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Chapter 13
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Jenny and Giles spent the better part of the morning talking about Spike’s tale. Jenny felt it prudent to leave out the bit about Spike thinking he wanted to come back to this time to more easily kill Buffy. While the Watcher was most interested in the parts that dealt directly with Buffy, Jenny was more troubled by the stories Spike had told of Willow.

It sounded as though the amazingly intelligent girl was a quick study with the spells and rituals of witchcraft but completely unfamiliar with the way of Wicca. The Willow that Spike spoke of didn’t seem to be interested in oneness with the divine and all creation. No humbling of herself in the presence of Mother Earth shone through in his stories. No seeking to become a healer, teacher, seeker or giver either. It sounded as though Willow was tapping into the power for personal gain,
to twist the will of others to her own. This was the darkest magic and highly dangerous.

When Spike told Jenny that Willow had been the one to re-ensoul Angelus in his timeframe, she felt a cold chill. To do a spell that powerful and be successful should not have been possible for a novice. Jenny determined that Giles was going to have to take this matter as seriously as he was taking the idea of his Slayer loving a vampire. Personally, Jenny could not see any negatives coming from Spike and Buffy loving one another, but there were many, many dangers from Willow going on with the magic unchecked.

"Really, Jenny, how can you not see the wrongness of it? Buffy has a sacred calling to rid the world of these creatures and you seem to be advocating her giving her heart to one instead." Giles was flummoxed by the idea.

He knew the response he’d get from the Council if they got a whiff of it. Spike would be put down and Buffy removed from her position by a quickly dispatched team. Yet here was this very well versed, intelligent woman who had no great sympathy for the undead stating this budding affair of the heart might be a good thing!

"If Spike loves Buffy, he will continue to change for the better. He can fight at her side, Rupert. He’s a Master Vampire, not some newly turned creature. He’s lived a long time and even kept his insane consort alive. Spike might help Buffy live longer than any Slayer in history simply by watching her back!" Jenny was frustrated by the stubborn streak Giles was displaying, especially since it was built on half-truths and outright lies taught by the Council for their own ends.

"I know what your books say, but there are reasons they are written that way. I happen to understand, even if you don’t think that I do. These girls are so young and the job is a dangerous one. If they had to stop to evaluate whether a vampire or demon MIGHT be salvageable, stop to really peer into the gray areas, they would just die sooner. And it is true that most vampires are beasts that need to
be killed." Jenny drew in a deep breath before continuing. "Look…fate, the Powers, whatever, has brought this particular vampire into our lives. For some reason this vampire has genuine caring for your Slayer, as well as a knowledge of some events that color all of our lives forever and not in a good way. I say that’s more important than whatever pat answers the Council put to the question of whether vampires can feel real emotion or not.

"In my experience," she continued, "vampires are much like humans. They vary from being to being. They aren’t little undead clones, Rupert; they are all different. THIS one obviously CAN feel, and deeply I’d guess."

Jenny decided to impart some insights from her own people’s observations. "There are people who don’t love well either. My clan lived in a part of the world where Vampires are quite common, old Vampires. There are stories of grand passion and sacrifice among them. Maybe it’s their age, maybe it’s about how well they can control the demon…I don’t know. I’ve always thought it had a great deal to do with the sort of person they were before they were turned."

"That’s just it, Jenny: they aren’t that person at all, just a demon using the murdered person’s body, memories and intellect!" Giles closed the book he had been using to ‘prove’ his points.

Jenny shook her head sadly. "If you really believe that, then you are not as smart as I thought you were." Giles looked a bit stung at that comment. "I understand why they teach it though. It would make it very hard to kill Aunt Martha if she were turned unless you truly believed there was no Aunt Martha there any longer. Whatever it is that we call the soul may well be gone, but the human is still there, complete with personality and emotions. You can believe what you want, Rupert. I’m only speaking from a knowledge that is older than any of the books you have in that precious library in London!"

They sat in silence for a short while, neither wanting to concede the point yet loath to be arguing, especially about this particular subject.

Finally Giles sighed and decided a change of subject was the best solution. "Well, I suppose we ARE both in agreement on the Angel issue at least?"

"IF you mean that Angel must never be allowed to lose that soul of his, yes!" Jenny shuddered at the very thought. "I know far more about that particular vampire than any of your books might detail. He’s a special project of my family and I am currently their eyes and ears where Angel is concerned. You really don’t want that evil unleashed."

"So we should look into ways of modifying the original curse then?" Giles found Jenny’s research interesting, to say the least. "Are you quite certain you could do this?"

"Not certain, but I don’t dare leave it to chance." Jenny stood up and went to the computer terminal in Giles’ office. "I’ve been in communication with someone who might help me with the wording. Even if Spike is right and it was being with Buffy that removed Angel’s soul in his time, there is no reason to think there might be something else happen that could make Angel just as happy. That soul has to be anchored!"

"Perhaps Willow could assist you. I know she is only starting to show an interest in magic, but she is quite bright." Giles didn’t notice the way Jenny trembled at his words. "You said yourself that Spike told you that Willow will be quite proficient with magic in the near future."

"Yes, and I believe I also tried to point out that her motives and their origin don’t sound too comforting." Giles looked at her in curiosity. "Look, I’d rather
not encourage Willow just yet. In fact, I was thinking that you might want to contact the Council for a referral to a really good coven in the area where Willow might begin to study the real roots of magic. I think she needs to understand the purpose behind it, not just how to wield the power. I can help her, of course, but the nurturing environment of a good group of well-trained practitioners would be the best thing for her. I think that Willow, with the proper instruction, would be a great asset. Without it she could be the greatest danger."

"Yes, I quite see your point. Very well, we’ll work on this ourselves and I’ll see if I can find a decent referral for Willow." They were both pleased at the peaceful harmony restored to their relationship with agreement over Angel and Willow.

"As for Spike…," Giles began carefully, "I’ll take your opinion under advisement. I respect your knowledge, however it differs from what I was taught." Jenny smiled happily that her new boyfriend was respecting her views.

"In fact, I have begun to look into prophecies regarding slayers in this era. I would think that a Slayer involved with a vampire would be worthy of a prophecy or two. The two volumes that would help the most, the Tiberius Manifesto and the Pergamum Codex, have become lost to the ages. I have a correspondence with a former Watcher who might have segments translated from the Manifesto and he will be sending them. I hope to discover if there is a reason for this…this…unnatural attraction."

"Of course there’s a reason," Jenny teased, "Buffy is beautiful and Spike’s quite the looker too. Naturally they’d find each other attractive!" Jenny laughed at the expression on Giles’ face. "I think that’s a great idea, Rupert. If all it involved were a superficial attraction, that would be one thing, but I agree that this pairing has the feel of something more than a high school romance."

"Quite," Giles added glumly.


~~~

"So Cordy thinks she has some right, ordained from above, to automatically be crowned May Queen!" Buffy was completely irritated by Cordelia. Actually, the problem was that Cordy was living the life Buffy had expected for herself. A life of cheerleading and being crowned high school royalty. Buffy only had that one
brief time at Hemery where she had all that before being called by Merrick. If she weren’t the Slayer, she’d love to give Cordy a run for her money.

"Sounds a mite smug of the cheerleader, if you ask me." Spike could see the hurt beneath the anger in Buffy. "Not like she’s the only pretty bint in the school or something." Buffy nodded in silent agreement. "You could beat her without even trying, if you’d a mind to."

Spike was rewarded with one of Buffy’s biggest, most sincere smiles before she leaned over the table and kissed him soundly.

They were at the Espresso Bar for a quick mocha after school. Joyce expected Buffy home by a certain time and Spike was always too eager to see Buffy to wait for her to slip out for patrol. Their regular coffee dates managed to pacify both the people Buffy loved most and she enjoyed spilling about her day to her so sexy and interested boyfriend.

"You really think so?" Buffy, for being completely lovely to look at, was rather insecure since being called. Maybe it was all the killing every night that took some of her feminine confidence away or just being the new girl in school, but she felt wanting in the company of the brunette cheerleader who set the fashion at Sunnydale High School.

"Know so." Spike looked at her with his heart in his eyes and Buffy knew that, to him at least, Cordy wasn’t even in the running. "You’re already my May Queen. Every other month too. If it matters that much to you, pet, why don’t you run against her? Show the bint what a real beauty queen looks like."

"You really are the best boyfriend ever! You do know that, don’t you?" Buffy glowed at his compliments.

"Don’t know about that, pet. There’s things ‘bout me you don’t know, not so nice things." Spike tiptoed around the big invisible elephant that was the truth about himself.

"Well, with a nickname like Spike, I think there’s some sort of requirement to have a bad boy past." Buffy giggled as Spike’s eyebrows shot up. "The black leather’s another tip-off."

‘More ways than one,’ Spike thought, remembering where and how he got the coat in question.

"Hate to go, but have to be home before Mom freaks. So, you up for the traditional ‘meet the parent’ dinner this Friday?" Buffy had finally told her mom a bit about the ‘slightly’ older guy she had been seeing and Joyce insisted on a real meeting.

"I’m sure your mum’s a charmer. No worries, pet. Even put on my best manners for her." Spike had been wondering how he could convince Joyce that his intentions were pure where Buffy was concerned. Well, not exactly pure--okay, not even close, but he was intending to wait. He loved Buffy more than he imagined he could love, but she was still a child in many ways. He had all the time in the world. All he had to do was convince Joyce that he had no intention of pressing Buffy for more than he should at her age.

"Mom wanted to know what you drink. I think she was fishing to see if I’d been drinking with you. She worries. I told her I wasn’t sure, that all we’d had was
from the Espresso Bar, and she seemed relieved." Buffy hadn’t mentioned that her first sight of Spike had been at the bar in the Bronze. Some things were best left unsaid.

"I’m sure whatever your mom puts together will be fine." Spike laid a bill on the table as a tip for the harried waitress and held his hand out for Buffy to rise from her chair. "See you later tonight on patrol?"

"Of course! I think the vamps in town should love you, Spike! Since you’ve been patrolling with me, I’m more interested in kissing than staking." Buffy kept hold
of his hand as they walked out of the coffee bar and onto the sidewalk outside.

Spike laughed and kissed her forehead. It didn’t hurt that he had started taking out a few nests before she started patrol either. So far Spike had avoided detection from the Master’s minions. The only ones who recognized him on sight had been dealt with. Darla was dust and Angel off in Seattle with Dru. ‘Maybe,’ Spike thought, ‘Poof’ll just stay up North and unlife will be perfect.’

~~~

Giles nearly had a heart attack as Angel spoke from right behind him. The vampire really had an annoying ability to slip in and out of the shadows without warning!

Angel handed the Watcher an ancient book. "Heard you were looking for this."

Giles looked at the elusive volume, the Pergamum Codex, long thought to be forever lost. He glanced at the vampire in surprise. "Wherever did you get hold of this?" As Angel’s comment registered, he added, "And just how did you hear I was seeking it?"

"Demon underground. You’d be surprised the things we know." Angel puffed up with self-importance. "I’ve collected a lot of interesting books over the years. Picked this one up in Barcelona just after the turn of the century. Monks were using it mostly as a paperweight for lesser scrolls. Something going on with Buffy you’re worried about?"

"Not that it is your business, but there is always something going on, as you put it, with Buffy. She is the Slayer; knowing any possible prophecy regarding her time as the Chosen One can but help." Giles had never been comfortable in the company of this vampire, even before he knew Angel to be one. He was even less comfortable after hearing what Spike said would occur had he not come back to this time. "Thank you for this, however." Manners will out.

Giles began to look through some likely passages immediately. With the Master in town planning on breaking out to freedom for the first time in over sixty years, there was every likelihood there would be multiple prophecies.

Spike chose that inopportune moment to arrive at the library. He had hoped to discuss a few ideas with Buffy’s Watcher about how to defeat the Master when he heard the none-so-dulcet tones of his grandsire.

"Look who’s the bad penny," Spike said in greeting. "Back so soon, Gramps?"

"What are you doing here, Spike? I still don’t buy that whole, ‘just want to help Buffy’ line you tried to lay on me. I know you, Spike, better than anyone else does and I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you."

"You know," Spike said in frustration, "I’m getting pretty sick of you goin’ on about how well you know me! You NEVER knew me, you pompous fuck. Never took the time to find out anything ‘bout who Dru brought home, just tried to mold me into another you."

Angel growled at the accusation. "Didn’t have to look too hard to see the loser Dru thought would be a good addition. Then again, Dru was completely crazy."

"Thanks to you--let’s not leave out that part. I’ve seen you once since Darla turned you out and that was almost a century ago. Where do you get off claimin’ to know my deepest and darkest?"

Giles was getting rather nervous with the two powerful master vampires looking like they would soon begin to fight right there in his library. That would only give ammunition to that idiot Snyder. "Perhaps we could discuss more recent history and leave all the reminiscences for a later time, yes? Spike, Angel has just brought a very valuable reference book that might give us some insight into how to deal with the Master."

"Right nice of you, Peaches." Spike turned to Giles at last. "Find anythin’ yet?"

"Not as such, no." Giles felt the tension lessen slightly but knew it was only a matter of time before the two vampires came to blows.

"Master’s a canny old bastard. The little nipper’s no real threat though," Spike opined.

"Little nipper?" Giles looked interested. "Who might that be?"

"The Annoying, ‘scuse me, Anointed One," Spike answered.

"Buffy killed the Anointed One as soon as he rose. That was just before you appeared on the scene."


"Don’t know who Buffy killed, but it wasn’t the puppy. Anointed One’s just a kid. He’s stayin’ down there with the old bat like he’s bloody Prince William or something." Spike never knew that Buffy hadn’t been aware of that fact.

"That would explain what my net friend Luca was quoting. He gave a Bible passage, Isaiah 11:6, and said it might as well be applied to the Anointed One." Jenny had entered as Spike was speaking. "I looked it up." She handed the open Bible to Giles and he read the passage aloud.

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, the lion and the fatling together, and the little child to lead them." Giles read it again to himself as they all digested the words.

"Kind of warm and fuzzy for a message of doom," Jenny commented.

Giles responded, "Well, that depends on where he’s leading them. Aurelius wrote of the Anointed One, ‘the Slayer will not know him, and he will lead her into
hell’. That would seem to fit."

"Buffy’s not stupid!" Angel said angrily. "She wouldn’t just follow some kid to hell."

"Might if she thought it was her duty," Spike disagreed. "I think someone needs to tell her the annoying little bugger’s still out there."

"I think someone needs to tell her a bit more than that," Giles said under his breath.

"I was thinkin’ of that bein’ a good idea after dinner on Friday, actually. Less likely to meet up with a pointy piece of wood that way." Spike had been wanting to come clean with Buffy for at least a week. He was hoping to tell her about himself after he’d charmed Joyce though. Maybe a nice tete a tete on the back porch when Buffy was mellow and happy. 'Right helpful Joyce not havin' a clue about Buffy being the Slayer,' he thought.

"Dinner? Telling? What’s been happening while I was gone?" Angel glared at Spike, demanding answers.

"Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m having dinner at Buffy’s on Friday. Gonna let her know ‘bout my past in a way that won’t scare the girl, unlike SOME people." Spike glared back at his grandsire.

"No wonder you wanted me out of town! Sent me to deal with your girlfriend so you could move in on mine!" Angel advanced on Spike with his hands closing into fists.

"Buffy’s not yours and Dru isn’t mine anymore either." Spike stood tall and defiant facing Angel. "Speakin’ of my sire, did you take care of her?"

"She’s no threat anymore," Angel said in a monotone.

"What’s that mean, ‘no threat’? I sent you to get her well, be her daddy and steer her in the right direction, to fix the mess you left." Spike lunged at Angel, pinning him to the cage in his fury.

"She couldn’t be fixed, Spike. Surely you knew that when you sent me." Angel had a satisfied grin on his face as the meaning became clear to Spike. "That it, Spike? You send me there to get rid of your problem so you’d have a clear path to Buffy? Gonna tell Buffy THAT?"

"What did you do?" Spike demanded, his voice a low growl.

"What I should have done with both of you a century ago: I dusted her." Angel yelped as Spike’s fist smashed into his face. He laughed as he wiped the blood from the corner of his lip. "Isn’t that what you expected me to do, Spike? Isn’t that what you wanted?"

"No," Spike whispered. "Didn’t want her dust, just safe." He looked at Angel with pure hatred. "Took you two hundred years, but you finally finished what you started with her, yeah? How’s that soul of yours dealin’?"

"I fixed the problem. Now the only loose end left is you, Spike." Angel pushed Spike off him and the two vampires began to fight in earnest.

Spike was fueled by rage and grief and Angel was not expecting the onslaught from the smaller vamp. Giles and Jenny cleared away from the center of the room, where Spike was pounding his fist into Angel’s face repeatedly.

After the element of surprise passed, Angel got the leverage he needed to throw the other vampire off him. Spike bounced off the book return cart and was back in Angel’s space as soon as the older vamp was on his feet.

"You self-centered bastard! Dru was your doin' and yours to take care of. Made the decision all on your own that what was best for the girl was to put an end to her. Only interest you were really concerned with was your own." Spike laid into Angel again. "Did you tell her it was for her own good as you shoved the stake in?"

Giles had no plan to get between the two enraged vampires, but he had no desire to be sweeping up piles of dust that he would have to explain to his Slayer later. "If you two would kindly take this quarrel elsewhere….I really don’t want to draw that toad Snyder’s attention to the supernatural side of my work."

Jenny was taking the fight a bit more seriously than the Watcher. She could see the pure hatred glittering in Angel’s eyes and the hurt betrayal in Spike’s. There was no way this would end well unless someone took it in hand.

"You both claim to love Buffy." Both vampires turned to the teacher. "If there is any truth to that claim, you’ll stop this immediately."

The fighting pair stopped and waited to hear what she had to say. "Buffy is in love with Spike." Angel started to resume the fight, but Jenny put a hand on his recoiled arm to stay him. "That is HER choice, Angelus."

"You’ve tricked her somehow," Angel accused Spike.

"Not bloody likely. Haven’t told her everything, but been myself ‘round her." Spike glared daggers at Angel. "No trick there. Girl just liked me’s all."

"If I find out you’ve touched her, Spike, I’ll make you WISH I’d staked you today." Angel stalked out of the library in a fury.

Buffy entered before the door stopped swinging shut. "Hi, guys. What’s up? Was that Angel I just passed in the hall?"