A/N: I’ve been nominated at the Fang Fetish Awards round 8, for Best Alternate Reality, Best Angst, and Best WIP! Thank you!

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Chapter 33 - Histories

February, 1999:

“You are making sure to take out his vampires?”

“Course.”

“Faith, for only working for me a month, you know I’m giving you a great deal of responsibility. I know you can do anything you set your mind to; you’re a very bright girl. But I really wish you’d end this thing with the vampire. He’s a bad influence. A girl like you should be having picnics in the sun.”

“You know I’m not wearing that dress, picnics be damned.”

“At least pull your hair back, let people see your pretty face.”

“A Slayer lives in the dark, boss. You should appreciate that. But you worry too much. Have I ever let you down?”

“No. But every detail must go accordingly. I’m much too close to have wild cards bouncing around.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got everything under control.”
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“So, after this Angelus was cursed in—” Buffy glanced back at one of the papers, “—1898, he disappeared.”

“Not quite,” Giles said from his position from across the table. “He came and went from the group several times, not completely falling off the map until after 1900.”

“So what exactly was this curse again?”

“Angelus was cursed with a soul.”

“O-kay.”

“The full aspect of the soul is something we don’t understand. Even as humans, where we go afterward, what is the force within us— The point is, whatever you want to call it, it’s a link to humanity, something that one loses when becoming a vampire. There is no guilt, no connection; there couldn’t be in order for the vampire to survive. Whatever you want to call this conscience, this essence—a soul, if you will—it was returned to him.”

“And the guilt drove him insane.”

“From what we can tell,” he said. “The few sightings of Angelus in the fifty or so years after that describe him in the filth of alleys, rambling, shaking, at other times almost catatonic. Darla most likely returned to the Master. William and Drusilla were spotted several times, but besides the nightly killings, their activities were nothing compared to the twenty year reign of the Scourge.”

“But Angelus came back.”

“Yes, somehow he lost his soul again. Contact with a tribe of gypsies in the early twentieth century revealed that he would be cursed to suffer with the weight of his soul for all the people he’d killed. However, it seemed that if his suffering ended, even for a moment, and he were ever truly happy, the soul would be lost. Nice and ironic, but rather a shoddy curse, in my opinion. At any rate, he was freed from his confines, though we don’t quite know how. The whole group was seen reunited in the early seventies, but Angelus was remarkably absent from their exploits. However, it was quite clear that he was no longer cursed.”

Buffy had realized from reading the file that the Council had no idea about the ritual that Spike had performed on Angelus to restore Drusilla. Spike had said that the other vampire was severely weakened and had never recovered. Though obviously he had, since he was currently terrorizing Sunnydale.

“William the Bloody killed a Slayer in New York in 1977, and the group split again shortly after. Angelus, Darla, and Drusilla remained together, and William slipped beyond the Council’s notice.”

“What, just like that?”

“There are simply too many vampires for the Council to keep track of, particularly if they start being quiet. And Angelus and his group were always the first priority. It’s interesting that the group’s two splits coincide with William’s killing of Slayers, but in reality, it seems to be Angelus’s curse that split the group in the beginning, and his subsequent return that both reunited it and split it the second time.”

“Someone didn’t like him coming back,” Buffy said. It wasn’t a guess. “So when did they show up in Sunnydale?”

“In 1997. I was here monitoring the Hellmouth for the Council. We had ascertained that the Master was trapped beneath it and was trying to get out. I had been here since the beginning of the year, and Angelus, Drusilla, and Darla made their presence known at the end of the summer. Shortly afterward, only Angelus and Drusilla remained. Darla has only recently returned, but nothing has been heard from the Master. The Council sent the Slayer here—sent Faith here—in 1998 to deal with the carnage Angelus and Drusilla were creating, but as you know, that didn’t quite turn out as planned.”

“Right. Already heard that part. Big on the violence, then got all pelvic with Angelus.”

“Er, correct,” he said, flustered. “And while there is no conclusive evidence, I have every reason to believe that he killed her.”

“But…?” Buffy asked, hearing it in his voice.

Giles shifted. “After Wesley left, it came out that Faith had also— Well, first, it came to light that the Mayor of Sunnydale had made a pact with a demon in order to achieve Ascension. At the appointed time, he would turn into one of the original demons and—”

“Wait, let me guess. Faith also started working with him.”

“Yes.”

“So there’s a possibility that he might have done her in.”

“Possibly,” he agreed. “Though something else must have happened, because the Ascension never came to pass, and the Mayor hasn’t been seen.”

“Uh-huh. You think Angelus had something to do with that?”

“Frankly, I have no idea. I can’t imagine why he would.”

“So, what else do I need to know?”

“That’s all we have on the vampires.” He paused, laying down his pen. “But there’s also the matter of you.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, Slayer here.”

“No,” Giles said. “I mean, your age. As far as I know, there’s never been a Slayer called as late as you have been. We need to look into it, figure out what it means.”

“And how do we do that?”

“Look at the histories, prophecies—see if there’s any mention of a Slayer that is to come, or what a later calling could mean.”

“Prophecies? Like actual ‘thou shalt come to thou thee’ prophecies?”

“I’m quite certain that made no sense, but to answer the gist of it, yes. If something is prophesized, it will come to pass in one way or another. No matter what one thinks they’re doing to avert a prophecy, it will happen, though often not in the way that one might expect. But don’t worry about it, let me do some research first.”

Buffy shrugged, leaning back in her chair. “You’re the book guy.”

Just then, Willow came out of the back. She walked over and whispered something to Giles.

“Go right ahead,” he said. “I suppose it doesn’t matter when.”

“So what’s up?” Buffy asked.

“I wanted to tell you,” Willow said, “about my boyfriend.”

Buffy frowned. “Um, okay. Right now?”

“Oh, it’s not girl talk.” Willow quickly sat down, pushing her hair behind her ear. It was at that medium length where it just wouldn’t stay behind her shoulders. “It’s Slayer talk.”

“Confused here.”

“We just thought you should know. Oz is a werewolf.”

“Come again?” she asked, sitting straight up.

“He’s a werewolf. But he’s not dangerous,” Willow added. “We keep him up locked up every full moon, and we never let him hurt anyone. And Giles or Xander or I always stand guard with a tranquilizer gun just in case. Oz is really sweet—just not three nights a month. So, you know, there’s no reason you should have to slay him.” She looked at Buffy expectantly.

Buffy looked at Giles.

“We take every precaution,” he said.

She shrugged. “Okay, then.”

Willow looked at her. “Just like that? No questions, no nothing?”

“Well, it sounds like you’ve got in under control. And if Giles thinks it’s okay, I mean, he’s the Watcher, right?”

“Yeah, but, shouldn’t you at least ask me if I know what I’m doing? Be concerned I’m dating a part-demon and all that? Giles did, at first. I mean, you just took it really well.”

Buffy shrugged again. Can’t go by me, I’m with a vampire. Well not technically with, since I’m only letting him drink my blood right now, but we did have sex that one time. Er, that one night.

“Non-judgmental Buffy here. I’m a Slayer for the twenty-first century. Well, almost. In a week or so, twenty-first century Slayer.” She smiled at Giles. “Hey, how cool is that? I’m going to be the first Slayer in the new century.”

“Yes, I suppose you are. You’re quite correct.”

The door to the shop suddenly swung open. “Hey, hey!”

“Xander! Look Buffy, it’s Xander.” Willow jumped up. “Look, it’s the new Slayer! I mean, meet Buffy!”

He grinned and stuck his hand out. “I’m Xander. Though you already knew that, thank you Willow.”

She shook his hand. “Well, I’m Buffy.”

“Cool, cool. So what are we talking about?”

He received three answers at once.

“Slaying.” “Oz.” “History.”

“I see. It seems we’ve covered a range of topics. So, who’s for pizza? For I am payday man.”

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When Buffy got home, it was mid-afternoon. She liked Willow and Xander, and was getting on well with Giles. They hadn’t talked specifically about Slaying since Xander had gotten there, but had instead told her stories about their patrols.

All in all, she’d had a good time. Except for the part at the beginning, when everyone had been referring to her as the ‘new’ Slayer. She was of course, but there was a connotation to that word that Buffy didn’t like. The new Slayer replaced the old, dead Slayer, and by logical reasoning, would in turn be replaced soon enough.

They hadn’t meant it that way, of course, but it bothered her.

Suddenly there was a loud pounding at her back door. She looked through the window to see Spike on the other side.

Buffy opened the door.

He was frowning, his jaw clenched. “You never said,” he growled. “You never said it was them.”