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Cordelia sat down across from Jacks and Miki at her usual table. In the week since the three "girls" had transferred to the High School, the Ice Queen of Sunnyhell High had gotten used to eating with the two non-humans since Dawn had gotten stuck in the other lunch period.
"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked Jacks as the child-sized Knight shot a glare over her shoulder.
"Andrew Wells has been stalking me since first period yesterday," Jacks muttered to her lunch bag. "I have no idea how the little twit manages to show up everywhere I go when we only have three classes together."
"It's one of the mysteries of the Hellmouth," Cordelia said with a shrug. She paused and gave a little shiver at the waves of obsession coming from the little nerd in the corner. She frowned slightly. Even if it wasn't aimed at her, it was freaking creepy. "Or maybe it isn't. Miki?"
The were-jaguar smirked as she slipped away from the table.
Andrew Wells stared at the white haired girl sitting with Cordelia Chase. His eyes darted down to one of the images he'd printed off the computer then back up to the tiny fourteen year old Freshman. It had to be her. It just had to be. Coincidences like that just didn't happen.
A small, very, very strong hand dug it's fingers into his elbow.
"Owww!"
"Shut up. Walk," Miki growled.
"Uh. Okay," Andrew squeaked. "Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow."
Two pairs of cold, assessing eyes were leveled at the younger Wells boy as Miki forced him toward the table claimed by Cordelia Chase, Jacks Standish and Miki Mirri.
"Um. Uh, Huh, Hi," the thin blonde boy managed to stammer.
Miki pushed him toward an empty spot on the bench. "Sit."
The other two girls watched him like a bug as he scrambled to obey the growled command.
"You have five seconds to explain why you keep staring at Jacks," Cordelia said, her tone down right Arctic in its chill.
Jacks simply reached over and yanked the papers out of the near catatonic boy's hands. She stared blankly at the image on the printer paper. After a moment she started to flip through them. "Where did you get these, Wells?"
"Th-that's you? It's really you?" Andrew blurted. "You're really The Witch of The Seven?"
"All I'm admitting is that this drawing holds an uncanny resemblance to me," Jacks said coldly. "Now where did you get these?"
Andrew swallowed hard. If he was right, and Jacks Standish really was the girl from the webcomic then he was in deadly peril if he didn't answer her honestly. "On-line. There's a Comic called The Witch of The Seven. The really cool part is that a guy who goes here draws it. Jesse..."
From the flash of green light in the small girl's eyes, Andrew knew he was right. Jacks was the Witch.
"MacNally!" Jacks bellowed as she surged up off the bench seat.
From the other side of the cafeteria Jesse MacNally bolted for the door.
Cordelia snatched one of the printed sheets out of the air as the white haired female chased after Jesse. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Jacks Standish was posed in the drawing with a sultry smirk on her face, and wearing traditional Kine'Iende ceremonial armor. What little of it there was.
"He's meat," Miki said, amusement coming from her in waves.
"If he's lucky," Cordelia said as she allowed a smirk to curve her lips.
Miki returned the smirk. "Doubt it."
Cordelia chuckled softly.
"Show Xander?" Miki asked.
"And Vin. He is not going to be happy with Jesse."
"Hey, you can't take those," Andrew whined. "They're mine."
The two brunettes glared at him until he scampered away. Cordelia continued to frown after the younger boy. "We're going to have to put a leash on that guy."
"Stanish! MacNally!" Snyder bellowed as the two teenager bolted down the hall.
Jacks flicked her hand at the vice-principal as she passed by. For a moment a small snapping turtle stood in Snyder's place before he transformed back. The rat-like little man was left dazed in the white maned girl's wake.
"Jesse! Stand still and take it like a man!" Jacks snarled as she wove through the crowd of students.
"I'm crazy! Not stupid!" Jesse shouted over his shoulder before he went skidding into the library.
"So entirely dead," the half-fey gritted out from clenched teeth as she followed him.
Wesley looked up for the second time in as many seconds as someone burst through the heavy wooden doors. "I take it you're looking for Mr. MacNally?"
"No, I'm finding Mr. MacNally," Jacks said coldly. "Then he's going to be spending some quality time in a terrarium."
"Do I even want to know what he's done this time?"
Jacks magically directed the sheet of paper in her hand toward the Watcher. "He did that."
Wesley adjusted his glasses as he plucked the paper from the air. "Oh. I say. This is actually very good."
"I know. But he could have asked first." Jacks shot him a feral smile before she teleported into the stacks.
"Well, this won't likely end well," Wesley murmured. After a moment's more study of the picture, Wesley tucked it into one of his note books and turned back to his research.
"What's for dinner?" Faith asked out loud, less than interested in the current drama playing out in the living room and more concerned with filling her stomach.
"Turtle soup," Vin said as he eyed the reptile on the floor. It turned slowly and started to crawl for it's life.
Faith grimaced. "I'll make a sandwich."
Xander resisted the urge to laugh and the other urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Jacks, turn him back."
"No," she said flatly.
"That's an order, Standish."
Jacks sighed and waved her hand at the turtle form of Jesse.
Willow made a sound like a dog's chew toy and turned as red as her hair.
This time Xander did pinch the bridge of his nose. "Jacks..."
"Yes, Commander?"
"Is the chain mail bikini really necessary?"
The warrior witch smirked. "Yes. Yes it is."
"Nice legs, MacNally," Faith laughed.
Dawn shook her head. "I didn't need to see that."
"At least she left you your boxers," Jonothan snarked.
"Now... about this 'webcomic' Andrew told me about..." Jacks took two slow steps toward Jesse.
"Uh, can we talk about this?" Jesse asked as he tugged down on the short chain mail skirt in his attempt to retreat.
"You listen, I'll talk," Jacks said as she continued stalking toward him. "You used my likeness for your amusement, and now Andrew Wells believes he knows what I am. Do you have any idea how dangerous that could turn out to be?"
"Dangerous?" Jesse squeaked as he backed away from the annoyed magic user.
Jacks eyes narrowed, flashing green. "If Andrew Wells can figure out that you based the Witch of the Seven on *me*, who else will figure it out? And who else did you use in this... webcomic?"
"Merlin, pull up the webcomic called... What was it again?" Xander asked.
"The Witch of The Seven," Merlin supplied. "I have the archive ready on the monitor."
"Show me," Jacks said flatly as she turned away from Jesse.
"Ah, can you not show her?" whimpered the would-be manga artist.
Vin ambled over to peek over his lady love's slim shoulders. "MacNally, you and me are gonna have a talk about respect and privacy. Soon."
Xander gave a low whistle. "I'll give you points for artistic vision, bro, but seriously... I'm obligated to let Vin and Jacks kick your ass."
"It's not my fault those battle suits don't leave much to the imagination," Jesse protested weakly.
Jacks' cheeks went red as she scrolled through the archived comic strips. "How in the twelve hells did you find out about *that*?"
"Twelve hells?" Xander asked curiously before he registered what was on the screen. "Wait a second. That actually happened? I didn't think even you could bend like that."
Vin leveled a very annoyed look at where Jesse was nervously fidgeting in the barely there armor. "Talking real soon, kid."
"Look there were a bunch of novels about these guys called the Magnificent Seven," Jesse blurted. "My mom has the whole series of them. The guys in them sound like the people you and Jacks talk about some times, so I based the other characters off them and dropped the whole thing into a Dungeons and Dragons world."
"Wait.... novels? Who wrote them?" Jacks barked.
"John Daniel Dunne," Willow supplied. "My dad read them years ago, and they were old then."
Jacks choked slightly as Vin frowned.
"John Daniel?" Vin asked softly.
"JD and Casey's oldest son. You'd been gone for... oh, nearly two years when he was born," Jacks murmured.
Xander pushed a chair under her as her knees gave way. "You okay, Jacks?"
"Ezra... Chris, Nathan, JD, Buck, Josiah," Jacks whispered. "You drew them this close just from descriptions in a series of books?"
Jesse swallowed hard. "They were really good descriptions. But, uh, the Vin Turner guy in the novels sounds a lot like Vin here, so I just... uh, drew him."
"The gentleman referred to in the books doubtlessly sounds a great deal like my Vin because he's based on stories that Johnny was told," Jacks said as she recovered from the dual shocks of discovering not only was there now a web-based comic, but also an older series of novels written by a child she had watched over.
Vin nodded as if reading her mind. "We wanna see these books."
"I'll get them from home," Jesse agreed quickly. "Just... uh, can I have my clothes back?"
"Nope. Let's go," Vin ordered.
Jesse shot a pleading look toward his best friend. Xander shook his head. "You really should have known this would happen, man."
Xander was surprised to find not only Jacks and Vin reading the novels Jesse had drawn his inspiration from, but Cordelia, Miki, Faith and Dawn as well. "Are those books really that good?"
"And pretty accurate, too," Vin said without looking up. "Wonder how I missed these before?"
Jacks snorted softly and turned a page. "You don't read Westerns, love."
"Yep, that'd explain it." The Immortal Texan finally looked up from 'Seven Guns at Noon'.
Xander nodded. "And how does the comic hold up against the books?"
Jacks sent the book she'd been reading floating across the room to rest neatly with the others that weren't being read. "Fairly well. As far as characterization goes.."
"Brunette," Miki pointed out.
"Yeah, cause white hair was common on twenty somethings," Faith snickered.
Beth wandered into the living room and stared. "Those books are pretty old but not musty enough for this to be a research party. What's up?"
"Jesse based a webcomic on these," Dawn said absently without looking up at her older sister. "It's pretty good. But there are fewer near-naked pictures in these."
"You couldn't have just said that I didn't want to know?" Beth asked with a smirk.
"We didn't really want to know either," Cordelia told the older dark haired version of Buffy. "But Andrew Wells went stalker fan-boy on Jacks because of Jesse's comic. Which led us to these."
Jacks nodded slowly. "Wells can be exceedingly creepy when he puts his mind to it."
"Oh, then you might want to know that he's on his way over here," Beth said helpfully. "I think he's looking for you guys."
"Jacks," Xander started.
She waved a hand. "I know, I know. Jail-bait form."
"You've been spending too much time with Faith," Beth decided.
"Hardly," Jacks retorted dryly.
They fell silent as the doorbell rang.
"Can I shoot him?" Vin muttered.
Xander shook his head and went to answer the door. "Hey, Andrew. What do you want?"
"I come to plead the favor of the Witch of the Seven," the smaller boy said dramatically. The flat, impatient gaze leveled at him made Andrew gulp before continuing. "Uh, I heard that Jacks was here hanging out with Miki. I'd like to talk to her."
"For the record, her guardian wants to use you for target practice," Xander warned him as he stepped aside just enough to let the kid past.
"There are laws against stalking," Jacks shouted from the living room. "Willow found them on the internet!"
Andrew rushed forward to defend himself. "I am not stalking you! I'm just a dedicated..."
"Boy, yer in a load of trouble," said a lean, rough looking man with long curls that varied between light brown and dark blonde. His soft raspy voice was not comforting.
"Tanner," squeaked Andrew. He blinked. "Hey, wait! She's just a kid you pervert!"
Jacks smacked him. Not nearly has hard as she would have liked to do so, but hard enough to get his attention. "The Witch of the Seven is -fiction-, Wells. MacNally was just dork enough to base his characters on people he knows and a collection of novels."
"B-but I know magic is real," the boy blurted.
"Anyone else find that not comforting?" Faith asked.
Dawn scowled at the interloper. "What do you think you know?"
"My brother summoned up hellhound puppies."
"Crap," Miki growled.
Jacks yanked at her hair. She just knew this was going to cause her trouble. "You. Sit. Now!"
Wide blue eyes in a pale, nearly gaunt, face stared at the green eyed being as he automatically obeyed.
"Huh. I'd forgotten about those," Xander said after a moment. "Jacks, I'll leave this in your hands."
The white maned girl proceeded to curse in fifteen different languages.
Xander blinked. "Now I know that isn't physically possible no matter what species you are."
Andrew Wells was thrilled to find himself the companion of heroes. Or at least that's what he kept silently telling himself, as if he'd fallen into one of the elaborate fanfiction stories he read constantly.
That those heroes were teenagers only a little older or younger than he was....
Dawn Summers was staring at him like he was some sort of only mildly interesting insect.
Andrew swallowed hard. "H-hi. Are you... you're Dawn, right? Squire and Sorceress in Training to the White Witch?"
"Blood Mage," Dawn said flatly, her eyes shadowed under cobalt blue bangs.
"What?"
"I'm not a sorceress. I'm a Blood Mage."
Jacks cut across Andrew's nervously babbled response to Dawn's correction. "Andrew, get over here."
Dawn and Mikki watched in amusement as the lanky blonde boy scrambled to follow the order. The two traded a silent look before following. Both of them wanted in on this. At the very least, Andrew's reactions were funny.
"Okay, and why am I here?" Jessie was asking as the two younger girls joined them at the desk.
Jacks let out a low hissing breath as her attention was diverted from the blueprints of the warehouse Tucker was using to the cause of her current annoyance. "You are here because if I have to deal with this situation then you are going to deal with it as well. In a limited capacity."
"Oh, come on, why limited?"
"Because Xander would find a way to kill me if I use you as hellhound bait," Jacks said flatly. "You've become fairly skilled in hand to hand combat, Jessie. But this is likely to become a battle of magics. Which would be my specialty."
"You summoned me, Oh Mighty Witch?" Andrew asked gleefully. "How may I be of ...." His voice trailed off under the blatantly annoyed gaze of his personal hero. ".... assistance?"
"My. Name. Is. Jacks. Try using it," she said calmly. Although she was seriously thinking about turning him into a turtle and leaving him that way. Somehow she thought that would get her less of an argument from Xander than leaving Jessie that way would. "Does your brother have any traps or wards against intrusion?"
"No, Jacks," her personal fanboy squeaked. "Tucker thinks everyone else is too stupid to figure it out."
"Then obviously he was mistaken. Will he be there after school tomorrow, Andrew?" she asked, ignoring Dawn's smirk and the amusement that came rolling off of Mikki.
"Yeah, but he has to stop by the butcher's for more cow brains," he offered. He grinned widely when she nodded. At least until she frowned at him.
"Mikki, Dawn, you're coming as well." Jack pointed to the few openings on the blue print as she ignored Andrew wilting beside her. "Dawn, you are to lay wards across here and here. Mikki, you're coming inside with me in case the hellhounds get loose before I can send them back."
Jessie frowned and leaned over the blueprint. "What about me?"
"We need a driver so we're taking you," Jacks said bluntly.
"Wait, you can't drive?" Andrew blurted.
"I can drive Vin's jeep," Jacks corrected. "Which isn't here, so Jessie is driving. Besides, we need to get away fast if this goes wrong. I am not risking my team."
Jessie grins. "I'm the wheel man?"
"I will turn you back into a turtle, McNally."
"You really do that and I missed it?" Andrew wailed.
Jacks ground her teeth together. And ignored Xander snickering in the background.
Andrew back tracked quickly. "When do we leave?"
"We? You're not coming."
"Can I just say that it's much funnier when someone else is being turned into a turtle?" Jessie asked as he drove toward the docks instead of heading to Xander's as usual after school.
"No," Jacks told him absently.
Dawn counted the vials of blood and components she'd brought along for the job. "Jacks, what if I mess up?"
"Then this is the job to mess up on," Jacks said from the front seat. She rechecked the clips she'd brought for her customized Glocks. "Silver tips, magnesium, standard... Dawn? Be a darling and remind me to ask Andy to cast Cold Iron bullets for me?"
Dawn blinked. "Uh... Why? I thought tracking your fey family members fell through."
"Just because other things came up doesn't mean I won't encounter them eventually," Jacks pointed out.
"Don't like them?" Mikki asked in surprised.
Jacks' smile was brittle as Jessie drove carefully through the warehouse district. "I don't know most of them, Mikki. But some of the ones I do know ... no, I don't like them and the feeling is entirely mutual. So encountering them may or may not be a good thing."
Andrew pouted in the shoebox Mikki was holding on her lap.... Ooooooh, lettuce!
"And here we are," Jessie said cheerfully as he stopped across the street from the warehouse used by Tucker Wells. "Now what?"
"Now," Jacks said as she opened the door, "we follow the plan. You stay here. Andrew can keep you company."
Mikki huffed a few chuckles as she put the shoebox in the front seat. "Don't let him out. Ask Xander if I can keep him."
"For what?" Dawn asked as she slung her belt carefully around her hips, the vials securely held in place by individual elastic loops.
"Pet," Mikki said cheerfully.
Jessie watched the three girls walk away then looked down at the turtle staring up at him. "That was wrong on more levels than you will ever understand, dude."
Dawn carefully drew the runes on the door with a mix of blood, sea salt and oak ash, then spread a thin line of more sea salt from one end of the threshold to the other. With a confident nod she touched the fold com along her jaw. "The doors are sealed except the way in. Now what?"
"Go wait with Jessie," Jacks ordered. "If Tucker or one of the hellhounds get out, stop them."
"Right," Dawn said slowly. "Be careful, okay?"
Jacks only grinned, the expression echoed by Mikki as they walked into the only opening left in the warehouse. Dawn shook her head and walked to where the Volkswagen was parked. Some how she got the feeling she was going to miss all the fun.
Mikki's nose crinkled up in disgust and a soft growl rumbled up from her chest.
Jacks glanced at her and nodded her agreement silently. What ever other crimes Tucker Wells was doubtlessly guilty of, the boy didn't know how to take proper care of his pets. "I know you don't like dogs, hunt-sister, but even hellhounds deserve better than this."
"Can't set them free," Mikki pointed out.
"True, but I know where we can send them," Jacks said cheerfully. "Keep watch for the Wells boy while I set up the ritual. Delay him if he arrives before I'm done."
Mikki rumbled her agreement, and Jacks could almost see her tail swishing as the werejaguar went to find a proper place to lay in wait.
Jacks bit back a chuckle at the thought of what Tucker Wells was in for if he arrived before she was finished preparing to send the hellhound puppies to a better place for them.
The half-fey witch was greeted by snarling yaps, yelps and yips when she reached where the pups were caged. Her nose wrinkled up much like Mikki's had at the smell.
"Poor babies," she murmured. From what had probably been an average sized litter of eight, only four of the hellhound puppies were still alive. A simple series of quickly formed gestures cleaned away the accumulated waste from the cages.
The pups went silent at the sudden, unfamiliar feeling of being clean, and turned faintly glowing eyes on the being that smelled strongly of Female and Magic. Both brought forth instinctive submissive behavior from the young hellhounds.
Jacks crouched at the edge of the cage and cooed softly, calling the puppies over. "Good, good. That's good. You poor dears. Don't worry, I'll send you someplace nice with plenty of hellbunnies to chase."
Humming one of the tunes her friends would find disturbingly antiquated, Jacks set to work laying out the lines and runes for a dimensional transportation spell that would send the hellhound puppies to a nice farm on the outskirts of one of the more pleasant lower planes.
Jacks was just finishing up with the blue and green swirls of chalk that would direct the puppies to the correct mystical address when Mikki padded into the room silently.
An entire conversation took place between the two supernatural beings with only looks, and slight changes in posture. It came down to the fact that Tucker Wells was here, and Mikki had deemed him an unobservant idiot. Jacks responding smile was edging on feral.
If she'd been in her other form Mikki's ears would have flicked back at the suddenly predatory air around her usually calm friend.
Jacks turned away from Mikki and opened the cages to let the hellhound puppies out into the room. Ignoring the slobber that dripped onto her, Jacks picked each one up for a cuddle before placing it into the center of the power circle and ordering it to sit and stay. The puppies panted and obeyed the dominant mature female.
Mikki rolled her eyes and refrained from snarling at the demonic canines. She was just as glad that Jacks wasn't making noises about keeping one as a pet.
Tucker Wells was in short, a genius. Countless tests proved it, although he'd happily tell you himself with a smug smirk on his lips the entire time. And with his discovery that magic did in fact exist, proven by the simple fact that he could accomplish it...
Well, his vengeance on those who treated him as less than their superior was going to be almost poetic.
... Tucker Wells was not a literary genius, and his idea of what constituted poetic was somewhat lacking.
And if you asked his younger, equally intelligent if less focused brother, you would discover that Tucker Wells was a raving psychopath with leanings toward megalomania.
Andrew was by far the more observant of the Wells brothers.
Otherwise, Tucker would have noticed the wards and seals placed around the warehouse he would have sworn no one else had access to. Of course it it came to that, he would have noticed the two younger teenagers parked across the street in the Volkswagen.
Tucker scowled at the hellhounds sitting docilely in the middle of the large room.
"How the fuck did you get out?" he demanded as he crossed the room looking for the cattle prod. He'd need it to get the little monsters back into their cages and show them exactly who was in charge around here.
"No, now that won't do," came a mostly unfamiliar voice in a strangely familiar cadence. "That won't do at all."
Tucker struggled to keep the cattle prod from being ripped from his hands by nothing he could see, and only succeeded in being pulled several feet further into the room before his fingers lost their grasp.
A white haired female melted out of the shadows, stalking the taller young man as if he were prey. "I can not abide a man that abuses animals."
"Who the hell are you?" Tucker demanded.
"Me? I'm... well, I can't say that I'm no one of any importance. There are people who find me very important," she said with a smirk curving her lips and lighting green fire in her eyes. "You may call me Coyote's Shadow. That served me well enough as a name for a bit more than a century."
Tucker scowled as he noted the cattle prod was now resting in the white haired creature's hands. "Okay. What do you want?"
She made a show of thinking his question over before shrugging. "I want to send the hell-puppies someplace where they'll be better off. But I'm going to do that regardless of what I do to you."
"What makes you think you're going to do anything to me?" Tucker demanded as he started reaching for the power he'd found inside himself, and the tools he used to amplify it.
Only to find himself left with his own limited resources. Very limited resources.
"The fuck?" he spat out as he started searching for the source of disruption.
The inhuman thing's smirk only deepened as she strode forward. "Summoners, such as yourself, Mister Wells, are fairly easy to weaken. I simply destroyed your Circle, by overlaying one of my own over it." Her head tilted as she twirled the cattle prod casually. "Rather sloppy of you to leave your base without even minimal protections."
"Stupid," complained a girl's voice from else where in the shadows.
Soft pale pink lips against almost ivory skin quirked in more amusement that the earlier smirk provided for. "Well, yes. But he's only stumbled across a small portion of what's truly out there, and is a creature of somewhat... limited scope."
"Stop mocking me," Tucker snarled as he summoned what magic he could access to his hands.
A stark white eyebrow rose on her brow. "Mocking you? Please. You aren't worth the effort."
The leven bolt thrown at her could have been easily deflected, but the being simply... flowed out of the way. She paused to brush some fallen dust off her sleeve.
"Please. Let me show you how it's really done," she purred. The green light in her eyes brightened to a glow that washed out the rest of her features as she flicked her hand toward him as if swatting at a fly.
Tucker Wells found himself hitting the metal wall behind him. Hard enough to leave a dent shaped like his back. He stared up as the creature walked toward him. The icy look in those inhuman glowing neon colored eyes followed him into the darkness.
Mikki slid out of the shadows silently. She tilted her head and blinked large brown eyes at her friend and sometimes hunting partner. "Gonna kill him?"
"No. But he certainly won't be doing any more summoning when I'm done with him," Jacks said as her eyes continued to glow briliant green. "Although he may very well wish I had killed him."
"The dogs," Mikki reminded her with a hint of a snarl in her voice.
Jacks hummed softly for a moment then nodded. "The hellhounds first. Take Wells here out and secure him in the car." Her lips quirked into a dark smile. "Tell Dawn she can do whatever she likes to make sure he stays put if he comes around."
The werejaguar gave a chuffing laugh as she moved to drag away the unconscious teenager. She may not like dogs of any kind all that much, but the idea of those puppies being struck with the cattle prod made her twitch. She grabbed Tucker by the ankles and started pulling him along behind her.
And she wasn't particularly careful about it.
"Now, let's get you sweeties some place nicer for you, hmmm?" Jacks cooed at the hellhound puppies that had stayed where she had placed them the entire time. "Such good babies, yes you are."
Mikki shook her head as Jacks' words reached her ears. Sometimes Jacks was most definitely the strangest person the young lycanthrope knew. And that was saying something considering the company they both kept.
Behind her Jacks began to chant.
Tucker Wells woke up and decided to hold very, very still. It likely had to do with the very sharp knife scraping along the thin skin along the orbital socket of his eye.
And the cold hazel eyes under blue dyed bangs.
"Why didn't Jacks just get rid of him?" the girl with the cold eyes asked without taking her eyes from Tucker's.
"Make him suffer first," came a lazy voice. A dark eyed, dark haired girl leaned over the shoulder of the other girl. "Nasty magic. Stinks."
"Come on, ladies," said a slightly more familiar voice. "He's in for enough after ticking off Jacks without you two making him piss himself."
The girls both grinned. But it was the one with the blue bangs that spoke up. "Jacks said I can do whatever I want to make this asshat stay put until she's done taking care of the puppies, Jessie."
The knife kept up it's slight movement near one of Tucker's eyes.
"Jessie... you go to school with my little brother," Tucker said slowly, careful not to lose eye contact with the girl.
The dark eyed girl was replaced by the grimly smirking face that Tucker Wells vaguely remembered.
"You're friends with that psycho Harris, right?"
Okay, wrong thing to say, Tucker concluded silently when he found himself under three dark glares and the knife went absolutely still right at the corner of his eye.
"Might want to find another way to put that," Jessie MacNally suggested. "Especially since one of the people who works with him just knocked you cold. And none of them are happy with you."
"Nasty," the Hispanic girl repeated with a low rumbling growl under the word.
"Got to admit, I'm not real in favor of you turning loose hellhounds on the Prom," the girl crouching over him said as her knife resumed it's slow scraping motion. "Not that I was planning on going or anything, but it'd be pretty rotten to ruin the best part of high school for a lot of people."
>From the warehouse came a blast of sulfuric smoke, and a round of cursing in a musical language that didn't really seem suited for the vitriol being spewed forth.
"What was that all about?" Jessie called as the small white haired Knight joined them.
Jacks frowned at him. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get the scent of brimstone out of leather?"
"Xander dumped this on you, he can pay for the cleaning bill," Dawn offered up with a smirk.
"True," Jacks chuckled. "Now, what to do, what to do with the elder Wells boy?"
Tucker thought better of protesting when the knife drew a thin line of blood high on his cheek.
"Idea," Mikki offered up with a predatory grin.
"Do tell," Dawn encouraged.
Xander stared at the small team his fellow Knight had gathered for the mission as they finished delivering their report in his living room. While playing video games.
"And that's how Tucker got into the pound. Naked," Dawn finished.
"The only pity is that the spell wore off before they 'fixed' him," Jacks sighed. She scowled as Mikki's character ripped the spine out of hers. "But he has been arrested and will likely go to a mental institution."
"The four of you are not working together again. Ever," Xander announced.
Jesse shook his head. "I had nothing to do with it, bro. Totally their idea."
"But you didn't try and talk them out of it," Xander pointed out.
"Yeah, right. I'm not dumb enough to argue with all three of them," the younger boy retorted. "Especially not when one of them is already ticked off at me."
Xander started to protest, but then realized that his childhood buddy had a pretty good point. "So what happened to Andrew?"
"Well, he isn't a turtle anymore," Jacks sighed as she tossed the game control aside, where the vastly amused Dawn picked it up for her turn. "But I have made it very clear to him that telling anyone who we really are is an exceedingly bad idea."
Mikki pouted. "Pet."
"I'll buy you a pet turtle," Jacks said with a smirk. "As soon as Xander replaces my pants."
The Leader of the Knighthood dropped his head into his hands and groaned. Some how he had the idea that this would come and bite them all in the ass at some point.
Where was Cordelia when he needed her to talk sense into this bunch? And wasn't that a disturbing thought?
The store was dim, the lights mostly focused on the merchandise. While covering several historical periods, this particular shop specialized in the era of America's Westward Expansion.
Andrew's eyes widened at the sight of the leather bound journal. The holy grail of his very select fandom. So select that he was the only one willing to go to such efforts of research.
Well, Vin Tanner already had most of the objects Andrew wanted. But since he was obviously one of the Seven, perhaps mystically gifted with Eternal Life by his lover, the Witch of the Seven.... In any case. Vin didn't count as a fan.
Andrew just had to go to greater lengths to secure items related to his living hero-goddess. The private journal of Colleen Standish, perhaps chronicling untold adventures of her mother or powerful magic spells unrecognized by the unknowing masses.
"Can I help you, young man?" asked the shop owner. The man was curious as to just why a child, who looked like he should have chained himself to the comic book shop three blocks down, was doing all but drooling over a rather unremarkable diary. Or, it would be unremarkable if the girl it had belonged to had possessed a less fantastic imagination.
Sharp, bright blue eyes locked on the old man. "This is the real thing?"
"Yes, it came to me through an estate sale some years back," the old antique's dealer said slowly. "Before my purchase the diary remained in the hands of the young lady's descendants."
The boy's eyes gleamed. "How much do you want for it?"
Needless to say when a man came several days later, seeking the exact same item the young boy had purchaced, the antique's dealer was very surprised.
"Could you tell me who bought it?" the man asked softly. "The Standish Journal wasn't supposed to be sold at the estate sale, and I hadn't realized it had been until a friend convinced me to start looking for any of my mother's family that might still be alive."
"I can," admitted the shopkeeper. "And I might if you explain to me how no one noticed it was gone."
The man sighed softly. "My mother was an only child, and my father's brother didn't know what to do with everything until a friend suggested the sale. All I wanted to keep was my mother's hope chest, and the things in it. The Journal was one of those things. I was hoping that I remembered right about the family's birth record being kept on the inside cover."
"Very well, Ranger Walker," the old man nodded, sensing no deception from the stern featured man in front of him... and the youngster had left him with a lingering feeling of the creeps. "I sold the journal to a young man named Andrew Wells, from Sunnydale."
Jessie had come to understand that he had made a serious mistake when he based his webcomic off Jacks and the Magnificent Seven. Not because he'd pissed her off, although that had been proven to be a really bad idea, and not because Vin Tanner had given him a very long talk about privacy. Hell, the man had used more words in one go than Jessie had ever heard him say in the year he'd known him.
The Hellmouth born teen realized the seriousness of his mistake when Andrew Wells continued trailing after Jacks like a love sick puppy. It had actually gotten worse since the thing with Andrew's older brother and the hellhound puppies. Not even being turned into a turtle had shaken the boy for long.
Which is what led Jessie to facing the wrath of Cordelia Chase. He honestly tried to keep his mind on track, and her new Ice Queen look helped.
"Look, I just need you to help me find the little creep," Jessie said. He wasn't begging. Nope, Jessie MacNally did not beg. Well, much. "Please, Cordelia?"
The young empath raised her eyebrows in surprise. Both because Jessie had asked relatively politely and he had only perved on her for a second. "You're actually serious. Why me?"
"Because Andrew can hide from me, but not from you," Jessie said bluntly.
"Fine, come on," Cordelia agreed with a snort. Jesse found himself scrambling to keep up with her long legged strides.
"Andrew! Get over here, now!" Cordelia ordered once they reached the classroom used by the science club. More like the science fiction club.
"What? Does Jacks need me? What's the problem?" Andrew babbled excitedly.
Cordelia grimaced. "Jacks doesn't need you. For anything. Ever. And you're the problem."
"Big problem," Jessie agreed. He grabbed the smaller boy's arm and dragged him out of the room. "We gotta talk, Wells."
"Ow! Hey! Let go! I'll tell Jacks!"
"Oh, like she'd care," Cordelia muttered. She leveled an icy glare at the rest of the nerds. Worry and a little bit of fear was floating off of them. "Andrew is being a creepy little stalker boy and we're going to make him stop it. Nothing to do with any of you. Got it?"
There were a few hard swallows, a couple of nods, and only one case of licked lips, but that was nerves more than anything. Cordelia gave them a sharp nod and turned on her heel.
Jesse shoved Andrew ahead of him into the janitor's closet and closed the door behind them. "You're an idiot, you know that, Andy?"
"What?" Andrew glared petulantly at him. "I am not. I have the test scores to prove it."
"Okay, let me rephrase that. For a smart person you're really dumb," Jesse shot back with a more intimidating glare. "You're fan-boying all over Jacks is not only pissing her off, but you're calling a lot of attention to her here at school. Attention she really doesn't need, and really doesn't want."
"But she's a superhero!"
Jesse smacked himself on the forehead. "Jacks is not a superhero. She's a warrior. She's got a student to look out for, too. And you do not want her after you if Dawn or Mikki get hurt because of your big mouth."
"I just want to aide her in her quest to save the world," Andrew whined.
"You're going to get her or yourself -killed-," Jesse said flatly. "And there are a lot of people who won't be happy with you if it's Jacks."
With that attempt at warning the younger boy, Jesse left Andrew to think about it.
Walker left the Wells house with a worried frown. It was like the parents were only vaguely aware that they had a younger son. And their older son was recently locked up in a mental ward.
The Texas Ranger frowned as he climbed into the rented Dodge Ram truck. He glanced at the shadows cast by the near by mail box and shrugged. School should still be in, and Andrew Wells would likely be there. Sunnydale was much smaller than Dallas, the high school wouldn't be that hard to find.
Although he had passed an awful lot of graveyards for a town this size. Something wasn't right.
Andrew found himself forcibly ejected from the library by the librarian. Apparently the lanky Brit didn't appreciate his attempts to help fight the forces of darkness. Mr. Wyndham-Price had muttered something about taking Mr. Tanner as a role model and shooting someone, or something like that.
"You okay, kid?"
Andrew blinked up at the source of the voice. Far, far up. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, Mr..."
"Walker," the bearded man offered as he reached out to help the boy to his feet. "Could you tell me where I can find an Andrew Wells?"
"That's me," he admitted, a bit warily. What if this man were some immortal enemy of the White Witch and her Seven Heroic companions?
The man, Walker, smiled slightly. There was something strangely familiar about that quirking of lips at the corners. "Last weekend you bought an old diary at an antique store in L.A., right?"
Andrew's eyes narrowed. "What about it?"
"It belonged to my mother, and I'd like it back," Walker said calmly.
Andrew stared closely. The sharp cheekbones. The tilt of the head. "Y-you're ... Ohmygodyou'reoneofJacks'decendants!"
The school's librarian opened to door at the solid thump of a body hitting the floor. Dark eyebrows rose over glasses that partially obscured vaguely amused hazel eyes. "What on earth happened?"
Walker sighed and started to explain as he lifted the boy, carrying him into the library when the slim English man gestured toward the now wide open doors.
"Oh dear," was muttered as the man moved to the telephone at the check out counter.
Jacks stalked into the library, long white braid bouncing behind her, Miki flanking her on one side, Dawn on the other and Vin Tanner trailing behind them.
"What was so blasted important, Wesley, that you had to interrupt movie night?" the small green eyed girl demanded in a tone that did not fit her appearance. "We were just getting to the good part of The Princess Bride."
"The world had better be ending," Dawn grumbled.
"He'd have called Xander first," Miki pointed out.
Vin leaned back against the wall by the door and silently stared at the stranger sitting at the large wooden table in the middle of the lower level.
"It seems young Mr. Wells came into possession of a diary belonging to a young woman named Colleen Standish," Wesley started.
Jacks' bared her teeth in a silent snarl.
"Oh, that's not good," Dawn sighed. "Andrew, are you suicidal or something? You'd better give it to Jacks."
"Why would the kid give her my mother's diary?" the stranger asked.
Miki blinked and sniffed the air curiously. She squinted at the stranger and blinked again. She reached over and tapped Jacks on the arm. "Crystal?"
"Of course I have it," Jacks said as she started digging in her jeans' pocket. She pulled out the enspelled crystal and stared at the steady glow. Green eyes moved up to stare at the stranger, back down to the stone, then up again.
"Am I missing something?" the stranger asked.
Vin nodded. "That bit a crystal only glows when one of Jacks' family is around. It's been glowing kinda dim all day, but we figured that was cause Paige was visiting Xander."
"You said your mother was Colleen Standish?" Jacks asked softly.
The stranger nodded. "She died when I was young, her Hope Chest was mistakenly sold with other pieces from the estate. The diary was in that."
The two other girls held Jacks up when her knees threatened to give out under her. Vin stepped forward and swept her into his arms even as he kept walking toward the table.
"Y' might wanna shift before you go any farther, Snowbird," he said softly as he lowered Jacks into one of the chairs.
She nodded jerkily, eyes still locked on the stranger. "What... Who are you?"
"I'm Cordell Walker," he told her softly. Blue eyes watching her filled with concern and curiosity. "And you?"
The girl briefly glowed, leaving a petite woman sitting in her place. A petite woman with long pointed ears. "Jacqueline Standish." A pink tongue flicked out to like at dry lips. "Your grandmother. Although. . I would have thought... You're much younger than I imagined a child hers being."
"You can't be my grandmother, you're..."
"Not human?"
Walker smiled faintly. "I was going to say much too young."
"You most certainly inherited Ezra's silver tongue." Jacks' lips lifted into a faint smiled that looked strikingly like the one that curved Walker's. "As I am not entirely human, I am a great deal older than I look. Although I doubt I can say the same for you."
Walker's smile widened into a small grin. "That's true enough. But what did you mean I'm younger than you thought I'd be?"
Jacks shook her head slowly as Walker's question finally sank into her befuddled brain. "I mean that if you are the age you appear to be then Colleen would have had to been nearly seventy when you were born."
"And her husband's name wasn't Walker," Vin said. "She get married again?"
"It was Firewalker, and I don't know if my mother was ever married before my father," Walker said slowly. "I was... young when they were killed."
"Yet you've been trained somewhat in magic," Jacks murmured. Her eyes dropped half shut as she shifted out the flavor of Walker's magic from the bitter copper tang of the Hellmouth. "You've walked the Spirit Paths."
"Can I have your autograph?" Andrew blurted at Walker.
"...."
"Andrew.... give Cordell the diary, then go home," Jacks said flatly.
"But, I paid for it..."
"Miki still wants a pet turtle," the half-fey pointed out.
"Bye!"
Walker found himself holding an old leather bound journal as a blonde blur moved out the library doors. "Do I want to know what just happened?"
"Mr. Wells is an annoyance," Jacks sighed. "But his obsession is occasionally useful."
"I'm going to need proof," Walker trailed off at the look in those inhuman green eyes.
Jacks' lips tilted again. "Colleen copied our family line in the front cover of her journal when Vin gave it to her. Colleen, daughter of Jacqueline, daughter of Melinda, daughter of Astrid, daughter of Helena, daughter of Laura, daughter of Grace. You should be in there as Cordell, son of Colleen."
The diary flew out of Walker's hands to land on the table with a thud. The book opened itself and the pages started turning as if blown by a high wind.
"Didn't you say that Colleen couldn't do magic?" Dawn asked as she watched the book.
"I said she showed no interest as a child," Jacks corrected. "But even being mostly mortal, Colleen had power to spare. Evidently at some point she focused the remarkable intelligence she inherited from Ezra to learning it anyway."
The pages stopped moving and a brilliant flash of light left everyone blinking.
"If this spell works the way I think it does, then my Mother is with my darling boy," said a voice that made three people's breath catch in their throats.
"Colleen," Jacks whispered as "Mom," past Walker's lips on a breath. Vin murmured "Sprite" a second behind them.
Everyone stared at the foot and a half tall, slightly translucent image hovering over the open journal. There was an impish grin on the woman's face. It was a slightly older version of the girl who's portrait hung in the third bedroom of the Tanner house. Only instead of a late nineteenth century dress, she was wearing jeans and a Western cut lady's shirt, golden blonde hair flowing loose around her shoulders.
"By now, if the vision I had was real, John Firewalker and I are dead," Colleen's image continued. "Mother, you were right. The right man makes all the difference, although if I hadn't married Herman then I never would have been where I needed to be to meet John. Cordell... Wa-sho, since you've found your grandmother, you have learned that your heritage isn't entirely human."
Walker could only smile slightly and shake his head. It seemed his mother had a gift for understatement.
Wesley silently retreated to his office as this was a private family matter. He didn't think the Watchers needed to know about the Puck's Child's grandson. Although if they found out about the Ranger it might be very amusing to watch. He seemed to be a man who could very much take care of himself, and any attack would likely annoy Jacks to no end.
"You have much to be proud of, Wa-sho," Colleen said, her smile widening into a grin. "And you have done so much that your father and I are proud of. Know that we love you very much, and your grandmother doubtlessly loves you just as we do. Good-bye, sweetie, I love you."
Jacks reached toward the fading image of her daughter with a soft whimper. Miki and Dawn pressed close to her sides as Vin squeezed her shoulders gently.
"She had a vision of their deaths?" Jacks whimpered, twisting to cling to her friends.
"What happened to them, Cordell?" Vin asked softly, smoothing a hand through white curls.
Walker took a deep breath. "We were leaving a rodeo, a small group of men didn't like seeing a white woman with an Indian. Mom tried to stop them from killing Dad, and they killed her too."
Jacks spoke without moving her head from where she hid against Miki's neck. "You changed your name. Why?"
"Most of the kids at the orphanage gave me a hard time, because I don't look Native American, while Child Protective Services found Uncle Ray," Walker explained. "Earlier... you said Paige and Xander?"
"My great, great, et cetera, niece and my boss so to speak," Jacks said, moving enough to peer at him through Miki's dark waves of hair.
"I wonder..." Walker shook off the idea. Even if they were the same pair, meeting his grandmother was much more interesting at the moment. "Can you tell me more about our family?"
"Not here," Vin suggested. "Some of these stories need a few beers."
Walker studied the man hovering over his grandmother. "And you are?"
"Vin Tanner."
Jacks sighed and wiggled out of the three grasps keeping her anchored. "Vin was one of your grandfather's chosen brothers. And my fiance. Let's go, this conversation could take a while."
"Hey, Wesley!" Dawn called. "You can have your library back!"
Wesley smiled slightly as he came back out, a more modern book in his hands. "Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you, Ranger Walker."
"Same here, Mr. Wyndham-Price."
Vin walked into the living room holding three beers by the long necks. Walker accepted one without taking his eyes off the sepia photograph of seven men.
"I thought she was kidding, but you're in this picture," he said after a moment.
"Yep," Vin agreed. He pointed out a shorter man with broad shoulders and a frock coat, peering from under a flat topped broad brimmed hat with a smirk. "That's yer grandpa, Ezra. Damn good man."
"He was a gambler?"
Vin nodded. "And a conman. Damned good at both, near as fast with a gun as Chris. Jacks still has the pea shooter he kept up his sleeve, and the matching one we got her for a wedding present."
"A gambler and a conman."
Vin shrugged. "All he was taught to be, until he met up with the rest of us. The seven of us were Peacekeepers. Ez kept the games fair, kept folks from gettin ripped off, and did what they call undercover work these days."
"Ezra knew everything that went on in the territory," Jacks added as she joined them with her arms full of photo albums. Miki and Dawn trailed behind her, carrying a small chest between them while a larger one floated in their wake. "And in all honestly, most of what could be deemed faults were caused by his so-called mother."
"Most of us weren't real fond of Maude," Vin admitted to his fellow Texan with a small grin.
Jacks snorted as she stacked the albums neatly on the coffee table. "She stole the Saloon from Ezra. Twice. I should have turned her into a mule."
"Ya stole it back the second time," Vin pointed out, his grin widening as he watched her bend over to pull a small locked box out from under the couch.
Miki and Dawn snickered as they set the small chest down beside the couch. The larger chest settled itself in front of the coffee table.
"Of course I did, it was as much mine as Ezra's," Jacks said as she dismissed the spells on the small locked box. "And you know how I hate sharing what's mine."
"Ezra's, too," Miki pointed out.
Jacks smiled cheerfully. "Ezra was mine, too, so that worked out well."
Dawn smirked. "Selfish and greedy. How are you one of the good guys again?"
Jacks rolled her eyes and telekineticly retrieved a beer from Vin.
"She coos at hellhound puppies," Miki informed Walker.
"They were cute!" protested Jacks.
Miki retorted, "Hellhound puppies!"
"Do I want to know?" Walker asked with a laugh.
Vin shrugged. "Andrew's older brother summoned up some hellhound puppies. Jacks sent them... Where did ya send them?"
"Niflheim," Jacks said calmly. "Hel will take good care of them, and she needs new guard dogs."
"You realize of course that you are the only one that would think of that as a good idea," Dawn observed.
"Hel is perfectly nice," Jacks told her, waving off any possible arguments. "Niflheim is just where Norsemen who didn't die in battle go."
Walker hid his grin behind his beer bottle. Once, shortly after he'd gone to live with his Uncle Ray on the reservation, Uncle Ray had told him that his was an extraordinary blood line. Maybe this is what he'd been talking about.
Xander groaned and grabbed at his fold com. He frowned when he realized that it wasn't his that was going off.
"Mmm? Yeah, Aunt Jacks?" Paige muttered into her com as it afixed itself to her jaw. "Wait, slow down... my cousin? Cordell Walker? Texas Ranger Cordell Walker?"
That got Xander's attention. He dragged a pillow over his face and groaned. Deeply and with feeling.
Paige yanked the pillow away from him and demanded he get dressed.
"Why?" Xander grumbled as he tried to roll over and go back to sleep. "I'm sure Jacks and Vin can handle whatever trouble your cousin got into that brought Ranger Walker all the way out here."
"Xander, Walker is my cousin!"
Xander wondered if pounding his head against a hard surface would help anything. He'd at least had a vague idea that Paige and Jacks might be related, it had simply slipped his mind between saving the world and well, saving the world. Maybe Jacks would let him have the chance to explain there was no way it had ever crossed his mind that Walker was in any way related to her.
"I didn't know, I only met him once," Xander said as soon as the orb effect released him.
Miki and Dawn collapsed laughing onto the couch, landing more than half on Jacks. The white haired woman giggled and squirmed out from under them.
"So he said, and he gave you no cause to make you wonder once you and I met," Jacks agreed.
Vin smirked. "But seeing through Paige's illusion and sensing magic mighta been a clue that Wa-sho isn't zactly normal."
"CD and Trivette were sure acting like he was," Paige protested.
Miki giggled. "Smells like Jacks."
"My nose isn't as good as yours is, Miki," the youngest Halliwell said with a grin.
Walker gave Xander a curious, slightly amused look. "I get the feeling I should be asking your intentions toward my cousin."
"Try asking about her intentions toward me! She's the one with the handcuffs!"
"Xander!" Paige squealed.
Vin grinned. "She gets that sort of thing from her aunt."
"Vin!" Jacks snarled.
The Immortal's grin had a self-satisfied air to it, like a cat that got the canary and the cream without getting caught. Walker laughed softly and relaxed into one of the overstuffed chairs in the living room. This was his family.
"In trouble," Miki teased.
The Ranger's eyes settled on the pretty young Hispanic girl. There was something about her, like her shadow didn't fit with the body she wore. Like the faint green shimmer around the other young girl that treated his grandmother like their best friend.
"So... what is everyone, exactly?" Walker wondered outloud.
Vin shrugged. "I'm an Immortal."
"Half fey witch and member of the Knighthood," Jacks said cheerfully.
"Witch decended from your Aunt Prudence," Paige said with a shrug. "But you knew the witch part."
"Jaguar," Miki told him simply.
"Bloodmage in training," Dawn said wiggling her fingers with a smirk. "Can I get a sample later?"
"And I'm supposed to be in charge of these lunatics," Xander sighed.
Vin leveled a long calm look at the young man that Jacks had chosen to follow, with him at her heels. "We ain't the crazy ones, Xander. Folks who keep their heads buried in the sand even after they've seen what's out there ... they're crazy."
Walker leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees as he peered at Xander. "This have anything to do with why Sunnydale has more graveyards than Dallas?"
"Yep," Xander said, nodding even as he relaxed. "Sunnydale is the home of the Hellmouth. Demons, Vampires and other nasties tend to gravitate toward it. Last year or so, we've been making it clear that they can't have the run of the place anymore."
Vin smirked. "Enough of 'em are still dumb enough to try taking us on here to keep things interesting."
"God forbid you don't have something interesting to do," Jacks chuckled.
Paige looked around at the open trunks and open photo albums. "What's all this stuff?"
"Things from Colleen's childhood, things of Ezra's and mine from our marriage," Jacks said as she caressed a pair of Derringer two shot pistols. Two metal and leather contraptions rested in the case with them. "I thought Wa-sho would like to see them."
"Okay, so why do you keep calling him Wa-sho?" Xander asked.
Jacks simply opened the front cover of Colleen's diary and handed the book to Xander.
Xander curiously scanned down the list of names, then read aloud in surprise, "Wa-sho, son of Colleen."
"Simply, it is his name," Jacks said with a faint smile.
Walker woke to the smell of strong coffee and fry bread. He scrubbed a hand over his face and took the time to study the guest room. A dream catcher hung in the window, crystals glittering in the early morning sun and the pin feathers of a red hawk brushing lightly against the glass.
The curtains were deep green and thick enough that when drawn across the window would block out all of the light. The floor was polished hardwood, with a hand woven rag-rug on the floor. There was a subtle pattern woven into the throw rug that echoed the pattern of the hawk feathers dangling from the dream catcher. The walls were painted a soft warm cream, and had only a few small framed paintings. Landscapes of the Southwest, and one obviously of Galveston Island. The bed had a hardwood frame, with a thick comfortable mattress. The sheets were crisp white cotton and the blankets were Navajo, hand woven like the rug although by a very different artist.
It didn't feel like a guest room, Walker thought as he stretched and reached for his jeans. It felt like... home.
Sounds rose up from downstairs as he opened the bedroom door and entered the hall. Sounds that had been familiar to him as a child. The soft laughter of a woman and a man as they moved around their home.
Walker paused at the top of the stairs just to listen to them, committing it to memory.
"Nice, huh?" asked Dawn from behind him.
"Yep," Walker agreed as he looked over his shoulder. The smile lifted his lips again as he took in what the sleepy teenager was wearing. "Nice outfit."
Dawn smirked drowsily. The pajamas she kept at Jacks and Vin's house were dark blue and covered with cartoon turtles weilding swords. "You're grandma has an obsession with turtles. Especially when people are annoying her. Smells like breakfast is about ready."
"Do you live here?" Walker asked as they started down the stairs together.
"Not really," Dawn said. "My family has a house around the corner, but since Jacks is my magic teacher and protector I have a room here, too."
"Dawn and her mother are fighting again," Jacks explained as she gestured the plates and platters of food to settle themselves on the table.
The girl grimaced. "She's trying, I know she's trying, but you know how she is about Xander."
"I know very well, and I also know I'm lucky that it only spills over onto me and Vin a little bit," sighed the half-fey. "It is a natural reaction." A finger waggled under Dawn's nose. "And you are going back to your mother tomorrow evening, young lady."
"Yes, ma'am," Dawn murmured as she dropped into her seat.
Jacks nodded in satisfaction. At Walker's curious look, Jacks decided to explain. "Joyce, Dawn's mother, has difficulty with the fact that all of her children have mystical abilies that will paint targets on them for their entire lives. Her response was to try and forbid them from doing what is in their nature."
"Like that would work," Dawn muttered.
"True enough, but she's yer ma. She jist wants ta protect ya'll," Vin said quietly. "Ain't her fault she don't know how to do it right. Joyce can't put up wards or toss magic around like our witches can. She can't shift like Miki, or fight like Buffy, Beth and Faith."
"That's why Xander sent you guys," Dawn protested.
Jacks blinked at her. "And your mother wavers on the point as to whether Xander is a psychopath or not. Add to that the fact I am not entirely human ... You have to understand it will take time for her to become comfortable with all of this."
"Being over three hundred years old doesn't mean you know everything," grumbled the teenaged girl.
"No, but being a mother several times over lets me see your mother's point," Jacks returned calmly. Dawn's juice glass filled itself. "Eat, we have a lot to get through today."
Vin grinned across the table at Walker as he loaded his plate. "Might want to dig in, Wa-sho. Jacks is gonna combine teachin' ya about the family with teachin' Dawn more about Blood Magic."
"Today we're going to do a lineage," Jacks announced cheerfully as Walker followed her and Dawn into the basement. "For the sake of few surprises, we'll be doing Wa-sho's lineage."
"Shouldn't that be no surprises?" Walker asked his grandmother as she set up a small cast iron cauldron, carefully keeping a thick rag between it and her hands.
Jacks sent a cheek splitting grin at him. "That would only be possible if I knew your fathers family, dear boy. And I suspect you'll be rather surprised at your mother's bloodline."
"And this is blood magic... how?" Dawn asked as she studied the spell book Jacks had open on their work table.
"Because it requires the blood of the one who's lineage you're tracing, Sunrise." Jacks dropped into the air, folding her legs under her as she just ... floated there. "Any spell the requires blood, is Blood Magic, and is best preformed by a Blood Mage. Even a neophyte such as yourself."
Walker raised his eyebrows as much at the fact his grandmother was levitating as the fact that the two females were planning to bleed him. "How much blood?"
"Just ten drops," Dawn said as she traced her finger down the list of components for the spell. "This is more potion than actual spell work, although there is some chanting when I pour it over the... Jacks? Do we even have a blank tapestry here?"
Jacks nodded toward a large rolled up object leaning in the corner. "Right there. We won't need it for a while, the potion has to sit for three hours before you start the incantations."
The student hummed her acknowledgement to her teacher and started sorting out the rest of the components she would need for the potion.
"We're almost out of Essence of Salamander," Dawn commented as she studied the bottle.
Jacks nodded. "I'll add it to the shopping list. There should be enough for the potion."
Dawn hummed again and Jacks turned her attention to Walker.
"I'm afraid this is why your mother wasn't very interested in magic as a girl," Jacks admitted. "The basics of the craft, no matter which branch you practice, can be a bit... dull."
"Brewing is still better than meditation, although training in the Dreaming is pretty cool," Dawn added as she started to cut rattlesnake skin into thin slivers.
"The Dreaming?" Walker asked, almost instinctively turning to Jacks for the answer.
"The places Walking the Spirit Paths take you," Jacks said with a wide grin. "You leave your personal Dreaming, your mind, and speak with the Guides or Shamans who can help you best, Wa-sho."
Walker grinned back at her. "I looked to others for answers more often when I was younger."
Jacks patted his bearded cheek with a soft laugh. "You still seek answers. You hunt for them. It's why you're the most successful Texas Ranger of this century."
"Dang, and I was going for most successful Texas Ranger ever."
Jacks and Dawn giggled at him.
Vin heard the giggling coming from the basement and shook his head. Better Wa-sho than him. Besides, he had other things to do.
The Immortal paused to grin at the enlarged photo of Ezra alone, the gambler smiling broadly. "Ya'd love yer grandson. He'd drive Maude crazy without half tryin'."
He continued on his way, whistling softly one of his favorite songs before singing a line, "When you're in Texas look behind you.... Cause that's where the Ranger's gonna be..."
"Vin," Beth greeted politely as she held the door open. "I thought Dawn was staying with you guys this weekend?"
"She and Jacks are playing potions mistresses down in the basement and roped Wa-sho into being their main ingredient."
The original time frame's Buffy blinked at him. "Who what now?"
"Sorry, Jacks and Ezra's grandson," Vin said with a grin. "Wa-sho is his name, but he also goes by Ranger Cordell Walker."
"Like a forest ranger or a Texas Ranger?" Beth asked with a grin of her own.
Vin chuckled. "Texas Ranger. Seems he decided to come looking for his mother's kin, and found us."
"And you're here hiding...?"
"Naw. Was hoping to get Tara to help me out with a birthday present for Jacks," Vin admitted. "Is she home?"
Beth nodded. "Sure, I'll go get her."
Beth was halfway up the stairs when she shouted, "Tara! Vin needs to talk to you!"
"C-coming!"
"When do I get to the chanting again?" Dawn sighed.
Jacks snorted softly from where she was cooking. "An hour and a half left, Dawn. Asking me every five minutes isn't going to make the time pass any faster."
"Still working on patience, huh?" Walker asked, a small teasing grin peeking out from his beard.
"Patience is her middle name," Dawn said pointing at Jacks. "Mine is Marie."
"It should be trouble," Jacks teased. "Here we go, fajitas!"
Dawn and Walker both took deep appreciative breaths of the fragrant steam rising from the sizzling pan. Beef, onions, peppers and a rich combination of spices left their mouths watering.
"Mom used to make this," Walker said with a fond smile. "She said her mother and Aunt Inez taught her how to cook."
"Inez Rocillios-Wilmington," said Jacks with a nod and a fond grin. "She was one of the best cooks I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And an absolute hellion when she was infuriated. Which Bucklin managed at least once a day."
Walker studied his grandmother even as he went through the motions of assembling his fajita. "You miss them."
Jacks nodded again, the grin softening into a smile. "The boys would be fit to burst with pride over you. Our little Colleen's baby boy, a Texas Ranger. Buck would be strutting around like the cock of the walk, telling everyone you take after ol' Uncle Buck. Regardless of the fact he has no blood relationship to you." She pause thoughtfully. "Although, you might. Buck may very well have had a child or two that he never knew of, and no idea who his own father was."
"The spell will answer that," Dawn said after swallowing her mouthful. Jacks was willing to put up with a certain lack of table manners, but talking with a food filled mouth was unacceptable.
"Only if Buck is a blood relation to Wa-sho," Jacks pointed out.
Dawn nodded, then frowned. "Ummm. I know Jacks and Vin have been calling you Wa-sho, but what do you want me to call you?"
"Well, I don't mind if you use Wa-sho, but most people call me Walker, only my friend CD actually calls me Cordell." Walker thought about it for a moment then shrugged slightly. "You're by some standards almost my aunt, so I suppose you can call me what you like."
Dawn just sat there, stunned.
"Close your mouth, darling, you'll let in flies," Jacks said lightly.
"May I help you?" asked the salesgirl as she curiously eyed the pair examining the selection of jewelry contained in the brightly lit glass case.
"We're lookin' for a birthday present," Vin offered up with a shy smile.
Tara nodded without looking up from her study of the display in front of her. "S-she likes simple things, but e-elegant."
"Your mother?"
"Her sister, my fiance," Vin corrected. It wasn't entirely a lie. Jacks treated Tara much has she had Inez, Casey, Rain, and eventually Mary Travis. The little imp wouldn't have swept the young blonde along for Solstice if she didn't think of the girl as a younger sister.
Tara suddenly looked up. "Have you given her a ring yet?"
"No," Vin said slowly. "I thought she might like to wear the one Ezra gave her again... Can't imagine he'd mind."
"She wouldn't do that, even though he wouldn't," the blonde Wicca mused. "No, it should be something distinctly you as much as something totally her."
"We have a wide selection of engagement rings," offered the salesgirl, eyes wide with confusion.
Vin glanced over at the display full of gold, white gold, platinum and diamonds before shaking his head. "She wouldn't like those."
"Something... subtle," Tara said as she recalled the ring Jacks wore on a thin chain around her neck.
The salesgirl nibbled on her lower lip. "Subtle... elegant... but simple. I think you might want to look at these rings here."
Vin and Tara stared down at the silver rings, with a multitude of gemstones as options. They traded grins.
"If I give you a specific stone, could you have it set in a ring like this one?" Vin asked as he pointed out the one that had drawn their attention.
"Certainly, we specialize in unique settings," the salesgirl explained as she became much more certain of making the sale.
"We'll be back in two days," Tara announced.
Walker watched with interest as Dawn chanted in an archaic form of Ancient Greek as she slowly poured the potion over the blank tapestry cloth. As she continued chanting softly, spidery lines crawled across the fabric. Names, or what he took to be names, filled the very top in tiny cramped script and were joined together by fine lines perhaps only a single thread thick. After a few moments the paired up names narrowed to a single group of names. Puck, Melinda, and Peter Warren.
The line from Melinda and Peter Warren flowed down and branched out many times, most of the branches ending abruptly until only one remained. Penelope and Charles lead to Patricia. Patricia and Victor lead to Prudence, Piper and Phoebe. Patricia and Samuel lead to Paige.
Melinda and Puck went to Jacqueline Patience. Jacqueline Patience and Abubakar lead to Kamau and on down to two people named Sharon and Virgil Hawkins.
Jacqueline and Ezra Standish... Well, there were ten names that didn't branch any further before the final name. Colleen. Colleen and Herman Wilson had no children. Colleen and John Firewalker had Cordell Wa-sho Firewalker.
"Abubakar?" Dawn asked with a curious look at her mentor.
Jacks licked her lips. "He was... That wasn't quite three hundred years ago. I was just shy of twenty when I met Abubakar in another reality. He... When he smiled it was as if the whole world lit up with the joy of it. He named our child Kamau?"
"You didn't know?" Walker asked softly.
"No... the midwife had to cut the baby out," Jacks whispered. "She... she only had an iron blade. Uncle Coyote took me away to Avalon to heal, then Raven tried to kill me and Oberon bound my powers. I never saw my son. I never knew my child was a son."
"There aren't any branches leading down to Puck," Dawn commented, wishing to redirect Jacks thoughts away from the pain.
Jacks' fingertips traced curiously over Virgil Hawkins' oddly glowing name as she answered Dawn's unasked question. "There wouldn't be, Father is pure Fey. A Child of Oberon. His creation was more a union of magics than an actual conception, term of pregnancy, and birth."
"And Mom's brothers and sisters?" Walker asked softly.
"The... trauma of my first delivery, the scaring left it difficult for me to carry to full term. Your mother was the only child I had with Ezra that wasn't miscarried." Jacks smiled up at him. "We wanted a child so much and, oh, she was worth it. Ezra's auburn lit blonde, my mother's blue eyes, Ezra's smile."
"What did she get from you?" Dawn asked.
Jacks lips quirked slightly. "My sense of humor. The shape of her face, the grace of her movement that wasn't quite human. Her unshakable sense of balance could have come from either myself or Ezra. He did so like climbing onto the rooftops. I would have sworn he and Vin were both part cat the way they took to heights."
Walker's eyes traced the lines reaching down to his father's name. "No surprises here. Dad and Uncle Ray, their parents, grandparents... all Cherokee names. But I am curious as to what's so special about the ones that are glowing."
That his own name was counted among those with the faint glow had little to do with it. All the female names along the Warren line were glowing, Prudence's descendants all being daughters, as were most of the women's names leading to Melinda's name. Jacks' own name glowed brightly as did Puck's. But there were various names along his father's line that glowed as well. And a few descendants of his... uncle he supposed, a few of his cousins, glowed as well. Although Virgil's seemed to be the brightest glow since Kamau.
"Special powers or abilities, mostly an inclination toward magic of some sort." Jacks smiled.
Dawn frowned and traced several lines to the point where they merged into Walker's name. "And the intensity?"
"The strength of the ability," Jacks explained. She pointed to her name and then to her sister. "Prudence was a very able witch, but because her father was not a magical being and mine was, I had more raw power. Although she had finer control of the craft when we were children. See how the line fades then grows stronger until it reaches Patricia's daughters? They glow as brightly as Mother. Any three of them working together could overwhelm me with raw power, even if I weren't bound."
"So... Walker is a magical power house?" Dawn asked.
Walker laughed softly and shook his head. "I have some training as a shaman, enough to Walk the Spirit Paths and I can sense things sometimes."
"It's potential almost more than anything else," Jacks said with a shrug. She refrained from mentioning that if he could walk the Spirit Paths, it was more than just some training. "Although if you sense things, you may be manifesting a form of second sight. Mother sometimes had visions of the future, as Colleen did when she enspelled her diary."
Walker smiled and shook his head slightly.
"I wouldn't concern yourself overmuch about it," she continued. "You're obviously very much a man of physical actions."
Walker considered his tendency to use his martial arts training, or a more basic bare knuckles approach to bringing in criminals alive. "Yeah, guess I am."
That earned him a wide grin from his grandmother.
Xander stared at the tapestry Dawn had created for Walker and shook his head with a small smile. "That must have been one heck of a spell."
"Actually, except for the fact that I had to wait three hours between finishing the potion and applying it with all the chanting in Ancient Greek, it was pretty easy," Dawn said thoughtfully. "I mean, seriously, it even traced Jacks' descendants in another reality."
"It's an exercise in patience, not power," Jacks murmured from where she leaned against Vin's lanky form.
"You look kind of exhausted for someone who just watched Dawn brew and pour," Xander said with a concerned frown.
"She scryed for the reality with the descendants of my Uncle Kamau," Walker explained wryly.
Jacks smiled thinly in amusement. "They have superheroes there. Kamau's youngest descendant is one of them."
Paige looked up from the tapestry in confusion. "Abubakar?"
"Kamau's father," Jacks laughed softly. "My first love. He was... well, in many ways, very much like Vin and Ezra. A certain way with words, a smile that brought joy to everyone around him, and of course, physically..." She paused to lick her lips and grin. "Well, he was simply beautiful."
"Can we see?" Vin asked softly.
Jacks nodded slightly and gestured.
A young man with rich dark skin grinned at them, clothed only in a leather loincloth and bead strands coiled around his wrists and neck. The nearly black eyes glittered with a fierce joy as he leaned against a spear for support. His hair was twisted and braided back out of his face, ending in hundreds of carved wooden and bone beads. No taller or broader than Vin's lean build, the image of Abubakar gave the impression that he was as immovable as a mountain.
Paige looked from Vin to Abubakar to the picture of Ezra on the side table. "You lucky, lucky, lucky little witch."
Jacks grin was just a tiny little bit smug as the image faded away. She had been gifted with three truly great loves in her life. And the third would be able to share eternity with it.
Now if she could just get rid of her annoying would-be sidekick, she could get on with the more important things in life.
Andrew Wells shook with quiet fury. How dare he? How dare she? What gave them the right to go behind Jacks' back like that?
He had to tell the Witch of the Seven.
No... she wouldn't believe him. Not over Vin.
Proof.
He needed proof. Where was his camcorder?
People moved around the skinny boy as he dug through his back pack in the middle of the sidewalk.
The salesgirl at the jewelry store gawked at the stone the young man and his fiance's sister had brought into be set in the ring they had picked out two days ago.
An emerald, the size of a pencil eraser, carved with a perfect tiny leaf on the upper side, leaving enough of the base to be placed in a Marquise setting. Her eyes slid over to the silver band, there were delicate vine-like swirls of metal around the setting, and the tines would look like small silver leaves folded over the gem.
"It's... perfect," she murmured. "I'll get the jeweler..."
Andrew clutched his camcorder as he waited for Vin and the blonde girl to come out of the jewelry store. They had their heads bent together over something Vin had cupped in his hands.
Whatever it was the Immortal sharpshooter tucked it into his pocket before slinging an arm across the blonde's shoulders and kissing the top of her head.
Vin Tanner was cheating on Jacks Standish, and now Andrew had the proof.
Tara smiled up at Vin. He was... he was the brother her biological one... just wasn't. Helping him to pick out a ring for Jacks left her feeling warm and happy inside. The two of them just fit together like, well, as horribly cliche as it sounded even in her own head, Jacks and Vin fit together like a hand in a glove.
And it really was a beautiful ring. The leaf carved emerald looked as if it had grown out of the silver vines.
"She's g-going to love it," Tara quietly gushed. "It's perfect."
"Yep," Vin agreed as he pocketed the grey velvet box. "Never would have found it without ya, Tara."
Tara's shy grin couldn't help but widen when he tucked her under his arm and dropped a kiss on top of her head.
The honest approval and casual affection was likely one of the best things to help the shy blonde's self-esteem rise up from where her family had beaten it down. No matter how much better she felt about herself since Xander had helped her get away from her father, more approval was always a good thing.
"Come on, Tiger, I'll buy ya an ice cream," Vin offered as they walked further down the street. "Extra sprinkles?"
"S-sure, Texan."
Vin chuckled and hugged her to his side. Yep, Tara was a tiger alright. He wondered if he could talk her into changing her last name to Tanner. Having a little sister would be nice, and his Ma would have loved her to bits.
Joyce stared at the man who waved at Dawn before turning away to continue walking down the street with Jacks. "Dawn... who was that?"
"Cordell Walker," Dawn said, trying very hard not to roll her eyes. "He's Jacks' grandson."
"Colleen's son?"
"Yep. We did this really cool spell that traced his entire family line," the youngest Summers girl said cheerfully. "There are a lot of Shamans, or is that Shamen? Anyway they're all on his father's side of the family, almost as many as there are witches on his mother's side."
Joyce blinked and just had to ask, even as a little voice was warning her not to. "So he's a Shaman?"
"No, way better. He's a Texas Ranger."
Walker's eyes scanned the street as he walked along side his grandmother. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of her teenaged form, she wasn't that far off from what she looked like as an adult... only about half a head shorter.
"You have a question?"
Walker nodded.
Jacks glanced at him and laughed softly. "You must get the quiet from your father's side of the family. Neither Ezra nor I ever shut up, and Colleen was just as much of a chatter box. Ask your question, Wa-sho."
"Why do you make yourself look like a kid?"
"To protect Dawn," Jacks explained. "I can't do that if I'm not near by, and I would stand out to much if I went to school with her in my adult form."
"Okay, but why does she need to be protected?" Walker wondered. His gaze continued to take in everything around them, even as the greater part of his concentration what on the conversation.
Jacks thought it over for a moment. "Dawn is a very powerful young woman. There are those who have wanted to use that power for their own gain, and those who want her destroyed to prevent her power from being corrupted. And, even with all of that aside... Have you ever heard of the Slayer?"
"Only as a legend, one girl in the world, empowered by the spirits to be a warrior against the blood drinkers and other evil creatures."
"Ah, the less pompous version of the speech," Jacks grinned. "The British have a much longer version that says much the same thing. Dawn's older sister, Buffy... and for that matter Beth, is the Slayer. Now, imagine someone wants to distract or trap the Slayer..."
"Her little sister would be bait," Walker concluded.
Jacks nodded. "That was why I was asked to protect Dawn in L.A. Now, well, she's one of my best friends and my student."
Walker thought about that for a while, then nodded slowly. "She's part of your family."
"Yes, very much so." Jacks grinned impishly. "Now, tell me about this Alex Cahill you were on the phone with last night."
".... You heard that, huh?"
She laughed, reminding Walker of dozens of little silver bells ringing. "Darling, with my ears there isn't much I don't hear."
"Well, she's with the D.A.'s office down in Dallas..."
Jacks and Walker had identical frowns when they found Andrew Wells all but bouncing in place on the front porch.
"Next time I turn that boy into a turtle, I'm leaving him that way and Miki gets her pet," Jacks muttered as they turned up the walkway. She raised her voice. "I don't know what you want, nor do I particularly care, Andrew. But how in all the Hells did you find out where I live?"
"It's in your records at school, but that's not important, you have to see this!" Andrew babbled out waving his camcorder at her.
Walker's frown deepened as Jacks pinched the bridge of her nose. He spoke up, "Getting into school records is illegal, kid."
Andrew fidgeted. "I know, but this is important and Cordelia wouldn't tell me."
"What is so damned important that you have come to pester me at home?" Jacks demanded.
Andrew silently turned the camcorder screen toward Jacks and played the video.
Jacks blinked.
Walker blinked.
"Vin and Tara went shopping for something. So what?" Jacks asked as she rolled her eyes.
"He's cheating on you with *her*!" Andrew wailed.
Jacks snorted. Really, she tried to contain herself, but it was just too much. Walker watched his grandmother rather literally fall to the ground laughing.
"Somehow, I think you have the wrong idea," Walker said quietly. On the tiny screen, Vin was treating the young blonde girl a lot like Walker had seen him treating Dawn yesterday and this morning.
"You have no idea how far wrong you are, Mr. Wells," Jacks finally managed. She accepted Walker's hand up from the yard. "First of all, Vin is one of the most loyal men I know or have ever known. Second, Tara is occasionally my student in the Arts. Third... well, that reason isn't any of your business. Nevertheless, their relationship is very sibling like in nature."
Andrew pouted at them. "I knew you wouldn't believe me."
"Mr. Wells," Jacks said, starting to sound annoyed. "I have known Vin likely since before your grandparents were born, and I know more about Tara than you could possibly comprehend. I love and trust them both without question. Why would I believe you when all you have is a recording of Vin treating her much the same way he treated another young female friend of ours a hundred and thirty years ago?"
"But he wasn't with you then!"
Jacks snorted. "No, but the young lady was engaged to the sheriff. You might recall him from the abominable comic of Jesse's? JD Dunne?"
"But..."
"You are wrong, Mr. Wells. Good day." With that Jacks nudged the boy out of the way and went inside.
Walker paused at the open door to look at the boy. "You know, she could file a complaint and have you arrested for harassment. Of course, she did mention something about turning you back into a turtle and letting Miki have a pet."
"I'm just trying to help," Andrew whined.
"You're trying too hard and the wrong way," Walker observed before closing the door behind him. He grimaced at the sound of something shattering in the room just off the living area, but didn't go near the closed door.
Walker had come to know some very dangerous people very well over his lifetime. Some of them were very good friends. He was willing to bet that knocking on that door just now would be just as bad an idea with his grandmother as it would have been with any of those very good, very dangerous, friends.
He smiled slightly and settled down on the couch, picking up the photograph of his grandfather to study it more closely. "You must be why Mom was so good at playing cards. She taught me to play and how to spot when someone was stacking the deck. It's been handy to know a time or two." His smile widened slightly. "Especially back in the Army."
Walker waited, as patient as any hunter, knowing that his prey would walk past any moment.
Andrew squealed when the powerful hand came down on his shoulder.
"We should talk," Walker said calmly.
"Y-you must be proud, I mean your grandma is a superhero and..."
"I am proud, but," Walker shook his head, "she's not a superhero. She's a hero, yeah. But no more than any other soldier that goes out into a war."
"How can you say that?" Andrew gaped. Shocked to the bone that this man could just disregard all that was amazing about the Witch of the Seven.
"Because that's exactly how she would describe herself," Walker said firmly. "Jacks gets a call, she packs her kit, and she goes off to face something she might not come back from. Her friends do it, Vin does it. I did it as a Marine and still do as a Texas Ranger."
Wide blue watery eyes stared up at the grandson of Jacks Standish.
Walker sighed. "Look, you seem like a basically good kid, but you keep this up and somebody is going to get hurt." There was a long pause as something went hard and cold in Walker's eyes, sending a chill down Andrew's spine. "And if that somebody is my grandmother, there won't be anywhere you can hide that I won't find you. Got it?"
"Yes, Ranger Walker," Andrew squeaked.
Walker nodded and walked away in the other direction.
Andrew swallowed hard and clutched his book bag to his chest. Jacks' grandson was a very scary man. Not even counting the sudden wave of icy cold magic flooding off of him like it was nothing at all.
Must not piss off the grandson of the Witch, he silently reminded himself. He got the feeling he'd be turned into an icicle if he did.
"Oh, I wish you didn't have to leave so soon," Jacks sighed as she and Vin waited for the airplane with Walker.
Vin grinned over at his fellow Texan. "Least wise, Texas is a lot closer than it used ta be."
"You two are coming down next Spring Break, and we have each other's phone numbers," Walker pointed out, sharing Vin's amusement.
Jacks pouted at them both. "I just got my grandson, I'm allowed to be sad that he's leaving. You haven't even been here a full week, Wa-sho."
Walker shrugged and pulled her into a tight hug as the intercom announced that his flight was starting to board. "I love you, too, Grams."
"Oh, you," Jacks huffed, hugging him back hard. "Be careful. You're likely as much a trouble magnet as any two of the Seven. And next time you think you're dealing with a dark magic user, you had best call me. I'll have Paige orb me down as soon as we get off the phone."
"Yes, Grams," Walker agreed with a wide grin. "I'll even be back up for your birthday next month."
"Hey! Hey! Wait up!" shouted a tall, lanky teenager than Walker had seen briefly when they had stopped by Xander's mansion.
"Jesse," Jacks greeted him even as curiosity pulled her eyebrows down in a slight frown. "What brings you here?"
"Paige's orb express, and dude that feels weird," Jesse panted. Paige waved with a wide grin as she caught up with the teenager. "Wanted to give this to Walker before he left, but I just finished them..."
Walker accepted the sketch pad with raised eyebrows. He flipped through it before stopping on a very realistic drawing of himself laughing with Jacks. The next was of him and Vin leaning side by side against the wall of Xander's gym, they had been watching Dawn sparring with Faith while Jacks walked Miki through a fighting style that would work well with her feline nature.
"These are really good, Jesse," Walker said softly. He looked up as his flight was called again. "You've got a lot of talent. Thank you."
Walker and Jacks hugged again, as he and Vin gripped each other's forearms tightly. He shook Jesse's hand with a small grin.
Paige threw her arms around him for a quick hug and pulled back, shrugging with a wide smile.
"We're related, it's probably the coolest thing I've found out since I learned I was a witch," was the only excuse the young woman offered.
"Come down this spring with Vin and Grams," Walker invited with a grin.
They waved until they lost sight of him down the boarding tunnel.
Jacks glanced over at Jesse with a small smile. "Jesse?"
"Yeah, Jacks?"
"Thank you for doing those drawings for Wa-sho," she said softly as they waited for the plane to pull away and start down the runway. "You really do have a talent for art. But if you ever use my personal life in your online comic again I will turn you into a turtle and drop you in the desert."
"I won't, Jacks, but I don't have to change my characters, do I?"
Jacks made a show of thinking it over while Vin snickered quietly. "No, no, you don't. But kindly take your story line away from my reality."
Jesse grinned at her. "Yes, ma'am."
Lips met, fingers laced together, body fit to body like water flowing down a deep carved creek bed.
Jacks and Vin swayed to the music coming from the stereo, a mix of sweet love songs by country singers and a few rock ballads.
"So, what did Tara help you pick out for my birthday?" Jacks asked teasingly.
Vin grinned down at her. "Ain't saying. But how'd ya know she helped me?"
"Andrew saw you together and jumped to the entirely erroneous conclusion that you were cheating on me," Jacks said with a roll of her eyes.
"Tara ain't exactly my type, and I sure ain't her type," Vin drawled out. "Andrew come tell ya that?"
Jacks snorted softly. "Andrew apparently keeps a camcorder on him at all times. He showed me a recording of the two of you walking with your arm around her shoulders and eating ice cream. It was no different than you were with Casey or are with Dawn now."
There was a pause.
"Actually, you'd probably treat Faith the same if it wasn't entirely likely that she'd grab your ass."
Vin grinned down at her. "Yer the one who doesn't share."
"If I thought you were honestly interested in Faith I might make an exception."
"Wicked woman," Vin murmured as he leaned down for another kiss.
Jacks licked her lips as he pulled back again. "Well, yes, but that's one of the things you love about me. We may be having a similar discussion regarding Dawn sometime in the next ten years or so."
"Yer kiddin', right?"
"Maybe. That depends rather a lot on Dawn."
Dawn sat on her bed, staring at the vial of Jacks' blood cupped in her hands. She could sense the power thrumming in it. Power that Jacks herself could barely access due to the bindings still on her. Power freely given so that Dawn could use it.
It was basically liquid trust.
Dawn stared at the vial for a moment more, then crawled to the edge of her bed and tugged, pulled, yanked and grunted as she took a heavy metal box from under the bed.
A key came from around her neck and she unlocked the box, painted in runes with her own blood so that things inside would remain unchanged. The vial went into the cushioned interior with several others. Green stoppers where Jacks' blood. Sky blue were Vins. The single one with a dark purple stopper was Miki's.
Every vial of blood was a show of trust.
Dawn wasn't about to betray them. No matter how much fun she had freaking out everyone else when she played with her knives.
Their trust was to precious.
Jesse sat with a new sketch book propped up on his knees, letting his mind wander and guiding the pencil in his hand across the paper without too much thought.
A new character started to take shape, a blending of Jacks and Vin, and a strong touch of Ezra.
Farwalker of the Elven People would be joining the Witch and her Seven Warriors on their next adventure.
The young artist grinned down at the drawing that looked only somewhat like Ranger Walker.
Andrew paced and frowned and huffed around his room. Jacks was so certain that Vin wouldn't cheat on her. She had to be right of course. Everything he knew about the Texan showed that he was loyal and honest and kind and....
And would probably string Andrew up by his intestines if the man ever found out Andrew had spied on him.
That send a tremble of fear down his spine not all that different than the icy chill when Ranger Walker had told him to leave Jacks alone.
They didn't understand. Jacks had a student, she had a mate, she had sisters-at-arms if he was right about the other girls around her.
Heroes needed sidekicks. His research had shown that even Ranger Walker had one, a man named James Trivette. He would be a great sidekick. He just had to prove it to Jacks.
But he had to be careful. After all, sidekicks had the chance to become real heroes themselves someday.
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