It is a beautiful day out with the sun shinning. Xander is sitting in a hammock in the back yard. A four year old browned hair girl is running around playing in the garden. His wife is bringing out food to grill outside and enjoy a late lunch.
"You almost done Faith? I need to get started on the food so when Willow, Buffy, and Dawn get her we can eat. You know Slayers like to be fed on time or they get antsy."
"Keep it up X and we will see what you will be eating tonight for desert."
"Only if you say so Faith."
As Faith walks through the screen door the little girl runs to her. "Mommy," she squeals as she latches on to her leg. This cause Faith to have to walk with a limp as the child will not let go. Xander falls out of the hammock laughing at the site as Faith just stares at him.
"Laugh it up Xan. Your desert can be canceled faster then you can eat a Twinkie," Faith comments with a smirk.
"I am sorry Baby you know I love you and I need my desert or I don't know what I will do. In fact maybe we can get Willow to take the little one and enjoy some desert earlier then tonight."
"I want Ice Cream to," came a little voice, "You said I can have desert after lunch and I will get some."
"Yeah you are your mother's daughter right Faith," Xander says as he picks her up and gives her a kiss on her cheek. "Faith, Faith were did you go?" Xander starts looking around for her but she isn't anywhere near him. He looks to his daughter and she is no longer in his arms. "What is going on? Baby where are you? "As Xander looks around for his wife and daughter the world around them starts to fade away. Soon he is alone in the darkness.
"They aren't here Xander."
"Who are you and what have you done to them. When I get my hands on you you're going to wish for a quick death."
"I have done nothing to them. Glory did, or at least her follower did. You remember the tower, the stab wound, the fall, and seeing her lifeless body on the debris. Dawn crying over her while you picked up the knife and killed Glory. You know this happened why are you fighting it. She is dead and you need to get back to the living. I can't maintain this forever. I was not meant to. You have the power to live." During Alpha's speech he walks out of the darkness and stands in front of Xander. They are virtually identical. It is the feral amber eyes of Alpha that sets him apart from Xander.
"No you are wrong. She was just here with me and our daughter. Buffy and Willow are going to swing by and have lunch."
"I am sorry Xander but this is a dream, or maybe a nightmare. She died and you are still alive. You have to stop denying it and move on. If you don't you will also be dead. I can't sustain this existence. In a month maybe two I will no longer have power to do so. You either accept this like you have me or we die a life that would shame our mate. I know my mate would never want me to be like this. Nor would I want this of her if I was to die. It is the fact we die that makes the lives together and families we build so important. Remember Xander we can mourn her passing as well as our cub but you have to get back to living. What do you say?"
"You can go rot. I will be here with my wife and my daughter. They live here and so will I." Xander swings his arm at Alpha and at the moment it connects he wakes up.
"Well he at least listened to the speech fully this time. Soon Xander, soon you will either live or we both die. Unfortunately I don't think my mate is going to please to see us this soon. Next time Xander. I will definitely mention it next time." Alpha then stands up heads to the shower to get ready for a new day. Some little town in Kansas has a rising death toll and he is going to kill what ever it is. Without Xander at the helm the hunt is all he can do. "Next time Xander we are going to have a long talk about our mate."
Alpha walks down the dark street looking and hunting. Trying to find what ever evil beastie is loose in this town. A small scream came from an alley which he quickly heads down. Alpha runs towards the sounds of struggle to find a red scaled humanoid demon beating on two humans. "You have got to be kidding me. You are trying to take out two teeny boppers all by yourself and you still couldn't get it done. What ever you are seems to be very pathetic." The red demon looks at him while the two teenagers back away further into the corner and hope that helped arrived and not another monster. With Alpha's glowing amber eyes they are unsure of what he might do also. "Were do you want me to send your body. I just want your kind to know what happens when they attack humans on my watch."
"You are human also so you mean nothing. After I dispatch you and will take these two back to the group to feed on. You are too old and passed the freshness age of humans." The demon says as he looks Alpha up and down.
"Lets do it then. You are stopping me from getting some much needed sleep."
Alpha jumps towards the demon and while in mid air takes a knife out from behind his back and holds it in his hand with the blade pointing down. The demon jumps back and also pulls a blade out of its arm. As Alpha lands and he readies to go on the defense to size up the opponent. The demon heads towards him with slices to his throat and chest. Alpha is able to block most but one gets by and slices in to his shoulder. He howls in pains. His eyes flash brightly for a moment and he proceeds to go on the offensive. His attacks come much faster and more are getting to demon. After a few minutes the demon has kicks and slices all over his chest and arms.
"What are you? No human can do this. Only slayers can and you are not one of those pathetic pieces of flesh. Many of my clansmen have killed them thought the years. They are a week protector."
"I was going to kill you but now you are going to suffer before you are dispatched." With a howl of rage alpha goes in for the attack. Faster then before his knife cuts in to the demon's flesh. Soon cuts are all over is upper torso, back, and a few on the face. "After your death I will hunt down more of your kind. I will slaughter hundreds for every slayer they ever killed. I just want you to now so you don't have to worry about being lonely in hell." He then shoves his knife deep in to the throat of the demon. The gray blood of the demon spills out around the blade and from its mouth. The demon falls back against a wall and slides down to the ground. You can almost see the life drain out of it. Alpha walks over to the demon and rips the knife out and wipes it on the creature's shoulders to get the blood off of it. "Well don't have to worry about one anymore. You two can run home now and try to stay in lighted areas better. Also try to hang out in bigger groups." He turns around and starts to walk out of the alley to be tackled by a slip of a girl with a lot of power behind her. They roll for a bit and ended up with him on the bottom and a blue eyed red head on top of him. "What are you? I have been tracking that demon for three days. You just show up and kill him in less than ten minutes. Tell me quickly or I will kill you now. I am not letting any demons regardless of what they look like walking out of here."
"Dam it Red can you slayers just ask nicely instead of the whole tackle and threaten. Where is your watcher I am listing a formal complaint to him about you." With the last statement Alpha swung his arms out and shoved the girl off him. Quickly standing up waiting for her next attack. She just stayed laid out on the ground.
"I don't have one. That bastard killed him a week ago. I have been catching up to him. I was going to get him tonight but you stepped in and took it away from me. He has been training me for a year now. I went active a couple weeks ago and really started making a killing in the demons in my area. They weren't ready for a slayer to show up. Apparently the slayer has been staying in California for years now. She stays protecting the Hellmouth my watcher would always tell me. If I was called I would be expected to head there as well to protect it and stop the demons from opening it. We were heading there from Ohio when the demon and his band attacked us. I kill four others but he got to my watcher and sliced his throat, then ran away while I tried to stop the bleeding. I couldn't stop it and he died. I tried to get help but at was late at night. I was able to call 911 and get EMTs out there but it was well past time. He was dead and I left hunting this demon." She sniffles a little as she tells this story. "I don't even know why I told you this much. I just hurt all over. I don't know what it is but I was hoping that the death of that demon would make it better. It isn't." She stands p and brushes her pants off. "Well I am going to head in. If you want to join me fine. I am leaving town tomorrow. With the slayer dead I needed to get to the Hellmouth before it goes to long with out protection."
"Don't worry about the Hellmouth. A slayer is there protecting it. You can go where ever you want. Help is needed all over. My name is Alpha and I am getting out of town and head north if you would like to travel with me. Since we are both hunting demons and aren't needed on the Hellmouth then why not hunt together. More protection in packs and the demons won't even know what hit them."
"Alpha? What kind of name is that? How do you know about the slayer situation, how do you know there is a slayer there at all, and my name is Vicky."
"Alpha is what I am. A slayer by the name of Buffy Summers has been on the Hellmouth for 5 years now. I know she is still alive."
"How can she be alive if I am called. She has to die for me to be called. For someone that knows about slayers and demons you seem to have forgotten a important note"
Alpha moved towards her picking her up and slamming her into the ground. "I know that fact very well little girl. I have seen it three times already. Buffy, Kendra, and Faith have all died around me calling the next slayer. You are the fourth that I have met and if you make another comment about and pervious slayers I will look for the fifth one to help her along. You understand me girl?" Alpha yells at her with his eyes glowing.
Vicky just stares at him scared about what he can do to her. "Sssssure"
Alpha lets go of her and starts to walk away from her. She jumps to her feet and watches him start to walk off. She quickly jogs up to him and while she is ready for another attack she notices that he seems to be almost in a trance walking along. "Alpha you still with me? I am sorry about the slayer comment. Knowing that I might only live a few years after being called makes me try not to take too seriously. So home come there are at least two slayers now?"
Alpha just turns his head to her. "Here is what we are going to do. You want the answers come back to my hotel for the night, before you get in to some idea about being picked up I am already mated and not looking for anything. I don't want to talk about it here and I need to bandage up my cuts."
"Mated, god were you raised by wolves?"
"Hyenas."
"What?"
"Hyenas. I am part hyena. Not wolf. Remember that. I do not like being called or compared to a wolf. I am Alpha of the Hyena. My clan is gone and I am all that is left."
"Okay. Hyena like from the Lion King with all the drooling and stuff. Why don't you want to be compared to a wolf? They have such a better image going."
"Not like that. Hyenas are very good hunters and only scavenge when hunting is not at a peak time. They also have stronger jaws and are more vicious then wolves. Trust me Hyenas are the better dog."
"Fine, so you turn in to some werehyena when the moon is full or something."
"Do you even read books or are you trying my patients for a reason. I do not turn in to anything. I am not a werehyena. I am a human that have been gifted with the Hyena spirit and it makes me strong, faster, and with better senses. Man Red you can be very annoying."
"So that explains the eye thing. Those are creepy by the way. How can you so called mate get with you when you have eyes like that?" After she said it the air around her seemed to be colder as if winter was starting to set in not the start of summer.
"She is dead. She died a couple of weeks ago and my eyes don't always look like this. Only when Xander draws very heavily on the spirit do they change color."
"So your name is Xander. Why do you go by Alpha? Xander is not that bad of a name."
"I am Alpha. This body is Xander's but he hasn't recovered from the lose of his mate. She was very special to us and I am here trying to help him. Hopefully soon."
"Okay you can tell me the rest at the hotel room. I am sorry for your lose. I know what it is like even if the feelings for the ones that we have loses are different."
"Thank you. It is around the corner and up the street a little. We can talk about everything there." For the rest of the walk was in silence. Vicky was getting her questions ready while Alpha just enjoyed the presence of another hunter. Even if it has only been a few weeks it has been a long time since he has felt alone.
When they get back to the hotel Vicky goes to sit on the bed while Alpha heads into the bathroom to get the first aid kit he has placed there. He opens it and grabs the gauze and alcohol. He heads back in to the other room and starts to remove his shirt. With his shirt off he starts to use some of the gauze and alcohol to clean the cuts on his chest.
"So what do you want to know?" he asks between slight hisses of when the alcohol hits an open wound.
"How long have you been fighting? How did you know all those slayers? How did your mate die? When are you going to be Xander again?"
"Good questions. He has been doing this just about 5 years now. He started his sophomore year in high school. Which is located directly above the Hellmouth by the way. His best friend was turned close to the starting of the new year and he staked him. After that he has been fighting. In his first year he was possessed by a Hyena spirit. While he was possessed he was as strong as a slayer with a few extras. He chose to keep me if he had full control and I would help out when necessary. I agreed. After seeing in to his mind and seeing what the hunt of demons and vampires was all about I knew it offered the best challenge I have seen in centuries. So that is how he started and I joined."
"Why do you say he when it is you?"
"I was not apart of this fight till later in his starting year. I am not Xander just a part of him. And when he coupes with the death of our mate then he will be back in control and you will not see this side often. I am just helping you to understand that right now there are two different people in this body. The original, Xander, and an ancient spirit, the Hyena, that has become a part of him but remains just as separate as he does. "
"Okay that kind of makes since. Why do you say his and yours but always say our mate. Wouldn't that make her his since he is the one in charge."
"She accepted both of us into her life. She knew and understood the differences between us and loved both sides. We are a coin. Right now you got tails but soon the flip will go to heads and all will be right."
"Why do you say it that way? Right now you have full control. You can do what you want and live your life the way you feel fit. He can't deal fine. Reverse the acceptation. Make him apart of you and stay they way you are."
"A question for another time Red. Trust me maybe if I could I would but right now I don't want to try," as he finishes the statement he is done wrapping his cuts and puts the alcohol down on the end table. He stands up and gets a different shirt to wear. "Now in his first year a girl name Buffy Summers, who was the current Slayer, started at SunnyDale High School after transferring from L.A. He saw her start the walk up to path to school and fell in love with her. She was beautiful. Unfortunately he was skateboarding at the time and went right into a railing. Not one of his better moments. He found about whom she is and what she is. We asked her out on a date and she turned us down. Later in the week they found out she was prophesied to die by the Master's hand. The Master was a very old vampire that was trapped in-between worlds after a failed attempt to open the Hellmouth. We couldn't have that now could we? There was a guy name Angle that had been helping with the fighting. We found him and convinced him to go down with me to the Master's cave and save her. We were too late she was dead face down in a pool of water. We pulled her out of the water and started doing CPR in hope that is was drowning and not blood lose. She was brought back. Since she did die the next slayer was called. But with Buffy back she went up against the Master again and killed him. The next year a girl called Kendra showed up in SunnyDale claming to be the Slayer and that her watcher told her of dark evil coming to SunnyDale. The dark evil was a pair of vampire called Spike and Drusilla. They caused some problems and were about to suck the Earth into Hell. The group of Buffy, Kendra, Angle, and I were able to stop them. Kendra died in that battle along with Angle." Alpha's eyes start to get a glossy look to them and a brownish color starts to come through the present amber color of them. "Her death triggered Faith. She had dark brown hair and dark eyes. She fought with a passion Buffy never had and a fire that Kendra lacked. I saw her in action when she was new to it and just watching her move in the fight made me fall in love with her. We became friends and I helped her through some dark times. She didn't have a great home life and wasn't very stable. With the help of Giles I was able to get her grounded and helped heal some old wounds. She accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor while hunting with Buffy. She almost lost it. I stayed with her for days as she finally came to terms with it. The two of us didn't hunt for a couple months. I wouldn't leave her side except when we were at school. We stood together and she fell in love with me. She didn't think of me so weird having a Hyena apart of me. She though it was like her having the Slayer essence in her. Like something additional to the package that makes it better with out taking away from it. We found out that the Mayor of SunnyDale was trying to become a full demon and would end up destroying the town. The Scoobys were able to stop him." A few tears escape from his now fully brown eyes. A deep look of sadness was in them but laughter was at the top. Like even though he was in pain you could see he was laughing and smiling at the story he was telling. "After that she and I left town to hunt and live. We dusted countless vampires and demons. We lived and loved for two years. The SunnyDale group got information to us about needing help with a Hell Goddess named Glory. We went back after two years of being gone. We gathered up everyone and fought to save the world and Buffy's little sister Dawn. During the fight Faith was fighting one of her worshippers. He was trying to sacrifice Dawn to open a portal but Faith was able to stop him. She was grabbed him and through him off …...," Xander\Alpha stopped and cried. His eyes that were fully brown and started to become amber and soon they were full amber again like when Vicky first me him. He dried some of his tears and finished, "she was actually stabbed with the knife once in the heart and was going to die. She grabbed him and jumped off the tower that we were on. Before she did she look towards us and smiled. We couldn't think of a moment when we loved her more. They fell off the tower. I don't know if it was the fall or stab wound but they were both dead when Dawn and I came down from the tower. Buffy was left fighting Glory and wasn't going to last much longer. He picked up the knife and started walking towards Glory. Soon he was pulling all the power out of the Hyena Spirit he could and he became we and we became me, Alpha. We killed Glory out of grief and rage. When the battle was done I walked away and picked up our mate. He found out earlier that she was pregnant with our cub. She was dead now and with her our cub. Xander completely stopped responding. I was left to take care of Faith and tell the others what happened. I left shortly after. We have been hunting and I have been trying to get him to heal and take over again. Right now is the most rest I have had in the last couple weeks. He is back in his grief and denial but for a few moments he was here talking and remembering. I thank you for that. It will help out a look in the longer run. I am sorry to cut this but I am tried from the fight, healing, and talking about her. I will sleep on the floor here and you can take the bed. There long shirts in the bag if you want to change. I am not going to peek so don't worry about me. Good night Red." He then stood up took a pillow of the bed along with a blanket and curled up in a ball on the floor with his head propped on the pillow.
Vicky stood up and walked over to the bag of clothes to find a shirt. She found a black one with the word 'Boytoy' on the front. She just shrugged her shoulders and walked in to the bathroom. She shut the door and stripped out of her clothes. She went to take a quick shower then put her panties back on deciding to sleep braless. She put the shirt on looked in the mirror and tied her hair back. She walked out of the shower and climbed in to the bed. Alpha was on the floor asleep and making whimper like noises. She listened to what seemed to be a nightmare for him as she herself went to sleep. She would have to ask him about that tomorrow.
She awoke the next morning to find him no longer on the floor and the pillow and blanket was back to being on the bed. She looked around the room and found that his bag was also gone along with everything else. A new set of clothes were next to the bed. It looks like he got up really early cleaned up his stuff and got her a new pair of pants and a shirt that was her size. "The bastard left with out even saying goodbye. When I see him next he is going to be hurting. First asking me if I would like to patrol with him and then leaving me. At least he got me some new clothes. I guess living with a slayer for a couple years would perfect that not making a waking noise but damn him for getting me interested in him. UUUUGGGGGHHHH!" She got out of the bed and went in to the bathroom. On the mirror was a note for her. It read 'Hey Red I am getting breakfast in the lounge. I will stay there till 11 then head back up to the room. If you are up before then join me and we can finish talking about me then start talking about you. If not we can do lunch later in the day. Alpha.' She grabbed the not and proceed to wash her face and clean up a bit. She smiled as she got dressed and headed down to the lounge. She passed his truck and saw all his stuff packed away and ready to go. She was going to join him for awhile. She still wanted to get to SunnyDale. It seemed to call to her but she was happy with the time with Xander/Alpha for the time being. She walked into the lounge and sees him sitting in a booth watching her with a cup of coffee. She heads to where he is sitting and sits across from him.
"I was starting to wonder if you would be getting up soon. I got you some new clothes since women don't like to have to wear dirty clothes. I hope they fit good. It wasn't easy to be able to get the sizes right. And if I went through the ladies clothes one more time I think they would have called me in. So where did we leave off?"
"You are going to tell me why you need Xander in control again."
"Okay first let's get you some food and then we will finish that up." Alpha gets the server's attention and orders some breakfast and then motions for Vicky to order. After she is finished ordering she looks towards Alpha.
"Didn't you already eat?"
"No I just ordered coffee and waited for you while reading the paper."
"How long have you been sitting here waiting for me to get up for breakfast?"
"About three hours. Don't worry he has waited longer for Faith to wake up. She would have a fit if he ate with out her. This is the first time in weeks I had to wait for someone and it just felt good to wait."
Vicky frowns a little at the comment but continue on anyway. "Okay then, you were going to say."
"As Alpha I am using all our strength and will power to keep going. Why that is since the Hyena is not the soul of this body the little things the body does to stay alive like pump blood and little things like that are not its function. So it takes more energy for me to exist then it does for Xander to be in full control. If the Hyena was in full control from the get go then I would not be here. The Hyena would have acted totally different in everything leading up to me that I wouldn't even be here now. If our mate died with the Hyena in control in would have just started looking for another mate not mourning the lose of a mate and cub."
"Okay so how long till you can no longer survive as is?"
"Thanks to you last night I say 4 months. If we get breaks like that more often longer but he needs to retake control or we are just delaying the inevitable. We will die and our mate will not be happy about the life we lived after her death."
"Why do you say that? She doesn't seem to be doing anything to try and convince you to heal and move on."
"Are you sure of that. For the first time in weeks I was able to rest even just for minutes. He was able to talk about her and heal a little bit. Our dream last night was more talking and less violence. He is getting there. He might be able to if nothing else crashes down on us. You in just one night helped us more then the weeks leading up to. How do you know that you weren't lead here to help me?"
"I am here only because that demon killed my watcher. If she set that up then when I get up there I am going to kick her ass. So no I am not here for you at all. Yes I would like to travel with you for awhile but I am heading to the Hellmouth. There might be a Slayer there but I still needed to be there. I must take my place there and fight along side them. You will come with me right. They are your friends and if I show up there with you then all is good."
"I will make you a deal you help get Xander back in control and stick around for a few months after then we can head to the Hellmouth okay."
She though it over for a bit, "Okay that will do. So Alpha can you tell me more about Faith and the Hellmouth."
Alpha just smiled and started telling about when Faith arrived in SunnyDale after running from Kakistos. The more he told the more brown would start to show. At some points there was all brown in the eyes but it would always fade back to amber.