So far this is unbetaed as I have very little idea of how to get a beta, so forgive any mistakes. If anyone has any tips they'd be appreciated.

It's set post series for Buffy, and sometime in season 4 in Supernatural. I have no idea how the timelines compare but if it doesn't match up at all then blame it on magic... Same for any other inconsistencies... :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire slayer or their respective characters.

Keys

Chapter One

Willow reached for the spell book open by her side. Giles had called yesterday and she still hadn't found the incantation he wanted; something she was not looking forward to telling him, especially seeing as he had spent three days looking for the book she had 'borrowed' before realising where it was.

Her mouth silently recited the words on the page, something she often did when trying to read this particular wiccan dialect. Something seemed off about it; something she couldn't quite place. She went over it again, reading it aloud.

"Hmm." She sat back with a puzzled expression on her face and reached for the phone.

"Hello?" Giles' voice asked after a few rings.

"It's me. I haven't found it yet, but I was wondering if you could tell me something?" She didn't bother saying who 'me' was, she was sure he'd get it.

"Oh, um, alright. What did you want to know?"

Willow could hear the slight irritation underlying his unflappable English gent accent. "I came across this passage about vampires and it doesn't make any sense. It's written in an old Gaelic dialect and it's talking about their origin and soft points, yada yada. Funny thing is, it says something about 'dead man's blood'. It's kinda weird don't you think? I mean it says something about it being poisonous or something, but last time I checked it just makes 'em get a tummy ache if they eat it, right?"

"What does it say exactly?" The irritation had disappeared and she could tell she'd piqued his interest. She recited the passage to him.

"So? Weird, right?"

"Yes, it is intriguing." He muttered distractedly. "Does it say anything else?"

"Not about the icky blood, no, but it does say something about them being sensitive to sunlight. Bit of an understatement." She reread the page as Giles muttered indistinctly on the other end of the line.

After a while he seemed to come to a conclusion. "Is that one of the books we used when we were looking for information on Glory?"

"I don't know, I think so. It's the one I borrowed from you." Willow glanced down at it uncertainly.

"Are you sure? The one I asked you to look at was an old Gaelic text on energy lines. I don't recall there being anything on vampires."

"Oh!" She cringed a little at the mistake. "This is the one with the big bronze sygil thingy on the front. It's one of the more general ones. I was using it to look up shape-shifter stuff, but the stuff it said was totally wrong."

"Ah, yes. I think I know the one you mean. It's a collection of-" He paused. "So who has my book?"

"You sure you don't have it?" Willow asked timidly.

"I'm sure." He said, a no-nonsense tone in his voice.

She gave in. "Dawn might still have it."

"Still? When did she get it, and how did she get her hands on it in the first place?" His tone was accusatory; he knew exactly how Dawn had got a hold of it.

"She said it was for her school work!" Willow defended herself.

"Willow," He started, exasperated.

"Look, she has it. She hasn't done anything stupid yet. And maybe she won't. I won't lend her any more books, I promise." Willow placated before he could finish. "Anyway, why is this book so off about stuff?"

"It's one of the books we found with that nest of ghouls after the hell dimensions opened. It must be from one of those alternate dimensions; it probably only applies to that world." Giles explained. "Now if you don't mind, I have a young girl to ring about a book."

They hung up and Willow glanced down again. Something about the words sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. She glanced up at her book shelves, trying to remember if she'd seen anything similar in them. Instead her gaze fell on a DVD box set. Of course!

She stood quickly enough to make her head spin and grabbed the case, nearly breaking it in her haste to take out a DVD and insert it into her player. When she'd finished watching the part she wanted she stopped it.

"No way!" She breathed. She snatched up her phone again, dialled a number and let it ring.

"Hello?"

"Dawnie, you'll never guess what!"

"You ratted me out to Giles and now I have to sit through another boring lecture on the responsible use of magic?" Dawn said sickly sweet and very annoyed.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. But no. It's something really awesome. Come over to my place?" She would have called Buffy or one of her other friends, but she knew Dawn would appreciate this more.

"Okay, when?" Dawn asked slowly, not sure what Willow was talking about.

"Soon. Whenever you can." Willow could barely contain her excitement or stop herself from demanding Dawn come right away.

"You in for the next hour or so?"

"Yeah."

"'Kay, I'll be right over."

Half an hour later Dawn stood looking between the book and the screen. "You sure?"

"Not completely, but I think so, yeah."

Dawn's slight frown was gone in an instant. "Awesome!" She jumped up and down a little on the spot. "You mean there's actually a dimension where this is real?" Her huge excited grin was more than even Willow had expected.

"Yeah, I mean maybe." Willow tried not to get carried away but her matching smile of excitement proved that she was struggling. "It might just be that the writers found a book like this one and used some of it in the show."

"But where would they have found it?" Dawn's eyes were wide, denying all attempts at telling her that what she thought was unlikely.

Willow shrugged.

"So, what are you gonna do with it?"

Willow didn't know what she meant. "Huh?"

Dawn rolled her eyes impatiently. "It's no use to us! Well, unless more of those things got through, but I think if they did they probably went down with Sunnydale."

Willow frowned a little as she tried to follow the ramblings of her hyperactive friend.

"And sending objects across is easy, right? Just living things that need a big ol' gateway opened up for 'em." Dawn continued.

"Oh! You mean you wanna send it back?" Willow's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Yep. We can do that, right?"

"I... I dunno. Never really tried it before." Willow said a little uncertainly, but with enough curiosity to get Dawn's hope up.

"Great! Do you have the spell around here somewhere?" She was already striding to the bookshelves, running her fingers along the spines as she read them.

"Dawnie..." Willow said warningly.

"Got it!" Dawn pulled a book from the shelves and started leafing through it.

"Dawn..."

The brunette looked up. "What?" She took in Willow's disapproving expression. "Oh, come on! It's harmless! And besides, someone on the other side might really need it!"

Willow still looked unsure but she said nothing.

"Please? It's only a little spell and if I don't do this one I might do one at home, alone, unsupervised..." Dawn manipulated.

Willow sagged in defeat, although she had to admit that the thought of having this small magical connection to the world beyond the screen was enticing. "Fine, but if anything looks like it's going to go wrong we stop the spell and you leave while I fix it." Willow said, taking the book from Dawn's hands. "Man, Buffy is gonna kill me for this!"

"I won't tell her if you won't." Dawn replied in a sing-song voice.

Fifteen minutes later they were sat in a circle of salt with their hands joined, chanting a strange Latin approximation of 'a place for everything, and to everything its place' that should fix them on the place the book came from, ready to send it back.

Willow opened one eye, "Ready?" She asked.

Dawn nodded.

"Okay then." Willow released one of Dawn's hands to grip a handful of dried, crumbled Comfrey while Dawn reached for the Chicory root powder.

They simultaneously sprinkled the herbs over and around the book, chanting the words of the transportation spell. Willow hoped the Cannabis incense didn't clog up Dawn's clothes; it had none of the effects of the drug, but Buffy would instantly know what they'd been doing. Willow only ever used that one during spells. The quartz crystals began to glow.

Dawn tightened her grip on Willow's hand in anticipation.

They said the final words, drawing a letterbox in the air with their fingers, before gently touching all four corners of the book, raising it telekinetically to the glowing outline they'd drawn and 'posting' it through.

The moment their fingers touched the edges of the outline, the room brightened with an intense white light and they both closed their eyes against it.

Dean and Sam shielded their eyes as a blinding white light filled the room in front of them, each reaching for their weapons in a long memorised reaction to anything strange.

A thud sounded as a book dropped to the floor and the white light vanished, leaving crackles of purple and pink lightening sparking around the room. They took in the sight of the two women before them, each looking around in shock.

"Well, would you look at that." Dean said surprised, before raising his gun to shoot.

Very unsure of how this is going, so please let me know what you think :)