Through Thick and Thin
by
Cilia

From the Journal of Watcher Rupert Giles…

It has been a little over a year since my Slayer, Buffy Summers, was embraced and made Undying by Luna Isabella Anne Largo during her search for the witch Willow Rosenberg. In the time since then she has fought and defeated both a mysterious and powerful witch out to claim Willow Rosenberg's powers and following that her sire's brother Victor Largo, an Undying leader who was hell-bent on taking control over all things supernatural on the Western Seaboard.

Undying are in essence, as we've best been able to determine, souled beings with a thirst for blood which they like the demonic vampire require to sustain themselves. This thirst can be however warded off by drinking a concoction they call Amber Nectar and I've ensured that we always have some on hand. As to their origins what texts I've been unable to access makes references to the Fall of Man and a period in prehistory only referred to as the Dawn.

The Undying operate under a clan style like system of governance overseen by a central authority figure, usually carrying the title of Prince. He acts as mediator and judge when disputes arise. There is great infighting among the groups or clans and often Princes will employee so called Sheriffs or Enforcers to maintain order in their territory. My Slayer worked for a time for one such enforcer by the name of Alfeo who in turn serves Prince Daniel whose territory extends up and down the Western Seaboard with headquarters in San Francisco.

Undying also seem to possess a strong resistance to sunlight, allowing my Slayer to operate in daytime, although that resistance seems to weaken if they don't feed every day or consume Amber Nectar. Other distinguishing Undying features include, but not limited to, discoloration of the eyes and slightly pointed ears.

It's needless to say that we've made some unusual allies during the past year. Spike also known as William the Bloody is now a staunch ally and we count many of Buffy's undying brethren among our dear friends.

Despite her transformation my Slayer has kept up with her duties aided by Faith Lehane in her capacity as the second active Slayer of her generation. Buffy's relationship with Willow Rosenberg continues to develop and seems to be having nothing but positive effects on them both.

The spell cast by a Coven centuries ago to create a Wiccan equivalent of the Slayer which resulted in Willow Rosenberg's power increase, has seemingly further cemented the bond between the two women.

On that note it bears to mention that Willow Rosenberg's unstable magical powers seem to have settle somewhat. Be this is from her exhausting her reserves magical energies during our fighting with Victor Largo or simply because of her balanced mental state brought upon by the resolving of her feelings towards my Slayer remains to be unseen.

Although no directly related to either Slayer, Alexander Harris has been missing from Sunnydale and not heard from in quite some time. Although this could be due any number of reasons I have begun enquiring about his whereabouts with our contacts around the world. Only to put any worries of the Slayers to rest so not to hinder their effectiveness of course.

For the time being all is calm though and I can only hope it remains that way.

Chapter 1: Back Where You Belong

Buffy Anne Summers, Elisabeth to some of her benefactors, Slayer to her best mate Spike, dearest child to her Watcher Rupert Giles and perhaps her favorite title, girlfriend to her Willow, sat quietly in a small diner in Sunnydale. She was wearing one of the finely tailored suits that mysteriously kept showing up at her door courtesy of 'Aunt' June. She may have quit her job as Alfeo's go-to girl, but that didn't mean June stopped looking out for her.

Still as much as she sometimes missed her new friends in the City, after spending the previous summer there in the employee of Alfeo while seeking out the then runaway Willow and somehow rolling from one crisis into another, it felt good back home dealing with more familiar threats.

Sipping a glass of Amber Nectar, a popular blood replacement among her people which she'd come to tolerate. She underlined a passage in a book laid out one of the diner's plastic tables before nibbling at a pancake for appearances sake. Her pointed ears twitched slightly under her blond hair as she could hear the chef working in the kitchen in the back and people passing by outside. Her left ear still sported a scar across it, a reminder of her brutal fight for control of the City in the fading days of the previous summer.

It was little over a year ago now, she realized, since her recklessness let her to being embraced by Luna Largo. The woman was her sire she had come to accept after a fashion, even though she still fought against what she had become with every fiber of her being.

She was now an Undying she'd come to accept and nothing could change that or like Xander called her now; Spike's prettier blonder cousin. Trying not to think about her Xander-shaped friend, who after his break-up with Anya had taken off to parts unknown and the last they had heard from him was a post-card from some small South-American country.

Getting lost in her book on Sun worship through the ages the outside world seemed to fade away. After she'd been embraced even though she could withstand direct sunlight she found that it hurt her eyes and made her skin tingle. So she had become a bit more curious about that yellow ball in the sky while at the same time using it as an excuse to amass a truly impressive sunglasses and hat collection.

So engrossed was she in her book that she barely registered a friendly faced and rather wholesome looking couple standing next to her table. The couple looked the very model of suburban stereotypes, but her senses told her otherwise.

She could tell from what that quick glance told that they were Undying just like her and it was the small things which gave it away. The pale complexion was not that common a thing in California and the way they carried themselves. Creepily normal was the phrase she could best come up with to describe them.

"Can I help you?" she asked with a friendly smile, closing her book. The woman was the first to speak.

"Are you Elisabeth Summers?" she asked with a tone of a slight disbelief in her voice. A tone of voice Buffy was quite familiar with. It was that tone of voice that carried with it the undertone of either; 'I thought she'd be taller' or 'oh poor thing she's so small'.

"Yep that's me, but around here I'm just called Buffy," she replied keeping her smile on, though not liking where this was heading.

"Is it true you beheaded Victor Largo?" the man asked in a low voice and now the blond haired Slayer definitely didn't like where this was headed.

"I did, yes. Are we going to have a problem here?" she asked slipping into a slightly colder tone of voice.

"Oh no, no we just wanted to say thank you," the woman quickly apologized taking a step back as the Slayer's icy blue eyes narrowed.

"Thank me?" Buffy asked arching a slender eyebrow and motioning for the couple to sit down in her booth.

"Yes we have kin in the City," the man spoke in slow measured tones. "Last summer was very trying for us," he went on and offered a small smile to the petite girl.

"So you two live here in Sunnydale?" the Slayer asked pushing her book to the side. Daniel had told her that one of the reasons Sunnydale was such a chaotic place, aside from the Hellmouth of course, was that it had not authority figure to keep some of its supernatural elements in check.

"Oh yes we've lived here for ages," the woman said with a smile. "Thomas runs a small bookstore and I work in the daycare on Third Street, I'm Abigail by the way," she went on and offered Buffy her head which the blond girl carefully shook.

Ever since her battle against Victor Largo that had ended with her face down bleeding and battered in the ocean and his head rolling on the sand. Every other night she had been having the same dream, the same impossible dream of domestic bliss with her and Willow and now a snapshot of that seemed to be sitting in front of her.

"A pleasure to meet you," she said with as much civility as she could muster. There was a bit of a silence before Abigail spoke again.

"So you going to be the Princess around here?" she asked and Buffy who had been bringing her drink to her lips froze.

"Excuse me?" the stunned blond asked her eyes widening and her hands trembling a bit. Something Daniel had told her once came floating back from her memories; 'Princess Summers does have a nice ring to it'.

"We know you used to be the Slayer, it is sort of hard to miss that, but now that you're one of the family so to speak and trained by Alfeo no less…" Abigail started going on until Thomas cut her off and earned a glare.

"What my dearest wife is asking Miss Summers is if you'd consider taking charge around here," he said in his calm and steady voice. "There is a small community of us here and it could use protection and guidance. We need a leader," he explained putting great emphasis on his words.

"Oh no, I'm not a leader. I'm just a college student, see?" Buffy protested and held up her text book as if to make her point.

"You killed one of the most powerful Undying on the Western Seaboard Miss Summers," Thomas kept talking in steady tones. "You were mentored by Alfeo and Prince Daniel himself trusted you. Those facts alone are enough to put you at the head of flock," he finished leaving Buffy was stunned to say the least so the couple excused themselves leaving the blond woman with apologizes for intruding, but still urging her to at least think about it. Gathering up her book she paid for her pancakes and walked home in a bit of a daze while seeing her hometown with new eyes almost.

She saw a waitress clearing up the tables at an outdoor café, she looked up and smiled at her and she could see the pearly white fangs. She past two businessmen stepping out of a restaurant and that same look of recognition was thrown her way. She started running towards her small apartment. Everywhere she looked, even though it was daylight, she could now see an Undying, a witch or even a minor demon just going about their daily lives.

Once back at the small apartment the funds from her summer's adventures allowed her to rent instead of staying in the dorms she picked up the phone and rang the memorized number. She looked around the barebones apartment and, spotting one of Willow's green scarves, she walked over and picked it up as the person she was ringing finally picked up.

"Hello?" she asked getting only the sound of a busy street and somebody walking before a familiar and very perky voice spoke up.

"Hi!" the cheerful voice of Willow answered, but she could hear that her witchy girlfriend was running somewhere.

"Are you okay, you're not in trouble are you?" she asked her mind instantly conjuring up various scenarios of her girlfriend in trouble Maybe she was being chased by the Swiss Guard after trying to sneak into the Vatican or running from big slobbering demons.

"Just about to miss my bus that's all," was the giggling reply which instantly put Buffy's mind at ease again.

"What happened to your scooter?" she asked twirling the green silk scarf around her finger and bringing it to her face and breathing in the smell of Willow.

"Crashed it into a chaos demon," was the casual reply and she could at least hear her girlfriend wasn't running anymore.

"Willow, are you freelancing?" the blond asked with a grin and even though she would always be worried for her red haired lover, she had come to understand that she was in fact capable of taking care of herself.

"It was no big... And stop sniffing my clothes it's a bit serial killer-y," the red-head's voice giggled in her ear.

"I still don't see why I couldn't come. Rome sounds awesome," the blond replied with a flopping herself down on the green couch that took up most of the living room. Buffy had not been happy when Willow had shown up carrying a small suitcase and kissing her on the lips, telling her she'd been gone a month or so on Coven business.

"Sorry but it was short notice and well you know the Covens aren't exactly trusting of…" the witch trailed of not wanting to call her girlfriend Undying. After the attempted slaughter of Willow's Coven during the power struggle between the Undying factions, the witches had become even less trusting of the Undying with whom they shared the night.

"It's alright to say it you know," Buffy chuckled trying to lighten the mood. She knew that after the messy affair of Largo's uprising, relationships all across the supernatural community were strained. There was a moment of silence and Buffy could hear the bus her girlfriend was on stop to let people off.

"So why did you call me up, miss me?" Willow purred at her, also trying to lighten the mood and causing Buffy to blush a bit. She did in fact miss her Willow shaped snuggle buddy, but right now she needed advice more then she needed a bit of discreet phone-sex.

"Of course I miss you, but I met this couple at the diner earlier," the blond started explaining rubbing her cheek against the green scarf. "They were Undying like me," she went on, pushing her hair way from her pointed eyes and sighing.

"They want to do a double-date sometime uh?" the cheeky witch asked and that made the gloomy Slayer laugh a little.

"If only. They asked me to do Daniel's job around here," she answered and there was a slight pause.

"Oh," was the short and disappointed reply from the witch and Buffy could understand her very well. Last summer she had been driven to do some things she wasn't very proud of herself for doing and neither of them really wanted to step back into the intrigue filled world of the Undying.

"Yeah pretty much what I thought. Willow, what should I do?" she asked sounding a little lost.

"I don't know. I mean I just don't know," her girlfriend sighed. "Is this something you're meant to do? Is it so different from being the Slayer? I mean what if Alfeo and Daniel were training you for all this. You know I adore Alfeo, but he is a scheming old man," she said slipping into a small Willow style babble while trying to explain how she perceived things to her girlfriend.

"You really think they would do that?" Buffy asked feeling a bit silly at how surprised she sounded. Undying lived for scheming and Daniel had hinted several times that he thought she would make a good ruler.

"Only one way to find out," her girlfriend suggested. "Stop being a sissy, get the car out of storage and drive up there," she said and Buffy could hear the smile in her voice. Her level-headed Willow had developed a bit of a reckless streak in the past two years that was for sure.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" she asked her and the rich peal of laughter through the pone lifted her spirits.

"No but go on and tell me some more," the red-head riding a bus a world way laughed and for a few more minutes the rest of the world didn't matter to the blond Undying Slayer.

After listening to Buffy sweet-talk her for a few minutes Willow had to say good-bye and step out of the bus into the sun. The noon sun's rays beaming down on her making it look like her hair was glowing. She did miss the little green scooter that Buffy had bought for her, but it had died for a good cause. Looking around she spotted the library she was looking for. Adjusting her white backpack she made her way across the busy street.

The red-headed witch wasn't a fan of being away from her girlfriend of almost a year for long periods of time, but this was important. Ever since last summer she'd been sending out letters and emails to various contacts looking for any information on the witch she'd fought in the church last summer.

While her friends in the Coven, maybe in an effort to just forget the whole affair, had written the whole thing of as Largo just trying to mess with them she couldn't shake the feeling something more was lay beneath the surface. The witch she fought had been very powerful and ancient to boot. She'd spoken of a ritual performed hundreds of years ago designed to make a magical version of a Slayer. The ritual had failed and somehow had made Willow what she was today.

She stepped through the heavy iron doors of the library, it had once been a church but there was little evidence of that now aside from the heavy doors. She walked up to a large desk where a white haired man sat sorting small books into piles. He looked ancient and dusty, wearing a dull grey suit and glasses that looked like they belonged in the 1800s.

Smoothing down her green t-shirt and brushing of her jeans she felt slightly underdressed in the man's presence. Hiking her backpack into a more comfortable position on her back she alerted the man to her presence by clearing her throat politely.

"Can I help you miss?" he asked in a slightly accented voice looking up for his sorting and giving her a gentle smile.

"I'm Willow Rosenberg, I believe we talked on the phone," Willow said smiling back at him running a hand through her red hair, noticeably free of silver streaks.

"Yes you are the sweet voiced girl looking for the Almanac of Anastasius?" he asked with a gentle smile and Willow nodded eagerly, she'd been scouring the libraries of Rome looking for it as a matter of fact. The Almanac of Anastasius had been written by a holy man of that name in the 5th Century. It was thought to contain just ramblings of old man, but if her information was correct if she could decode its writings. It could very well help shed some light on her own transformation into a Green Lantern like Xander had jokingly called her. She missed her best friend even though his jokes had driven her to reading comics books at times.

"Follow me please," the librarian said standing up and leaning on a cane. Willow followed the hunched over ancient looking man through the library, passing between shelves overflowing with dusty books and sometimes looking like they might tip over. As they went deeper and deeper into the library, the place seemed to grow darker. Up until they came to a glass case which contained a small book bound in black leather.

"Here we are; The Almanac of Anastasius," he said opening the case and moving aside so that Willow could examine it. Slipping of her backpack and pulling a pair of white gloves out of it. She slipped them on and started to carefully turning the yellow pages.

"Oh wow," she muttered reaching into her backpack to get out her camera. So engrossed was she in the text so she didn't notice that the old man was now standing straight without his cane and licking his lips. She did however feel him leaning over her shoulder, his hands on some very Buffy-only-allowed-to-touch spots and his breath on the back of her neck.

"Find anything interesting little one?" he asked and with a sigh Willow shook her head just as the now much vigorous looking man pushed her hair away trying to expose her neck. Letting her attacker think he had an easy meal she decided to play the meek scared girl and turned around to see his blood red eyes and bared fangs. Putting her hands on his chest as if to try to push him off her she put on her best scared schoolgirl voice.

"Oh please don't…" she whimpered and the Undying chuckled twisting her head back ready to feed as she made a show of trying to push him off.

"I'm…" she stammered again keeping the pretense going and closed her eyes, acting her role to perfection and just as she felt the fangs pressing on her skin she snapped her eyes back open now aflame with green fire. "…. nobodies Happy Meal!" she stated and her hand's, pressed against his chest burst into green flame and the white gloves on her hands turning to ash from the heat. Her would be attacker started screaming as the fire burned hotter and hotter like her fury.

"You… and your kind," she ranted and pushed the Undying man of her as he tried to beat out the flames that wouldn't die down. "Always trying to take what you can't have," she went on and gestured with her hand. The screaming Undying started to rise up into the air until he was almost at the ceiling, bumping against a dusty chandelier.

"Always acting without thinking who you are messing with," she went on and made a fist causing Undying librarian's body to slam into the floor with enough force to crack the marble flooring. The magic coursing through her burning away the red-dye concealing the silvery locks that adorned her otherwise flaming red mane.

Looking up her eyes full of anger, she hated the Undying for what they had done to Buffy. She loathed them for what they had driven her beloved Slayer to become. Hated how Victor Largo's stupid war had made it very hard for her to be with Buffy and server her Coven. She would of course never admit this to the blond love of her life of course, but she could take some of her frustrations out on this stupid man.

Pointing her finger at the chandelier it became enveloped in green flames and then she made a fist and pumped it her arm and the heavy metal-wrought chandelier crashed down on the Undying librarian sending up a pillowing cloud of dust. Then with a twist of her wrist it rolled off him, but then with a smirk she raised it up again and for good measure slammed it down on him again.

She raised him up with a snap of her fingers and then with flaming green energy enveloping him brought him face to face with her. She regarded the battered and slightly charred man with her face now a mask of friendliness, as the Undying man coughed out a puff of smoke and tried to apologize with damaged lungs and broken ribs.

"Oh I'm sure you had no idea who I was and you're very sorry," she said in a condescending baby voice while smiling at him as she reached behind her and scooped up the almanac from its resting place. "Well sorry won't cut it," she said with a feral grin and an explosion of green energy from the palm of her hand send him flying through several rows of shelves. Kicking up a storm of dust and flying paper.

"Sorry Giles," she whispered seeing the destruction of the library, knowing her old friend and girlfriend's Watcher hated nothing more than seeing books destroyed. Making her way past the broken shelves she pushed through the heavy iron doors and out into the Roman summer. Looking around she stuffed the small book into her backpack and then with a quick glance around vanished into a group of tourists walking past.

A few hours after her phone-call with Willow, Buffy found herself in the dead of night entering the City she'd left in flames a year ago. The engine of the Austin Martin gifted to her by Alfeo purred as she slowed down to a crawl outside the club that served as her benefactor's seat of power in the city.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered as parked up behind the club and pulled her black coat and short sword out of the backseat. Slipping gracefully out of the car her black tennis shoes hitting the wet pavement as she shuddered at being back here where it had all gone both so horrible wrong, but also had turned out not so bad. Shaking her head at her own thoughts, how messed up had her live become if not so bad could be considered a good thing?

Making her way around to the front of the building she saw one half of the Wonder Twins, Alfeo's mute and muscular bodyguards, working the front door. The tall man gave her a gentle smile as she looked up at him, cutting in front of the line of people, one man protesting it until he was shushed down by his friends who recognized her.

"Hey Mango, is the boss in?" she asked in a casual voice like she'd never even left and the tall man in black grunted and let her in, but not before she put her hand on his arm and flashed him her beaming fanged smile. "Thanks," she said and kissed him on the cheek causing a blush.

With her coat swirling around her legs she made her way through the club. The place hadn't change much. There was some new décor and the fashion of the customers was slightly different. Taking a deep breath she made her way to Alfeo's office in the back, but a silky smooth voice cut her off.

"What brings you back from that lovely hellhole of a town you call home?" a raven haired and porcelain face woman asked her stepping out of the shadows wearing formfitting red top and painted on black jeans.

"Hello Luna," Buffy smiled at the woman who had embraced her. She would always be suspicious of the seductive and mercurial Undying female, but she thought that maybe being friendly would throw her off.

Experience had thought her to be careful around Luna who had after all on more than one occasion tried to tempt her away from Willow. Still that had been before the red-head had set her straight by threatening in no uncertain terms to fry the fanged temptress and before a certain doe-eyed witch entered the Undying woman's life. Yet better safe than sorry was a good way of acting around Luna Isabella Anne Largo.

"I've missed you, you know," Luna said with a gentle smile putting her hand on Buffy's arm in a rare show of genuine affection. "And where may I ask is your little witch?" she asked looking around with a bit of a worried look on her regal face.

"In Rome on Coven business," the Slayer replied off-handedly knowing better than to give out too much around the raven haired temptress. Then she broke into a wicked little grin and Luna tensed up as if waiting for the verbal blow to come. "Speaking of witches, where is Emily?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and then waggled her eyebrows.

"Don't give me that look, she's fine and busy with her studies I assure you," Luna replied sounding almost offended at the suggestion put forth in the Slayer's expression.

"Don't tell me the great Luna Largo hasn't bedded her prey yet?" the blond Slayer asked in on a grandiose tone of voice, but looking like she might burst out laughing at how uncomfortable her sire was looking.

"It's complicated, alright?" was the terse reply from the usually composed and unflappable Undying. Looking at the door to Alfeo's office and then back at the almost blushing woman, she decided gossip was more important and pulled Luna into an empty booth.

"Oh this is just too juicy, come on spill it, sire," Buffy grinned using the Undying title for the woman to goat her further. She leaned over the table between them putting on an eager puppy-dog like face as she enjoyed the chance to watch the older woman squirm. Well there was little outward sign of Luna's discomfort, but Buffy knew how to read her.

"None of your business my childe. Now, why is your ever present Willow in the Holy City?" Luna changed the subject rather firmly, clearly not enjoying being grilled about the rather peculiar relationship she shared with the doe-eyed girl who Willow had mentored.

"Fine, fine. Willow is in Rome hunting down some old book. I wanted to go with, but she said me there could cause 'problems' with the 'Coven' if I found out too much about their super-secret agenda," Buffy explained using air-quotes liberally with a bit of a pout, but also playing up the valley-girl act because she knew it annoyed Luna to not end.

"See that wasn't so hard. Now why are you here, really?" Luna asked her face shifting from a seductive look into that of a concerned friend.

"People keep asking me things," Buffy replied and a waitress brought them two glasses of Amber Nectar.

"Asking you what things? Articulate your thoughts girl or has being back in that suburban hellhole rotted away what brains you had?" Luna joked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ever since I…" Buffy said drawing her thumb across her neck. "…your brother... Well, I thought going back home would be the end of all this Undying Royalty business," she explained.

"I think I understand now. The Undying population around Sunnydale has sent somebody, probably very wholesome looking, to you asking you to lead them and help solve all their problems?" Luna asked and the blond girl nodded her head. "Well guess you got a tough decision to make then," the raven haired woman said and finished her drink before slipping out of the booth.

"Gee you're a big help," Buffy noted as the Undying only smiled and reached out, stroking her face gently, almost maternally.

"I can't tell you what to do. We don't have that sort of relationship," she said and then grinned. "You can thank your girlfriend for that," she added and Buffy couldn't help herself from smiling at the woman's persistence. "Here, if you take the job call me," she said finally slipping her business card into the inside of Buffy's jacket while at the same time getting a good feel of the younger woman's breasts. After all, what was the point of being immortal if you didn't live dangerously?

She slipped away before Buffy could call her on it and the Slayer sighed and fished out the card. At first she was about to throw it away, but then she thought against it and put it back in her pocket as she made her way to the back. Standing guard outside the door to Alfeo's office was the other half of the Wonder Twins.

"Here to see the boss," she said and kissed him on the cheek. She did miss her two coffee bringing and report baring lugs somewhat. The tall man-mountain nodded his head and grunted with a smile for her to go in.

"Alfie. Got a minute?" she asked politely slipping into the office, she could see the back of Alfeo's chair and he seemed to looking at recordings of her arrival on a row of monitors that filled the space behind his desk. The chair slowly turned around and she froze as a very familiar voice greeted her.

"Sorry Slayer, but Alfeo took a little holiday," the familiar voice said as the chair finished its turn revealing a grinning and suit wearing Spike. "But what can your mate Spike do for you pet?" he asked spreading his arms out in front of him.