TITLE: The Slayerettes

SERIES: Poltergeist (two) - sequel to "Remedial Education" (one)

AUTHOR: Scorpio

scorpiofic@aol.com

ARCHIVE: Scorpio's Constellation, WWOMB & RCoS.

WEBSITE: http://members.tripod.com/sentinel-cat/Scorpio/ You can find the prologue and the first part here. This will make more sense if you've read them first.

FANDOM: Xena:WP/Buffy:tVS

SPOILERS: Buffy - Season 1 through 5, Xena - all

PAIRING: None (eventually Spike/Xander and Ares/Xander)

RATING: PG-13 (series: NC-17 overall)

WARNING: Dead Strife

DISCLAIMER: Xena boys owned by Flat Earth Prod and Buffy boys owned by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Old temperamental computer owned by Scorpio.

SUMMARY: Strife!Ghost decides to spy on the Slayerettes.



Poltergeist: The Slayerettes
by Scorpio


It took Strife the rest of the day and all through that night before he felt recovered from his battle of wills with the red-haired witch named Willow. While he wouldn't want to exert that kind of effort very often, he felt that it had been well worth it. He'd learned so much; both things that would interest Ares and things that he would need to know in order to keep his "host" alive and healthy while he sought out his Uncle's prison.

He wanted very much to find these...Slayerettes that he'd seen in the witch's mind, but he knew that they generally gathered right before sunset. As it wasn't even midmorning yet, Strife decided that since he was still here in the computer lab, he was going to take advantage of that fact and find someone to teach him about these machines that seemed to be a necessity for modern life.

Making sure that his presence was still cloaked, Strife wandered among the rows of long tables set up with the funny looking machines. From what he could tell just by looking over the shoulders of the various students, there were four main components to these computer things. There was a box unit that some of the students stuck flat round shiny disks into. There was the big box that had a shiny flat mirror type thing in front. Although it didn't reflect the person's face when they looked into it, instead it reflected all sorts of things. Some box's reflected a lot of words in the language that he was still learning, other's reflected pictures and some reflected graphs and charts. One seemed to be in some strange language that he didn't yet recognize or know but which the student referred to as "damned code". The third component seemed to be a long narrow piece that held a bunch of little buttons that were scribed with various symbols. Then there was the smallest piece which was a hand held unit that slid across the tabletop.

It was all very interesting and confusing. The computers seemed to be made out of some substance that he didn't recognize and he was very curious. A mental image of one of those Egyptian house pets into his head...those cat things. He liked them when he had met some...they had a nice healthy curiosity too. Still, just watching wasn't teaching him enough. He needed to slip into someone's mind if he really wanted to understand.

Silently, he weighed his need to be able to comprehend this new world with the need to be refreshed enough later to go spy on the Slayerettes. Finally, his curiosity won out and he chose a student at random. Slowly and carefully, Strife slid his incorporeal essence inside of the boy with the graphs. The boy gave a slight lurch on his chair and then straightened up with a groan. The girl next to him flashed him an irritated look, but then she went back to her own work.

The boy; Chris, was a science major that specialized in chemistry and he was trying to prove himself here at the local university in the hopes that his grades would be good enough to get into a larger and more prestigious school. A lot of the things running around in the boy's head were things that Strife all ready knew, after all, he had been educated by the Council of Twelve and this stuff was right up Apollo's ally. What was truly interesting, was that *mortals* knew this stuff now. Two-thousand years ago, the fact that wood burned and stone didn't was about as much knowledge as a mortal cared to know.

Pushing that concept aside to ponder later, Strife specifically sought out the memories in the boy's mind that regarded computers. He was familiar with the basic idea of how a computer worked and how the programs worked. He also learned that "code" was how most people thought of the language that the computers themselves used. Chris was also familiar with the various programs that he needed to do his school projects with and he was a fan of various computer games, but that was about it.

Sliding back out of Chris' mind, Strife felt a wave of relief wash over him. It was tiring to do that. Granted, Chris wasn't anywhere near as strong-willed as the witch had been, but it still took a lot of energy to dominate the will of a mortal and search through their memories so he could absorb the knowledge and skills that he wanted. Still, he wasn't as tired and worn out as he thought that he would be.

With a ghostly grin on his face, Strife slid back over to the student who had been muttering about code before. The girl was frowning in concentration and she was still muttering in irritation. With a silent giggle, Strife slid into her mind. Almost immediately, the girl seemed to notice him and instead of trying to evict him the way the witch did or to access his mind as the Political Professor had done, this girl tried to file him to the back of her head for later contemplation. Apparently, he was a distraction that she didn't have time for. He found that to be amusing, but he refused to be tucked into a corner of her, admittedly, well organized mind.

Delving into the girl's thoughts and memories, he found that she was learning to write programs and was all ready pretty good at setting up things called Websites. The programing skills would come in handy and Strife paid careful attention to those memories, however, the entire concept of the Internet fascinated him and he promised himself to spend some time "surfing the net" once he had his host.

Reminding himself of his real mission, Strife pulled out of the girl's mind only to find that he'd been in there a lot longer than he had planned. He was exhausted despite the fact that he'd gotten a small jolt of energy when she had looked up at the clock and realized that she had daydreamed through her study time and her class.

With a tired grin and loosing the ability to keep himself cloaked since he was so worn out, Strife floated out of the computer lab and drifted aimlessly down the hall merely looking for some place dark and quiet. Finally coming across a small janitor's closet, Strife settled in and let his mind rest.

Hours later, Strife made his way out of the school. He didn't try and conceal himself as he wandered the darkened streets. His ghostly form glowed and wavered and sparkled as he drifted from shadow to streetlight to shadow once again. He had given a good fright to one pair of young teens and had startled a non-human that Strife recognized as a "vampire" from the witch's memories.

The vampire had shown as much interest in him as he had in it. It had wandered up to him scratching at it's head in confusion and tried to poke him with one hand. Of course, Strife's body was pure energy and so the vampire's hand had slid through him. It tickled and he giggled, but no sound came out. The vampire, on the other hand, had jumped and looked at it's hand in surprise, then back up at Strife. Curious as to what the vampire had felt, Strife traced one finger in the air while leaving behind a trail of sparkling blue glitter that slowly faded.

WHAT?

The vampire looked at the glittering letters in shock as they slowly dissolved and faded away. When he looked up at Strife, his ridged and fanged face was a mask of confusion.

Rolling his eyes, Strife reached out and touched the vampire's hand. It jumped slightly, but didn't jerk away. Then, Strife traced out more letters in the air.

HURT?

The vampire gaped at him slightly, then shook it's head. "N..no. Just...tingled. Like...like static electricity."

Strife nodded his head and silently pondered the vampire. Non-humans reacted to the Gods differently than normal mortals did. He had learned that the hard way during his years traveling through the Underdark. The ones of this world were usually okay, if odd, but the ones that were alien reacted in surprising and often alarming ways. From what he could tell so far, these vampires were a mix of human and something alien. He wasn't sure what to expect when he had touched one. Still, he figured that it would be best to experiment with a vampire that he had no real interest in instead of accidentally hurting the one he planned to use.

Tapping the vampire on the chest, Strife made sure he had his full attention before writing across the air once again.

FIND ME.

Then, he slowly made himself invisible and silently slid over to the other side of the street. The vampire paused a moment and then turned right in his direction and walked over to stand in front of him again. It reached out and gently touched his shoulder before the fingers slid through his ghostly flesh.

"You went dark. How did you go dark?"

Strife made himself visible and tilted his head in a questioning manner. The vampire explained.

"Now you're back to bluish and sparkly. But before you went dark, like the sparkles were gone and only a wash of cold remained."

Strife grinned. It seemed that the vampire could still sense him even if he couldn't see him, simply because he was colder than the air around him. Interesting. Wondering if it would work, Strife slid his being into the vampire. Instantly, the demon began to panic and fought to evict him. It was a mindless instinctual panic and then, without warning, the vampire exploded around him into a shower of dust that rained through the air.

It was more surprising than tiring. Even though the demon had been frantic at his presence, he hadn't been in there long enough to be tired out before the thing had exploded. However, he had learned enough. One, he couldn't do that to the vampire he planned to have as his host's protector and two, the vampires were the bastard offspring of his Uncle Bacchus' most fervent followers. The bacchae had been depraved, but they hadn't been tainted with alien evil. These vampire's were.

Strife found it sad that the non-humans he remembered so fondly from a hundred of his Uncle's parties had been lost to time and that their legacy had fallen so low. He wondered what form the modern satyrs would take, if any at all. They too had been non-human followers of his Uncle. They, like the bacchae, had been the first to be turned against by their human neighbors after Bacchus' death.

With a sigh, Strife turned and continued on his way.

It didn't take him too long to find the residence that the Slayerettes gathered at to make their plans. It was no different from any of the others around it and that struck Strife as odd. They were, to his way of thinking, a band of mortal warriors that fought against their non-human enemies. It was a scene that he had witnessed several times during his life. However, the mortals that he had known in the past that fought off monsters and tribes of non-humans were either nomadic hero types that were famous and revered across the land such as his Uncle Hercules and his Cousin Xena or they were affiliated with some God or Goddess and operated either out of a Temple or a stronghold with the local populace supporting them or paying some sort of tribute. These people did what they did for free and without acknowledgment or any accolades. It was odd to his way of thinking, but strangely enough, it seemed to make a wellspring of respect for them well up in his chest. He himself had rarely received any kind of gratitude or outpouring from either his family or the mortals. Only his Uncle Ares had any appreciation for his skills and mind. It made him feel closer to them in some small way.

With a smirk, Strife shook off his self-indulgent introspection and forced himself to focus on his task. He was here to learn more about the dangers of the modern world and to scope out the host he had chosen. He had seen the boy in the witch's mind, but he wanted to learn more about him up close and personal before he simply put his plan into action.

Silently sliding through the front door, Strife made sure to stay invisible to mortal eyes. Getting his first look at the room, he immediately noticed that it was full of books and it seemed warm and cozy. There were five people in the room. Two girls, two boys and one older man. One of the girls, a blonde, gave Strife an odd case of the goosebumps and she turned to look in his direction with a strangely confused expression on her face. Holding his nonexistent breath and staying very still, he waited until she finally shrugged and looked away. With a dizzy little wave of relief, Strife turned his attention back to the room.

The red-haired witch from the other day was there and she was speaking to the others. She was a tiny thing, but she bounced and babbled and jiggled about in a display of hyperness that Strife enjoyed watching even though he was slightly concerned about what she was actually saying.

"No, Giles. I don't think that the...spirit or whatever was trying to hurt me or even to...um, *keep* me. I got the impression that it was, uh, *looking* for something. Something specific. I tried to kick it out of my head, but it fought back."

The older man looked at her sternly for a moment and then shook his head and removed his glasses from his face. Pulling out a soft cloth, he began to polish them gently. "Willow...the fact that if fought you to stay in control concerns me. Just because this...apparition gave you the impression that it didn't want to injure you doesn't mean that it wouldn't." The older man sighed at the pouting witch before returning his glasses to his face. "Did you sense what it *was* looking for?"

The witch tilted her head to the side and considered the question for a moment. "No, not really. I think that it was mostly curious about the world the way a young child is. It wanted to learn. The thing is, it riffled through my memories. I could feel it. It felt like soft cool fingers sliding gently through my brain and these memories would just pop up and flicker behind my eyes." The redhead looked very contrite. "It found all my memories of you guys and what we do."

There was a collective gasp and the others all looked upset, various expressions of worry and anger reflecting on their faces.

"It seemed...surprised and delighted by what it found. I don't think that it chose me specifically to find out about us," she turned to the blonde, "or you Buffy. I think it was looking for something else, but that the idea of vampires and a Vampire Slayer was just so fascinating that it couldn't help but explore."

The blonde was one of the ones who showed the most anger on her face. She reminded Strife of his Uncle Hercules and he briefly wondered where the immortal demigod was now. He was sure that the one-time hero of Greece would just adore Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And if what he'd picked up about the slight blonde from the witch's memories were true, she'd adore him right back.

"So...this demon ghost-thing knows about me? About us?" She turned to the older man. "Giles? How am I supposed to slay a ghost? Even a demon ghost?"

"Well..." the older man stood up and walked over to a shelf of books and pulled one down. He began flipping through it almost absently. "It's hard to say just yet. We...we aren't even sure exactly what it is we're are dealing with. Once we know what it is, we can formulate a plan. We might have to banish it...send it home, so to speak."

Strife frowned. He didn't like the sound of that. Dead mortals that escaped from the Underworld could easily be banished back to his Uncle Hades' realm with the proper magic spell or with the proper prayer requests. However, he was a dead God, not a dead mortal, so he didn't know if the banishing rituals would work. He didn't want to find out, however, just in case it did. Hades was sure to have found and fixed the tear that he had escaped through and he didn't want to wait another two-thousand years to find another.

The blonde Slayer's voice pulled his mind back to the present. "So...Wills. What did this thing look like? How would I recognize it?"

The redhead frowned. "Um...I didn't see it, so I can't tell you that. I just felt it. It was...cold, I guess. Not painful cold, like frost and ice, but cold like jumping into a pool at the deep end on a hot day. It was also oddly gentle. I got the feeling that it could have hurt me when it was inside my mind, but it didn't want to do that. It tried to stop me from pushing it out, but it didn't...I don't know, hurt me. I mean, all of my memories are still *there* and I didn't end up with a headache or a nosebleed or anything. I was just really tired out." The girl shrugged. "I don't know if that's because it didn't want to risk damaging my memories before it could watch them or if it was just afraid that it might hurt me because it's nice and likes humans."

Strife snorted silently. Most people would not consider him nice. He had killed plenty of mortals in his time and he'd injured and annoyed a whole lot more. Granted, he usually had a higher purpose and a reason for doing so, but the violence and messiness of it didn't stop him from doing his job. That wasn't to say that he didn't *like* mortals. He did. They were endlessly fascinating to him and he had had many favorites that he liked to revisit again and again. He smirked as he recalled the two mortals that had followed his Cousin Xena around; Joxer and Gabrielle. He had played more mischief on those two than any other mortals with maybe the exception of his Uncle Hercules' friend Iolaus.

The older man cleared his throat and everyone looked up at him expectantly. "Yes. Well, I suggest that Buffy and Riley go and patrol. Keep an eye out for any cold spots or humans that are acting strangely. If you find any of these, let us know for it could be another manifestation of this...apparition. I shall stay here with Willow and Xander so that we can research. I want to concentrate of various demons that specialize in different forms of telepathy as well as the possibility that it may be a poltergeist."

Strife had perked up at the name Xander and searched the room. It was the other boy, the one *not* being used as a comfy chair by the Slayer. Despite his bizarrely colored clothing, the boy had easily blended into the background until he drew attention to himself. Strife studied him. He was a big person considering his ability to meld with his surroundings. Dark hair and dark eyes and full pouty lips. He was very easy to look at and if his mind was as he hoped it would be according to what the witch thought, than Strife felt that the boy would be a perfect host. Strong and not so smart, with a desire to please and a self confidence problem.

"Ah...G-Man. Poltergeist? You mean like in the movie where those ghosts haunt everyone and try to kill them?"

The older man frowned. "I've *asked* you not to call me that." The boy shrugged in a semi-apology. "And yes. That *is* what I mean, although that movie wildly exaggerated the typical poltergeist haunting. Most poltergeists are ghosts that feel that they have unfinished business. They are mischievous and like to trick the living, but they are rarely dangerous. Frightening and confusing, yes. But not necessarily evil."

The Slayer frowned, "How can they not be evil, Giles?"

"Most...most of them feel that they have unfinished business in the living world, as I said. They can't rest in peace because of this fact, so they haunt the living in some sort of desperate attempt to reconcile whatever it is that is so disturbing them. If they were murdered, perhaps they want their killer brought to justice. If they were working on a project, they might want to see it finished. If they had a family, perhaps they want to keep them safe. Poltergeists only rarely do damage to anything. Mostly because it takes a lot of energy to effect the physical world. But usually they are happy to just trail along after someone or to haunt a specific area."

The boy frowned. "Okaaaaay. So, we find the ghost and...what? Find out why it's haunting the University?"

The older man nodded. "It's possible that would work. If it was something simple to fix, than the spirit might finally be able to rest in peace. If not, we would have to banish it."

"Ahhh."

The blonde slayer stood up and the boy whose lap she'd been sitting in stood up behind her. "Well, we'll start our patrol now. Good luck on the research. If we find anything out of the usual, we'll let you know."

Silently, Strife followed the Slayer out of the door and into the night. He had a lot to think about. He watched as the two mortals walked off down the street and considered all that he had heard.

One thing was for certain, he *didn't* want to be banished. So, at this point in time, he felt it would be best if he avoided contact with the witch and the older man. Even though the girl didn't think that he was dangerous, she might want to banish him simply to use the spell. Witches were like that.

The boy though, he wondered if he could use the whole "poltergeist" story to his advantage. If he showed himself to the boy, maybe he could convince him to *want* to help. After all, it was a whole lot easier and less tiring if his host was willing to be possessed by him. The only problem was, he wasn't quite sure where this town was, nor did he know where Ares was. Sure, he knew that he was in Sunnydale California and that California was in the United States, but that meant very little to Strife. These weren't locations that he'd ever even heard of before.

He figured that Ares was somewhere in Greece. It was even possible that his tomb was outside of the borders of Greece because it was on land that once belonged to the Greeks, but didn't anymore. He knew that the closer he got to Ares, the easier it would be to home in on his energy, even with Strife being a ghost and Ares trapped in a tomb. Still, how far away from Greece *was* this Sunnydale California? How would they have to travel to get to where he needed to be? And would the boy be willing once he knew what it was that Strife wanted?

Somehow, Strife thought that the boy would be willing to help, but that there would be a lot of problems to overcome. He had the feeling that traveling would just be one of them.



END PART 3