Chapter 32 - Meetings

Things at the university had gone easily, as Wesley had assured her they would. The Council knew how to push papers, she would give them that.

Now Buffy stood at the entrance of the Magic Box, tentatively wondering what she should do. Just walk in and announce she was the Slayer? To her surprise, Buffy found that she was nervous. She hoped that Mr. Giles would be—well, not exactly like Wesley, but nice. Nice would be good.

After taking a breath and telling herself to get a grip, she opened the door and walked in like any other customer.

The shop itself wasn’t quite the tiny, dark place she’d expected it to be. It was large and welcoming, and there were a few people milling about. A part of her mind wondered if they were ‘real’ witches or just dabblers.

Buffy had never given much thought to magic before, besides it being a bunch of new age hype. However, knowing what she did now, and thinking back to the thing Wesley had done to affirm that she was the Slayer, she was opened up to a whole new realm of possibilities. Looking at the herbs, crystals, statues, candles, and gross things in jars, she had no doubt that if you mixed them together properly and said some words, wonderful or horrible things would happen.

As she hovered near a case full of gems, a tallish man approached her.

“May I help you find something?”

Buffy looked him over. Suit, glasses, accent. “Are all you Watchers British?” she blurted.

“Watc—” His face lit up as comprehension dawned. “Ah, you must be Miss Summers.”

Buffy smiled. “Yeah, here I am,” she said. “So…?”

“Oh, pardon me, how rude. I’m Rupert Giles. The owner of this establishment, and as you already guessed, also in the employ of the Council.”

“Right. Uh, can we talk about this here, or…?”

He gestured toward a round table near the back. “Please, have a seat.”

Buffy slid into a chair, and he sat down in the next one, pulling it back slightly. “Miss Su—”

“Oh, just Buffy.”

“Very well. You may call me Giles. People do.”

“Okay, Giles, is it all right to talk out here? I mean, you know.” She gestured vaguely.

“As long as it doesn’t become too detailed. People on the Hellmouth have a way of ignoring things rather nicely. Oh, before I forget, I have something for you.”

Giles stood up and went behind the counter for a moment. He came back with a small box.

“Sort of a welcome present,” he explained, handing it to her. “It’s not much.”

Buffy opened it to find a necklace with a cross on it. She smiled. “What is it with Watchers and crosses?” At his confused look, she added, “Wesley gave me one, too.”

“Oh.” Giles sat down.

“Oh, but no! I didn’t mean it like that. A Slayer can never have too many crosses. And see, this one has little twists on the ends, and that little stone in the middle. It will go with different outfits than the plain one will. It’s totally perfect.”

He smiled slightly.

“Gee, people are going to start thinking I’m super religious or something. Maybe I could get one of those Celtic crosses too.” She looked toward a pegboard with jewelry on it. “Or would those not work?”

“No, any cross will be sufficient, regardless of what it’s adorned with.” He looked at her seriously. “I’m glad you’re here, Buffy. And I promise, I will endeavor to be the best Watcher I can. Help you however I can, even back you up if need be. We’ve had to manage as best we could, without a Slayer—”

“We?”

Buffy looked up as the bell above the door chimed. The shopping couple had moved on, leaving them alone in the store except for a girl browsing in the far corner.

“Yes. Myself and several others have been patrolling the Hellmouth, since the…er, disappearance of the last Slayer.”

“You mean her death?”

“No, I mean her disappearance. We had no idea she was dead until the Council contacted me. Faith disappeared some months ago.”

“But you don’t know what happened, do you?”

“No, no one does. I have an idea, but it’s all only speculation.”

“So, you and the…others?”

He brightened. “Would you like to meet Willow?”

“Um, okay.”

Giles led her into a back room where a redhead was unpacking a box. “Willow.”

“Hey, Giles. Who’s that?”

“This is Buffy Summers. The new Slayer.”

Willow’s face lit up. “Ooh, really? That’s so great! I mean, nice to meet you and all.”

Buffy looked at Giles out of the corner of her eye. “Does everyone know?”

“No, only myself and a select few. Willow works for me part time here. She also dabbles in magic.”

“Hey, I do more than dabble!” she protested. “I’ve been working on this really cool ball of sunlight thing, but so far it hasn’t panned out. Oh, but maybe I could go on patrol with you sometime? I’ve been going with Giles. I mean, I know you’re the Slayer and all and can take care of yourself, and Faith never wanted any help—”

“You knew Faith?”

“Well not so much knew, as knew of. I saw her in class a couple of times. Like literally two times. That was it. Later I learned she was the Slayer after hanging around here with Wesley and Giles. And after there were these vampires in the gym, Xander knew, and we just all sorta fell in together. Well, I mean fell in together with the Watchers. I’ve known Xander since kindergarten. But Giles is like our grownup friend. Though not in a creepy way,” she added.

“Yes, thank you Willow,” Giles said.

“So you do magic?” Buffy asked.

“Small stuff. I haven’t been able to do anything big yet. Glamours. Protection spells. And I can float pencils. I staked a vamp once with a pencil from behind. He thought he all had me—then poof! Never saw it coming.” She grinned.

“Buffy, I don’t know what Wesley has told you about magic, but it’s very dangerous and difficult,” Giles put in. “It’s not to be taken lightly.”

“No taking lightly here,” Willow said. “I’m just telling her.” She looked at Buffy conspiratorially. “I screw up one time and he never lets me live it down.”

“You and Amy blew up the chemistry lab.”

“On accident! Anyway, I haven’t seen her since high school. She got into the dark stuff, no thank you very much. That’s how I met Giles, you know. I was in here all the time buying stuff for magic, and after the chemistry accident—” she emphasized, “—we got to talking. He’s really helped me a lot. But speaking of talking, I’m sure you two have stuff to talk about.”

“Yes, well,” Giles started.

“Sure, why not?” Buffy said. “After all, I’m here to do the Slaying thing, right?” She started to follow Giles out to the front of the store, and then looked back at Willow. “See you around?”

She beamed. “Sure!”

“So,” Buffy said, sitting down at the table again, “What’s the deal on this Angelo guy?”

“Angelus,” he said. He pulled out a folder that was buried among the books on the table. “I’ve prepared a short history for you, a ‘Cliffs Notes’ as I believed Wesley called it, covering the lives of the vampires. Then perhaps we can discuss more recent events?”

Buffy nodded, taking the folder and opening it to find fifteen or twenty pages. Wesley must have said something about her not being a big reader. The fact that Giles had actually prepared something for her was unbelievably sweet. She found herself liking him already.

Buffy began to read.

There was Angelus. A completely sadistic bastard by all accounts, who loved torture more than the kill and had a fetish for convents. Numerous atrocities committed by him alone, sometimes with others of his group. Incredibly ruthless and dangerous, somewhere over two hundred years old, and sired by Darla. Darla was the Master’s child herself—the Master being an ancient vampire that no one really knew much about, due to his keeping completely underground. Darla was his favorite, though she seldom went below after making Angelus. She reveled in destruction. She had a penchant for picking off the chaos of revolutions and religious wars, and at times had abandoned her lover to save her own skin.

Sometime this side of one hundred and fifty years, they had picked up a clairvoyant girl named Drusilla, driven her mad and turned her. The next to join the ranks was William, who appeared and made a name for himself in the early 1880s. It was unclear whether his sire was Angelus or Drusilla. The four traveled in a pack, rarely splitting up and in general leaving destruction and bloodshed wherever they went. In the Watchers’ records, they were known during this period as the Scourge. They were often referred to as a single unit, though Angelus and the other male vampire sometimes made waves by themselves. William the Bloody wrought nightly carnage for a period of time, using a railroad spike as his calling card and earning him the nickname Spike.

Buffy’s eyes widened as her mind suddenly processed everything at once.

Spike and three other vampires. She’d heard the story all before, just from a different perspective. Her daddy. The other bitch. Angelus. Darla.

“Buffy? Is something wrong?”

She turned to see Giles looking at her from behind the counter, slight concern on his face.

“Uh, no. It’s just, a lot to take in.”

He nodded and went back to work.

Buffy looked back down at the page. Clairvoyant. Drusilla.

Dru. Spike’s Dru.

Oh crap.