Serafina was curled up on the end of Saku's bed in cat form, her delicate little shape lost somewhere in the bedspread, and a gentle purr filling the otherwise silent room.
She'd decided to hang out with Saku tonight, after meeting Luke for dinner, of course - she was starting to find she wanted to see him all the time, and she was pretty sure he was feeling the same way too. And yet, it was nothing romantic. Or at least, not as far as she could tell. Apart from the incident the other night, although it didn't count as it was not romantic and it was more just a result of their combined bloodlust.
So she thought she'd just sit and wait for him, but as the minutes ticked on, the late nights began to catch up with her, so she padded around in circles, finding a comfortable spot, then curled up and decided to rest her eyes for a second.
Saku
Saku opened the door and walked into the room he shared with Orion. He dumped his things on the floor and then had to do a double take: his sister was curled up asleep on the bed.
Grinning to himself, he got onto the bed too, carefully and silently so not to disturb her prematurely. He paused, watching, then reach out his finger and lightly touched the fur in the middle of her back, knowing full well how much that tickled.
Serafina
Serafina shook slightly, and she stretched out, extending her front paw and letting her claws flex out.
She let out a gentle mew.
Saku
Saku grinned and put his head down on eye level.
"Good evening, sis," he said. "Have a nice nap?"
Serafina
Serafina started yawning as a cat, and shifted halfway through, completing the yawn as a young girl.
"Mmmhmm, very comfy. How was dinner?"
Saku
"Was good. They overcooked the meat though."
Saku nodded solomnly.
Serafina
"Terrible crime," Serafina agreed.
"Lu... I had dinner out with a friend. Had a nice warm glass of otter's blood to wash it down with as well. Tasty."
Saku
Saku took a moment to remind himself that Serafina was the daughter of a vampire.
"And I take it this friend of yours doesn't have a problem with your strange dietry habits?" he teased.
Serafina
Serafina couldn't stop the little smile that appeared on her face.
"He... my friend is also part vampire."
Saku
"Wow," said Saku. "There are part vampire peoples all over the place, huh? You, our cousins, now this guy. That's six. Eight if we count Angel and Spike."
He mused over the idea.
Serafina
"Well, Da and Spike are like... full vampires though."
Serafina shrugged.
"They're actually fairly common, more in Europe though... or maybe even. I don't know."
Saku
"Well, true," Saku conceeded.
He gave his sister a nudge.
"So, about this boy friend of yours... meaning a friend who also happens to be a boy..."
Serafina
Serafina laughed.
"He is just a friend who happens to be a boy."
She paused slightly, remembering her promise not to reveal Luke's identity. Not that she thought Saku would have heard much of the folklore about him, those stories were usually reserved for Slayers and Vampires.
Saku
"Cool cool," he said.
Saku regarded his sister for a moment, then grinned.
"Hey, if you don't want to tell me anything that's fine," he said.
Serafina
"I just promised him I wouldn't, is all."
Serafina thought how bad that sounded.
"Not in a controlling way. Just in a way."
Saku
"Ahh," Saku nodded. "Guy who likes his privacy, huh? That's cool. So that's who you've been hanging out with lately?"
He couldn't deny his curiousity, but he wasn't going to pry. He valued his sister too much for that, and living in different parts of the country, he wasn't yet sure how far he could tease her yet without upsetting her. Mwahaha.
Serafina
Serafina nodded.
"Yeah... I met him the other night, and he's just... a lot of fun."
She debated whether or not telling him that they hadn't actually done anything to warrant the 'fun' statement, mostly they hung out at his place, or patrolled together, or researched things. None of which were particularly fun activities.
Saku
"Well, that's good. I have to admit, I was a little concerned you'd get bored around here or something," Saku replied. "It's good to know you have someone to hang out with when I'm stuck in magic class or something."
He grinned charmingly at her.
Serafina
"Don't get that look on your face, brother dear," Serafina said, shaking her head, but grinning.
"It's nothing romantic."
Saku
Saku continued to grin, but shrugged.
"Still good you have someone to hang with."
Serafina
"It's good, because there's not much for me to do during the day while you're in class."
Serafina shrugged slightly.
"And we hunt sometimes at night. And that's fun."
Saku
"That must really throw the vampires off," Saku mused. "They sense another vampire, and then you slay them and it's like... but why? Heh."
Serafina
"We smell different to vampires though," Serafina explained. "Like odd. They can tell I am one, but they know I'm mixed with something, they just don't know what the something is. Luke too."
Saku
"True, true," Saku conceeded. "So you you get mixed receptions then? Or don't you give them time to think about it?"
Serafina
"Don't usually give them time to think about it," Serafina agreed.
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She wanted to tell Saku the truth, but she'd promised him... but Saku was her brother.
Saku
"Probably the best way," Saku nodded. "So how do you get along with... what's his name... doesn't your Da have another kid?"
Serafina
Serafina shrugged.
"I mean, like I said before, it's complicated. Apparently we didn't get along before, but now... now that the damage has been reversed, we get along pretty well. He's a bit protective."
Saku
Saku shook his head.
"We have a very mixed up family," he decided.
Serafina
Serafina nodded her agreement.
"And that's not even counting extended family."
Saku
"Yes. Wow, if we counted extended family... now that's a way to get befuzzled," Saku nodded, then tilted his head on the side and considered. "Befuzzled. That's a funny word."
Serafina
"Hey... do you think it's wrong if I don't tell my Da about my friend?"
Serafina thought for a moment.
"It probably won't come up. Right?"
Saku
Saku shrugged.
"Dad doesn't know about all my friends," he said. "I think parents are weird about that - meeting your friends. I guess they just want to know you're not hanging around a bad influence or something. Of course, in my case, I am the bad influence so yeah. If he asks you about him, don't lie. That's my only advice, I think. Once you start lying they don't believe you when you're telling the truth."
Saku nodded sagely.
Serafina
"Well, it's just that he'd be curious, I mean like, it's rare to have a Slayer/Vampire relationship, I know he had one before I was born, and now he's really close with Faith, but that's not a love thing. I just wonder if there's like... if he ever thought about if he could have kids with Buffy."
Serafina realised she may have said a little too much.
Saku
Saku's eyebrows shot up.
"Have kids with Buffy," he repeated. "Is a half slayer, half vampire child even possible? Wouldn't that be like living an oxy-moron?"
Serafina
Serafina let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't heard the story.
"Oh there's just a legend about a hybrid. Probably nonsense though. Yeah, something I read about and that Da heard about when he was about 100."
Saku
"Oh okay," Saku replied. "What's the legend?"
He found these kinds of stories fascinating.
Serafina
"The Cliff Notes version is that a Slayer and a Vampire fell in love, there's a few versions, some say it was by their own free will, some say a spell and some say it was a prophecy, it really depends on which version you read. But as the story goes, they meet, they fall in love and by a chance, they conceive a child. They all kind of blame the conception on magic, one side is that the Watcher's Council cast a spell to increase fertility to teach their Slayer a lesson about foolish choices and how you must live with them, one version says it was a ritual by the Vampire, it depends. But yeah, as the story goes, the child was hidden and kept a secret because as a hybrid, it would terribly conflicted and hated by both good and evil."
Serafina shrugged.
"There's more, but I haven't read it in awhile."
Saku
"Wow," replied Saku thoughtfully. "That's sucky. For the kid, anyways. I wonder what happened to him?"
He mused on this for a moment, then frowned.
"But if a slayer/vampire child is destined to be hated by both sides, why would Angel want to have had a child with Buffy?"
Serafina
"No, I meant I think he always wondered if it was possible. But then the whole one moment of happiness thing backfires on him."
Serafina shrugged.
Saku
"Ahh," Saku nodded. "That makes more sense."
He swung his legs over the side of the bed.
Serafina
"I feel a bit bad for my Da sometimes. It must be hard to be like... cursed."
Serafina made a sad face.
"But he has me!"
Saku
"Yes, see, now that's the thing I don't get though," Saku said. "I mean, he does have you. How can having you not make him happy? Shouldn't he have lost his soul again? I mean, it's not limited to sex, right?"
Serafina
"There's a difference between happiness and true happiness."
Serafina shrugged.
Saku
"True," Saku replied, considering the matter. "So it is actually possible for your father to have sex, just so long as he's either unconscious, or maybe being, erm, violat- well, he might enjoy that, so that might not work."
He chewed his bottom lip, thinking about it then shook his head.
"I'm thinking about this just a little too much."
Serafina
"It's complicated."
Serfina didn't really want to get into all of it, it wasn't really their business, and besides, she didn't want to think of her Da doing that. Ever.
"So anyway."
Saku
"Yeah," Saku replied.
He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how they got onto this topic anyway.
"So, this friend that you don't want to tell your Da about? He the same one you've been hanging out with lately?"
Hang on...
Serafina
Oh crap.
Serafina smiled, hoping to get out of it that way, then realised while that works with her Da, it probably won't fly with her brother.
"Yeah, he's the same. He's just a regular half vampire guy."
Saku
"The other half wouldn't happen to be slayer, would it?" Saku asked.
Then he remembered that Sera had said she had promised him not to say much (and in the light of the legend he could understand why) so before she could reply, he added:
"Y'know, because you're not breaking any promises if I happen to guess."
Serafina
Serafina bit her lip.
"I can't say."
Saku
Saku paused for a moment.
"I'll take that as a yes," he decided, giving her a sly grin. "I'll leave it alone. And I won't say anything to anyone else for that matter either."
Serafina
"Thank you... it's just... it takes a lot for him to trust anyone, and I don't want to have betrayed that already."
Serafina settled down a little more comfortably now.
"So... what do you do here at night?"
Saku
Saku shrugged.
"Homework if I have any. Otherwise I usually play games. Have you ever play World of Warcraft? It's awesome, if a little unrealistic as far as all the spells go."
Serafina
"Yeah, I've dabbled at it, it's not really my type of thing... I like watching it though."
Serafina shrugged.
"It gets a bit quiet here at night, hey?"
Saku
"Yep," Saku nodded. "I think the townsfolk around here know better than to go out at night, even if they don't realise that a hellmouth is practically on their doorstep."
Serafina
"I suppose stories of disappearances have probably scared them into hiding."
Serafina tossed her hair back.
"So, plans for tonight, do we have any?"
Saku
"Nope. Wanna make some?" Saku asked. "We could see a movie. Or we could paint the town red. Or blue. Or green even. Whatever."
He bounced a little on the bed.
Serafina
"I think a spot of good old fashion kitty mischief would be fun!"
Serafina grinned.
Saku
"Yes!" Saku agreed. "We haven't been nearly so mischevious enough."
He leapt off the bed.
Serafina
"Cat form?"
Serafina grinned cheekily.
Saku
"Absolutely. Cats can go everwhere," Saku replied, and shifted to his cat form, an Egyptian Mau.
"Anywhere. Except the girls locker room here, because they know about me," Saku chuckled cheekily.
Serafina
Serafina took a step and shifted seamlessly.
"Hmmm, I might try out the boys locker room... they don't know me!" she giggled.
Saku
Saku laughed.
"Let's go!" he declared and leapt up on the window sill.
He nudged it open and then jumped outside.
Serafina
Serafina followed suit and gracefully leapt to the windowsill, then continued her leap outside.
"Where to?"
Saku
"Town's this way," Saku replied.
He did a little jump in the air once he hit the ground then scampered off.
Serafina
Serafina followed him, twisting in between obstacles on their path.
"So, how much mischief can two kitties get into?"
Saku
"A lot. And that's even without super powers," Saku replied. "Also I'm thinking... lets paint the town red for real. I mean, everyone talks about painting the town red, but has anyone ever actually done it? I don't think so."
Serafina
Serafina giggled, a gentle telepathic purr.
"Ok... well I can stealth into a paint shop! I don't always show up in survellience systems either."
Saku
"Excellent!" Saku replied gleefully. "And here we are. I wonder where the paint shop is?"
Saku started striding down the street and looked around at the shops about them.
Serafina
Serafina looked around, delicate ears pricked for the slightest sound, before following Saku's lead.
"They're not going to know what hit them."
Saku
Saku chuckled in a catlike fashion then spotted the hardware store.
"Ah ha! They have paint!" he exclaimed jubilently.
Serafina
"Excellent..."
Serafina followed him over to the hardware store and appraised the situation.
"Hmmm... I think I could get in up there."
There was a window up on the balcony of the unit that was on top of the store. And the window was open a fraction.
Saku
"Excellent," Saku replied.
He sat on the footpath and looked up.
"Need a hand? Or will you be right?"
Serafina
"I'll be alright."
Serafina leapt up onto the gate, then up again, jumping and waiting every few seconds to steady herself.
She reached the window and pushed it open with her nose, then squeezed her way through.
Saku
Saku slipped into the shadows to avoid notice. Not that there was actually anyone around to notice him.
He sat there with the patience of a cat while he waited for Sera's return.
Serafina
Serafina stuck to the shadows and carefully made her way down to the store. Once she reached the locked door, she shifted nearly all the way, a young girl crouching outside the door with one cat paw. With the paw, she extended one of her claws and slid it carefully into the lock, gently twisting to unlock the door.
She then snuck inside and opened the side entrance of the shop, starting to bring the paint tins out.
Saku
Saku shifted to human in order to move the tins out of the way so that Sera had room to put more. He chuckled to himself.
This was going to be great.
Serafina
Serafina pulled out all of the red tins and continually stacked them against the wall outside the side door.
She stifled her giggles and then departed, careful not to touch anything.
Saku
"All right!" Saku said gleefully. "Where shall we start?"
He started opening up one of the tins and comtemplated which spell he would use to help the work along.
Serafina
Serafina pulled the paint rollers out of the back of her pants, where they had been hiding, rather rudely knocking her in the head every so often.
"Ummm... well, somewhere quiet, so if we get caught, it's easier to run."
Saku
"Okay well," Saku considered. "There's a cinema over in that direction and a pub in that one, so that's where we shouldn't go."
He considered the matter a bit longer.
"We could probably get away with starting here."
Serafina
"Well, no time like the present."
Serafina opened a tin of paint and started the process of painting the town red.
Literally.
Saku
Saku chuckled and stood aside for a moment then cast a couple of spells. The first was a fire protection spell over the paint and the rollers, the second was a fire hands spell, which created lots and lots of flames shaped like hands which picked up rollers and started painting. Saku grinned and picked up a roller himself.
"This is too big a job for only two people," he grinned at Sera.
Serafina
"Awesome."
And with that, Serafina continued her painting, the vampiric speed and strength was really coming in handy.
Saku
"No, you're awesome," Saku replied, genuinely impressed at her stamina.
Interesting the way they were talented in different areas but how they all got the job done in the end.
Serafina
As if she was reading his mind, Serafina turned to look at Saku, hands not stopping in their job of painting.
"Do you think Mom picked our Dad's on purpose? Like she sensed we'd all have really special talents?"
Saku
Saku stuck his tounge out a little as he contemplated Serafina's question.
"I don't know," he said finally. "I mean, it would certainly explain the diversity and the distance between our fathers - it's not like they all live in the same town or anything."
Serafina
"Because human scientists have that theory that you pick a partner that smells right to you and that way you ensure you have genetically perfect children."
Serafina paused in her painting for a moment.
"Because come on... you're all strong in different types of magic, some of us are strong fighters, I'm extra stealthy... it's just... a little weird, you know?"
Saku
"Yeah," Saku mused. "It is a little. Imagine if we all had the same Dad... we'd probably all have very similar abilities, or at least different ones to what we have now. We'd all be part vampire if it was Angel, or part Dath if it was Zac, or part mutant if it were Mordred, Logan or Sabretooth."
Serafina
"It does seem almost like she did it on purpose."
Serafina shrugged slightly.
Saku
"Yeah," Saku replied slowly. "It does seem likely."
He thought about that for a few moments while he continued painting.
"Actually it kinda... I don't know, I kinda like that explanation. Because otherwise if she just slept with our Dad's because she was just super horny, I don't know, I think that that takes away from... I guess it makes us to be accidents. I don't know that I like the idea of being an accident. I think I prefer the idea that Ma wanted us, and wanted us all to be special."
He gave his sister a silly look.
"And now you probably think I'm really bizarre."
Serafina
"I think she had to have chosen to have me," Serafina mused. "Because aside from Connor, who was also conceived magically, she would've had to have done some magic to make sure I would be conceived also."
She continued painting.
Saku
"This is true," Saku nodded.
A part of him wished he could have said something like that too, but he had to face the fact that he was only one of his father's twelve - no, eighteen children (even if he didn't know about six of them). If it weren't for the fact that he was the only Dathrian amongst his littermates he might have been worried that he had been an accident after all.
Serafina
Serafina looked at the wall.
"I think I'm done here."
Saku
Saku stepped back and looked around.
"Yep. Onto the next building!"
He grinned cheekily and sent his firey painting hands onwards.
Serafina
"Muaha!"
Serafina started painting with renewed vigour.
Saku
"I wonder how much of this place we can paint before re run out of either paint or night?" Saku mused.
Paint, paint everywhere.
Serafina
"Well... we seem to be doing alright for paint so far," Serafina said, assessing how much they'd used, versus how much they had to go.
"But I'd say maybe half?"
She grinned.
"We could always come back another night with more supplies and finish the job!"
Saku
Saku chuckled.
"I can't wait for the reaction tomorrow," he said mischeviously.
Serafina
"Will be quite amusing," Serafina agreed, still painting.
"I wonder if they'll set a reward to find who did it, ha."
Saku
"They'll never guess it was us," Saku chuckled. "A job like this would take heaps of ordinary people to accomplish."
Serafina
Serafina grinned.
"And this is a town on a Hellmouth. They tend to overlook things."
Saku
"They do. You'd think they'd know better by now," Saku replied.
One of his firey hands accidently dripped some paint on him and he glared at it.
Serafina
"I'd wash that off quickly," Serafina told him, barely breaking stride.
"We don't want to get caught red handed... literally."
Saku
"Yes, good point," Saku nodded.
He stepped back into the gutter after placing his paint brush on the paint tin and doused himself in water by way of his hydrokinesis, washing the paint off. Possibly he was the only cat around who didn't have a problem with water.
Serafina
About 2 hours later, half the town was painted red and they were all out of paint.
"Ok," Serafina said, finally putting down her brush and stretching her fingers which were cramped.
Saku
Saku dispelled his spells and turned around slowly, admiring their handywork.
"We did good," he said finally, exercising his own fingers.
Serafina
"Did well," Serafina sleepily corrected.
"Shall we dispose of our evidence and retire to bed?"
Saku
"Yes," Saku nodded. "I believe this is a very good idea."
And as if to emphasise the point, he yawned.
Serafina
"Ok, I'll see you later."
And with that, Serafina shifted into cat form and headed back to her hotel.