Catch you on the flipside

Sheri carefully navigated the river bank while firmly grasping Adrian’s hand. The skin walker twins and she were close in age but surprisingly she had better balance than the cubs. Letting go Adrian followed Sheri as she settled down to the older winged boy. Adrian’s senses instantly hackled around the boy, there was nothing threatening about the young god he just smelled so strange.



It was all new to him and his sister. Looking over he saw Tayrn was perched on the edge of a large boulder, barefoot and stretching as far as she could, attempting to snag a fish. Smiling Adrian skipped and leapt across several yards in four simple strides. Landing silently beside his twin he squatted and looked over her shoulder. The only indication that she knew he was there was the slight tilt to her pointed ears.



“Whatcha looking at?” Adrian asked, he could see easily throught he murky waters to several river trout carefully navigating the bottom of the river.



“The fish, there are so many.” Tayrn smiled when she felt one graze her hand.



Nikos watched the shifter cubs carefully while he unpacked the food he had prepared. He didn’t know how to tell Sheri her mother and Sasha were gone. Being born of that world he had felt the shift, so had she only she didn’t know what it was. He had simply told her it was cramps.



It hadn’t been his idea for all this, but Cupid had sent him after his mother, hoping to dissuade any irrational decisions…which had happened regardless. Looking to his young sister he smiled. He had only been here a few days and at times her ceaseless questions and adoration were…tiresome but even though he was a child among the gods he had been alive for decades and no one had ever been so eager to hear what he had to say and to defend him.



Nikos smiled fondly at the memory the the previous day. When the shift in worlds had occurred and Sasha and the Kennedy woman left he had nearly doubled over of the force of the magic used, Sheri had only winced. When a slayer who was passing had made a crude comment calling Sasha a demon whore, Sheri had without a doubt proving Sasha to be her mother leapt through the air and tackled the slayer to the ground.



Nikos had decided then and there that whether or not there mothers had left them, he wouldn’t leave her. Smiling he looked over to Sheri who was happily devouring a can of corn with stale bread. Nikos smiled again; he had never seen any creature enjoy food of such poor quality so much. He had never had much interest in Earth or humans.



In his mothers court they were simply play things, sometimes even food. His mother a Valyrkie had raised him to be like the Vikings of old, but with the melding of Greek immortality or Atlantean. He did not know, he never quite was as blood thirsty as his mother had hoped. Once his wings had fully come in he decided it would be best to leave, he had already been having trouble avoiding Loki’s tricks or Thor’s testosterone pissing contests.



Oh Sasha hadn’t been nearly as impressive as the stories said, the one god that not even Zeus would kill? That had made for a lot of courtyard fights, to see if he truly was the offspring of the reigning leader of the underworld. Meeting her…well that had been less than impressive. He had been terrified hed walked from one hell to another when he had first saw her, hair ratted, reeking of ale with that arrogance that was so common among the Olympians.



She hadn’t proved to be much better, he had heard the stories of the war where the beautiful Skye had fallen, of Sasha’s involvement, but now this. He had been a fly on the wall of the gods long enough to know there was a reason, it had to be Sasha to unravel this mystery.



Snapping his head up when Sheri waved a hand in front of his face. “Yes?”



Giggling Sheri moved over to cuddle next to him, “Are we like them?” Sheri asked, pointing to the twins who were still taunting fish.



“No. You’re my sister and I’m your brother but was not shifters…or twins.”



“Oh…wheres Sasha Nikos? Wheres my mommy?” Sheri asked, looking up at him Nikos sighed at the huge doe eyes as they began to water.



“I don’t know Sheri.” Nikos fidgeted anxiously. Glancing over Sheri was glaring at him in a way he had only seen in Sasha’s eyes the day she met him.



“Are they hurt?”



“No…I’m sure they aren’t. Come on, like Sasha would let anything happen to your mommy.” Nikos said, attempting to sound as reassuring as possible. Honestly he had already prepared himself to raise her on his own if need be.



Sheri looked down for a moment before looking back at him with a stunning smile. “She can be your mommy too Nikos. If Sasha marries my mommy you can stay here forever.”



“Umm…well…”Nikos floundered praying the ground would suddenly swallow him up. Sighing he tried to think of a way to explain this when his world suddenly erupted in stars.



Dazed he looked toward the trees. Blinking he made out the lean forms of the shifter teens. Chaye, David, Garrett, Brigitte, Joyce and Rosie. David led the group being the oldest, Nikos guessed that Chaye was the one that threw the clump of dirt. He guessed that mainly because David had him pinned against a tree by his throat.



“Uncle don’t!” Adrian cried, rushing towards David who dropped his brother as soon as the shrill voice had filled the air. Sheri watched in amazement as the suddenly calm morning had erupted into action. Looking back to Nikos she saw clumps of dirt in his hair and something inside her curled, something that felt like fire spreading over her skin. Baring her fangs she stood up and sprinted towards Chaye.



David was taken aback when he was suddenly thrown back several feet and Chaye was pinned to the ground by Sheri, who was only barely half his height. The small demon child had Chaye pinned by his neck her tiny frame clearly stronger than the skin walker.



“Sheridan.” Nikos called, standing tall with his wings stretched out he made a striking image. David swallowed hard, noticing for the first time how the sun shone on the young gods face how impossibly beautiful his wings appeared. To David, there was nothing more amazing than the perfect merger of animal and man.



Blinking back to reality David cleared his throat and looked over to find Garret and Bri looking at him like hed lost his mind.



“Sheri, go with your brother. I’ll take care of mine.” David growled out, Sheri glared at him but she vanished from her position on Chaye to Nikos side. Blinking in amazement the skin walker children quickly accepted that she simply must have gotten a new power.



Watching as Nikos gently picked Sheri up and lifted off the ground, David watched as the older boys powerful wings pulled them into the sky and they disappeared throught he trees.



Brigitte stalked up behind David, smiling at the strange look on his face. Her normally tightass brother was staring like a love sick school girl. “Stop drooling Davie.” She said snickering, ignoring his quick glare before he seemed to collect himself.



“Tayrn, Adrian it’s time to get home.” David barked out before walking over and pulling Chaye off the ground. “Do you ALWAYS have to be such a dick?” He snarled.



Chaye bristled. “Hes a freak. It’s that bitch mother who’s responsible for this mess.” Chaye snarled, his ears flattening and eyes turning to a bright yellow.



“This is war Chaye. The people here are our family, if mother or Buffy has no problem they are friends if they aren’t frothing at the mouths and coming at us like were the next meal…they are our pack.”David growled out. Unable to understand why he was so defensive over the god, normally he would have allowed his hot headed brother to speak his mind and that be the end of it.



“Hes right Chaye.” Garrett conceded quietly. They all turned to him in surprise, it was possibly the first time Garrett had ever spoken on anyone’s side but his twins. Flushing Chaye turned and ran through the trees following the same path they had come. Garrett followed closely.



Sighing David unfastened his jeans and stepped out of them. Tossing them to Joyce who rolled them up automatically David arched his back and let the change take over him. Dropping to all fours he waited patiently for Skye’s cubs to climb onto his back.



Once they were secure he started a gentle trot so the other cubs could keep up with him. They had to hurry home before mother returned from her hunt with Skye.



**************



Kennedy stepped out of the small house, consciously pulling at the long toga dress she was wearing. Sasha had pulled her hair back and tied it in a way that made her feel like she was in some bad Cleopatra production. Her clothes…her blessed jeans were rolled up tight in a small bag along with Sasha clothes, she had traded hers in for a blue version of her toga as well as a head wrap which concealed much of her face.



Once they had thanked and said there goodbyes Kennedy followed Sasha down the road, taking in what was ancient Greece. She had been through Athens a few years before she had had Sheri but that had been in modern Greece. Looking a little different without well…concrete and pipes…after this morning’s trip to the bathroom Kennedy had never been so thankful for the industrial revolution. And Sasha? Well ever so helpful the demon turned human had just laughed her ass off when Kennedy had told Astropolis that he was out of his damned mind when he explained the toilet process to her.



Kennedy came out of her daydream when she saw Sasha lower her hood and stop. Standing beside her she looked in the same direction. Far into the distance she could make out what looked like structures gleaming in the sun. Atlantis?



“Atlantis.” Sasha whispered. Kennedy sighed. Let the fun begin.



“What do we have to do once were there?” Kennedy asked, her powers gone she was still all slayer. And she was itching for a game plan.



“WE aren’t doing jack shit. YOU are going to stay in a room at an inn while I go figure this thing out.” Sasha said confidently.



“The hell I am.” Kennedy snapped, Sasha stopped in her tracks and turned back to the slayer. Stalking back she got right into the slayers face, which teased the slayers instincts.



“You wanted to come on this little field trip. Fine. But you are not going to interfere, this isn’t your world slayer. This is MY world and you don’t know jack about it. To you Atlantis is a thing of Myth. To me…this is where I grew up.” Sasha forced herself to calm down. Taking a step back she met the slayers eyes. “I have a job to do, if I fail it won’t just be my head on the chopping block. If you want to help. Help me rob the people coming around the bend. They just bought us a way into the city.” Sasha said, no longer looking at the slayer, instead she grabbed her arm and pulled her into the brush nearby.



“What do you mean in?” Kennedy whispered, trying not to think about the fact that they were about to rob a REALLY big chariot looking thing full of guys in Caesar palace armor and swords.



“It’s surrounded by a massive wall. If you aren’t known you have to pay a toll and I spent what we had of value on these clothes.”



“Why the fuck did you do that, what wrong with our old clothes?” Kennedy hissed. Her annoyance sparking when Sasha rolled her eyes.



“My world remember, we would have been sold on sight for wearing that crap. It looks so foreign no one would miss us if we were sold.” Sasha explained.



Kennedy rolled her eyes, ‘that makes no sense’ she thought to herself.



“Ready?” Sasha asked picking up a large rock.



“Aye aye captain.” Kennedy said ready to charge in fists swinging when suddenly Sasha threw the stone into the other side of the trail, the noise caused the chariot to halt the four guards suddenly drew guard. Sasha dropped her shawl and stepped around the brush, looking down coyly she smiled invitingly at the guards. She knew she may be human but her mother had been a god of sex.



A succubus, pleased when she saw the lustful interests in the men’s eyes and sickened at the same time. She let part of her toga fall back and thigh become exposed. Motioning behind her for Kennedy to move into action, she almost turned around when nothing happened.



“What are you doing out here woman?” The tallest of the four asked, his face was kinder, calmer than the others. Where they were eager and easily ployed he wouldn’t be so easy.

“I have lost my necklace…can you help me find it?” Sasha asked, letting her voice drop an octave as she traced her fingers down the leather armor.



“Why don’t you ask your friend to help you?” The soldier asked. Sasha stiffened, and looked from the faces of the guards seeing if there was a way she could play that off. Clearly without her powers she wasn’t as seductive…course she hadn’t ever really needed to practice before.



“Ouch…okay so this clearly isn’t going to work.” Kennedy said coming out of the brush, nearly tripping and picking thorns out of her dress. “We need a new plan.” Sasha almost wanted to lose her very god-like temper. Turning in annoyance she noticed something she was certain Kennedy didn’t.



She was disheveled. The morning dew combined with kneeling in the brush, Kennedys dress was saturated and apparently it was colder than Sasha realized. Smiling at the truly mesmerized expression on the guards faces Sasha swiftly elbowed one in the face. Gasping in pain and shock when her elbow collided with the bronze nose guard on his helmet, “SHIT!” Sasha looked up to see Kennedy dodging two of the guards with one unconscious on the ground.



Bending down Sasha picked up a sword and sprinted to help Kennedy, stopping behind one she drove the blade through the man’s ribs. Surprisingly sickened when blood began pouring out. Kennedy ducked under the guards punch before she drove her knee between his knees and smashed his helmet with a rock. Not dead but one hell of a headache later.



“So we got the chariot…now what?” Kennedy asked. Sasha studied the crest stamped onto the chariot. It was meant for a lady of stature. She knew she recognized…suddenly she remembered the logo. A dove flying over the sun. This chariot belonged to Petius, one of Coops mortal children. The child wouldn’t know her but she could play at being an old friend of Coop.



“Come on. I got an idea.” Sasha said excitedly.



TBC

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