There Be Dragons Here!

Danny Harbison

Pairing: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Xander Harris/OMC

PG-NC17

NEW

Archive: Fine with me.

I would like feedback.

E-mail address for feedback:: cobalt-blue@rockemail.com

Other websites: none yet

Disclaimers: Buffy and company are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I don't own them, I'm just playing with them.

Other characters belong to me. I do own them.

Notes: This is my first attempt at writing slash. My best friend has been after me to write some for along time, but there are few fandoms that interest me enough to want to write in that universe, and fewer still characters that attract my attention enough. Xander Harris is an exception to the rule though.

This story takes place from a point with an alternate ending to the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The following differences occurred at the end of the episode. Glory did not scramble Tara's brains. Anya died. Buffy was severely wounded, as was Xander.

Summary: Remember that dragon in the sky when Glory met her end?

Warnings: first-time, death, AU, underage.

Xander awoke to sound of his phone ringing, awakening him from a dream of a strange golden-eyed boy. Rolling over he fumbled for the phone, knocked over the lamp and set off his alarm.

Finally getting the receiver to his face, and then turning it around the correct way he answered it sleepily, "Sunday, no work Sunday."

"Xander, get over here. Willow and Giles want to see you."

"Who? What ? Where?" he muttered into the phone.

"It's me Tara, we've got a problem. Giles wants to see you at the shop right away."

Sitting up in bed, pushed his brown hair back, " What's up?"

He tried to force his mind awake. Since the conflict with the hell bitch Glory, Sunnydale's supernatural population has been unusually quite, except for the golden-eyed blond haunting his dreams. He'd almost died in that conflict. To be honest, he would have if Tara and Willow hadn't intervened, and drawn on the strange gate energy to heal him.

"You remember that dragon that came through Glory's gate?"

"Uh… yeah," Xander vaguely remembered seeing the outline of a dragon flying over Sunnydale that night. "To be honest with you I don't remember much about it. I was kinda' busy dying then."

In the background, he heard Giles, "Tell him just to get over here. He might be in danger."

"This is Sunnydale, what's so unusual about that?"

He could here the phone being passed. Giles' voice came over the receiver, "Xander, listen. That spell Willow and Tara cast drew on some unusual gate energy. I think it my have linked you to some force that came through the gate. We think it might be looking for you. "

"Wait, wait, wait, you mean something that came through the gate might be looking for me," he tried to wrap his sleep befuddled mind around the concept, "because Tara and Willow borrowed energy from the gate to heal me."

"Not from the gate Xander," suddenly Willow's voice came over the phone, "from something that was coming through it. Something very powerful."

Xander swung his feet over the side of the bed, "Why come after me then."

"Because we stole energy from it, to heal you," she told him. "It may have decided it wants its energy back. Just get over here."

Xander stood and pulled on his pants, "Okay. I'll be over there in ten minutes." Xander had avoided the magic shop these past few months. There were too many memories of Anya there. Granted, Xander realized that the two were well on their way to no longer being a couple, but still the shop brought back memories hedidn't want to deal with.

*
Willow put down the phone as Buffy entered the shop. "Hey all, what's up?"

"Ah nothing much but the possibility of a new big bad evil that may be out for yours and Xander's blood." Willow replied

"Geez Willow, breathe and say that again," Buffy told her, put down her purse and picked up an apple from a bowl at one of the tables. "And what does Xander have to do with this one?"

"Willow thinks that what ever it is, might be coming after him," Tara told her. "Because of the spell that was used to heal him."

Buffy shrugged, "so point me toward and let's get to slaying."

Giles removed his glasses and started polishing them. Not a good sign in Willow's mind, "I'm afraid it's not quite that simple.

This gate energy seemed to cross several dimensions. Not the least of which is one where the council has spent a great deal of effort keeping sealed from our realm."

"Even meaner things than a Hellmouth?" Buffy asked.

Giles leaned against the table. "Trust me. They're much meaner things than those coming from a Hellmouth."

"Such as?" Buffy asked biting into the apple.

"Dragons, that take over worlds, and kill the avatars of gods," Giles told her dead pan.

Buffy shrugged, "that's okay. We just killed a god."

"Glory compared to these beings are…" Giles actually struggled to find the words, "let's just say she'd lose."

"And they're after the Xan-man," Buffy said.

"We think so," Willow told her.

"Nope, evil bad guys can't have our Xan-man," Buffy shook her head. "Guess we'll have to do some slaying."

"You don't seem to be listening, Buffy," Giles shook his head, "which isn't all that unusual. This is one that we're going to have to take very seriously. If Kaja-nel's forces have been able to breach into our world, you my dear are going to need some substantial assistance. Compared to a dragon, the demons with which we've dealt, the mayor included, are nothing."

"We talking a winged lizards with bad breath here, G-man?" Xander askes walking in.

Giles sighed, "how many times have I asked you not to call me that? And yes we're discussing winged, fire-breathing, shape-shifting, spell-casting, vampire eating, although that's one of their better qualities, lizards."

"So what can we do about it?" Buffy asked coming off the table. "I mean besides sitting here shaking in our boots."

Willow took down a book, "Magda Fiori says that in their home realm, they managed to take over world and enslave humanity for thousands of years, until a group of hunters calling themselves the dragonborn, stole some of their power and led a rebellion.

Supposedly the war continues to this day." Willow looked down, "According to this, it's hidden from humanity much like what we do. But their war has been going on for over ten thousand years."

"So why don't we just find the dragon and send it home?" Xander asked.

"Because it takes more energy that we have. Its arrival here was nothing more than a fluke of the gates. Somebody was probably doing something on their end that coincided with it," Giles told her.

"So by sending Glory home, we called it here?" Tara commented.

"No," Giles told her, "I've estimated we've had over a hundred gates open up. We have no idea how many those opened, which opened, which opened, all of which dumped their denizens out here."

Buffy shook head, "then why has Sunnydale been so quiet lately? I mean if had this sudden invasion of other worlds. Why no demons lately?"

"Maybe they couldn't live here," Willow found herself feeling sorry for them. "Poor things might have choked to death on our atmosphere."

"Can we say I feel so sorry for them?" Xander told, "No, really, I really feel bad because there are no green scaly things shambling down the streets screaming for brains."

"Xander," Dawn asked, "have you been watching cheesy horror movies again?"

Giles interjected, "Buffy's got a point. It has been rather quiet, even with having a huge gate opened recently."

"What do you want me to do G-man? I mean, nothing's bothered me so far?"

Giles sighed, "Just keep your eyes open, Xander. Stay alert. You don't want to end up caught unawares."

"You woke me out of a good sleep, no scratch that you just woke me, to tell me to be careful,"

Willow smiled, "something like that."

"You're evil. You know that, don't you?"

"That's it. I'm telling Tara about the frogs," Xander winked at her.

"What do you mean scratch that?" Giles asked.

"Scratch what Giles?"

"You haven't been sleeping well lately?"

"Just general nightmares- no I can't say they're nightmares, just dreams about strange people." Xander told him, with distant sound to his voice.

"I keep dreaming about this person with blond hair and gold eyes." Xander told them. "Why? You think it's important?"

Buffy patted him on the shoulder, "It depends on what this blonde is doing with you?" She smiled.

"Now Buff, I don't dream and tell." He winked at her, "Besides, you've go blue eyes." A strange look came across his face, "And you don't fly."

"Xander, this important," Giles broke in, "I need you to tell me everything you can remember about your dreams."

"What's there to tell? I keep dreaming about this blond headed kid who fly's through the air, and does his own version of the slaying thing." He leaned against the table, his arms behind him, "Sort of a boy-slayer. He keeps saying his aunt is coming for him, but if she does, they can't go back." He shook his head, "Or something like. He also keeps talking about something called the Sanguine Cloth and the fire. But I get the feeling that he doesn't mean the kind of fire we're used to."

"Wait a minute!" Willow suddenly remembered something she'd read in Magda's book. Grabbing it, she laid it open on the table, and began to flip until she found the page for which she was looking. "Here it is… A seventh order was once among the dragonborn-a fallen order. They call themselves the Order of the Sanguine Cloth. But they have strayed from the mission, and have become the beings we know as the nosferatu. The enmity between them and the other orders is as great as between the other orders and the dragons."

"Sounds like you're onto to something Willow." Buffy told her. "Keep looking." She turned and faced Xander, "Think Xander, what else can you remember about the dream."

Xander shook his head, "Only that the guy was really sad. Pissed, but sad too. Like when you're really pissed because someone has taken something from you that means a lot, and you know you can't have it back because they've already destroyed it, and killing them won't do any good."

"Yeah, I know," Willow heard hardness in Buffy's voice.

"So what do we do now?" Xander asked Giles.

"We research, we watch, and we wait." He shrugged, "I think your dreams are a pretty good confirmation that something is amiss."

*

After almost a whole day of reading musty old books, Buffy's head felt like it was going to split. She was frustrated, as much from not finding what she was looking for- library research just was not her cup of tea- as from the idea of something threatening her friend. She realized just how much she'd come to rely on her friends. Xander was special among them too. Unlike the rest of the Scooby-gang, he was almost completely normal. He had no magical powers, no slayer abilities, or great age to draw information from. He was just Xander; he'd stood by her when nobody else would. He had even brought her to her senses about Riley, and the thought of something tracking him down made her blood boil. The thought of not finding it, sent ice into her veins.

Just as she thought, she'd reached the point where she was going to hit something, she was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of Willow slamming a book down, "This is getting is us nowhere!" She was close to tears, "there's just not any more information on these things in these things."

"Is that a sentence?" Xander asked her.

"Shut up. I agree with her," Buffy told him. She may not want to see him hurt, but sometimes he made her want to hurt him.

"Yes, your slayership."

"Too bad we just can't watch his dreams," Dawn said.

"I'm not sure I want to go there," Tara told her.

"Just an idea. If this blond haired guy is dominating his dreams, maybe we can get a look at him. You know, then we could all keep an eye out."

"I don't think you I want you guys poking around in my head," Xander said warily. "Especially when I keep having this dream about bikinis, baby oil, and Buffy, Willow and Tara." He scrunched up, "Did I say that out loud?"

Tara threw a pillow at him.

"You know that might not be a bad idea," Willow said.

"What bikinis and baby oil?" Buffy asked her incredulously.

"No, but I know this spell where I can create an image in a mirror a person he's thinking about."

Tara raised an eyebrow and shook a finger at Xander, "You just keep your mind on the guy with gold eyes and off my Willow."

Xander sighed and gave Tara a puppy-dog eyes look, "Ah but Tara, didn't you know I'm secretly in love with you. I'm only waiting for you to declare your undying love for me and run away to Disney World with me."

"Shut up Xander, and come over here," Willow told him.

"Please be gentle, it's the only brain I've got," he replied as he walked over to the wall where the mirror and Willow were.

Buffy had always marveled at how easy magic seemed to come to Willow, and she was not disappointed. With what seemed to be no effort at all for Willow, Buffy watched as Xander's eyes glazed over and mirror became foggy. "Think about the guy in your dreams," Willow told him.

The mist seemed to go through several different male forms, most of them barely clad, many of which Buffy recognized from their years at Sunnydale High. Finally, the image coalesced into the form a small freckled face boy of about fifteen with golden eyes and blond hair.

"Hey I know that guy," Dawn said behind her. "He's that strange new kid in the junior class."

"Got a name for him?" Tara asked, as Willow held the spell.

Dawn seemed to think for a minute, "Let's see, it's a girl's name… Kate… Kelly… Kim. Kim! His name's Kim something."

"Sometimes I think naming children is the most subtle form of child abuse," Xander commented. "What kind of parent would give a boy a girl's name?"

"It was not originally a girl's name." Giles told them. "Besides, it could be short for something else."

"Think Dawn. There have to be at lest fifty Kims at Sunnydale high," Willow tried to coax the young girl to remember the name.

"Yeah, but only one of them is going to be listed as being a boy," Dawn said.

"Maybe, but if it's spelled strangely, like so many names are today, we may not get it."

"So start with a search. Narrow it down by half by limiting the search to boys, and then start with the k's." Xander said.

"Great all I need is advice from Mr. Harris on how to do a computer search," Willow commented as she headed over toward the console.

"Fine, if you don't want my input, I can always leave," Xander said.

Willow logged on and brought up her back- door into the school's records. She really hadn't had to use it very often since they'd all graduated, so was somewhat surprised that it was still there. After several false starts she was finally able to track down the file for which she was looking. Smiling she spun around in her seat, "Got it."

"Well what's it say," Buffy asked.

Willow sighed and turned back to the screen. "Let's see, he's a transfer student, from of all places Alabama. Looks like his records finally came in. Oooh, he's on his way to beating my GPA."

Then something caught her eye, "Oh my."

"That's your not so good Oh My," Xander said.

"He really is an evil nasty?" Buffy asked coming over behind her.

"Guess where his address is?"

"Thirteen, thirteen Mockingbird Lane?" Xander asked.

Willow gave him her best hard stare, "No, the old mansion over on Crawford Street. You know, Angel's old place."

"What do you mean Angel's old place?" Buffy asked her.

"I mean his address is listed as being the same as the mansion on Crawford Street where Angel used to live, or be dead or something." Willow said. She quickly jumped over to her more often used back door to the city records, and called up the deed for the lot.

"Well it is possible," Giles said, "they did sell some property for non-payment of taxes over in that area, a few months ago."

"So what this guy just came in and paid the taxes and gets to keep Angel's place?" Buffy said, "that doesn't seem to be fair."

"It may not be fair, but it is law, Buffy." Giles pointed out.

"Says right here, that Angel was notified that the taxes were past due, and he had so much time to pay them, or the land would be sold at auction." Once again she changed records, "Seems the taxes were paid thirty one days later by a Lane FeyStone- which by the way happens to be you're Kim's middle name."

"Family member, maybe?" Buffy asked.

Willow went back to the school records, "Nope, according to this, his parents are dead and his only living relatives are an aunt and a cousin."

"Who is listed as his guardian?" Giles asked.

"The aunt, a Nichole Stone Bishop," Willow replied.

She turned and faced Giles, "think this is on the up and up?"

"I don't," Buffy said.

Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them, "this is Sunnydale Willow. Nothing here is ever as it seems."

"Well, I'm going over and having a talk with him," Buffy replied heading toward the weapons cabinet.

"Buffy, don't you think that rushing him might be a little premature?" Giles asked.

"Not all. He stole Angel's house."

"No Buffy, he bought Angel's house?" Giles corrected.

"Besides Buffy, why are you still fixated on Angel?" Xander asked.

"I'm not fixated on Angel," Buffy replied turning the dial on the combination lock of the cabinet. "Just this is all too neat to be real. Something is up with this guy, and I'm going to find out what it is." She gave a Xander a strange look, "Besides, he's invading the dreams of a friend of mine."

"Since he's invading my dreams, don't you think I ought to be the one to talk to him," Xander reached around Buffy and closed the locker before she could open it completely. Willow was surprised at Xander's assertiveness.

Buffy turned and faced him, "Okay, then what do you suggest we do?"

"Why don't we watch the place. Check this guy out. See what he's up to." Xander replied, "Have Spike talk to the guys at Willy's. Find out if they know anything."

"As strange as it may seem, Buffy," Giles told her, "I find myself agreeing with Xander."

"Oh no. Giles is agreeing with me," Xander told them, "Willow, isn't that one of the signs of an Apocalypse?"

"It's simply a sign that you are finally, beginning to listen to my counsel," Giles told him.

Xander checked it watch, "look, it's late, and I've got a six-thirty site call tomorrow." He turned toward the door, "I'm going to head home. If you come up with some other ideas let me know."

"Okay, see you later," Willow told him. He turned and waved and gave her a sad smile before leaving. She couldn't help but wonder what going in her oldest friend's head.

As soon as he was out of sight, she turned toward the others, "Has anyone else noticed that Xander hasn't been around a whole lot lately?"

Buffy answered, "He's been busy. He's working a lot. He told me that he just got a promotion at work."

"Maybe that's it, but do you realize that this the first time he's been in the Magic Shop since Glory," Willow told them.

"Why should he come to the one place that reminds him of Anya?" Dawn asked.

"I hadn't thought about that," Willow said. "Has he talked to any of you about her? I know he hasn't mentioned her to me."

"Maybe he's talked to Spike. After all they do live together now," Dawn told them.

"Nope Niblet, he hadn't mentioned her to me." Spike said entering through the back room, "Don't see much of him lately. He's off to work as I'm comin' in, and usually in bed by the time I'm up." The short blond sat down, "What's all this concern about the whelp?"

"You haven't noticed him acting funny?" Willow asked.

"How could you tell with him," Spike replied. He looked over at Willow, "Gee, and how would you feel if you'd had the person you were going to marry, offed right before your eyes?"

"That's what I mean. He hasn't talked to anybody about it. He's keeping it inside," Willow said.

"Here we go again with your talk things out, Red." Spike said, "Not everybody's got to talk to deal." He shook his smiled, "Actually, I'm rather impressed with the Whelp for not draggin' us all through his heartbreak."

"Spike has a point," Giles pointed out, "men don't usually make it point to involve others in their grieving."

"You calling Xander a man?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Giles put his glasses back on, "I do believe I am. He's shown a great deal of maturity of late."

Spike quipped and winked at Dawn, "A few more years and he'll make a quite nice vampire."

Buffy just shook her head, "I just can't see past the Xander I knew in high school. Maybe it's time I reconsidered a few things."

"Now that would be a first," Willow smiled, and ducked the small pillow Buffy threw at her. All in all the conversation gave Willow a lot to think about. She knew that Xander and Anya had been on the outs when Anya died. She wasn't sure what was causing it though. She just wondered if Xander was blaming himself for not patching things up before the end.

*

Several hours later Giles looked up from the book he was reading in frustration. So far, he could only piece together bits and pieces of several prophecies. Some of which it appeared the Watcher's Council had gone to a great deal of trouble to hide.

Many entries seemed to have deliberately removed from his copy of the manuscript.

Fixing himself a cup of tea with a liberal splash of brandy he decided to take a break from the research for a while. Xander didn't seem to be in any distress over the dreams, and for once he might actually have time to do the research correctly. He just hoped that things would stay quiet in Sunnydale until he had finished.

Thinking back over the evening, he found himself surprised at some of the conclusions he had reached. Xander really had changed a great deal over the past year or so. He was slowly metamorphosizing from a socially inept boy with a fresh mouth, to a rather capable young man. Of all the so-called Scooby Gang, Xander was the one that surprised him the most. He had no training or magical powers upon which to rely, but had managed to survive for a long time solely on his wits. Hell, the boy had even managed to survive being possessed twice. Thank God only he and the boy- no scratch that, the man- knew the full ramifications of the possessions.

Draining his cup, he decided to call it night when there was a knock at the door. Out of habit, he pulled a cross down from the wall and opened the door. Nobody knocked on your door at four in the morning in Sunnydale without making your cautious. "Hi, Rupert. Can I come in?" Angel asked.

"My night keeps getting more interesting yet." He stepped back from the door, "Please do." Keeping the cross close at hand, "to what do I owe this visit?" he asked. "Run out of people in L.A. to help?"

Angel just smiled, "I was in town taking care of some business…"

"Oh? Something beyond the back taxes on your former home?" Rupert couldn't resist the jab at him.

"You know about that huh?" Angel asked.

"Yes, well it seems that young Xander may be involved in some manner?"

"Xander bought my house out from under me?" Angel asked.

"No, it is simply that…" he removed his glasses, "it is long and complicated."

"What does Xander have to with my tax situation?" Angel asked.

"It seems on some level Xander may know the individual who procured your former residence." Giles told him. He shook his head, "But how may I help you?"

"I'm on an errand for The Powers That Be," Angel told him.

Giles gestured for him to go on, but remained silent, "It seems something came through the gates that has them rather upset."

"The dragon," Giles said.

"You know about it then?" Angel asked.

"We have our suspicions," Giles told him. "We think it might be somehow connected to the mansion. Or at least to the person who bought," Giles smiled, "you know that really was sloppy of you old man. Not paying your taxes, and all."

"Who knew it would be the one thing Sunnydale would actually keep up on," Angel smiled ruefully.

"Really Angel, there is a saying here in the colonies. The only two things you can count on in life, is death and taxes. I suspect that since you were able to cheat the first one, The Powers That Be wouldn't let you get away with cheating the second."

"Maybe," Angel told him, "But what do know about the dragon?"

"Came through the main gate where Glory died," Giles didn't mention that he was the one who made sure Glory had died.

Angel shook his head, "The Powers claim that something else came through the gate at my house." He shook his head, "I can't get in there anymore though."

"That's because it's no longer yours," Giles told him. Then as if to twist the knife, "You could always see if the new owner will invite you in."

Angel gave him a rueful smile. Giles knew it was petty, but there were some things he was not going to forgive. "Somehow I get the feeling that that's not an option."

"So what do you want me to do?" Giles asked.

"Check out the new owner. See if you can get someone in there to find out if the gate is still open," Angel told him.

"What ever has come through has made the Powers That Be very nervous."

"Why?" Giles asked, "They don't usually take this kind of interest in a Hellmouth." He smiled, "Far be it for me to question The Powers That Be, but don't you think they should offer up more information than just go and look." He shrugged, "But that's just me."

"They are The Powers That Be. Do you honestly think that I would argue with them?" Angel told him.

"Perhaps if someone did, we wouldn't have such a problem."

Giles sighed, "but, since we're already working on it, I'll keep you informed of what we discover. I'll let you know something as soon as we know." Giles walked toward the door, "Perhaps you should head back toward L.A. If you leave now, you should be able to make it before the sun rises." He opened the door and escorted out the silent Angel.

*

Kymbrall sat down on his bed, rolled up the leg of his jeans and dabbed the wound on his calf. It was already healing, but the claw had injected some kind of venom, and that was slowing down the process. It also hurt like hell. He was amazed how much strange stuff went on this city. There were more Sanguine Cloth here than you could shake a stick at, plus several other creatures that he couldn't identify to save his life. Most of them had learned to stay out of his way, while he looked for Mar. Still, a few had tried to make a meal of him on occasion. It was a different kind of fighting than to what he was accustomed, and it challenged him.

Maybe the humans here were different. He'd seen a few that were in what seemed to be relationships with these beings. Relationships, not something he really wanted to think about. If he concentrated on the finding Mar and her clutch, he wouldn't have to think about the other things- the hole in his mind, and the bigger hole in his heart.

Tossing the bloody rag aside, he lay back on the bed to let sleep take him. He would shower tomorrow, but now he needed rest. He closed his eyes and drifted toward sleep, half-afraid that the would see the dark-haired man who had haunted his dreams of late, and yet half-afraid that he wouldn't. The dreams and the man evoked something inside him that seemed to want to overwhelm him.

*

Xander crept past the dark bushes lining the wall of the Old Mansion on Crawford Street. With long practiced silence he made his way to the low wall that surrounded the patio, and then to the French doors leading inside. Carefully he tried the knob and found it unlocked.

Silently he crept through the halls, and down toward the area he knew to be the bedrooms. Stopping at huge dark stained oaken door with a rose carved in the upper panel, he listened. Inside he could hear the soft breathing of someone sleeping. Pushing against the door, again he found it unlocked- nobody locked their interior doors at night- and it slowly swung open to reveal the sleeping form of the boy from his dreams.

Again, he silently glided to the bed where the boy was sleeping peacefully, his bare and hairless chest rising and falling with the steady rhythm of deep sleep. His arm was draped at his side, and Xander could see a scar there. It was shaped like a stylized dragon holding the sun in one claw, and a rose in the other. A sad expression seemed to permeate the boy and something tugged deep into Xander's being. He knew this boy had experienced great sadness in his life, and that sadness seemed to fill the room, even as he slept. Xander wanted to make it all better, but wasn't sure how.

Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out and gently stroked the pale smooth skin. It was soft, and supple, but he could feel the hardness of well-used muscle underneath. A soft moan escaped the boy's lips as his hand brushed the dime-sized nipple.

It was a breathless sigh that became Xander's name.

Xander gently pulled the sheet back to reveal the boy's nude form.

He had the body of an athlete, or someone who worked out on a regular basis. In spite of his youthful appearance there was not an ounce of unneeded fat anywhere on his body, baby or otherwise. Silently Xander removed his clothes and lay down beside him, his hands gently exploring the boy's form.

Again, a sigh escaped, and Xander noticed the hardness beginning to grow between the boy's legs. Slowly, he lowered his head to waiting stiffness, and gently slid the foreskin backwards. A pleasant odor, a mixture of sweat, cotton, and sex met him. He gently blew on the dark purple head, and felt the boy shudder under him, and a small rivulet of liquid escaped the slit. Xander slowly licked it, taking a moment to savor the taste before he took the entire length into his mouth.

Strong hands began to feel down his body, and he felt them reach for the growing stiffness between his own legs. Feeling bolder, he pulled back and used his tongue to wash around the head, enjoying the taste of both the flesh in his mouth-which reminded him of shrimp in both taste and texture- and that of the growing quantity of precum.

He felt his own flesh engulfed in a hot moist vacuum that traveled up and down the length of his cock. At the same time, he felt strong hands kneading the tight muscles of his ass, then a pressure at the entrance and a sharp pain/pleasure as he was penetrated.

Continuing to glide up and down the growing hardness in his mouth, Xander reached under the boys balls- now contracted up close to the base of the his dick, and pushed against the entrance he found there. A deep moan came from one or both of them, as he felt something stroke his prostate.

Suddenly the boy bucked under him and the column of flesh in his mouth swelled, and began to fill him with the salty-sweet taste of cum, as he shot his own load deep into the hot wetness that surrounded his own pulsing cock.

*

On two separate parts of town, Xander and Kymbrall awoke in their own beds to find themselves calling each other's names. Both were drenched in sweat and semen.

(2)

"Harris!"

"Oh great, not here two minutes and the boss is already yelling at me," Xander muttered to himself. Turning to face the other man he yelled back, "Yeah Boss?"

"C'mere!" the man yelled back. "Got som'un I want you to do."

Xander headed toward the site trailer, wondering what was wrong now. Yawning, he climbed the stairs and tried to tear his mind from the dream that had awakened him last night, "What's on you're mind?"

The big man looked up from a folder he was reading, "I got job for you this afternoon."

"What ya' need?" Xander asked, wondering if the man wanted him to pick something up from the lumberyard or what.

"You got a pretty good head on you, boy. You know your way around the construction site." The man shook his head, "to be honest, when I first hired you, I thought you were a waste o' time." He smiled, "but I can admit when I'm wrong. You're smarter than you let on, and you're a hard worker. Best of all, you know enough about what we do around here, to be able know what can and can't be done, and what it takes to get it done." The man wasn't making any sense.

"Thanks, boss."

His boss leaned back on his desk, "look, Anderson's on vacation, and I need somebody to take a look at a remodeling project. I don't need any estimates, just you to take a look at the place and compare it to what the customer wants. Let me know what all'll have to be done. That way I can have some idea of an estimate the next time I go out to see him. Think you can handle it?" He handed Xander the file.

Xander nodded, "Sure thing." He smiled. "Where's the job?"

"Somebody bought that mansion over on Crawford Street. They want to have a lot of modern stuff added to it." He chuckled, "Actually they want some pretty cutting-edged technology added."

"Sure boss, two o'clock all right?" Xander asked. "I've got to go over to the Huffman site. That drywall's got to be refinished."

"That's fine. Customer left us a key. It's in the file."

Xander reached in and pulled out the key, as a chill went down his spine, "Trusting sort isn't he."

*

Giles answered the phone, "Magic Shop."

"Hey Giles, it's me Xander."

Giles checked his watch. It was only ten o'clock, the middle of Xander's work shift. He wondered what would have the young man calling at this time. "Is something amiss, Xander?"

"No," Xander told him. "I've got some good news- at least I hope it's good news."

"And what would that be?" Giles wondered into the phone.

"Boss wants me to check out a new remodeling job,"

"That's nice," Giles said confused, "I'm glad to hear that you are doing well in your vocation."

"No, nothing like that G-man," Xander told him. Giles really did wish Xander would quit calling him that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, though he wondered if he would miss it if he did. "Guess who wants their place remodeled?"

"Hmmm, I don't know?" Giles told him.

"A Mr. Kymbrall L. FeyStone at 1412 Crawford Street has contracted the company I work for to remodel the place. You should see the list of stuff he wants to add."

"I see, so just when are you supposed to go to this place," Giles told him. "I can have Buffy meet you there."

"Right Giles, take the one person who wants the trash the guy we're investigating." Xander told him. "As much as I love Buffy, I don't think she's very rational on this particular subject."

"Still I would feel better if you took someone with you." Giles leaned against the desk, "Your favorite undead person stopped by my place early this morning."

"Dead-boy's got brass balls the size of watermelons," Giles could hear the concern in Xander's voice and was touched. Giles had no allusions about how Xander felt about Angel. His dislike of the vampire was almost as intense as his own. "What'd he want?"

"To inform me that The Powers That Be are concerned about the possibility of a dragon incursion into this dimension. He also told me that they believe something powerful and unpleasant came through the gate at his old place." Giles found himself smiling, "He also
did a great deal of whining about not being able to get in."

"Aww, I feel sorry for him. Really I do," Xander told him. "So do I need to help you clean up the dust before Buffy sees it? I think I've got a portable shop-vac in the truck." Xander told him.

"Not quite. He left in time to make it back to Los Angeles before sunrise." Giles told him. Still concerned he suggested, "Perhaps Willow or Tara then. I'd feel better if you had someone with you."

"Right, and if this thing happens to be magical and eats witches for lunch?" Xander asked. "No offense Giles, but Tara is just a little too non-threatening aggressively. Let me be blunt. She squeaks at mouse burps. I'll be fine. He's not even going to be home. He was even nice enough to leave us a key."

"Doesn't sound like a typical extra-dimensional incursion," Giles told him. "Okay, just stop by here as soon as you're finished."

"Will do, it's my last job for the day," Xander agreed.

"Be sure that you do. If I don't hear from you by five thirty, I'm sending Buffy to find you."

"I'll call you as soon as I leave the place."

"Good," Giles told him, "Be safe Xander."

"Will do G-man," Xander told him hanging up. Giles could swear that he called him that just to annoy him.

*

Dawn weaved her way through the crowd of students, on her way to the cafeteria. She was still a little worried about Xander. She knew the rest of the Scooby gang tended to dismiss him- after all, he didn't have any powers, and he wasn't one of Buffy's growing number of exes. Still, he had a quiet strength that she'd found comforting on more than one occasion, and didn't want to see him get hurt again.

Getting her lunch, she sat quietly alone at a table not really feeling like spending time with her friends. Something was amiss in Sunnydale. She could feel it in her bones. When Glory had died, Dawn felt every Gate in the city open up and spill out their contents. Something very unpleasant had come through that main gate. But that wasn't what had her on edge. She was used to dealing with unpleasant. Something powerful, unsettled, and very sad had come through another. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced what ever it was had come through the gate at Crawford Street. Unlike the rest of her friends, she knew that gate opened directly from hell.

"You look someone who's got an awful big problem," a heavily southern accented voice asked her. She looked up into the face that had appeared in the mirror yesterday at the Magic Shop.

Seeing it as a chance to actually feel useful to the Scooby gang, or to make a new friend, depending on what happened first she replied, "Time's it feels like the problems of the world." She indicated the seat across from her, "Have a seat."

"Mah Dad once tol' me that at our age, we tend to think that the whole world is watchin' us." The golden eyed boy sat down across from her and smiled. Dawn couldn't help but notice the unusually sharp canines. She looked over toward the windows to insure the sun was still up. You could never be too careful in Sunnydale.

"Sometimes the world is watching us." She smiled, "even if it's just our little corner of it."

He continued to smile. It was open and friendly, but she could see a deeper something behind his eyes. Not malice, she'd had enough experience with recognizing that. It was something else- sadness perhaps. "Sometimes' more than jus' this world is watchin," he told her biting into his sandwich.

"True. Sometimes it's all those millions of little secret worlds that nobody else knows about that are watching you. Those are the hardest to deal with," she told him.

He chuckled, and finished chewing. Taking a sip of something from a thermos he continued, "Ah'm Kymbrall. Mah friends call me Kym." Looking around, he said, "although, Ah really haven't made that many here."

"And with most of the people here, you aren't missing much," she replied.

"Dawn. Dawn Summers."

"Well Ah could make the usual Dawn, Dawn Summers joke, but Ah won'," he told her, and shook his head, "Ah, can' believe that's true. People are people, some good an' some bad." He set his thermos down and Dawn couldn't help but notice a rampant dragon shaped scar on the inside of his forearm. It was holding a sun in one claw and a rose in the other.

"Neat tat," she told him indicating the scar. "Bet it hurt."

The boy blushed, rather prettily she noticed, and tried to cover it up. "It's not a tattoo."

"Obviously it's a scar." She smiled, "But since you obviously don't want to talk about it, I wont' ask you how you got it. I may be a little dense, but I'm not totally naïve."

"Thanks," he smiled. Looking around trying to change the subject, "What's there to do aroun' heah? After school Ah mean."

"You mean besides, slay vampires, fix the occasional spell that's gone wrong, and stop the evil people that are wanting to rule the world from opening the Hellmouth," she joked. "There's always the Bronze."

The boy looked surprised. For just a second his eyes seemed to glaze over, and then he looked back at her confused, "Uh, yeah."

He seemed suddenly wary.

"Relax. I'm harmless," she told him. "Unless you happen to have the answers to Mr. Ingleson's history test." She winked at him and pulled a chocolate bar from her bag and waved it in front of him, "Then, we have vays of making you talk."

He smiled and seemed to relax, "You realize you're taking life in your own hands don' you."

Dawn couldn't help noticing that on some strange level she felt comfortable around this boy. Maybe it was the fact that he was talking to her face and not her chest. She wasn't sure what it was. She just knew that he didn't seem to look at her like most of the boys at school did. "Ah have this weakness for chocolate you know."

"Just tell me, do you have this thing for Twinkies too?" she asked.

He smiled and almost whispered, "Well, the occasional twink maybe." Then he turned the most interesting shade of red.

"Well, have I got one for you then," she told him.

"One what?" he asked still blushing.

"Twink," she told him.

"Uh… never mind," He seemed to remember something and she could have sworn that he was about to cry. Standing up he said, "excuse me. Ah'm late for class." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Dawn told him. "Who do you have next?"

He turned and gave her a strange look, "Huh?"

"What class?" she indicated.

"Physics," that surprised her. Not many people were willing to brave Mr. Newton's physics class. There was a lot of advance math involved."

"Ah so you have Sir Isaac next, huh," she asked.

He nodded and swallowed, "Yeah. It's a gimme' class."

"Boy would you get along well with a friend mine. She thinks the hard sciences are gimmes too," Dawn told him, "Of course that could have something to do with the fact that she taught the computer science class for a year while she was still a senior."

He looked down at her, "would that be the same person who left all the backdoahs into the school system's reco'ds?"

It was Dawn's turn to look surprised, "yeah."

"Tell her it was a nice piece o' work," he smiled and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute," she called after him.

He turned, "yeah?"

"Want to meet her?" she asked.

The boy shrugged, as he considered her question, "Sure,"

"Meet me at the benches out front after last class. I'll take you over to the Magic Shop."

"Magic Shop huh," he smiled.

"Uh huh," she told him. "For all your magical needs."

He reached out and touched he shoulder, and Dawn felt a slight twinge of something, not unpleasant, "It's been mah experience, that mos' people wouldn't know magic, if came up an' bit `em on the privates." The smile never disappeared from his face as turned to leave, "Ah'll be theah. Ah'm lookin' fohwahd to meetin' youh frien'."

"Oh, and Kym," She called to him.

He stopped again and turned, "Yeah?"

"I do know when it comes up and sits down at the table with me." She smiled and headed off in the opposite direction.

*

Kymbrall headed toward his physics class shaking his head.

The girl had intrigued him when he first saw her several weeks ago.

She glowed a healthy looking, albeit strange green to his phyre-sight. After his unusual dreams last night, he'd decided it was time he made contact with some of the supernaturals he'd seen in this town. She seemed like a good enough place to start.

There was powerful force at work here. It seemed to make people not pay attention to anything too out of the ordinary. It was almost if they accepted the supernatural on a subconscious level. In many ways it was unnerving.

Not as unnerving as his awakening last night covered in his own semen calling the name of someone he'd never met before. Whoever this Xander was, he'd been haunting Kym's dreams ever since he'd fallen through what ever energy force that had brought him here.

At least here he could heal himself and hide for a while.

For the first few weeks, after his arrival he'd jumped at any sound in the night, afraid that the Council had managed to catch up with him. He was under no allusions about what would happen to him when they finally found him. He'd broken their highest and most ancient law. He knew his head was forfeit, but he wasn't about to go and hand it to them on a silver platter.

The dry part of his mind that was Tyr chuckled to him. Like there is someone who could take it, boy. You are what they had been waiting for ten thousand years to arrive. Besides who're they going to send after you. Nobody you'd bow your neck to.

Kym shoved the voice back down, his mind racing back to last night. He wasn't so naïve as to not recognize a wet dream, but there was something strange about this one. It was if he were sharing it with someone.

That line of thought sent him back a few years. As he settled in at the table in the deserted physics lab, a very precious memory surfaced:

"Son, I think we need to talk," his dad had knocked at his door as he entered.

"Yeah Dad," he turned to face the man. "what you need?"

He watched as one of his fathers blushed, "It's about…" Alex had struggled to find the words, "…your emerging abilities, uh… combined with your hitting puberty." His dad had finally spat out.

Kym blushed, "Aunt Nichole told you about Tommy an' me huh?"

His dad looked surprised, "Uh, no." He smiled, "but we'll talk about it later." The man sat on Kym's bed, "but it does seem to make this conversation more important." Alex's face became very serious. "By now, you've probably heard half the speculation in the Orders about how you came about."

Kym laughed, "Dad, you wouldn't believe half the garbage Ah've heard. Most of it so outrageous that Ah ignore it."

His dad only smiled, "That might be for best, but I think that it's time you know exactly how you were conceived."

"Dad, is this the sex talk?" Kym asked. "Because if it is, Daddy an' Ah have already had that one." He remembered his other father trying to have that conversation with him a few years ago. "We talked a long time. What Ah didn't understand Ah went asked Pawpaw about."

"Oh God Son, you probably are messed up now." He shook his head, "But no. It isn't that sex talk. There's probably never been a sex talk like the one we're about to have in the history of mankind." He leaned forward and looked Kymbrall in the eye. "You understand about the phyre, and a phyrebond don't you."

Sensing the seriousness of his father's tone, Kym nodded. "Yes suh. It's a force of life, as well as the source of our power."

Alex had nodded, "It's more than a force of life. It's also a living force, and sometimes it has a will of its own. Have you ever wondered how a simple force could guarantee the birth of a phyre gifted child?"

Kym nodded, mentally acknowledging that he had indeed wondered that. "Ah assumed it was jus' some way that mystics in the Orders used to describe somethin' they didn't understand and didn't want the res' of us to know they didn't understand."

His father laughed, "Only thirteen and already a cynic I see. You're spending entirely too much time with your aunt."

"But…," Kymbrall tried to protest.

His father smiled and interrupted, "Just listen for now. Your body is starting to change. Yes and I know you know about those changes. But unlike the other boys your age, and unlike the rest of the `born, your power is fully awake now. That has never happened before. Combine that with your budding interest…," He looked down. "Your discovery that thing between your legs can be toy too, can prove to be dangerous for you." He looked up at Kym, "If you're not careful, you can end a daddy before you know it."

Kym chuckled, "Dad, Ah thought Ah made it cleah, Ah'm not interested in girls."

Alex smiled at him, "Son, you and I don't have to be interested in girls to end up a daddy." He took Kym's hand, "The phyre can have a mind of its own. Now I know you've heard rumors that your Aunt Nichole is your mother, and that she bore you for Sean and I so we could have a child." Kym had heard that one a lot. He knew his grandfather was convinced that was the case. It made sense to him too.

"That's one that I always figured as a possibility," he told his father. "It makes sense and Daddy and Aunt Nichole are close friends."

His father smiled and continued, "it's not the truth though son. When Sean and I were phyrebonded it sent the orders into collective apoplexy. The big question was how could it be a true bond, if a phyrebond guaranteed the birth of phyre gifted children.

After all we're both men." He shook his head ruefully, "If they only had known." Smiling he looked back at Kym and took a deep breath. "You know we all inherit the phyre of our fathers."

Kym nodded. That was common knowledge among the `born."Well, ever wonder why you are starting to exhibit both Sean's and my power?" Kym shrugged and waited for his Dad to continue. "It's because we both are your father. It seems that because I'm not only a reflexive but a reflective shapeshifter as well, you were able to be born."

Kym gave his dad a strange look. "Huh?"

"Look, when your Daddy and I first got together we were pretty inexperienced." He laughed, "We were dumb as a box of rocks really. We figured, gee, we're both virgins. We're both men. We don't need to use what was at the time commonly called protection." His father shook his head, "Boy were we wrong. The phyre wanted you to be born, and without my knowing what was happening, it made some subtle but profound alterations on Sean's physiology."

Kym was shocked. "Are you telling me what Ah think you're tellin' me Dad?"

Alex nodded, "Yeah. You really are a breaking of the curse. You are neither born of woman nor hatched of dragon."

Kym shook his head, "That must of hurt," he told his dad.

Alex nodded, "Yeah. Your daddy threatened to cut off important parts of me while you were being born. Your aunt offered to hold me down for him."

In confusion Kym asked, "why are you telling me this?"

Alex smiled, "Because. You did inherit my shapeshifting. If you aren't careful, you're very likely to make the same mistake. I know in this day and age of contraception and the AIDS vaccine, that most people don't stop to consider the consequences of sex. It's just not a concern anymore. But you're different. When and if you decide to become sexually active we don't want you to get some poor unsuspected boy pregnant."

"Some poor unsuspecting boy? What about some poor unsuspecting boy getting me pregnant?" Kym half-joked.

"That too," his father seemed to not have considered the possibility of Kym being the receptive. Of course, that gave Kym a great insight of exactly what went on in his parent's bedroom. "Okay, Dad, I just got an image I didn't want." He shook his head, "Please don't do this to me again."

*

Xander turned the key and entered the front door to Angel's old house. Looking around he could see the place had been cleaned up a great deal. The main living room, where he remembered a rogue watcher met her final end, had been scrubbed and polished. Even the
blood stains were gone from the now shining marble floors.

The old furniture had been replaced with heavy dark stained wood. Rich tapestries hung from the walls, and a suit of armor stood next the fireplace. Above the mantle were two crossed swords.

Xander had had enough experience with weapons over the past few years to recognize them as the real thing, and not replicas.

The whole place had been redecorated in a fashion that seemed more suitable for a European castle than for an American home. As he passed through the dwelling, he casually noticed that every room had a weapon somewhere in it. Xander couldn't help but think that this guy thought like he did.

Comparing the list of remodeling requests on his sheet to what he was seeing, Xander realized that it could be done. Fairly easily, but it would cost a pretty penny. Hell, he wanted the stucco wall surrounding the mansion replaced with a twenty-foot granite one. That would be really expensive. Adding the solar panels to the roof and a cistern, would just about take the whole thing off the city's utility grid. He made a mental note to himself to check the sewer entrances to this place.

Xander had never made it upstairs, when Angel lived here.

He felt an eerie feeling creep down his spine as he realized the hall he was in, was the same from his dream last night. Running his fingers along the wall, a small part of his mind noted the painting of St. George was the same as in his dream.

Finally, he came to a dark stained door on the left, a rose with a curled thorny stem carved into it. Turning the knob, he entered the bedroom to see the same huge oaken canopy bed from his dream sitting against the far wall. The same gauzy curtains were blowing in the wind at the French doors looking out over the garden.

He could even smell the boy from his dream throughout the house, but it was strongest in this room. The scene was surreal, and Xander had to admit to being just a little spooked. Looking down something shiny next to the bed caught his eye. A cold shiver went through his soul as reached down and retrieved the familiar object. He put it back in his pocket.

Forcing his growing nervousness down, Xander finished his job, even taking time to enter the basement to check on the sewers.

There, he was surprised to find that the opening had been resealed with a heavy iron grate, crosses carved all over it.

Xander left the house as he found it, feeling nervous. Why was he having these kinds of emotions? What was it about this boy that was bringing to the surface a side to him that he hadn't had to deal with since Larry. Most important of all, why did he have to be a boy? There are laws in this state, he reminded himself. Climbing into the truck, he checked in with Giles, telling the former watcher that he would be there in a little while to tell him what he had found.

*

It had been a slow day at the Magic Shop, so Giles was sitting in one of the small sofas having a cup of tea, when Xander came in. The man looked pale and disturbed. "What's wrong, Xander?"

Xander looked around the shop and asked, "the girls around?"

Giles shook his head, "No. Buffy was in earlier, but left."

He indicated a chair, "Want to sit down and talk about it?"

Xander surprised Giles by agreeing, "Yeah. Mind if I flip the sign?" he asked indicating the "CLOSED" sign hanging in the window. Whatever it was, Giles knew something had really spooked the boy.

"Not at all," Giles sighed. "It's been a slow day."

Xander smiled at him and said, "thanks," as he turned the sign over and to Giles' surprise locked the front door.

When the young man sat down across from him, his hands clasped firmly between his knees, Giles wondered what could have him this upset. "What's wrong Xander?"

His friend began, "You know the dreams I've been having?" he seemed to struggle to get started.

"Yes,"

"Well, I had another one last night,"

Giles removed his glasses and polished them, "I take it this one was different."

"You could say that," Xander told him looking around nervously. Giles got the distinct impression he was avoiding looking him in the eye.

"Go on," he put his glasses back on.

"Giles, you ever had a dream so real that you could feel it, taste it?" Xander asked.

"On occasion," he chuckled, "but to be honest with you not since my uh.. experimental days at university."

"I had one of those types of dreams last night. Boy did I have one of those types of dreams last night."

"Perhaps if you described the dream to me, I might be better able to understand what you are trying to tell me," Giles tried not to sound frustrated.

"Okay," Xander's voice had a you-asked-for-it quality."I was lying in my bed, alone, having a nice normal dream- you know, the usual Hellmouth kind of thing- when it changed and I found myself outside Angel's old place." Xander turned red at some memory, "I went in. The guy from my dreams was in there asleep."

"Go on," Giles coaxed.

"I-had-sex-with-him-and-when-I-went-over-there-today-I-could-still-smell-both-of-us-in-the-room," Xander told him so fast that Giles had to take a moment and separate the words out. "I mean it was the exact same room, right down to the curtains blowing in the breeze."

Giles smiled, "What you're telling me is that you had a homosexual nocturnal emission, and it has upset you." He shook his head, "I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most men experience this at least once in their lives. They just don't want to talk about it."

Xander gave him hard look, "No Giles, that's not what I mean." He continued, "I mean, I can tell you that this guy is uncut, that this guy has a scar of a dragon with a sun and a rose on his right forearm. I can tell you he sleeps in the nude, and I can tell you he's a natural blonde. I can tell you that he has a southern accent. I can tell you that the same plush rug was in the same spot in the bedroom floor as it was in my dream. I can tell you that he has freckles that go all the way down." Xander stressed the last four words.

Giles sighed, "Well the furniture part could be simply remembering what you knew of the house from when Angel lived there."

Xander shook his head, "It's none of Angel's furniture. The whole house has been redecorated. It looks like something out of a Robin Hood movie, all English and medieval and everything."

"Well there's some hope for him after all," Giles teased.

Xander stood up and ran his fingers through his brown hair, "Damn it Giles. I can even tell you what he tastes like."

Giles shook his head, "That won't be necessary." Leaning back in his chair, Giles studied the young man for a moment. It didn't escape his notice that bringing back the memories had caused a physical reaction to manifest itself in Xander's jeans. "What bothers you the most about this Xander? The intensity of the dream? The fact that you think the furniture is the same?" He took a deep breath, "Or the fact that it was a homosexual experience?"

"None of the above Giles," Xander told him, pulling the old flattened coin he kept as a good luck charm from his pocket. "It's the fact that I found this on the floor in his bedroom."

Giles took the coin from him and looked at it. "I don't know what to tell you Xander." He looked up and bade him sit. "What do you want me to deal with? Obviously, we're working on the boy's origin and purpose. But I'm not sure if that's what you want me to address."

"Never mind Giles," Xander told him. "What I'm trying to say obviously isn't getting through."

Before Giles could reply, the bell at the door jingled as Dawn entered with someone in tow. "I thought I locked that," Xander said. Then he noticed Dawn's companion.

"You!" the man and the boy said simultaneously.

*

Now isn't this interesting, Dawn thought to herself. Outloud she said, "Kymbrall, Xander. Xander, Kymbrall. Kymbrall, Giles. Giles, Kymbrall. Everybody acquainted now?" She watched as Xander's and Kym's mouth dropped opened. Giles simply stood staring at her and the boy silently.

She nudged Kym, "Blondie, want a Coke?"

The boy tore his eyes from Xander, "Uh, Doctor Peppeh, would be nice." His eyes darted back to Xander.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," she said heading toward the back. As she passed Xander she nudged him, "it's usually polite to say hello."

She noticed Xander turning bright red. "Uh… Hello…?"

She turned back to Kymbrall. "You'll have to forgive him. Sometimes he's brain damaged." She grabbed a couple of drinks from he fridge and yelled back, "Is Spike here yet? I need help with my history homework." It was quite a shock to find out that Spike was a history professor before he was turned.

Xander and Kym just stood staring. Finally, Giles cleared his throat, "Uh… Do come in."

"Thanks," the boy told him. "Uhm, Ah'm Kym FeyStone."

"I know," Xander told him.

Kym gave him questioning look and answered, "Ah know. You're Xander Harris." The boy suddenly shook his head, and Dawn could see a wild look briefly cross his face, "I don't know what's going on, but it's startin' to scare me." His accent became thicker.

"You said you wanted to meet Willow," Dawn told her.

Kym nodded and took the drink from her. "Thank you."

"Well, have a seat. I promise that these two don't bite."

She noticed that both Xander and Kymbrall turned very red. "I get the feeling, I'm missing something very important here." She looked over at Giles, "Ever get the feeling that there is a whole other conversation going on just below the surface in the room?"

Giles removed his glasses and began to polish them, a sign that Dawn recognized as meaning he was uncomfortable about something. "More often than you realize, Dawn." He turned to Kym, "Exactly what is frightening you, young man?"

The boy seemed to consider Giles' words carefully. "Would you like the list, or just my immediate concerns, suh?" Dawn notice the Kym's eyes go out of focus for a second as they fell on Xander. A look of terror seemed to creep into his face. He turned as if to escape and ran flat into Buffy and Willow.

*

Xander watched Buffy enter the door to the Magic Shop, Willow in tow behind her as the boy's face suddenly fill with fear. He got the distinct feeling that it was he that was frightening the boy. Before he could call out, the two went down in tangle of arms and legs. "Hey it's him!" Buffy half-yelled reaching out to grab the boy.

With a speed that surprised himself, Xander yanked Kymbrall behind him before she could get her hands on him. "Leave him alone, Buffy." He held the boy behind him.

"But this is the guy…" Buffy said, picking herself up, "that stole Angel's house."

"We know Buffy," Giles said. Xander could hear something else in Gile's voice.

"Oh my," Willow said. "Uh guys, why don't we talk this one out. We might actually avoid a misunderstanding for once," She continued. Xander could see her trying to tell him something with her eyes.

"Oh goody, the gang's all here. Why don't we all sit down and have a nice cup of hot chocolate," Dawn said to the room in general.

"Hello all!" Spike's voice came from behind Xander. "What's the matter Slutty, finally pissed the Whelp off enough?"

Xander felt Kym twist in his hands behind him, and the panic rising the boy was becoming palatable. Xander growled, "Shut up, Spike. Now, we're all going to sit down and Buffy's going to control her temper."

Behind him, he heard the boy say, "Sanguine Cloth." He could feel him suddenly tense.

Looking back over his shoulder, "Hmmm? What? It's just Spike. He won't hurt you."

"Let go of me," the boy almost pleaded.

Xander turned and faced him. Pulling his hands back to show non-aggression he replied, "Okay. Nobody's going to hurt you." He looked the wild-eyed boy in the face. "I promise you that."

Kymbrall looked up at him, "Ah've heard that promise before."

"Trust me," he told him, "Buff will behave."

The boy smiled and harrumphed, "She's not the one Ah'm worried about."

Xander shook his head, "Spike won't hurt you either." He looked over at the blond vampire, "will you Spike?"

Again, Kym harrumphed, "The vampire is nothing. He comes near me, he'll be deader than he already is." The boy had backed away from him until his back was against the bookcase.

"I know Wills can be scary, but trust me. She's having a good day." He leaned forward and whispered, "Tara saw to that."

"Ah'm not going back." He said flatly. "You'll have to kill me, and Ah won't make it easy." He looked at all of them. "By Tyr's Blood, Ah promise you that Ah'll take some of you with me." He stepped into what was obviously a fighting stance, and Xander could see the scar on his arm begin to glow, "Who wants die first?"

Spike nodded, "Bloody whelp's got balls." He looked over to Xander, "Just wish I knew what he was wanting to fight about."

Xander waved at the boy, "Uh lost guy here. Take you back where? For what?"

"Back to Earth," he said.

"Uh, last time I checked, this was Earth," Buffy said pointing to the ground.

That seemed to catch the boy's attention. His eyes fell on Buffy who was slowly making her way toward the cabinet at the end of the counter, and for a second they seemed to go out of focus. "Who's the blonde?"

Buffy smiled, "Just your friendly neighborhood, slayer."

Xander quickly added, "the red head is Willow, you know Dawn. I'm Xander," He pointed Giles and Spike, "That's Giles, and that's Spike. They're both English, but we don't hold it against them."

"He's scared guys," Willow said. "Poor thing."

His eyes darted to her, again they glazed over for a second. "Tyr's blood!"

"You seem to have a penchant for swearing by Norse deities," Giles told him. "Who are you?"

"You know who Ah am." He never took his eyes off Xander.

"No. Actually we don't." Giles told him.

"You're from the council," The boy said. "Ah can see it your phyre," he looked directly at Xander.

"I'm sure this all makes sense to somebody. But not to me."

Xander smiled, "I don't know any council and I'm not going to the hurt you." He looked around to everyone. Buffy was now standing at the cabinet toward which she'd been slowly inching. He locked eyes with Kymbrall, but it was apparent to whom he was really speaking, "and neither is Buffy. Buff, move away from the cabinet."

"Son," Giles began, "I think we're all operating under a misunderstanding. If you will just calm yourself, I can promise you nobody here will hurt you." The former watcher held up his hands to show he wasn't hiding anything. "Let's just sit down and talk."

"Yeah mate. If you're not satisfied when we're finished, we'll let ya' kick the slayer's arse around." Spike told him.

Xander could see the wariness begin to fade from the boy's eyes. Relief was starting to creep into his face. There was something else too, but Xander couldn't identify it. He got the distinct impression that this boy was used to fighting his way through life, and that he'd faced a history of loss and betrayal.

"Okay then," the boy said while moving sideways along the bookcase. "Who are you people, and why has one of you been invading my dreams?"

Xander blushed, "Oh no, no, no. You've been invading my dreams."

The boy blushed. "Uh uh. I'm not a telepath."

"Me neither," Xander told him.

"What's this? The whelp's been havin' wet dreams about kids?" Spike said. "There's laws in this state about that."

"Shut up Spike. I've still got that box," Xander told him remembering the box of bad poetry he'd swiped from Spike's crypt.

"Then how do you explain…" the boy looked around, blushed and took a deep breath.

Before he could continue Xander broke in, "I'm not sure, but we're not going to talk about that right now."

He looked at Xander, "You have the phyre. Explain that. Ah haven't seen it on anyone else in this world."

"I have what?"

"The phyre," the boy told him. "The power, dragonphyre, you're oozing with it."

"Uh, you've got the wrong guy. I get to go get donuts and be demon bait," Xander told him.

Kym smiled, "Anybody use you as bait would be a fool." He nodded over toward Buffy, "She'd make better bait. Less useful."

"Less useful am I?" Buffy snarled. "I'll teach you useful."

"Buffy," Xander growled and felt something deep in him begin to stir. "Sit down."

He looked around at the group and stopped at Giles, "You seem to be the one in charge."

"Yes well," Giles began, "We seemed to be having a bit of a misunderstanding. We don't know anything abut this phyre you seem to think we possess."

The boy shook his head, "Not all of you." He nodded toward Xander, "Just him."

"Ooops," Xander heard Willow whisper.

The boy continued, "You've got a pet Sanquine Cloth, a rather formidable witch, some kind of…" he struggled for words while looking at Dawn, "I don't know." Turning to Buffy, "and what the dragons call a trained monkey."

"Monkey!?" Buffy asked.

"Want a banana slayer," Spike taunted her.

"Ah'm sorry. We don't have another for it. Dragons give humans power sometimes. They call them trained monkeys then."

"Since we don't have a dragon, you're obviously mistaken,"

Buffy told him, in an offended voice.

"But you do have a dragonborn."

"Mr. Giles, I finished reading that book you…" Tara entered the front door. Seeing the stand off in the room, her voice trailed off, "…gave me."

The boy's eyes shot to Tara, this time the glazing was quick, and then back to Xander, "You got more witches than you know what to do with." He shook head, "worst case of estrogen poisoning Ah've eve seen." Turning to Spike, "You sure your guys still got your testicles?"

"Last time I checked mate,' Spike told him. "Played with them this morning."

"Really Spike?" Giles sounded exasperated, "that was not information we needed."

Tara came down the stairs holding a book looking surprised, "Uh.. That order catalogue. I finished reading that order catalogue you gave me last night."

Kym's eyes narrowed to the book, "Ah thought you said you weren't from the Council." The stepped back into a fighting stance again. "That's Magda's book."

"Yes," Giles told him, "I understand that the author was a Magda Fiori. That particular book surfaced in the fourteen hundreds."

"That's Magda's book," was all he said. "Magda's on the Council."

"Wait a minute," he took the book from Tara, "you mean you personally know the person who wrote this book."

Kym nodded. "She's on the Council."

"What council?" Xander asked.

"You know what Council. The one that sent you after my head." He backed up again, "you're not getting it. Not without a fight."

"I don't want it."

Spike chuckled, "Go ahead Whelp. Give `im head."

"Shut up Spike," Kymbrall said.

"Look. I don't know any Magda. I don't know any council. I have no idea who this dragonborn is, or are, or whatever. I'm not here to take your head back to some council. I would like to know, why I"ve been dreaming about you though." Xander immediately regretted saying that, "Uh. That didn't come out right."

"Okay then," Kym told them. "Back up and drop your shields."

Xander backed up, and indicated that the rest of them should do the same. "I'm not holding any shield."

He watched the boy's gaze go from one potential threat to the next. Something seemed to pass between him and each of them.

Finally, he locked eyes with Xander. He heard the boy's voice in his head. **Can you hear me?**

**Yeah,** he thought back.**

**Come here,**

**Meet me half-way,** Xander sent back.

The boy nodded and took a step forward. **Ah think Ah remember how to do this.**

"Remember how to do what?" Xander asked aloud.

The boy reached out and touched Xander on the temple.

**This** Suddenly the world exploded around Xander, and came back together. Looking down he saw the boy standing in front of, surrounding in some kind of glowing gold fire. Xander was glad he was wearing black pants, so as not reveal the wet spot that was growing in the front of his shorts. He'd never felt anything that intense before in his life.

Xander felt Spike's strong hands support him from behind as his knees threatened to buckle. Turning to look at the blond vampire, he could see him surrounded by what looked like dark red and black flames. "Wow, black and red really is you."

The boy suddenly looked to his left and said, "back off!"

There was a motion, but Xander couldn't bring his eyes to focus on him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered a crash, and smelled burning linoleum.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he held his hands up to show the rest of them. Facing Kymbrall he asked, "what did you do to me?"

"Ah opened your eyes," the boy said.

"To what?" Xander asked.

"Don't you know?" The boy asked. "Don't you know what you are?" He looked confused.

"I'm Xander, demon bait, donut boy, fangless' future child," Xander told him.

Kym chuckled, "He bites you, he'll regret it."

"Oh?" Xander asked.

"'Born blood's likely to send him over the edge."

"Edge of what?" Xander asked. "He's not exactly stable to begin with.

The boy looked around. "Ah seemed to have made mistake."

Looking directly at Xander, "Ah thought you were something else. Obviously, you're not."

He looked to his left and Xander followed his gaze. Buffy was getting up from the remains of a shattered bookcase. A streak of scorched linoleum led from Kym's feet to where she was crouched. "Ah'm sorry." He shook his head helplessly. "Ah thought you were…" He looked confused, and extremely upset. Xander could see tears in his eyes. The boy was on the verge of breaking down.

Xander could feel the confusion, hurt, and fear hit him like a sledgehammer.

Something in his heart snapped. Reaching out he pulled the blond into his arms and felt as the boy collapsed against his chest sobbing inconsolably.

"That's not what I was expecting," Buffy said, her voice suddenly softening.

(3)

"Angel, this is Wesley, I think I found out who edited those books with the prophecies that we were looking up." the phone had awakened him.

Angel ran his hand through his hair. "Oh?" he tried to clear the sleep from his mind. It took a few moments for him to remember Wesley complaining that the dragon prophecies seemed to have been edited by someone. Sleeping in a rented hotel closet was not his idea a good day's rest, and did not make for an alert mind. "Who was it?"

"Merick," Wesley told him firmly.

"The Eternal Watcher?" Angel was surprised. Merick had bed been the first of the Watchers, and had somehow managed to be reborn generation after generation in his quest to destroy a single vampire.

Merick had finally met his end at the hands of Lothos in Beverly Hills a few years ago. Right afterwards, Lothos been killed by none other than Buffy herself.

"Yeah," Wesley told him. "I did some checking and it looks like he went to a lot of trouble to hunt down all the copies of the prophecies and borrow them over the centuries." He could hear the excitement in Wesley's voice. Merick was something of a legend among the Watcher's Council, and he knew the thought of a case that involved him was rare treat for Wesley.

"Why would he want to hide them? I was always under the impression that he was so obsessed with Lothos that he ignored anything else."

He could hear the amusement in Wesley's voice, "So did everyone else. I just doesn't make sense." Wesley's timbre changed, "How are the others? Did they believe you?"

"Giles says he's already investigating it. He told me it had something to do with Xander. Then he very politely told me to get lost." Angel told him.

"Xander? What does he have to do with it?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Angel told him.

He'd never told anyone, but of all Buffy's friends from Sunnydale, Xander was the one he respected the most. Xander had no skills or powers, but managed to stay alive when those better armed were dropping all around him. Angel smiled to himself thinking of the boy. He'd also been the only one of the Scooby Gang who'd ever had the stones to stand up to him, even when he'd known he was outclassed.

"You want the rest of us to come to Sunnydale?" Wesley asked.

"Not just yet," he replied. "But if Cordellia has anymore visions, I'd like to know."

"Very well. Take care of yourself."

"Will do." Angel hung up the phone, and went to the window.

He could still feel the sun as it was just slipping below the western horizon. Wesley had timed his call to the minute. The man was a lot more competent than anyone ever gave him credit. "It's time I talked Harris."

*

Dawn watched as Xander stood there for long minutes as the boy sobbed into his shoulder. She felt something deep inside Xander seem to connect with the blond. She could feel the deep pain, yet to be resolved inside Kym project outward. "Shhhhh, let it out. I've got you." Xander pulled Kym onto the floor and into his lap. This too was a side of Xander she'd never seen.

Suddenly a flood of images and deep despair hit her mind like a breaker. Images of a life dedicated to something greater than himself, all betrayed in an act of violence that had torn this boy's life asunder. Panic, fear, anger, and loss, all wrapped up in chains of dedication, flooded into her mind. She could feel all these things set off something inside Xander.

"Uh, is this a bad time?" she heard a familiar voice ask from the door. Looking over, she saw Angel standing in the pool of light flooding across the front entrance. A protective growl grumbled from Xander's direction.

"As usual," Giles muttered, "your timing leaves much to be desired."

Dawn could feel the tension in the room rise as the others turned toward Angel. "Gee anybody got a knife?" Dawn asked.

"What do you want a knife for?" Willow asked.

"To cut the tension," Dawn smiled, and the room seemed to relax.

Angel came down the short set of stairs into the room proper. He and Buffy watched each other with wary eyes. Glancing over at the shattered bookcase and then to Xander and Kym he finally turned to Giles, "Does this have anything to do with what we discussed last night?"

Giles removed his glasses, "It would seem so." Polishing the glasses, he then returned them to his face. Dawn could see another deeper hurt in the former watcher's eyes. "Is there something with which we can help you?"

Angle smiled, "Wesley called. He wanted me to let you know that all the copies of the dragon prophecies have been edited."

Giles nodded, "we suspected as much. Does he know who did it?"

Dawn saw Angel quickly glance over at Buffy, and she knew the answer would be unexpected. "Merick."

"That's not possible," her sister told Angel. "Merick would never do anything like that."

"Wesley seems to think that it is," Angel told her. "I know you were friends with Merick, but you didn't know him that long."

"I knew him long enough," Buffy told him.

Dawn was confused, "who the heck is Merick?"

"Buffy's first Watcher." Giles glanced down at the forms of Xander and Kym, "He was something of a legend among the Watchers. He kept getting himself reincarnated as the same person."

"Oh," Dawn said. "What does all this have to do with Xander and Kym?"

Angel gave her a questioning look, "Who's Kym?"

Buffy nodded to where Kym was wiping his eyes and looking up from Xander's shoulder, "That's him. The guy that stole your house."

"Buffy, you're really starting to annoy me," Xander's voice had a hardness to it.

"I'm sorry about that," Kym told them. He looked down over at Xander and blushed. "I guess everything is starting to catch up to me." He looked up at Angel, "Hello."

"I think it's time for some explanations young man. "I'm not accustomed to having my shop disrupted in this manner," Giles lied.

Angel nodded to Kym, "Hello."

Kym turned back to Giles, "Yes, suh."

"Polite isn't he," Spike said to no one. "Don't get to expecting that from the rest of us watcher."

Kym disengaged himself from Xander, but Dawn could see him continue to glance back toward the brunette. Wiping his eyes he stood, "What would you like to know suh?"

"What do you want Dead-boy?" Xander asked Angel. "I thought you were going back to L.A."

"How about some answers," Buffy stepped forward. "Like who are? Where are you from? Why did you steal Angel's house?" Again Dawn got the impression that there were several unrelated conversations going on in the room simultaneously.

"Buffy, that's enough," Giles told her. "If Angel wanted to keep the damn house he'd have kept the taxes paid."

"Okay then," Buffy told Giles, "Why are you invading Xander's dreams, and what are you doing messing around with the Hellmouth?"

Kym gave her the strangest look. "Ah don' know anythin' about a Hellmouth." He looked around at the rest of them. "An' Ah didn't steal anythin'." He blushed slightly, "Ah took advantage of a situation. `Cordin' to the records, the taxes hadn't been paid on the place for over a hundred yea's. That made it fair game."

"Just out of curiosity," Giles asked, "How did you know to look at the tax records?"

"Standard procedure for a Thorn," he smiled. "Check the tax records, check the birth registries an' check the obituaries. Any piece of lan' with same name on it for ove' a hundred yea's is probably a dragon."

"Yes, well we don't have dragons here," Giles told him.

The boy looked at Giles, "Well you do now."

"Why don't you start from the beginning," Xander said. "I take it you're not from around here."

Kym smiled, "Born an' raised in Birmin'ham, Alabama."

"But not on this version of Earth, I take it." Giles asked.

The boy nodded and sighed. "Ah kinda' figu'ed that when Ah got to lookin' at this town. An' the date."

"What happened?" Buffy asked. "Why'd you come here?"

Kym looked at her, "Trus' me miss. Ah wouldn't be heah if Ah had a choice." He shuddered, "Ah guess it all started when a dragon murdered mah dads."

Dawn saw Spike raise an eyebrow, his demeanor strangely softer than she'd seen him before, "Go on, pet."

"The Council sent me to live with mah Grandfather, figurin' Ah guess to keep me from tryin' to hunt `im down."

"I take it that they were unsuccessful," Giles told him.

"At firs' Ah was too busy tryin' to get settled," the boy sighed. "It was' all confusin'. Suddenly Ah was alone, in a strange school, that really didn't care for havin' the kid of a same-sex marriage aroun'. Especially if he showed signs of bein' the same way. On top o' that, Ah was tryin' not to interfere. Tryin' to be the good little dragonborn, and not rock the boat."

"What changed?" Dawn asked. She suspected that there was more involved than just his restlessness.

"Well, Ah guess it was jus' one of those fate things. They thought sendin' me to mah grandfather would keep me away from any `born or any dragons. What they didn't know was that the dragon who'd helped mah parents get together had moved there. She had this son mah age."

"I can guess…" Angel interjected.

Kym shook his head, "No you can'. We'd been fightin' dragon's for ten millennia. The peace was only a few yeah's old.

But Ah was willin', an' he was willin' and we sort o' got togetha' before eitha' of us knew what the otha' was."

"And this Council objected?" Willow asked.

Kym shook his head, "No. They were ratha' pleased. Heah Ah was tryin' to keep the peace with the dragons. Ah was bein' such a good little `born for the new era," his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Then what happened?" Angel asked.

"The dragon who murdered mah folks showed up. He killed Alex." Dawn saw him swallow hard. "He became the one thing even the dragons won't tolerate: a hatchling killer."

"So what did you do?"

"Ah chased him down," Dawn could see his mind shifting back over time as he dredged up what were obviously unpleasant memories. "The whole forty miles on foot back to Birmin'ham. Finally Ah caught up with `im downtown. We fought. We fought hard. Ah guess Ah cornered `im neah his own nest, because `nother dragon showed up. This one female, an' Ah could tell she was guardin' a clutch."

"You were fighting two dragons?" Willow asked.

The boy nodded. "Ah wasn' interested in the female. She wouldn't too interested in me. She jus' wanted to make sure we didn't get neah her eggs. She was willin' to let Cain do her fightin' for her."

"Cain?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," the boy said. "His name was Cain. Anyway, he started losin' so he violated the highest law of both our peoples."

"What was that?" Angel asked, obviously caught up in the tale.

"He true formed." Kym told the vampire. "He revealed what he was to the world."

"True formed?" Giles asked.

"True formed. Became a dragon. A hundred-eighty feet or so of fire-breathin' lizard in downtown Birmin'ham." The boy chuckled bitterly, "Under those circumstances Aw was supposed to withdraw, not violate the Guise." His voice became hard, "But that son of bitch killed mah parents, killed Alex, an' Ah wasn't givin' `im up. I kept fightin'. Ah didn't care. Let `em try'n take mah head."

"Can't blame you there," Spike said. "Sometime's a bloke's got to do what a bloke's gotta' do.

"Sun came up, an' we kept fightin'," the boy said. "By now, it was obvious to the whole world, that there be dragons here. Anyway, Ah was tryin' to finish the job on Cain while stayin' outta' the female's way. At the time Ah didn't have a beef with her."

"So what happened?" Dawn asked, finding herself drawn into the fantastic tale.

"Ah finally got him." Kym said. "He lunged jus' a little too far toward me. Ah landed on his head, and finished `im off." Kym told them as if it were an everyday occurrence to kill a dragon. "Then the phyre hit me. It was like nothin' I'd ever felt before. Ah guess the energy of his life-force, mah dads' life-force, and Alex's were too much to take. Something opened up, an' Ah felt mah self fallin'. Ah came to, an' Ah was in the garden of that mansion. Jus' before Ah went unconscious though, Ah saw the other dragon fly through the hole. She was carryin' her clutch."

"What do you mean his life force, and your parent's life-force?" Willow asked.

Kym looked at her, "Dragon's an' dragonborn have a powerful life force. We call it the phyre. It's the source of our power, it the source of our life. When we die violently, it lashes out. It becomes part of our killer. Usually allowin' others of our kind to find them. This was too much for me to take. Ah couldn't absorb it all. Ah think it opened a hole `tween worlds." He looked down and shook his head, "'Sounds like somethin' outta a scif-fi show."

"What about the other dragon?" Giles asked. "You think she's here?"

Kym nodded, "Mar's aroun' heah somewhere. When Ah came to, Ah finally recognized her markin's. She was Cain's mate." He shook his head, "She is not a nice dragon."

(4)

Kym hadn't been this drained since his birthing. That had included several days of physical and phyre-based trials, ending in his receiving his dragonmark. Tonight, he'd relived some of the most difficult moments of his life, and was surprised to realize that the second time was harder than the first. When the man from his dreams, the man whose phyre was beginning to burn brighter with each passing hour, the man named Xander- so similar to his own Alexander's name- had offered to take him home, he found himself agreeing.

Mar could wait. Tonight he needed to clear his mind. Tonight he needed to put some old ghosts to rest. Tonight, he realized that there was something else awake in him, something hungry, something that had to be sated. He just hoped he would not regret whatever this night would bring in the future. Of late, it seemed that anyone he cared about left him. A small dry part of his mind told him that he shouldn't let himself feel what was growing inside him. That to do so would put this man who'd shown him kindness in the dangerous position of hurting him again. He squashed that dry part of his mind. The hunger had to be fed.

"Do you want to come in?" Kym tried to sound casual, like the smooth men and women portrayed in the popular vids of his own world. His voice rang fake to him, and he winced inside at its sound.

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," Xander told him. He was nervous. Kym could feel the man's desire for him over the phyre link that was building between them. He felt it echoed in his
own body. He wanted Xander like nothing he'd ever wanted in his life.

Throwing caution out the door along with the last of his dignity, he leaned into the bigger man, reached up and pulled Xander's mouth to his. He threw everything he had into that kiss. He could feel Xander fight him at first, but he was stronger- the phyre did have its advantages after all. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he felt Xander's resistance melt, and he returned the kiss. Finally, Kym released him and opened his eyes to stare into deep brown pools that were searching his face. "You might not…" Xander was flustered, "want to do that again."

"Why not?" Kym asked him.

"Because one more like that, we'll both do things we'll very much enjoy, and I don't think either of us is ready for yet."

"What makes you think Ah'm not ready for it?" Kym asked.

"The fact that less than an hour ago, you finally realized that you may be stuck on this world for the rest of your life," Xander told him, as Kym pulled him through the door into the foyer.

"And if Ah am?" Kym asked him, pulling himself tightly against the bigger man.

"Then we take it slow," Xander told him, "and quiet." Kym could see the resistance in Xander's eyes, "and one step at a time."

Kym stepped back, "Okay, what's the first step?" He crossed his arms.

"Well, that would be not having sex on the foyer floor," Xander told him.

"That's not what's next. That's what's not next." Kym smiled, "Besides, Ah've got a perfectly good king-sized bed upstairs."

"I know. I've seen it," Xander told him. Kym was confused. When had Xander been inside his home.

"You still didn't answer mah question," Kym told him, not to have the subject changed.

"Persistent little minx aren't you," Xander chided him.

"It's how Ah survive," Kym told him. "Ah don't give up, until Ah've got mah quarry, or Ah'm dead."

"All right, so let's say Ah've fallen into quarry category," Xander told him.

Kym smiled up to him and remembered the words from an old Alan Jackson song, "Are you tellin' me that tonight Ah have settle for a burger and grape snow-cone?"

"No," Xander replied, "I'm telling you that I'm scared shitless, about where this is going." He indicated himself, "You're looking at the person who has the worst track record in history."

Kym wasn't sure what he was feeling. It scared him and his own understanding of these things was severely limited. In some ways, it hurt him. He fought back the tears, and looked Xander in
the eye, "Do you not want me?"

"That's not what I said…"Xander began pacing in front of the fireplace. "Right now it's taking every ounce of will power I have not to toss you over my shoulder and head upstairs." He threw his hands in the air and looked at Kym, "Hell, I'm not even sure you want me to take you upstairs."

Kym shook his head, "To be hones' Xander, Ah'm not sure what Ah wan't. But Ah tell you this much, Ah don' want to face this house alone tonight. If you want to leave, then go." He turned and faced the wall, "Ah'll find somethin' else to occupy mahself with tonight." He sighed, "It might be best if you didn't get involved with me anyway. People Ah care about tend to come down with a serious case of dead."

He felt Xander touch his shoulder, and then turn him around. He felt the man's rough hands- some part of his mind noted that they were rough from physical exertion- tilt his head up to look into his
face. "Let's get one thing straight here, shall we."

Kym looked him in the eye, "there's nothin' straight about what Ah'm feelin' right now."

"As of less than an hour ago, there is nothing I want more than to get very deeply involved with you," Xander ran a hand through Kym's hair. "I want you so badly that I can taste you. But I don't
want to rush you into anything. I mean, let's face it, why would you want a guy like me."

"Xander, Ah'm fifteen years old. Ah'm capable of makin' up mah own mind about who Ah want to sleep with." Taking a deep breath he continued, "As for what Ah want with a guy like you," he
shrugged, "someone to wake up with, someone to hold, and to hold me, someone to take long walks with." He then sent a rather detailed image of other things he'd want to do with Xander down the phyre link that was growing between them.

Xander drew a deep ragged breath, and told him, "All right. But I've got one request before we start anything."

"Name it."

"Tonight we do nothing more than sleep," Xander told him. "Sleep and cuddle. If you can still stand my face in the morning then we'll take it from there."

Kym swallowed hard. "What do you think Ah am, a saint?"

"Oh, and I hog the covers," Xander continued.

Finally, Kym nodded. "All right. Cuddle and sleep. But come mornin', the rules change."

"If you can still stand my face in the morning." Xander told him, "Oh, and you can bribe me to do just about anything for chocolate." He smiled, "but I draw the line a vampires and chaos
demons."

Kym nodded, "deal." If Xander thought he could wear Kym out by making him wait, he had another thought coming. When it came to getting what he wanted, Kym could be very patient indeed.

*

"Well what do you think?" Spike asked the rest of the group after Xander had left to take Kym home.

"I don't trust him," Buffy said.

"He's cute," Willow said.

Tara gave her a strange look, "In a lost sort of way I guess. You know like a wet Persian kitten on the side of the road, that you want to take home and make all better."

"Yes, I think I'd like to get my hands on the unedited prophecies before I pass judgment," Giles told them.

"Why would the Powers be afraid the boy?" Angel asked.

"Because they see him as some kind of threat," Buffy replied.

"Obviously, Slayer," Spike replied, "but what kind of threat?"

"He's just a kid. How can he be a threat to the world?" Tara commented as she slipped herself under Willow's arm.

"Perhaps," Giles reached for a broom to clean up the mess around the shattered bookcase, "it's not about the world that they are worried."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

Giles looked up at the vampire, "The situation just might be that they are not afraid of what the boy's presence will do to the world, but to them."

Angel just gave him a strange look, "Go on."

Picking up several books from the floor and placing them on a large table, Giles continued, "I mean that we tend to think of the Powers as a force for good. However, I have the distinct impression that they are more elemental than that. They're not so much a reflection of what we call good and evil, but simply control. They might not want the competition for power here. Or maybe, the dragon and the boy represent a serious disruption in the balance of that power."

"You think they see him as a threat not for what he is, but what he might become?" Angel asked.

Giles nodded his head, "It was a common practice in the past for a ruler to kill his potential heirs to keep them from gaining too much power."

"I can't believe the Powers would do that sort of thing," Angel told the former watcher.

"Believe what you wish," Giles gave Angel a long look, "but we all know that there are individuals who are willing to strike at innocents to for their own gain." Giles knew that Angel heard the
recrimination in his voice.

A long and uncomfortable silence passed across the room. Finally Buffy broke the tension, "Do you think that Xander's in any kind of danger from Kym?"

Spike chuckled, "The only danger that boy represents to Xander right now is to his virtue- such as it is."

"Xander wouldn't do that!" Buffy said.

"Why not Buffy?" Spike asked. "The boy looked more than willing."

"Because he's just a boy," Buffy told him, and Giles could hear the distaste for what she was considering in her voice, "He's not old enough."

"The boy was old enough to fight a dragon. He's old enough to set up house for himself here in Sunnydale. He even managed to snag a prime piece of real-estate out from under Angel's nose. Sloppy work there Old Man," Spike chuckled, "I think he's old enough to figure out if he wants to dance the naked nasty with the whelp."

Buffy shook her head, "But it's not right. He's just a kid. The age difference…"

Giles found himself speaking before he realized it, "And what of the age difference between you and Angel?" He rounded on his pupil, "You haven't managed to pick the most appropriate of paramours yourself Buffy. At least what ever is happening with Xander and Kym, they are a lot closer in age than you and he."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with Giles," Angel broke in. "The boy's of age to make his own decisions. If he can take the responsibility for living, then he's old enough to
decide when and to whom to give his body. Give Xander the same respect he gave you, Buff."

"Okay, okay. I still don't think it's right." She gave Giles a long look, "But I tell you this much. I never thought of Xander as a pedophile."

Spike told her, "If you think what Xander might do with the boy is so bad, go and stop him. You are after all, the Slayer. It's not like the Whelp could stand up to you." Spike chuckled, "But to
be honest though, I think the aggressor in this relationship is Kymbrall, and I think that if you got between him and Xander, he might be likely to teach you a few lessons in his own style of slaying."

"Maybe I'll do that," Buffy stood up from the table.

"No you won't" Angel told her.

"And why not?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"Because it's none of your business," Angel looked at Giles, "Maybe it's because I am from a different age, and am older, but I think this is something the two of them need to work out
between them. They don't need us interfering in their business."

*

The great dragon raised its head as four of her servants entered the cavern where she guarded her clutch. "Have you located him?" her voice rumbled across the expanse. These four had come
under her influence almost immediately after her arrival on this world.

The lead male nodded, "We found him at the Magic Shop. He was with the Slayer."

Mar fixed the man with her stare, "You idiot, he is the slayer."

"But you don't understand…" Whatever the man was going to say was lost in the fire that engulfed him.

Turning her head toward the other three men standing there, she ignored the pyre of burning human flesh, "Never make the mistake of telling me what I know and don't know. Your vampire slayer is unimportant. I have shown you how to see him for what he is. Kill the boy."

*

Buffy sat quietly outside the mansion watching the sun come up. The night itself had been rather quiet, and although she'd agreed not to interfere in whatever might be going on in there, she didn't promise not to have a long talk with her old friend in the morning. She wasn't sure what it was about the situation that was disturbing her so. It really couldn't be the age thing, after all, Giles had a point. These two were closer in age she and Angel had been. It surely wasn't the fact that she thought he was sleeping with the enemy. Again, she knew she didn't have the right to go there. After all, she hadn't exactly stuck to humans with her own paramours.

The more she thought about it, a theory began to develop in her own mind. First, she admitted to herself that she was having problems with the idea of Xander as being something other than a happy go lucky, doofus she'd always seen him as. He'd committed the cardinal sin of growing up and changing on her, and she found herself bothered by that. Secondly, she realized that although she was willing to accept the idea of Willow and Tara as a couple, deep down there was some part of her that was bothered by what two guys would do with each other.

Finally, she decided that although she was still going to a talk with her friend about the age thing, she owed him an apology as well. Deciding that the conversation could wait until a more decent time of day, she turned to head home. Movement from near the mansion caught her eye and she stopped and watched.

Three figures dressed in dark clothes came climbing over the low wall on the balcony leading into the master bedroom. From their movements, she knew they weren't the plumber coming to fix the sink.

Grabbing her bag, she quickly ran across the garden to just below the balcony. At the last instant she launched herself into the air, to land silently behind where two of the men were peering through the curtains into the bedroom while the other worked on the lock. "Gee let me guess," she put on her best smile, "You're Avon with the new spring line."

One of the men peering through the curtains turned in surprise, just in time to catch her front kick right in the face. The force of the kick slammed him backwards and through the French doors, into the bedroom. "Next time, try the front door. Breaking and entering is just so tacky."

With a speed that surprised her, the man at the lock lunged at her from his crouched position. Before she could get out of the way, he had her pinned to low wall behind her. She brought a knee up to his groin, but was surprised to meet hardness of his thigh, as he blocked the attack, "Sorry Slayer," the man growled at her, "anything you can do, we can do better."

"That's good," She smiled. "You think of that all by yourself?" She brought both her fists down hard against his kidneys, and was rewarded with a grunt of pain. "But experience does have its
advantages.

The man's grip was like a vice as he slung her past him and into the bedroom. Looking around she saw Xander and Kymbrall- fully clothed she noted- rolling out of the bed, the other two intruders closing from opposite sides. "Looks like we get to kill both slayers," the man who had tossed her in said, entering the room.

She watched as one of the men closed with Xander, throwing a flurry of lightning quick blows she would have been hard-pressed to evade. Evade them her friend did though. Each punch, kick, or thrust was countered efficiently and with a good deal of skill by Xander who seemed to be as surprised by it as she.

She watched him bend backwards to avoid a kick to the face, and flow effortlessly into a back walkover. She was reminded of her time with Merick when her own powers as the slayer were beginning to awaken. It was as if his body suddenly was drawing on a strength and flexibility that it didn't know it had. She could tell Xander was taking his usual devil-may-care attitude and going with the situation until he could get some questions answered later. After all, Xander was not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.

For her own part, she had her hands full with this attacker. It was like fighting Faith, or Kendra. He was as strong and quick as she was, and seemed to be healing from his wounds as fast as she could inflict them. Dodging a series of kicks, she found herself backed into a corner of the room with the man closing fast. She ducked a punch to her head and felt splinters of mahogany paneling cut into the top of her head as the massive fist smashed through the wall. "What are these guys?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Trained monkeys," Kymbrall answered her as he calmly slid behind his opponent and snapped the man's neck, with no more remorse than she would have in killing a demon. "Mar's messenger boys," he gave her a wicked smile, as he grabbed the man closing on Xander.

"How do you take them out?" she asked delivering a vicious full power-punch to her opponent's floating ribs. She felt a satisfying crunch, and watched as the man's eyes glazed over slightly. From his look, she knew she'd punctured a lung with that punch. The man crumpled next to her.

Looking over she saw where Xander was finishing off the guy who'd spun when he realized Kymbrall was behind him. She could see fear, and not a small amount of anger in his eyes, "You have the worst timing in the world!" A single punch sent the man flying across the room to slam through the French doors and over the balcony.

Turning he looked at Kym and Buffy, "What is happening to me?"

"You're phyre is startin' to ignite," the young southerner told him as he approached slowly. "Ah don' know how, but Ah suspect that you somehow managed to absorb some of the phyre energy that came through that gate."

"Willows spell!" Buffy said, as it started to become clear.

Xander and Kym both gave her a strange look. "What spell?" Kym asked.

"When we fought Glory," she noticed the confused look Kymbrall gave her, "she was god we fought about nine months ago. Anyway when we fought her, Xander was hurt- pretty badly too. Willow used a healing spell on him." Buffy started pacing the room trying to force the concepts that were coming together in her head make sense. The man she'd put down earlier was trying to rise, and she casually kicked him in the head. He collapsed again. "She said that there had been
a lot of extra power pouring into that spell from the gate. Maybe you absorbed some of that dragonphyre or whatever it is, Kymbrall was talking about. Maybe it made you like him."

"Wait a minute?" Kymbrall said. "Ya'll killed a god?"

"Only one," Buffy told him. "She was trying to take this world back to Hell with her."

*

"It's obvious that these people know who you both are," Giles told Buffy and Kym as they sat in the Magic Shop the next afternoon. "If they're sending forces into your home, then no place is really safe for you now."

Kym shook his head, "that's not a dragon's style. They don't do things that will bring attention to themselves."

Giles leaned against the counter, "This is Sunnydale Kymbrall, things don't always work the way you'd expect them to in most other places. It's the nature of the Hellmouth. People tend not to notice that their next door neighbor is no longer entirely human."

"What about Buffy's theory," Xander asked. "Is that why I suddenly seem to be faster and stronger?"

"I don't know that much about this thing he calls phyre. Perhaps you should ask him," Giles told him.

"Is she right?" Xander turned and asked the young man.

"It makes sense ta' me. There was a lot of dragonphyre released when Ah killed Cain. Ah know Ah didn't absorb it all. The phyre is a force for life, an' it would `ave been drawn toward a healin' spell." Kym leaned back and looked closely at Xander. Giles watched his eyes go slightly out of focus for few seconds, "What ever the cause, it does seem that you mah frien' have joined the ranks of the Dragonborn."

"What exactly does that mean?" Xander asked.

"It means that you're going to heal faster, you're obviously going to be stronger and quicker. Any other manifestation of your phyre, Ah don' know `bout jus' yet. That comes with time." Kym told
him. "Oh yes, there is of course the phyresight and phyrespeak."

"What are those?" Giles asked.

Kym turned to him, "It's the ability to see the phyre in others, and to speak back and forth with someone else possessin' it."

"Like telepathy?" Buffy asked.

"Something like that, only you can only use it with other Dragonborn," Kym replied. "Magda thinks that it might be the basis for phyrebonds."

"What's a phyrebond?" Buffy asked.

"That's a long story," he looked over at Xander, "and not something we really need to get into now."

"How long is it going to last?" Xander asked. "I mean is it suddenly going to fail me sometime when I need it?"

Kym smiled, "for as long as you live, and then beyond."

"Beyond?" Xander asked.

Kym shrugged, "Yeah, you tend to pass it on to people aroun' you when you die. That was the secret that allowed the Dragonborn to eventually build enough power to throw off the dragon's rule `bout ten thousand years ago."

Meanwhile across town…

Mar felt the stirring of her eggs deep in her belly. It had been almost a month since she'd taken them back inside her body for their final hatching. Cain had been a fool, hell bent on getting his
revenge on the `Born who'd stripped him of his power, but fool was not a label she'd wear willingly. Glancing over at the two piles of ash that had been her servants, she just now began to realize the danger in which she'd unwittingly placed herself and her clutch. She realized she'd have to act soon, because her brood would need to feed. But, for as long as the `Born was still in this city she dared not make her presence known. Unlike her mate, she respected the power of the one who bore the avatar of Tyr.

Lowering her head, she sent out a quiet probe to a particular recipient she's detected upon arriving in this world. A few questions in the right places had identified her as someone connected to the so-called slayer in Sunnydale. A quiet probe here, a push there and she was able to enter the girls mind.

Cordelia winced as the vision hit her like an oncoming train. Suddenly the hotel room where she was staying in Sunnydale disappeared and she was facing one of the Oracles. The woman
appeared in a shimmering haze of light, her silvery skin glowing incandescently against the rich neo-Grecian background. "Seer," the woman commanded, with her mind.

Pressing her temples with the heals of her hands Cordelia fought through haze of pain to answer, "Yes?"

"The boy brings danger to this world. He is not what he seems. He is a demon in human guise," the woman's voice slammed through her mind like hammer.

"Which boy? What demon?" Cordelia asked confused.

"The one whom the warrior is tracking. He is not human. He must be killed before he brings certain destruction to this realm." The woman's voice set off new spasms of pain in her head.

"What kind of demon?" Cordy asked. "How do we kill him?"

"With a blade forged of an ancient alloy. An allow that burns in the presence of his species of demon," The woman replied.

"What sword?" Cordy asked.

"This sword," the woman told her, as a large two-handed blade appeared at Cordy's feet as the vision faded, leaving only the sword and the pain behind.

(6)

"It's obvious that these people know who you both are," Giles told Buffy and Kym as they sat in the Magic Shop the next afternoon. "If they're sending forces into your home, then no place is really safe for you now."

Kym shook his head, "that's not a dragon's style. They don't do things that will bring attention to themselves."

Giles leaned against the counter, "This is Sunnydale Kymbrall, things don't always work the way you'd expect them to in most other places. It's the nature of the Hellmouth. People tend not to notice that their next door neighbor is no longer entirely human."

"What about Buffy's theory," Xander asked. "Is that why I suddenly seem to be faster and stronger?"

"I don't know that much about this thing he calls phyre.

Perhaps you should ask him," Giles told him.

"Is she right?" Xander turned and asked the young man.

"It makes sense ta' me. There was a lot of dragonphyre released when Ah killed Cain. Ah know Ah didn't absorb it all. The phyre is a force for life, an' it would `ave been drawn toward a healin' spell." Kym leaned back and looked closely at Xander. Giles watched his eyes go slightly out of focus for few seconds, "What ever the cause, it does seem that you mah frien' have joined the ranks of the Dragonborn."

"What exactly does that mean?" Xander asked.

"It means that you're going to heal faster, you're obviously going to be stronger and quicker. Any other manifestation of your phyre Ah don' know `bout jus' yet. That comes with time." Kym told him. "Oh yes, there is of course the phyresight and phyrespeak."

"What are those?" Giles asked.

Kym turned to him, "It's the ability to see the phyre in others, and to speak back and forth with someone else possessin' it."

"Like telepathy?" Buffy asked.

"Something like that, only you can only use it with other Dragonborn," Kym replied. "Magda thinks that it might be the basis for phyrebonds."

"What's a phyrebond?" Buffy asked.

"That's a long story," he looked over at Xander, "and not something we really need to get into now."

"How long is it going to last?" Xander asked. "I mean is it suddenly going to fail me sometime when I need it?"

Kym smiled, "for as long as you live, and then beyond."

"Beyond?" Xander asked.

Kym shrugged, "Yeah, you tend to pass it on to people aroun' you when you die. That was the secret that allowed the Dragonborn to eventually build enough power to throw off the dragon's rule `bout ten thousand years ago."


Meanwhile across town…

Mar felt the stirring of her eggs deep in her belly. It had been almost a month since she'd taken them back inside her body for their final hatching. Cain had been a fool, hell bent on getting his revenge on the `Born who'd stripped him of his power, but fool was not a label she'd wear willingly. Glancing over at the two piles of ash that had been her servants, she just now began to realize the danger in which she'd unwittingly placed herself and her clutch. She realized she'd have to act soon, because her brood would need to feed. But for as long as the `Born was still in this city she dared not make her presence known. Unlike her mate, she respected the power of the one who bore the avatar of Tyr.

Lowering her head, she sent out a quiet probe to a particular recipient she's detected upon arriving in this world. A few questions in the right places had identified her as someone connected to the so-called slayer in Sunnydale. A quiet probe here, a push there and she was able to enter the girls mind.

Cordelia winced as the vision hit her like an oncoming train. Suddenly the hotel room where she was staying in Sunnydale disappeared and she was facing one of the Oracles. The woman
appeared in a shimmering haze of light, her silvery skin glowing incandescently against the rich neo-Grecian background. "Seer," the woman commanded, with her mind.

Pressing her temples with the heals of her hands Cordelia fought through haze of pain to answer, "Yes?"

"The boy brings danger to this world. He is not what he seems. He is a demon in human guise," the woman's voice slammed through her mind like hammer.

"Which boy? What demon?" Cordelia asked confused.

"The one whom the warrior is tracking. He is not human. He must be killed before he brings certain destruction to this realm."

The woman's voice set off new spasms of pain in her head.

"What kind of demon?" Cordy asked. "How do we kill him?"

"With a blade forged of an ancient alloy. An allow that burns in the presence of his species of demon," The woman replied.

"What sword?" Cordy asked.

"This sword," the woman told her, as a large two-handed blade appeared at Cordy's feet as the vision faded, leaving only the sword and the pain behind.

End part 6