limply out of the side of its open mouth. Stars danced around the poor creature’s head as it wondered why it had not just stayed home in the first place.
………………………………...........................................................................
Saasha smiled as her brother nudged her shoulder with his, pointing out a rather handsome man that had been cautiously sneaking glances at the pair. She giggled behind her delicate fingers and shoved him with her knee, “Come on Xander, really?” She lowered her tone a bit.
Xander raised his hands a bit in defense, “Just pointing him out.” He studied the man for a few moments out of the corner of his eye. After a pause he turned back to his sister with a slight frown. “Nevermind.”
“What?”
“He is carrying a pocket pistol.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” She asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“The smaller the gun the bigger the dick.” He said nonchalantly.
“And that’s a bad thing?” She echoed her previous comment. Saasha knew that the punch line was coming so she rushed to swallow. This was gonna be good.
"A gun that small, those kind of eyes his is giving you? He is probably so lonely he cuddles it to sleep.”
Too late she couldn’t swallow in time. She ended up half choking and almost spitting her drink back into her glass. She managed to save her dignity though and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. Nothing had changed. It had been thirty-two years and nothing had changed. Xander was lamely trying to hook her up, she was rolling eyes with a broad smile, they were sitting in a run down bar, and not a demon in sight. Go figure.
She shook her head gently at her dork of a now vampire brother.
“What?” He chuckled out keeping his hand down by his leg, ready to flip off the poor guy next time he stared at his busty little sis. It didn’t take long.
“How did you find me? I mean, I jumped two worlds from ours. How in the heck did you do it?”
“Well it wasn’t easy, I am not gonna lie.” He rested the elbow of his occupied hand on the bar top and uncurled a long nailed finger from the glass to point accusingly at her nose. “You, Ma’am, are not easy to follow. And you don’t pick the most open-doored people to hang out with.” He took a sip of his drink then replaced it on the bar top, keeping his fingers curled around the cool glass. If he was going to retell the story, he was going to need it.
“Oh were oh were to start?” He looked up at the ceiling in mock thought. “Oh! How about I start where I got worried sick when an African medicine woman answers your cell phone. Then she tells me that you were there but will tell me nothing else until she sees me in person. I know we don’t use GPS when we travel but it sure would have been nice to have had it then. It took me two months- two months. Not including the trip just to get to the freakin’ continent. And I couldn’t take a plane cause I found out I had that fuck-face bastard of a lizard on my tail. So that meant that I had to take boats planes, and trains to get there. Most of it was on foot though. You brat, making me walk everywhere….”
She laughed and lightly thumped her head on the bar counter. Saasha knew that the “long arduous journey” had been far less of a problem then he made it out to be, he had been on much longer trips. But he loved to try to make her feel bad, guilt trip her into doing something for him. Then again it always worked so why would he stop now? She had a feeling that now was going to be no different.
“Speaking of which,” He reached into his coat pocket. She knew it. “I have something for you.” He paused then withdrew his hand. “I will give you that later.”
Saasha set her glass down with a thud, “You always do that to me. Stop that.”
“I know. Now then, where was I?”
Queue another eye roll from the wolf.
“Oh yeah. The village. Well, When I got there I had been told that you had been transformed to save your life and thrown into another world to keep you from going ape-shit on that one.”
Her face fell a bit, “Yeah well, the world they dumped me in wasn’t so lucky…”
“Oh I know,” he cut her off. “But that doesn’t really matter now though does it? Isa that was over thirty years ago and you have saved more lives than were lost those months. Now you can’t erase what you did but you didn’t do it willingly.”
She nodded solemnly. He was right, but she still couldn’t quite shake the guilt from her marrow. But that was in the past and now was not the time to wallow in her sorrow. She cleared her throat, “Yeah I know… So what happened to you? You go shopping and decide to get a new species while you were out?”
He chuckled and shook his head, “Hey all I know is that that crazy medicine woman said ‘You will not find her alive in that body. You are to weak to fight the monsters that surround her.’” he said, imitating the woman pretty well actually. The scratchy and droning voice matching quite well.
Saasha‘s brows knit together in worry, “And you agreed? Xander-”
“Nah-ah-ah-ah! Don’t you give me that.” He took a swig of his whiskey and pointed an jokingly accusing finger at her, “Look what you got turned into.”
“’Cause I was dying! Gosh darnit, Xander. C’mon!” She was a bit aggravated and upset by this time, her tone showed it too.
“Look it doesn’t matter cause I am not like the vamp we are used to. Trust me this is much better.”
“How so?” She asked with a mild head tilt.
“You will see later I am sure.” Xander downed his drink and plunked the glass on the bar top. “But for now, I have a couple of things for you.”
“Oh?”
The barkeep came by and refilled his booze and topped off her tea. All the while Xander didn’t say a word, he just watched the barkeep work. “You know they have some good booze around here,” He commented as he raised the full glass to his lips.
She scoffed with a smile and bumped the bottom of the glass playfully, causing him to have to lurch forward to keep from spilling any of the golden liquid on himself, trying to keep from laughing and making the situation worse. He swallowed and let his mouth fall into a fanged chortle. “Alright, alright Isa.” He reached into his coat with his free hand…
Then stopped, “First you have to tell me about this Anthony guy.”
Saasha groaned and dropped her arm from the bar and into her lap with a muffled thud, “Xander!”
“Nuh uh, is impotant.” He tapped the bar top with one nail to signify the topic’s relevance to him, “I wanna know who this guy is.”
“Was.” Her tone went flat.
He paused for a moment, his face fell when he heard that word. “Was?”
She nodded solemnly and looked down to the drink her hands curled around, “He… passed away recently…”
“I’m… I’m sorry Isa. I heard you and he were really close…”
She nodded again, she shoulders falling with her exhale, “Yeah. But at least… at least he is at peace now… I-” She lifted her head sharply and rested her chin in her hand, propped up on the bar, eyes closed.
She was hurting… wow. He had only seen her that torn up once before and that had been back when their parents had been killed. He laid a soft hand on the one in her lap. This seemed to snap her back to reality. Her eyes opened and she inhaled sharply, clearing her throat again and draining her glass completely. Xander ordered her a shot, which she took in one hit.
She tried to cover up her slip up by giving a small laugh, “You know, it’s funny. When he died, he left me under the care of someone in this world. Guy by the same name ironically. Different person-” she waved her hand to show her she was thinking of the right words, “Worlds.. merging and all of that.” She chucked uncomfortably again.
Xander just watched his sister with concern. She wasn’t hiding her emotions as well as normal…
“Good guy. I haven’t seen him in a while though. Uh-” She waved her hand a bit again, “I’m sure he’s fine, though.” Another laugh and another throat clearing and she seemed to be somewhat to normal.
Xander gave an encouraging smile and stroked the side of her face, “As long as he’s being good to you.”
“Oh trust me he is. He’s the only reason why I remember you.”
“What do you mean?” His hand stopped by her ear.
She smirked in jest and shook her head, “Long story.”
“So you really did lose your memories.”
“Not so much ‘lost’ as… they were locked away. Obviously not a problem anymore.” She smiled and took a sip from her re-filled tea. The barkeep was getting a good bill tonight.
Xander just shook his head and leaned on the bar again, “Narissa Strong…”
“Yeeees~” She sing-songed.
“Sometimes I wonder how I put up with you.”
She simply smiled, “’Cause you love me.”
“And that is code for ‘show me what you brought me already’, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He snorted a laugh and stretched, “As soon as we get somewhere more private, I promise. No more stalling.”
Just then a thought came to her for some reason, "Wow. I forgot about those."
"Those what?" Xander looked up from his drink.
"The seals... I wonder if I still have them."
"Well I do, so why wouldn't you? C'mon, it's not like Dad and Sparda would have left us high and dry. Remember what Dad said? 'Even in death, you shall be watched. Both our death's and yours.'"
"True." She looked down to her forearms in thought. "Well, hey if that's the case then we are even more badass than we used to be, eh Bro?" She raised her glass to him.
He laughed heartily, "Oh we could get more kick-ass?" his glass clinked with hers. Both downed their drinks in a single gulp and looped their arms around each others shoulders.
It was good to have her partner back.
That had been months ago. And now, Saasha stood on the roof of Hunter's Manor, gazing down at the glittering edges of Cryious. It was time to see what her father's sword could do...
