A/N: This takes place after Buffy season 7 in the indiscriminate future and starts between TVD season 2 and 3. Anything taken from Buffy after season 7 is AU from the comics. I'm aware they happened, I don't care.
A/N2: Once I got over that hump, it's like my energy has been renewed! Two updates in a week? Literally unheard of. This chapter is shorter, but I had to get it out. We're getting closer to the finish line. Tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own BtVS. Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec, and the CW own TVD. Title inspiration comes from the Karen Elson song of the same name "The Truth is in the Dirt." Chapter title comes from "Turn into Earth" by The Yardbirds.
"What do you think they mean?"
Alaric had photos spread over the table in the Magic Shoppe. Giles was leaned over them, studying the pictures with great interest.
"It's ancient runes. And you said you found this under one of the properties in town?"
"Werewolf Manor, to be exact," Damon chimed in.
"An entire –"
Alaric cut him off. "Damon isn't being literal. One of the founding families of the town carries the werewolf gene."
"Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the old way to get turned into a werewolf. Boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy turns out to be a wolfman in disguise and bites her," Xander mused.
Giles turned sharply at Xander. "That's quite enough. I think you have enough experience to realize that the supernatural world is vastly unexplored, especially by the limited scope of the former Watcher's Council."
"Ooh, you made dad mad," Damon sang.
"Why is he here? Doesn't he have a teenager to go all Edward Cullen on?"
Damon glared at Xander. "Why are you here? There isn't a ship missing a cabin boy somewhere?"
Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them with a pinched look on his face. Alaric refilled his tumbler and then gave Giles a generous top off as well. Damon held his glass out, but Alaric pointedly put the bottle back on the table."
"Ralph, Sam," Willow warned. "Punch out your time clock."
"Sorry, Willow," Xander mumbled.
"Can we get back on track?" Alaric asked in exasperation. Trying to get Damon to not bicker or flirt with anyone anywhere was a Sisyphean task sometimes. Especially when it was in relation to something that concerned imminent danger.
"That depends on what track you mean," Willow replied. "I'm not trying to say that we won't help you, but we did kind of come here all mission oriented. You know, party time Hellmouth fun times? There's a full moon in six days, and as long as I have all the components together, I can make sure the rift is sealed up and your town goes back to its normal amount of weirdness, and not the yearly apocalypse, slayer palooza kind."
"I don't think I'd mind a slayer here," Alaric muttered.
"Speaking of, where is your fearless leader?" Damon mused. "She's spunky."
Giles hesitated, before answering, "She's meeting with Klaus."
Damon nearly broke his glass he gripped it so hard. "Where? He's still in town?"
"Calm down, Bill Compton," Xander snarked. "Your girlfriend's safe. Buffy is just rendevouz'ing with one of our more crucial components. I swear, it's like you all want zombies and hell gods to go toe to toe with. Don't you have a movie theater or something to keep you entertained?"
"Keep it up, One-Eyed Willie," Damon threatened.
"I'm getting a headache," Willow muttered.
"Children," Giles reprimanded. "Focus, please. For the love of god."
"Buffy is trying to find a werewolf that Klaus hasn't turned into one of his hybrids for the last part of our spell, ok?" Willow snapped. "Is everyone on the same page? Vampire, werewolf, doppelganger, hybrid, witch, full moon. A little Latin thrown in and everyone goes back to their own supernatural drama. Easy peasy."
"Damon, I presume you're going to be the vampire?" Giles asked.
"Damn right I am. I'm not letting the doppelganger into Klaus's clutches. And frankly I'm not even sure that I trust you all."
"Yes, your doppelganger who is definitely not Elena," Xander replied solemnly.
Damon was in his face in a blur. "What did you say?"
Willow rolled her eyes. With a flick of her hand, Damon was flung back into a chair. "Sit," she commanded. "And stay."
Damon tried to move but found that he couldn't get up from the chair. "Can I at least move my hand to drink?"
With another wave of her hand, Willow let his right arm free. "Let no one forget that I'm generous," she chirped brightly. "Should we get a chart to get our plates in the air less in the air and more organized?"
To say Buffy wasn't enjoying her time with Klaus was an understatement. He'd fled town after Damon had threatened him with Mikael and had just sent her coordinates to a somehow even smaller town in the mountains of North Carolina to find him, with explicit instructions to come alone. If he'd noticed the other slayer Buffy had brought along to patrol the outskirts, ready to jump in at Buffy's command, he hadn't commented.
"Were you followed?" he'd asked her sharply when she showed up at the cabin he was holed up in, darting his eyes behind her.
She rolled her eyes so hard she thought they'd fall out of her head. "Yeah, I sent out a mass text and then lit up the neon sign that said, 'I'm going to go find Klaus, ask me where.'"
Now they were hiking through the Blue Ridge Mountains to some remote clearing that Klaus had told her was "just up ahead" four miles ago. He swore there was a werewolf pack that was getting ready for the upcoming full moon, and Buffy had to convince one of them to come with her to be part of a spell to stop a different small town in Virginia from becoming a hotspot for all things that went bump in the night. While also convincing Klaus not to turn said werewolf into a hybrid once that was over. Giles had given her the Council checkbook, just in case her rousing "do it for all things good" speech wasn't as convincing as she hoped it would be.
"Why is that you want to turn all these werewolves into hybrids?" she asked casually.
He gave her a condescending look. "A chance to become even more powerful versions of themselves, able to stop the painful transformation they must go through every month and become an immortal being? I'm giving them a chance to become more than they are, saving them. And yet I'm the villain."
Buffy raised her eyebrow. "A regular Mother Theresa."
"You mock, love. But given the chance to become something more, wouldn't you take it?"
"A vampire slayer vampire? I think Blade did it better. Besides, no offense, but you don't strike me as the altruistic type. I'm sure creating a race of super powerful immortals has nothing to do with Mikael."
He was in her face in an instant. She didn't even blink. "You know nothing of Mikael, or of my intentions. Your council was ineffective in its creation, and it's just as useless now. I am helping you because Mystic Falls becoming a beacon for all of your demons is not in my best interest."
"And not because having a get out of jail free card with my ineffective, useless council is at all in your best interest," Buffy replied, before shoving him and sending him stumbling back several feet. "And I don't appreciate you getting all big bad hybrid in my face, especially when we are working for the same cause."
Klaus looked momentarily stunned before smirking at her. "You know, I did a little bit of research on you, love."
"Oh, do tell," Buffy said sarcastically as she brushed past him to continue on the trail. "I love a good story."
He fell in line beside her. "Longest slayer to ever live, thorn in the side of the council, died twice. Revolutionized the slayer line. You and I aren't that different, you know."
"Oh yes, the we aren't too different you and I line," she interjected.
"Just speaking in terms of our goals. We both took something that was supposed to be and changed it. Turned it on its head, created something different and even more powerful. How is me creating my hybrids any different than you turning all those girls into full blown slayers?" he asked thoughtfully. "You created an army, and I am doing the same."
"Mine isn't for selfish goals. An army to fight the forces of evil isn't exactly the same as one lonely hybrid trying to prove something."
"Who says I'm lonely?"
Buffy turned up to look him in the eye. "Aren't you? Immortality is a long time to be alone."
"I have my family."
"Word on the street is you keep them daggered and under your control."
"And which little birdie told you of this tale?"
"You have your sources, I have mine. You think you're the only one that has been doing research? Lore on the so-called originals is hard to come by, I'm assuming your doing with the whole fake prophecy thing. But there are whispers and rumors. And maybe I have sources that have known your family from eons ago."
Klaus' face nearly lit up as she said that. "So it's true. The legendary vampire slayer prefers to keep company with the darkness she swore to fight. Tell me, love, did you really shag Angelus so hard he turned evil again? That must have been one hell of a –"
He was cut off by Buffy's scythe against his neck as he was pressed up to a tree. "Slut shaming? It's the 21st century, old man. I'd love to test my theory that all so called immortal beings can survive having their heads chopped off. So by all means, keep talking."
Klaus tried to move the blade from his throat, but it burned him. "Well this is a new development," he murmured. He tried for the blade handle and had the same result.
"Slayers only, no annoying hybrids allowed," Buffy sang at him, but her eyes remained cold. "If you're done talking about my sex life, can we continue? I can feel we're close, and the sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can gather my people and put this in the rearview."
Klaus eyed the scythe with renewed interest. "Except for my one time all access pass," he murmured.
Buffy glared at him. "Gross."
"My get out of jail free card, love," Klaus corrected, his eyes sparkling at her. "Your offer, remember? Do get your mind of the gutter."
Buffy slowly lowered her scythe. "I can totally understand why everyone is trying to kill you."
Klaus dusted himself off and made a mental note not to underestimate her strength again. "Price to pay for power, love. I'm not the only living legend around here with a bounty on their head."
Buffy didn't reply but continued on ahead.
In the end, a werewolf named Charles was the one to volunteer (to the tune of $10,000) to come help them break the spell. As she lead him away from his pack, Klaus hung behind.
"I have business to attend to," he told her.
"Do I have your word that you'll be back by the full moon?" she asked him.
He smirked at her again. "Cross my heart."
Buffy wanted to stop him, to keep him from tearing apart this pack and ruining countless people's lives. But the greater good outweighed the current evil. It was an unfortunate part of being a leader that she had grown accustomed to in her years as Slayer in Charge.
"What is he going to do?" Charles asked her as they started their long journey back down the mountain.
Buffy sighed and changed the subject. "Why don't you tell me about your family? And also please don't tell me you're one of those guys that just has to be in charge of the radio, we have a long road trip ahead of us."
She pretended she couldn't hear the first neck snap.
Two days later it all went to hell again.