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Target practice had replaced patrols for how Quinn spent some of her after-work time, but that didn't mean she'd become oblivious to the occasional fledgling she saw wandering around. Most of the vampires had apparently gone to ground because of the larger crisis, but the younger bloodsuckers were still out and about.
So when she saw the pale-faced figure loitering around the Lighthouse Bar, she made sure she had a stake on hand. Might as well put an end to one small nuisance, even if she couldn't do much else by herself. If the vamp was new enough, she'd dust it and then go home. She needed some sleep, and sleep without dreams for a change.
Ten minutes later, she was brushing ashes off of her black shirt and ambling back to her vehicle. Kael was going to be proud when he got back and saw how much she'd improved. And she wouldn't even brag about it. Much.
Well, okay, maybe a little tiny bit.
Illyria watched the girl stake the vampire with a critical eye. She had decided she didn't particularly care for Slayers, they always wanted to fight first and ask questions later, but with all the new ones running around, it was hard to tell who was a Slayer and who was a girl trying to get herself killed.
There were no vampires to speak of, however, and she was curious. "You there...girl." The tone was imperious, commanding, as befitted her position, even with her powers stripped so she could exist in this reality.
The voice made the redhead turn around, and one eyebrow went up. Nobody had called her 'girl' since her Gramma Iris, and Gramma had been dead for nine years. "Yeah?" she asked, turning more fully to face the figure.
Not a vampire, she decided upon brief inspection. Not undead, but not human either. Something else, then. Something..weirder.
"Can I do...something for you?" Or maybe just run like hell?
A slight hesitation, perhaps she ought to have gone looking for Elflada. Illyria drew herself up slightly, eyes narrowing for a moment. "Searchlight. It's altered. Why?" Too arrogant to clarify any further, she waited for a response, her head tipped ever so slightly to one side.
Her body language was strange, tense, as if in preparation to attack, but at the same time, completely open. Blue hair fluttered across her face from a stray breeze, she ignored it, staring intently at the young woman. It would feel a little bit creepy to have such undivided attention from what used to be a God King to anyone with the slightest bit of sensitivity.
Quinn knew what the tone meant, that 'tell me now' voice, but the words were strange. Stilted, almost, as if the speaker were uncomfortable with the language. Or unfamailiar with it. A frown line appeared between her eyebrows.
"The vamps have gone to ground," she said, waving a hand at their surroundings. "Turns out they were big fish in a little pond, I guess. But some of them are still young and stupid." She brushed more ashes off of her shirt as if to demonstrate what she was talking about. "Or that one was, I should say."
She looked at the...woman? Demon? Creature from the Black Lagoon? The blue hair was almost normal, but her posture was tense, as if she were about to spring. Like a predatory animal.
"You're not...local," she hazarded, using the best word she could think of. "I'd remember having seen you if you were. And you're not a vampire, but you haven't attacked me. Will it insult you if I ask if you've lost your spaceship?"
"Spaceship?" Illyria stared for a moment, processing the comment, "no. I have not lost my spaceship. I am the GodKing Illyria." As if this would make perfect sense to everyone. She would even be willing to look at that coward, Lorne, for someone familiar and able to answer her questions.
"I know what vampires are...Pathetic halfblood. They've gone to ground. Why?" She seized the information that actually made some sense and pressed for more.
GodKing. God...King. Ohh-kay
"Found something scarier than they were," Quinn said with a shrug. "I guess even bloodsuckers know when to find a hole and crawl into it." She shifted her weight from foot to foot, keeping a wary eye on this creature, this Illyria.
"I'm sorry," she said after a minute, "I don't know what a GodKing is. You look female, though. Am I supposed to have heard of you already?"
"No. You are too young." It sounded like an insult, and it probably was one. Completely useless, Illyria reflected, she might have to try this again in her 'Fred' persona. "There is nothing you can share of use, girl?"
Icy blue eyes flicked around their surroundings. The girl was getting nervous, that meant a fight, and Illyria wasn't ready to start killing indiscriminately just yet. Retreat might be the best option.
That kind of rankled - actually, it more than rankled - and Quinn tightened her jaw against the slight. "Demons," she said shortly, then gestured around them again.
"Apparently, there's some big plot to blow up the world or something," she said. "They're not being as discreet about it now as they were before. They're either stepping things up or they're getting careless."
Illyria made a disgusted noise, humans were so quick to take offense, and demons..."Do these creatures have names? Surely you have a...Watcher who knows the demons?" Like Wesley...She cut that thought immediately, that way lay pain she was still unwilling to face. "And others. They have been drawn here, as well?"
"There are a few Watchers here, yeah," the redhead replied. "But a lot of others have been drawn here too. Probably the same way you have. For a place as small as this, it seems to get a lot of attention."
She shifted again, wanting only to get back to her trailer and then to bed. But the alien eyes resting on her made her not want to turn her back on Illyra, not even for a million dollars.
"What does a GodKing...do?" she asked carefully. "I mean, where did you come from?"
A weary expression passed over Illyria's face and enough time passed that the girl had to fear she wasn't going to answer. Finally, her voice softer than it had been when she demanded answers, "Here. I come from here. From before this...Earth knew human life. The Gods warred upon each other, for followers. For power. Fear ruled all. I commanded a multitude, they were to sweep away the human pestilence, but upon my return they were gone to dust. And I am trapped."
The confession seemed to take some of the fire from her. "The Black Thorn was destroyed, and I wandered until I felt this place."
She turned her gaze to the far away moon. "There was a time I could move from dimension to dimension...now, I am trapped."
Quinn looked up at the moon herself, as if the brightly shining orb had some kind of answers to give, and then she lowered her gaze back to Illyria's face. "Trapped," she echoed, thinking that sounded kind of, well, sad. "You travelled through...time?" she questioned, expression quizzical. "Like, from the past to here?"
She apparently still had a lot of things to learn. But at least she was becoming more and more convinced that Illyria wouldn't kill her at the drop of a hat.
"That's...that's kind of cool. I mean, not the being trapped thing, 'cause that's gotta suck, but the travelling stuff. That has to rule, seriously."
The ice blue eyes shifted back to the girl "dimensions. I slept in the Well for too long. Time travel means nothing, when Time can be manipulated so easily, girl. By rights, I should still be sleeping."
Sleeping. Sleeping in a...in a well? Was that some kind of weird joke? "My name isn't 'girl'," the redhead said, her tone hovering around the edges of placid. "It's Quinn. Aren't kings supposed to have better manners?" And okay, maybe not the smartest thing she could have said, but still. She wasn't a puppy.
"Quinn. My...apologies." It was stilted and uncomfortable, but the offer was there. "Your Watcher has not taught you sufficiently. The Deeper Well. It is guarded by Angel now." How could the girl know of Angel...this town was so small and the battle so many years ago. "All the old gods sleep there. To wake is death, as I have learned."
Angel. Where had she heard that name before? It sounded familiar, but only vaguely. It barely registered that Illyria had mistaken her for a Slayer until she'd begun to puzzle at the other bit of information, and after a minute she decided not to correct the impression. Just this once, anyway. Borrowed glory was better than no glory at all, right?
After rolling the name around in her brain for a minute, it clicked into place. "Spike. You know Spike? British accent, smokes a lot, bad dye job?" She nodded once as if in answer to her own question, then made yet another aimless gesture with her hand.
"Were there a lot of you...them? Because you kind of don't look dead. The eyes are a little off-putting, but I guess you're used to hearing that by now. Have you been out of the...well long?"
A bark of laughter escaped her lips, startling Illyria more than it could ever startle Quinn. "Spike is here? I would see him again...And yes, there were many old Gods. We fought amongst ourselves." A faint smile, remembering old battles...old blood.
"I have been out of the Well for five years. Spike would remember me."
"He's around somewhere still, I guess. He might have ducked out of sight, though. Because of the other thing." Quinn shrugged, adding, "I guess when you've lived...unlived...for a while, you learn self-preservation."
She looked around conspiritorially, as if the vampire in question were lurking around the nearest corner eavesdropping, then looked at Illyria questioningly. "Does he really have a soul? Because that's just weird. You'd think there'd be a label on his forehead or something. 'Have soul, will travel, do not stake under penalty of law.' Or something similar, y'know?"
"He got it back for that girl Slayer...Buffy? If he looked at her the way he looked at me when...." Illyria stopped, abruptly, eyeing Quinn suspiciously. "You can stake him. He is still an 'annoying SOB'."
"Yeah, he was kind of annoying," the redhead agreed with a smrik. "Kept calling me 'love' like that's supposed to be charming or something. I'd rather be called 'girl' than 'love'." Pause, then a raised index finger. "Not that I want to be called 'girl', but given the choice I'd pick that."
If he looked at her that way he did when he what? she thought, but somehow she didn't dare ask. And a Slayer named Buffy? Oh, she was going to have to tease Spike about that the next time she saw him, just because of the name alone. But tease him gently. Soul or not, he could totally kill her if he wanted to.
"It's still weird," she said with a head shake. "Wouldn't that be like...schizophrenia or something? Um.." She scrambled to make it translate, came up with; "Having two minds in the same skull, or at least two totally different personalities?" Quinn rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm not saying it right, am I?"
Illyria paused for a moment, forming her answer. She found the girl engaging, and it was nice to speak again. "No. Spike is still the pathetic creature in need of love that he has always been. Turning him into a vampire merely made him bloodthirsty and violent. He remains that, even with a soul."
As harsh as the statement was, Illyria appeared, at the very least, fond of Spike, in her own way. "You speak well, Quinn."
"Really? Uh...thanks." She didn't really know how to respond to that, but it sounded suspiciously like a compliment, and she could roll with that.
"I dunno, I guess I'm still trying to figure stuff out. A lot of questions and too few answers." Her shoulders moved up and down in a gesture of acceptance, even if it was slightly annoyed acceptance.
Eyeing the GodKing, she asked, "Why were you in the Well? You make it sound like a prison, even if you were sleeping.You were there for a long time, huh?"
"An eternity and longer...it is a prison, and has been for millenia. For me, and those like me. To keep them from destroying this dimension you call home. Though their armies have gone to dust like mine...without worship, the old Gods disappear."
She paused again, "tell me, Quinn. Where would I find someone with more...knowledge?" She tried her hardest to not make that sound insulting. "There was one called Elfleda....before."
Quinn shook her head, an honestly regretful expression on her face. "I don't know an Elfleda. I'm kind of new around here myself. Only been in Nevada for a few months. Sorry."
She considered the question about knowledge carefully. She could direct Illyria to Corbett, or maybe even to Hayden. They were the book guys and maybe could help out. She just seemed...lost.
"I could ask around. There's a couple of Watchers here. Maybe they can help you."
"I would appreciate that very much, Quinn."
"Um, are you hungry or anything? I don't know if you, well, eat, but, uh..." Quinn went into the pockets of her cargo pants, came up with a pack of gum. "Sorry, this is all I've got. I had a candy bar earlier, but I ate it. Want a piece of gum?"
Illyria laughed again, to her shock, she found herself enjoying the company of the girl, "no. Thank you, Quinn. I do not...eat...as humans do." It was more of a soul sucking thing, but that was probably not wise information to hand someone.
"Do you...am I keeping you from something?"
"No, I was just on my way home, actually. I've been trying not to stay out too late recently, tried to keep my head down. Whatever's going on, it's pretty big. Like huge." A pause while the redhead looked around, and then she turned back to Illyria.
"I bet you could totally kick ass if you wanted to.I have a feeling we're gonna need the help before it's over."
A peculiar expressioned passed across the face of the once-GodKing, it was a mixture of pain and regret. "I will be of whatever use I can. I owe that much. This...Big Bad...is there anything you know about it?"
"All I know right now is, they're running around playin' army. Uniforms and everything. The demon world finally caught the militia bug, I guess." Quinn unwapped a piece of gum and put it in her mouth.
"They took my friends," she muttered around the small obstruction, chewing to soften it up. "There's gonna be a lot of fighting before it's done. Like...goin' to war almost." She paused, scowling at nothing, then shrugged. "We'll stomp 'em if we can."
Illyria reached out, hesitantly, to touch the girl's shoulder. Physical contact still confused her more than any other human interaction. "I am sorry you lost your friends...I lost mine once, as well."
"They're not lost, they're just not here right now." The redhead smiled faintly, glancing in the direction of the hardware store. She'd reached a state of true balance about it now; her friends were in trouble, yes, but she was going to be part of the group effort to get them back. As Illyria had said, she owed that much.
"I'm gonna have to get home soon. I need to get some sleep. You'll be okay out here alone?" She paused after uttering that statement, her eyebrows drawing together with consternation.
"Sorry. I think that's the stupidest thing I've ever said."
"I'm sure I will be fine." Graciously, ignoring the faux pas. "You go rest. We will talk again soon, Quinn."
Illyria paused for a moment, then nodded ever so faintly. "Soon."
"Yeah, I gotta...yeah." Quinn moved towards her truck, tossed her stake onto the seat before climbing in herself. It was late and she was tired. She started the engine with a muted roar, then waved at Illyria through the windshield before pointing the vehicle in the direction of home.
Vampires. Demons. God-Kings. She couldn't decide if the world was getting bigger or smaller.
Illyria watched her go, raising one hand in farewell, then disappeared back into the night. The cave she had slept in was as good as any other for privacy.
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