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Chapter 9

Several days later, Anne picked up the ringing telephone to find Giles on the other end. The reensouling spell had been translated, and they were ready to cast it over the dark-haired vampire. Thankfully they didn't need to be in Sunnydale to perform the spell. So, they were casting it from their location in Los Angeles.

Angel's welcome back into the fold was less than pleasant. He laid the blame at Anne and William's feet, unable to take responsibility for his own actions. He was so focused on bad mouthing Spike to the Scoobies and Buffy, he didn't realize that Anne was studying his every move. She finally got tired of his shit and staged an intervention. William and Spike escorted the older vamp to the edge of Sunnydale and left him with the parting message of 'don't call us, we'll call you'.

Anne and William had one more thing to discuss with Buffy, and that was the onset of Joyce's headaches and subsequent brain tumor. The warning hit the younger Slayer hard enough that she talked Joyce into having a full exam the following week. Anne and William were surprised that the tumor was already in its starting phase. They both decided to make sure they used this information in the other dimensions by contacting RoseSeri and having the angelic lawyer pass it along to the other Guardians when she talked to them.

Anne, William, and their companions prepared for their next jump much better than their last one. This time they had backpacks filled with gear to take with them. They all said good-bye to their counterparts and new friends before making the leap through the swirling green vortex.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anne landed with a loud grunt, and she realized that she was alone. Dang it, I got separated from the others. She got to her feet, dusted off her behind, and looked around while she tried to get her bearings. She realized that she was in the middle of Wilkins Park in Sunnydale. Gee where else would I be? Anne realized the sun was setting. She whirled around when she heard someone coming up behind her.

"I'm sorry, Miss." The police officer looked the petite woman over carefully. It was still sunny enough for him to feel safe around her. "You need to get inside. There is a dusk curfew, you know."

"I'm new in town," Anne said politely. "No one said anything to me about a curfew." She scrunched her face. "I don't have a place to stay yet." She found the early curfew very odd. She didn't remember there ever being one enforced at dusk before.

"If you go over to the high school, there is a shelter there for anyone caught out after dark," the policeman informed her while he pointed in the direction of the school building. "Just ask for Mr. Giles."

"Um, okay." Anne worried her lip with her teeth. "Could I ask why the curfew is in place?"

"There's a gang of PCP druggies terrorizing the town." The officer looked around warily. "They only come out at night. In fact, I need to get home now. You better get to the high school right now!" With that last little warning, he hurried off in the direction of the housing area next to the park.

William, where are you guys? Anne called out with her mind. Sunnydale is in bad shape here.

The rest of us are in Vegas, luv. William's voice echoed in the Slayer's head. Anyanka says that we can't transport there, because you have to take care of somethin' on your own there.

Oh peachie Anne huffed. There's a dusk curfew and a 'gang of PCP druggies' terrorizing the town. The quotes were apparent in her tone of voice. When William didn't answer right away, Anne realized that he was talking to Anyanka, Dee and D.G.

Anyanka says that in the Wishverse that she created for the Cheerleader that there was a curfew, William said informatively. She's sure we're not in that dimension, but something may of happened to make it similar.

What was Cordy's wish? Anne asked. She had to wait a few seconds for William to return her answer.

She wished you had never came to Sunnydale. This allowed old bat face to emerge unimpeded.

Gotcha. This should be fun, Anne muttered sarcastically. She started out at a brisk walk towards the high school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mr. Giles?" A crisp female voice echoed off the walls.

"Yes?" Giles looked up to see the door guard, Miranda Silver, standing in the library doorway. "What can I do for you, Miranda?" The dark-haired woman had arrived several weeks before with the witches from the coven. She had proved to be a good fighter shortly there after.

"There's a young woman at the front door," Miranda said. "She passed the tests to prove she's not a vamp, but she caused Serina's detector to go all haywire." She heaved a sigh. "She said that she really needed to talk to you, Mr. Giles."

"I'll be along in a moment, Miranda." Giles waited for the woman to leave before he carefully put the notebook he was writing in away in its drawer. While he walked down the empty hallway towards the front of the school, he again wondered why God and the Council had abandoned them.

"Hi, Giles." A perky voice greeted him. "Care to tell me what's the what?"

"B-B-Buffy," Giles stuttered. "B-But you're dead." He blinked in surprise before he carefully studied the girl in front of him. No, this was no girl. This was a woman, a seasoned warrior, by the look of her. There were fine lines at the corner of her eyes, and she had lost the baby fat that his Slayer had still carried at the time of her death. However, some intuitive part of him told him that she was indeed a version of Buffy Summers.

"Well, I do get the dead part. Been there, done that," Anne said cheerily. "Used to have the gravestone to prove it."

"You're not my Buffy," Giles finally announced. "Maybe we can compare timelines to see where they became different." He ushered Anne inside, and together they walked down the hall towards the library. Behind them, Miranda went back to guarding the door.

"Well, you can start by telling me the date and calling me Anne." The Slayer eyed her surroundings. "Since we're in this particular high school, I'd have to say the Mayor hasn't tried to ascend?"

Giles looked startled for a moment before he said, "No, the Mayor hasn't shown any sign of trying to ascend. He's been too busy trying to hold back the Master from taking over Sunnydale."

"So, Buffy died and the Master is free? The Council didn't send Kendra or Faith to try and take him down?" Anne paused at the library door, and she waited for Giles to open it for her.

"Yes, Kendra was here, but she died at the hands of the Master's minions." Giles shook his head sadly. "Travers refused to send the following Slayer here."

"Well, Travers always was an idiot," Anne muttered.

Wanker, chimed in her eavesdropper.

Anne giggled at William's assessment of the Head Watcher. She was glad they hadn't been involved when she'd turned eighteen. Anne was sure that William would have made all those involved with the disaster sorry for ever messing with her. She noticed the odd look on Giles' face and decided to tell him about her companions. "I'm not traveling alone. With me are my mate, my sister Dawn, Anyanka, and a future version of you that will really teach you a lesson about drinking with old mates from your Ripper days." She moved to the library table where she sat down.

Giles was stumped by her information. His Buffy didn't have a sister, and he wondered who Anyanka was. He certainly hoped that the mate that she mentioned wasn't Angel. There was something about the ensouled vampire that just rubbed him the wrong way these days. "Your mate?"

"Don't worry, Giles, it's not Angel." Anne reassured the Watcher.

"Tell me about your fight with the Master." Giles grabbed some paper and a pen from the counter. "My Buffy hit myself and Jenny over the head and presumably went after the Master by herself. Several hours later, Angel came to us. He said that she had been turned by the Master, and that he had to stake her."

"Well, unless something changed drastically here, the Master never turned me." Anne wrinkled her forehead in thought. "He thralled me, bit me, and threw me in a puddle. I drowned. Angel lead Xander into the lair, and Xander revived me."

"Really? Quite interesting. Since you know who Kendra is, this was obviously enough to call forth a new Slayer." Giles jotted some thoughts down on paper.

"Yeah." Anne shrugged her shoulders. "After Xander revived me, I went to the high school and killed the Master. I met Kendra about eight months later when she came to Sunnydale. Drusilla killed her and that called Faith, who wasn't exactly the poster child for goodness." Anne rolled her eyes at the thought of her sister Slayer when she was first called. It had only been in the past year that the two females had actually come to see eye to eye on things.

"You've met Drusilla and Spike, then?" Giles asked. He looked up in time to see a flash of jealousy cross Anne's face.

"Yeah, I've met Spike and the ho," Anne grumbled. "They rolled into Sunnydale about four months after I killed the Master. I have no clue where she is, but William's with me."

"He's with you?" Giles' jaw dropped in astonishment. "You mean William the Bloody's your mate?"

"Yep!" Anne smiled broadly. "The dance was long and painful, but in the end he's all mine."

"Hello, Watcher." A familiar voice echoed through the library. "You really need to keep the back way guarded, you know." A pale, bleached blond figure swaggered out of the back bookshelves. He stopped when he saw the blond woman sitting with Giles. "Who is this pretty young thing?"

Giles looked from Anne to Spike in confusion. Then, it dawned on him that this was his Spike. He shuddered at the implication of that thought. Giles realized that the two blonds were speculatively studying each other. He wondered how this was going to go over with Spike. He waited while Anne rose to her feet.

"My name's Buffy Summers, but I go by Anne," the Slayer said politely. She didn't want to alienate her mate's counterpart. Something told her that he was going to be very important in this dimension very soon.

"Heard of you," Spike said. "Heard you were a really good Slayer." He leered at the woman, and he inhaled sharply. He stepped forward to sniff again. "I know your smell. I've never met you, but I know your smell."

"May I again mention that the sniffy thing is kinda gross?" Anne wrinkled her nose. To tell the truth, she was actually getting used to the sniffing thing that William and his counterparts seemed to enjoy doing.

"Spike?" Giles looked at the vampire questioningly. "Why are you back in Sunnydale and what do you mean you know her smell?"

Spike sneered at the Watcher before he answered, "I'm back in good ole Sunnyhell because Dru said I needed to come back and take care of her little sister. Angelus smells just like this bint here."

Giles closed his eyes in sadness. "Spike, the Buffy from this dimension died before you came to Sunnydale. There is no way that Angel would smell like her."

"But, I didn't die at the hands of the Master in my dimension." Anne pointed out. "And, do you have any proof that the Master turned my counterpart? Angel and his soul aren't goodie-goodie, you know."





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