Magic Multiverse 35 (Patreon)

He was humming as he drove back to Sunnydale. It might be filled with dark magic and vampires, but it was still a fun place to live. He didn’t drive to the dorms directly. He did miss Buffy and Willow, but he was more enthusiastic about testing his newly acquired Potions skill.

Not that he would ever admit it out loud.

So, he stopped by the Magic Box, actually checking what was available. They had cauldrons in stock, which he could use easily. Unfortunately, the same wasn’t true for the stock of ingredients they had. “Really?” he asked after he checked the rosemary the owner tried to sell him, which had already lost all its potency. “Don’t you have anything that’s not garbage?”

“That’s all I have,” the owner complained. “Take it or leave it.”

“It’ll take it only if you let me select it. I have no intention of drinking moldy potion,” he complained, and went through the ingredients available. In the end, he was barely able to dig together enough for half a dozen vials of blood-replenishing potions at best, and maybe two potions that would close open wounds if he was lucky. “Call me when you receive fresh stuff,” he said, leaving his number.

He didn’t try to hide his identity. After all, going hunting with Buffy almost every day, expecting his identity to stay a secret was idiotic. It was better to lean into it.

At least, being known as a Potioneer would explain some of his improvements, which was always a benefit.

But, when he parked, his plans to test his brewing had been ruined … the best way possible. Just as he parked his car, he saw Buffy walking toward him, though she looked a little dazed.

She also looked even sexier. Instead of her preferred jeans, she was wearing tight leather pants, as well as a tight tanktop and leather jacket. Similarly, her makeup was darker than her usual preferred style, but it went well with her wavy hair.

“Hello, sexy. Digging the sudden change of fashion,” he teased. “Perfect way to celebrate my return.”

Her smile grew, which was different than usual; enough that, for a moment, he suspected that he was looking at a doppelganger. But, as he caressed her cheek, he expanded his senses, and felt the familiar, intense well of mystic energy glowing inside her, still strong enough to overwhelm his senses.

Also, no one but Buffy could radiate danger and sexiness, owing to her supernatural advantage. “Yes, we will celebrate,” she said as she grabbed his hand.

“How was the fight?” he asked.

“The fight?” she asked, surprised.

“You have that usual I-just-kicked-ass glow,” he said, then paused. “Actually, it’s even more intense than usual. It must have been a good fight.”

“The best,” she said, her lips once again curling in a very sexy, very needy manner. She must have missed him. He decided that potions could wait, and kissed her. She kissed him back, hesitant at first, then it melted into desperation.

… but it was different. Too different. The moment he closed his eyes, he felt as if he were kissing a stranger. A sexy, horny stranger. He had to expand his senses just to feel her slayer energy. It was the same.

Weird. Too weird.

However, he played along. He had no idea what was going on. Maybe she was hit by a confusion spell, or some kind of demon blood that scrambled her memories … or a hundred different options. And, even if there was something more problematic, confronting a slayer while she had her arms around him sounded like a particularly horrible idea.

“Missed you,” he said as he pulled back. “Spending two weeks in France had been hell.”

“I can imagine,” she said, and kissed him again.

That officially confirmed that something was wrong. Even if Buffy didn’t care about the wrong country, she would have corrected him about the timeline. The problem, he didn’t know. Sunnydale was too weird to make judgments.

He didn’t pull back from the kiss, letting her drag inside. “Do you want to put this body on a test drive?” she whispered after she pulled back.

He kissed her neck for two reasons. First, he wanted to hide his expression at her very weird phrasing, which had raised his hackles even more. Also, it was another test. He knew just how much Buffy hated being kissed on the neck, a leftover from the time where she confronted a master vampire, and almost drained completely.

Yet, this time, she merely raised her head, giving him full access. He kissed her neck, thinking what to do. He needed to call Willow to check … but he couldn’t. Because whatever was going on with Buffy, she didn’t lose her powers, which included a degree of enhanced hearing.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t begin to guess what was wrong. The list was too long; and included possessions by primal animal spirits, wishes that rewrote the local timeline, ghost possessions, mind control, costumes empowered by chaos gods that rewrote the whole personality of the wearer, runaway love spells, even fake robot bodies…

Well, not the robot body option, as he could feel her, but other options were viable, and it could even be one he hadn’t thought of.

He wished he could stop and call Willow to double-check, but that was not an option. Buffy’s hearing was ridiculous, and he couldn’t risk her getting violent; which was unfortunately an option.

He hummed, trying to come up with a plan. Defeating her to see the System result would be a good start, but he didn’t want to go all the way, just in case the possession theory was correct.

He didn’t want to imagine how hurt Buffy would be in that case.

But, since she still moved and acted like Buffy, he couldn’t challenge her to a spar of any kind. Chess was a better option in terms of winning, but that was hard to bring without being too suspicious.

“Lay down,” he ordered.

“Really, not even the bed. Kinky,” she said, her smile widening in the same unfamiliar way.

He chuckled and spanked her ass softly, the leather pants making it even sexier. Her eyes widened in surprise, which would have been funny if he wasn’t scared worse than fighting against the vampires.

“Well, you know I always love a roll on the mat after you defeat me horribly, but it’s the massage you have been begging for me for the last week on the phone.”

“Is it the time—“

“Yes, it’s time. I promised, and I’m not going to listen to your pouting, spoiled complaining,” he said. “You know how you can get.” Naturally, it was another subtle test. Calling Buffy spoiled was a perfect way to get an ass-kicking.

Instead, she smirked. “Yes. I can be such a spoiled, entitled brat,” she whispered, acting like he had just given her a big gift.

“Good, and lie obediently for the massage, and I’ll treat you exactly how you deserve to be treated.”

“Five by five,” she whispered, which was another thing he had never heard Buffy say, especially with such familiarity, which made him lean more toward some kind of possession or reality-warping scenario.

She removed her jacket immediately, while he removed her leather pants. “Now, lie down,” he ordered again, and put his hands on her back. His massage expertise was no joke, even dealing with a complete unknown, and here, he was not dealing with an unknown.

While the mental aspects were still in doubt, the body still belonged to Buffy, which meant he knew every little secret there was to know, the dance of his fingers enough to resolve every single issue she had.

“Wow, it feels amazing,” she said, surprised. Too surprised for someone that received regular massages from him, but at this point, that was hardly news.

He chuckled. “I have learned some new tricks in France,” he said. “Let’s see how well you’ll be able to resist them.” With that, he focused mostly on her back and legs, slowly driving her arousal forward.

Even her moans sounded different. Angrier, yet somehow more performative. Like she was afraid he wouldn’t hear her enjoying it. He hummed, focused on the massage, until he finally got his fateful notification.

[Spectacular Tantric Victory, +10 Tantric]

[Secondary Special Character Defeated, Faith Lehane]

[+25 Armed Combat]

[Multiple similar skills detected. Please select one]

Even as he absentmindedly processed the confirmation that he wasn’t dealing with Buffy officially, he picked Bojutsu. One more upgrade, and he would reach Expert, which was always convenient.

[+25 Bojutsu]

It looked like he was dealing with a body-snatching scenario.

“Wow, that was, five by five,” she muttered dazed. “The perfect foreplay.”

“Don’t tell me you’re surrendering even faster than usual, Buffy,” he immediately said. He didn’t know who Faith was, but from the undertones, their relationship felt adversarial with an undertone of competition.

“Of course not, handsome. Bring it on,” she said as she ripped her top.

He wished that he could simply call Willow, but he didn’t dare to. Instead, he kept working her back, patient and unhurried, even as he used every single trick he had learned about Buffy’s body to hit her even harder.

[Spectacular Tantric Victory, +10 Tantric]

[Secondary Special Character Defeated, Faith Lehane]

[+20 Bojutsu]

[Bojutsu Advanced -> Expert]

Just like that, she was temporarily unconscious. He didn’t know exactly what led to this unique situation, but he was confident that it was not something simple. However, since the body was clearly belonged to Buffy, he couldn’t just tie her down and leave her helpless as well.

It was a dangerous town.

So, he carefully hooked his arms around her, carrying her to the bed. Somehow, relaxed, she felt even smaller than Buffy usually did. More vulnerable. Once he lay her on his bed, he also wrote a quick note, writing that he went out to pick food, but good girls that stayed in bed got rewarded.

He was betting that she would stay asleep, but having an extra precaution was safer.

He was already driving when he called their dorm using his cellphone, but no one picked up. “Damn. If you hear this, Willow, this is an emergency,” he said, not sure where to go.

Then, he remembered Riley, who was a shady government soldier. He didn’t want to complicate things, but he still hadn’t met with Buffy’s other friends or had their contact information. Apparently, that was a bigger mistake than he had expected.

The college was not far away, and soon, he was there. He checked Willow’s room just in case, but she wasn’t there.

Luckily, Riley was a popular guy, and all he needed was to ask a few questions to find Riley, sitting with two other guys that looked just as fit. “Riley, do you have a minute? It’s an emergency,” he said.

“Sam?” he said, surprised, while his friends, who were definitely soldiers like him based on their reactions, didn’t recognize him, meaning he kept their ‘spar’ a secret. Better.

“Please, an emergency,” he repeated and walked away from the rest.

Riley followed. “What’s wrong?”

“Look, since you’re ex-military, you must have some contacts with the local police. Earlier today, Buffy had some kind of problem. She’s not telling me, but I think it’s serious.”

“I don’t think—“

“Look, it’s important,” Sam said, patting his shoulder. “I’ll owe you a big favor.”

“Fine, give me a chance to make a call,” he said, and walked a bit. When he returned, he was worried. “You were right to worry. Apparently, she had been attacked by a murderer in her home,” Riley said. “Is she all right?”

“Don’t worry. She’s perfectly fine,” he said, not giving any details. “I just want to understand what happened. Any news about the attacker? Name, where is she ?”

“I …” Riley said.

“Please,” he replied. “This is important, for Buffy.” Was it shameless to use Riley’s intense crush on Buffy? Yes, but it was a real emergency.

Luckily, Riley was a nice guy, which meant he was also somewhat gullible, not asking some of the most obvious questions. “Fine. Apparently, her name is Faith Lehane, and she was brought to a hospital, and from there, she would be transfered to jail.”

Hearing the name, he felt hopeful. While the situation was not good, a possible body switch was far better than some of the alternatives.

After a few more questions later, the situation had been clarified, and he hurriedly drove to the hospital. “We can’t answer questions about any patient—” the receptionist started, but when he had slipped a hundred dollars, she changed her mind. “She has already been taken by the detectives. They are driving her to jail.”

He nodded. Luckily, he was familiar enough with Sunnydale to know where the police station was. He drove toward there. He wasn’t going to bust her out of jail gun blazing, but merely talking with her and making sure it was some kind of body switch rather than something else was the best idea.

He drove fast enough to catch up with a police car … which was currently crashed against some kind of reinforced truck, and two men were dragging a brunette girl out of the police car, while the third one waited at the wheel.

He suspected that he found his targets. He rushed out of the car to intervene. “Hey, assholes,” he called loudly. Just in case, looking like a bystander was better than the alternative.

“Deal with him,” one who was carrying the girl who most likely was Buffy declared, and the other approached him, a tazer in hand. The guy moved with a habitual proficiency, but unfortunately for him, he wasn’t ready to fight against a true expert.

Sam drifted close enough to be ill-advised, dodging the tazer at the last second before delivering a simple hook-uppercut combo. Unprepared, it was devastating. The guy went down cold, confirming he was just an ordinary human.

Trained, but ordinary.

The second one went just as easily, because he was too close to guard himself while also carrying Faith-Buffy. Two more punches, and he went down as well. He winced as she hit the ground, but unfortunately, he didn’t have time. He took one of the tazers and rushed for the truck.

He kicked the door close just as the last one was trying to get out, and tazed him.

[Dangerous Fight, Victory, +8 Boxing]

It was more points than he expected, considering they were normal humans. He was glad that he had ambushed them. Otherwise, it might have been trickier.

“Well, it’s fortunate that you have brought all those restraints,” he muttered as he used the handcuffs they had brought to tie them … hastily erased his fingerprints just in case, then went to check on the police officers.

They were concussed and alive, so he used their radio to call for help. He wanted to drive away … but they were in a city infested with vampires, which meant leaving them before backup arrived was too merciless for a few guys that were actually doing their jobs. He still carried brunette Buffy, as he decided to call to make it sense even in his mind, to his car.

She was dazed. “M'not," she mumbled, eyes fluttering without opening, "Faith … Buffy … please … danger …” she mumbled, which mostly confirmed his suspicions. Technically, there was a chance he was wrong, but system confirmation was out of the question at the moment.

Instead, he helped her to his passenger seat, drove to hide them halfway to an alley without any security camera, which, unfortunately, was very common in Sunnydale, and started waiting for the backup while he simultaneously massaged her neck and back.

It would be difficult for her to recover from sedatives without the slayer regeneration—

“Or not,” he muttered, because he could feel the same overwhelming energy from her still. That surprised him, because such a power should either be bound only body or soul, or feel diminished when split. Yet, it felt just as intense.

Well, almost as intense, he corrected mentally after he examined and noticed some minute differences. That was all he could detect.

While waiting, he called Willow again, informing her that the emergency had been resolved, but he still needed her to call him the first moment she was available.

Then, he turned his attention back to brunette Buffy. With slayer power still inside her, helping her recover was very easy. Tantric helped her to channel those energies correctly. “Sam…” she muttered, dazed. “Sam, please, believe me that I’m not…” she whispered, still loopy.

“Tell me, what was the first name I called you?”

“Anne,” she said.

“Before that?” he asked. “Back when we were interrupted by vampires.”

She paused, still dazed. “Parker,” she said. “God, a terrible name,” she whispered. “You were an idiot.”

“Good,” he said, and intensified his massage now that he was confident he had the right person. Of course, an extra confirmation would have been better. He only stopped when he saw the police car and an ambulance arriving, driving away using the smaller roads.

As they drove away, brunette Buffy slowly recovered, and once she did, she looked at him. “H-How are you here?” she asked.

He gave her a comforting smile. “How many times would I have had the chance to save you in turn. Do you think I would miss the chance?” he said. “Though, I have to admit, brown is not your color. It’s throwing off your whole cheerleader vibe."

A weak, disbelieving laugh escaped her. “How? How did you know it’s me?”

“Well, it all started when I got home, only to be accosted by a Buffy with a taste for tacky leather pants. That alone was weird. Then, I have never seen you say five by five.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s it?”

“No, that only made me suspicious,” he admitted. “It was the kiss that alerted me,” he said.

“The kiss,” she said, frustrated and tense.

“Yes, it felt different. Foreign,” he said, as there was no hiding considering he left blonde Faith in his bedroom, half naked.

“How did you escape?”

“Easy, I didn’t,” he said. “First, I needed to understand what was going on, so I baited her with a massage while questioning her whether she missed me while I was in France for the last two weeks.”

Her eyes widened. “But you were—“ she started. “Smart.”

“Unfortunately, the wrong answer didn’t clarify things that much,” he said.

“What do you mean? It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Primal spirit possessions, chaos costumes, love spells, alternate realities with vampire Willows,” he reminded her. “Body switch was just one of the options.”

“Fair.”

“So, I gave her a massage while I questioned her, and left only when she fell asleep.”

“A massage?” she said, shocked, giggling. “You defeated Faith with a massage.”

He joined her laughter. “Is that a challenge I hear? Maybe someone started underestimating my massages just because I was gone for a few days.”

It was fun watching her expression freeze, replacing with a blush. He laughed harder. “What are you laughing at?” she said.

“It’s just that, even with a different face, your expressions are spot on,” he said. “But, while we drive back, tell me exactly what’s the deal with Faith? We have time.”

“We don’t,” she immediately responded.

“We do. Because you need to recover from the sedatives before we confront her. You clearly have your powers, but for some reason, she has them as well. You can’t underestimate her.”

She paused. “I don’t have my powers.”

He paused. “Buffy, you have recovered from sedatives in five minutes. You have your powers,” he said.

“I don’t … I have her powers,” she said. “Well, she’s the other slayer.”

He frowned. He thought there was only one slayer.

Well, that complicated things.