Party Girls by Shadowdancer

Any other day it was a beautiful day, but not today, and not for Xena and Gabrielle. They had just found out that Eve had become a Bacchae, a follower of the God Bacchus, the god of food and wine. Xena had killed him years ago when Gabrielle had fallen victim to his Bacchae, but it wasn’t him this time, it was much, much, worse. This time it was Dahak, He had found the secret to turning unsuspecting women into Bacchae, and Eve was one of them. How, she had come to be trapped by them Xena had no idea, but there was no way in Tartarus that she was going to stay one.

As they walked into the Dryad Cemetery, Gabrielle surveyed the grounds, walking gingerly as if expecting one of the dryads to grab her from below and pull her under as they had Joxer the last time she and Xena had been there with him when she’d been a victim of the Bacchae. “Xena, this place gives me the creeps. This must be Celesta and Hades favorite place. Even the air is spooky.” “Don’t let your imagination get away with you Gabrielle. There isn’t anything here now that isn’t here in the daylight. Well, except for the Dryads, but their underground.” “Yeah, but not for long; isn’t there some other way we can change Eve back without having to fight the Dryads to get their bones again?” “I wish there was Gabrielle, this doesn’t make me any happier than it does you, but it has to be done if we want to save Eve. I just hope it’s not too late to change her back.”

“It won’t be Xena, but once we get the bones, and we find her, how are we going to get to her without having to fight all the other Bacchae too?” “I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far yet. Let’s just survive this first and then we’ll worry about getting to Eve”. “I thought the Dryads weren’t dangerous” “They can tear you apart just like anything alive Gabrielle, they maybe bones, but they have claws, and those claws can tear you up.” As Xena was speaking, she had been clearing the dirt from one of the graves of a Dryad and was now opening it up. Gabrielle hurried over to help her lift it with a grunt of effort; the stone was awful heavy, she didn’t know how Xena was lifting it, and she was doing most of the lifting.

When they’d cleared away the stone, they found what they had expected to find, Dryad bones. “What? That’s it? No flying Dryads coming out to fight us like last time? Well that’s boring” “Be careful what you wish for Gabrielle, we aren’t out of here yet. Here, take this.” Xena handed her one of the long Dryad bones, it looked like a long leg bone. She grabbed another one for herself, and climbed out of the grave, laying it down, she told Gabrielle, “Help me”; Gabrielle helped her slide the heavy stone back over the grave, which took a good deal of effort on their part. By the time it was back in place, both women were panting from their exertion and had to sit there for a few minutes to get their breath back. “Remind me to be cremated when I die. Why do they have to make these markers so heavy?”.

“I don’t know Gabrielle, come on, let’s get out of here” “You don’t have to tell me twice, I’m right behind you” Gabrielle commented, not more than three paces behind Xena, looking back the entire time to make sure they weren’t about to be attacked by the Dryads. That was one incident that she’d rather not repeat. “Xena that was too easy” they had gotten out of the graveyard without being attacked as they had the first time. “I know, but lets count our blessings and get to the lair and find Eve” “But how are we going to separate her from the others?” “I don’t know. Depending on how far gone she is, she may come to us willingly, she may not. Eve is strong, if I know my daughter, she’s fighting it. If she doesn’t come to us willingly, and my guess is she won’t, we’ll have to lure her out, and catch her. The main problem is, we don’t know how Dahak changed her into Bacchae, or whether or not she’s become one permanently or not yet. We’ll have to catch her, and then figure out not only how he changed her in the first place, but how to change her back”.

“Maybe Vengence can help us” Xena had mounted Argos, and helped Gabrielle up behind her and they were riding as they theorized. “Please Gabrielle, one problem at a time”. “I know, but Xena, she is his daughter, and his favorite at that. Not to mention she’s the most powerful being we know other than the Gods; if anybody can help us get Eve back, it’s her”. “Gabrielle, she’s more likely to turn on us than help us, not that she would help us anyway. Dahak is her father, that’s all the more reason not to ask her to help us save Eve; no, we do this ourselves. One way or anther, we’ll get her out of there alive, and find away to change her back if she’s become Bacchae”.

“Xena, I got it” Gabrielle said, breaking the silence of the woods there were exiting. “Why don’t we just become Bacchae ourselves? From what the villagers said, the girls of all the villages in the area have become his followers, which means he probably has so many there, he can’t possibly know every single one by sight”. “I thought of that Gabrielle, but I didn’t want to suggest it. I wasn’t sure you’d be willing to duplicate what had to be a horrifying situation for you”.

“Xena, if that’s what it takes to get our daughter back, then I’ll do it. Even if I have to let myself be bitten in order to save her. If she stays Bacchae, and Vengence and Hope find out, they can use her against us, and they will; they’ll corrupt her into their world of darkness and evil until she follows them. If that happens, we’ll loose her forever”. “That’s not going to happen Gabrielle, not if we can help it”. Xena heard voices, and footsteps coming with her acute hearing, and motioned for Gabrielle to be silent as moved into the darkness of the trees, followed by Gabrielle.

Two Bacchae were walking down the road coming their way, no doubt headed for town. “They’re headed for town for a little partying” Xena whispered. “They won’t be the only ones. We’ll take these two and take their clothing. I’ll try to take them without killing them Gabrielle, but I can’t promise it. They aren’t just ordinary village girls any more”. “I know” Gabrielle whispered back.

“Ready when you are” Gabrielle said, standing half crouched like a cat ready to pounce on it’s prey. They waited until the girls were in front of them, and then they sprung. Xena snatched the closest one, pulled her into their hiding place with one hand over her mouth, remembering the vampire sharp fangs, released her long enough to give her the pinch as fast as she could, and eased her down to the ground. Gabrielle had done the same with her Bacchae, but of course didn’t know the pinch, so she held onto her with difficulty until Xena had taken care of her’s and then spun around and gave her girl the pinch as well. As Gabrielle lowered her girl to the ground, Xena put the pinch on the girls legs and then the same to her own. “They won’t be able to walk for awhile after they come to. It’ll give us more time”. “Can’t they still turn into wolves?” “Yes, but they still won’t be able to walk for at least half a candle mark. Come on, take her clothes. We’ve got to get to Eve”.

Within moments, they were dressed as the Bacchae, and even Bacchus himself wouldn’t have known the difference, except they lacked the fangs. “What are we going to do about the teeth Xena? We don’t have fangs like they do. “Guess we’ll just have to keep our mouths shut” Xena half joked. “Or, we could let Eve bite us, if she’s still in control of her own mind, and she recognizes us”. “Scary thought” “Yeah” they watched the road to see if Eve was among those walking to town. Several had passed after a short time, but no Eve, and then, “Xena, there, there’s Eve” Gabrielle said, pointing her out. She was with the others, but not walking with them, that is, not walking with anyone in particular, or any group of girls in particular. She was more or less walking alone even though she was with the others.

“She’s still Eve” Xena said, she couldn’t see much detail in the darkness, but she could tell by Eve’s body language, and movement, that she wasn’t quite one of them yet. When she got closer to where they were hiding, Eve seemed to “come alert” and looked around at the woods discreetly. “She knows we’re here, she can sense us”. When she got close enough, Xena cautiously called out a sharp, whispered, “Eve!”; hearing her name, and recognizing the familiar voice, Eve spotted her mother, and, looking around to see if the others within seeing distance were paying attention, she moved off the road into the woods.

A few paces back, a girl called out, “Eve, where you going? Aren’t you coming?” “Gotta check out some bushes, I’ll catch up, go on without me”. The girl nodded, understanding, and she and the girl with her, walked on. Eve waited until they were well passed, and then went to where she’d heard her mother. After the initial greeting, Eve explained that she had been passing through the area as fast as she could knowing that it was the Bacchae Woods she was passing thorough, but had gotten caught by the two Bacchae who’d just spoken to her, and taken to the cave. Xena and Gabrielle could easily see her fangs, she’d been bitten. Seeing the worry in Gabrielle’s face, Eve assured her, “It’s alright, I’ve been bitten but I haven’t drunken his blood yet. I’ve managed not to succumb to it like the others but I don’t know how exactly. I act like they do so that they won’t suspect anything”.

“It’s because you were once Livia, you once followed the darkness; like me when Gabrielle bit me, because we both followed the darkness at one time in our lives, we’re better able to fight it now than they are. They’ve never been exposed to it. When is the initiation ceremony?”. “Tonight, he’s going to initiate a group of us, and make us all Bacchae permanently, but mother, it’s not just this, Dahak person like everybody says. He’s working with Bacchus, former God of Food and Wine”. “Bacchus? But we killed him years ago” Gabrielle stated. “I know, but this Dahak person brought him back just so he could turn women into Bacchae again. Evidently, Bacchus ended up in Dahak’s world when he died and now they’ve cut a deal. Dahak agreed to return him to our world, and his former glory, if he would give Dahak all our souls once we became Bacchae”.

That news hit them both like a sledge hammer. “Oh gods” Gabrielle exclaimed, “Dahak, and Bacchus working together. What could be worse?”. “I hate to tell you this, but it does get worse” Eve told them, “Dahak told us that we’ll have the honor of meeting his favorite and most powerful daughter tonight just before sunrise when we return to the caves for the ceremony. He said she will choose the most promising of us for her own personal army of elite “Warriors Of The Night” to cause terror across the known world, and make all young women Bacchae, and then send their souls to her father, and make even more followers for Bacchus”. Xena had gone two shades of pale, and Gabrielle felt light headed. “How are we going to stop all three of them Xena? One maybe, two would have been a lot worse, but now Vengence is going to be there too? There’s no way we can stop all three”.

“We don’t have a choice Gabrielle, we have to, or the known world is doomed to become Bacchae”. “But what if we get them to turn on each other? There has to be some way to at least turn two of them against each other. From what you and Aunt Gabrielle say, this Vengence is pretty powerful, and if she’s Dahak’s daughter, she has to be bad news. Maybe we can get her to turn on Bacchus, I doubt we could ever get her to turn on her father. If he’s powerful enough to get Bacchus to listen to him and do whatever he says, and make the Bacchae obey him like they do Bacchus, then I can imagine how loyal Vengence must be to her father. How powerful is she?”.

“You don’t want to ever find out Eve. She’s ten times as powerful as her mother, and just as powerful as her father if not more so”. “Who’s her mother?” “That’s right, you never met her. Consider yourself lucky Eve, she took your soul when your mother was still pregnant with you once. That was a battle I don’t want to duplicate in this world or any other” Gabrielle admitted with a shiver. “That was one of the worse times of my life. She wasn’t even safe inside of me” Xena stated more to herself than Eve and Gabrielle, then an idea slammed into her mind like being hit in the head with a two by four.

“Wait a minute, I got it” “What? You thought of something?” “What if Dahak and Bacchus thought that Eve turned us into Bacchae and that we were willing to join them?”. “But mother, you’ve both fought Bacchus before, won’t he know that you two aren’t likely to be easily turned into Bacchae again?”. “Not if you turned Gabrielle into Bacchae, and then I tried to save her only to have you bite me as well in the process of fighting you” “That could work, they’re all going to the tavern in town where we all meet every night. I’ve got to say one thing about these Bacchae, they know how to party”. “Yeah, real party animals” Xena quipped sarcastically, “We’d better get going before they wonder where you are and come back looking for you” Gabrielle said, and stepped out of their hiding spot in the woods, Xena and her daughter following suit. As they walked down the road, the conversation continued.

“So, how do we get Vengence to turn on Bacchus? Let’s not forget Hope either, if she comes, she’ll be an added problem, she and Vengence are linked don’t forget. What happens to one, the other feels, if we attack Hope without getting Vengence at the same time, one can warn the other without even speaking a word, and they can probably warn their father the same way. Though I’m not sure their linked to him in anyway. I’ve never heard of them being linked to him, but it only makes sense that they would be. He has to be able to call them to him no matter where they are”. “Gabrielle, you’re not making the situation any better” “Sorry” Gabrielle said petulantly. “You’re right though. When we attack them, we have to take them both out at the same time or the fight’ll be over before it starts”.

“Not to mention that we have to keep the girls from drinking the blood, and keep from getting bitten ourselves, and stay out of Dahak’s way all at the same time”. “Eve, you’re worse than Gabrielle” “Sorry, but it’s the truth. I don’t see how we can do all that if this Vengence is as powerful as you say, and if she’s Dahak’s daughter, that’s pretty bad”. “I won’t mention that when she’s with at least one of her sisters, she’s even more powerful”. “Gabrielle” Xena said in a tired, exasperated voice. “Why can’t we just kill them?” “Because if we kill Hope and Vengence, then Yakut will die too, and she’s the good one of the three. She’s the good that balances out the evil, like a three piece Yin/Yang. If you kill one sister, the other two will die, if you kill two, the third will die. Not to mention that the two evil sisters are immortal”. “Oh great” Eve said, getting depressed herself now. “So there’s no way to kill them”.

“Oh Vengence can be killed, so can Hope. You have to either decapitate them, burn their bodies, and scatter the aches to the winds, or just make sure that their heads are never again in the same place as the rest of their bodies, or, you can keep them from coming together beyond the time that they need to rejoin to strengthen their bond, and make sure that they never touch one another” Xena told her daughter. “Yeah, the trick is doing any of those things. The link helps them protect one another all the time. Even though Hope doesn’t have any where near the power that her sister does, she can sense when Vengence is in danger, and warn her, and she can do the same for Hope. But Hope can’t go to where Vengence is, but Vengence can go to where Hope is, so if you can isolate Hope in a place where Vengence can’t get to her, you can destroy both sisters”. “So if we can separate the two sisters and keep them apart long enough to keep the girls from drinking the blood, and turn them back, by destroying Bacchus again, then we can win this fight” Eve said.

“Right, but how are we going to do that? I haven’t seen anything that Vengence can’t just walk through, or destroy in some way” Gabrielle said. “There’s a small sub cavern below the main cavern that Dahak won’t go near, I heard him talking to Bacchus about it. He said it’s like being in limbo for him, he can’t sense anything, he can’t hear or see anything, he hates it. If it has that affect on him, it should have the same affect on his daughters. I can try to get one of the sisters into that cavern, and lock her in there. My guess is Hope would be the easier of the two; if Dahak couldn’t sense anything when he was in there one time, than that means that if Hope were in there then the two sisters wouldn’t be able to find one another”. “If we can get the two sisters apart, then I can get Vengence to fight me. I’ll try to get her to follow me outside away from the girls and into the open. You and Gabrielle can use the Dryad bone on Bacchus, and destroy him”.

“But what about Dahak Xena?” “Vengence has a weak spot, the small of her back. The lightest tap there takes her to the ground, I don’t know why, but I’m glad it’s there. I’m hoping that Dahak can at least sense when his “favorite daughter” is in trouble. If I can at least take her down a couple times, it might just draw him to her, and away from Bacchus and the others. If and when it does, that’s when you and Gabrielle take out Bacchus which will free the girls. Then I just have to get away from Vengence and her father without getting roasted alive. Vengence may not kill women, but her father has no problem killing anyone”. “What about Hope Xena? We can’t just leave her in that cavern, she’ll go mad. She may be monster, but I wouldn’t want to put anybody through that, not even her.” Gabrielle said. Xena frowned, but she only said, “We’ll have to find away to release her then, or have find away for her sister to find her and free her. When you and Eve take care of Bacchus, meet me on the surface. We’ll tell Dahak and Vengence where Hope is and let them free her”.

Their plan figured out, they were ready for action. They were just walking into the town, and instantly altered their behavior. “Here we go” Xena said to her daughter and best friend. “Let’s party girls”.