Chapter 8
“Anyanka!”
Rebecca jumped up and moved forward to embrace her “I’m so pleased that there’s
someone else I know still around.” She linked her arm through Anya’s and
started to pull her forward “How long have you been an emissary. Things must really have changed. How’s D’Hoffran?” Rebecca stopped in front of the sofa “Anya
I’d like you to meet William.” Rebecca smiled broadly “My husband”
Spike
grinned up from his seat wiggling his fingers at her “’ello luv.”
Anya
looked back and forth between the pair her eyes round with amazement “Spike is
William! As in your William?” Anya smiled at Rebecca “Let me see if I remember
correctly…The most incredible, amazing, loving, sensitive man that every
existed…he writes the most beautifully romantic poetry and has these amazing
blue eyes you could just stare into forever…That William”
Rebecca
blushed as Anya repeated the words she had used to describe William. “Yes
Anyanka ...That William.”
Anya eyed
Spike speculatively “I see you left a few important things out of your
description.” She turned to Rebecca and
added bluntly “Was he good in bed? You
weren’t married the last time we spoke.”
Rebecca’s
face flamed even redder however she leaned over to whisper in Anya’s ear
“Incredible.”
Anya
smiled widely “Have you had sexual intercourse since you’ve been back. He is a vampire now. They have the most incredible stamina you
know and the whole not needing to breathe thing.” she gave Rebecca a wink
“Definitely a plus.”
Spike
stared up at her amazed; if he’d been human his face would have been the same
colour as Rebecca’s
Giles
cleared his throat behind them “Um perhaps we could attend to the matter at
hand and you could leave the
...umm…catching up until a later time.”
“Giles!”
Anya exclaimed happily and started to walk towards him. Then she spotted Xander staring at her in
amazement “Oh you’re still here.
Shouldn’t you have run away by now?
You’re very good at that.” Anya
glared at him in disgust.
Xander
snapped out of the daze he had been in since he had first seen his
ex-fiancé. He jumped up reaching out to
pull on her arm “An, An, I’m so sorry please forgive me. I still love you.”
Anya
wrenched her arm from her grasp “SORRY SORRY, you left ME at the alter Xander.”
She moved away from him and stood directly in front of Giles, taking a moment
to compose herself. “Giles you called me
to help you, but I CANNOT work with that...that … MAN in the same room. Please get rid of him.”
Giles
sighed “Xander could you please go …..” he thought for a moment. He had no idea what to do with Xander “be
somewhere else.”
Dawn
jumped up and grabbed his arm “Come on Xander lets go get
some…..umm…doughnuts.” She tugged him
towards the front door leaving the others to deal with Anya.
The door
closed with a thud as the two went in search of sugary goodness.
Anya
seemed to relax visibly as soon as Xander left the room; she turned to face the
others “I see I have a lot of catching up to do.
Anya gave
a sharp nod “Good” she turned back to Giles “Shall we get on with it?” Anya moved forward pulling an ornate necklace
from her pocket and placing it around her neck; she sat down, straight backed
and regally surveyed those before her.
“I am Anyanka chosen emissary of Midian.
Who has called me forth?”
Rebecca
moved picked up the bowl that was used for the spell, she kneeled before Anya
holding the bowl out towards her “I have called you emissary.” Anya reached out
to touch the bowl with both hands. “I am Rebecca the Vampire Slayer. I have need of your counsel.”
Anya
looked at Rebecca for a moment before intoning softly “Cruentus antiquitas.”
The water
once again began to swirl turning a deep rich red.
Spike
leaned forward inhaling sharply. The
scent of blood emanating from the bowl was almost overpowering. His demon was clamouring to come out.
Anya
bought the bowl up to her lips drinking deeply before handing it back to
Rebecca her lips now glowed red from the traces of blood left on them.
Rebecca
also drank deeply from the bowl of coopery liquid before she rose and
approached Giles. “You have to drink or
you can’t take part in the meeting.”
Giles looked ill as he took the bowl from her “You have to take a large
mouthful and you can’t wipe of lick the blood from your lips until the meeting
is over.”
Giles
closed his eyes tightly as he drank hurriedly before handing the bowl
back.
Rebecca
moved to where Spike sat. “You can only take one mouthful William” she looked
at him in concern “Can you do that?”
Spike
shifted uncomfortably the sight of blood on the other’s lips mixed with the
intoxicating scent of the blood had his demon was screaming for release. He concentrated on pushing his demon back
down before nodding.
Rebecca
handed the bowl to him whispering “Remember, you can’t remove it from your
lips.”
Spike
gulped down a large helping before roughly shoving the bowl away. He had never tasted anything like it
before. The mixture was like
concentrated slayer blood he could feel the magic and power coursing through
it. The temptation to lick his lips was
overwhelming; he clenched his fists tightly as he once again struggled with his
demon.
Anya
watched the others as they drank, pleased at how Spike kept control of his
demon. Rebecca moved to sit in front of
her once again nodding that they were ready to continue.
“Defendo
nobis” The blood on their lips glowed brightly and a wave of magical energy
raced through the room.
“What was
that?”
“That was
a protection spell” Anya relished the feeling of the power flowing through her
“Of sorts”
Rebecca
once again moved to sit beside Spike on the sofa “The ritual protects the
meeting. While the blood remains on our
lips, the words we speak are protected. Only those who have participated in the
ritual can hear what is being said.”
“We only
have a short time so ask your questions” Anya hurried them along.
Giles
spoke first “Well obviously since you’re here the peaceful communities still exist”
Anya
nodded “Only Midian remains the others were wiped out during the last Great
War.” Anya thought for a moment “That was around the early 1900’s. It moves around to avoid detection.”
“Great
War, as in World War I?” questioned
“No
before that, it was a war between humans and demons.” Anya looked at Rebecca
“Most of them didn’t see it coming, after all we had worked with the Watchers
for centuries. They just walked in one
day and started killing. Women,
children, even the human mates of some of the demons.” Anya shuddered at the memory. “It was very organised; communities all over
the world were exterminated at the same time.”
Rebecca
stared at Anya “Why would they do that?”
Anya
shrugged “No one knew. I heard later
that a few months before there had been some sort of demon attack on the
council. It was said that the demon
representatives just walked in and started killing. It was never confirmed because all those
accused were dead.”
“What
about The Slayer what was her reaction to what was happening?” Rebecca was feeling sick at the thought of
her many demon friends dying at the hands of those that were supposed to help
protect them.
“After
you died The Slayers never seemed to last more than a few years. Just before everything started to get really
bad there were three or four all killed within a few months each other. Their deaths were quite brutal and always
close to one of the communities.”
“Someone
was trying to overthrow the council from the inside” they turned to look at
Giles “It makes sense. If you want to
take over the council and control The Slayer what better way.” Giles leaned forward his head in his hands.
Anya
patted him on the back awkwardly “Yes many that are left in Midian believe that
is so, but their numbers are too small to do anything about it.” She turned to look at Buffy “Especially if
The Slayer doesn’t believe that it is possible for a demon to be good.”
Buffy had
started to pace the room “So this is what has happened.” She began to check
points off on her fingers “Someone, most likely from within the council,
started what? Setting up Slayers so they
got killed of quickly.”
“Why?”
“Well it
sounds as though they were trying to make it look like the peaceful demons
weren’t so peaceful after all. I mean
you did say that the bodies were found near the communities.” Giles theorised.
“Oh Oh
also maybe they were also trying to get a Slayer called that they could
control” added
Giles
nodded in agreement.
Buffy
started again “Ok so they had a Slayer that they could control, next would be
to get rid of the demons within the council.”
“Not only
demons luv.” Spike looked at Anya “I’d say that anyone they believed would be a
problem was wiped out. Probably only
left behind the ones still wet behind the ears.
Easier to control that way.”
“Then
they used that as an excuse to remove any resistance from the outside.” Buffy sat down suddenly very depressed “With
all the obstacles out of the way they could do anything they liked.” She looked
at Giles “Like changing records to show whatever they want.”
“It seems
that way” Giles felt the need for a large glass of scotch. “And the most likely
suspect is…”
“Quentin
Travers” they all cried in unison.
“But that
doesn’t make any sense” Buffy said “I know he’s like way old, but he’s not that
old.”
“Yes it
does seem quite an elaborate plan to set in motion just for someone else to
reap the benefits.” Giles knew he was
missing something but couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Spike
looked at them in disgust “Hello! Have
we all forgotten that Quentin Travers is a DEMON?”
Spike and
Rebecca stared at the others in disbelief.
How could they forget that piece of information?
“Well
that explains a lot” stated Anya, then she frowned “Why didn’t I sense it?”
“He’s a
Dretgo” Rebecca said reassuringly.
“Well no
wonder then”
The
others still stared at them “Huh! Wha! Huh!” Buffy still had no idea what being
a Dretgo meant.
Giles
removed his glasses and began to clean them AGAIN “It would be most helpful if
you could…Damn!” he looked down at his broken glasses in disgust before tossing
them onto the coffee table. “Could you explain to us what a Dretgo demon
is? Oh and
“Dretgo’s
are basically human, they look human, smell human” Rebecca slid a look at Spike
“Taste human but they are most definitely NOT human.”
“The main
differences are...well… they’re evil.
They also live for about 5000 years”
“So
Travers was likely part of the council back in the 1800”s. Wouldn’t someone notice him not aging?”
“Well
actually no. Dretgo’s regenerate about
every 50 years, they age normally until they are about 75 then they go through
this metamorphoses and change back to look about 25.”
“Then
what….pass themselves off as a relative?”
Rebecca
and Anya looked at each other uncomfortably “Yes that is what they do; they
usually pass themselves of as a son or daughter.”
“Wouldn’t
someone notice if a child all of a sudden showed up out of nowhere?”
“Well
it’s not exactly out of nowhere.”
Rebecca didn’t want to have to explain this but it needed to be
done. She grasped onto Spike for
support. “When two Dretgo’s mate it’s
for life, however they do take human mates as well. The human never knows that their husband or
wife is a demon. The Dretgo always picks
a fertile mate and breeds with them.
They will breed until the correct gender is born; any half human
children that are born and are not the correct sex or are born with a defect
are killed within a few months.” Rebecca
shifted in her seat “Once the ideal child has been born the Dretgo will then
cosset that child and its human mate.
Keeping them healthy and safe at all costs. They usually try and time it so that the
child will be in its mid twenties by the time they need to metamorphose.”
Anya took
up the story “When the Dretgo reaches its time to transform it will take its
human family to a place of ritual where it will meet up with its demon
mate. The family is restrained and
during the ritual the child is consumed by the parent, enabling the parent to
take on the child’s form. The human mate
is then eaten alive by the Dretgo’s in celebration.”
The room
was deathly silent as the Scoobies digested this information. Silent tears streamed down the girls faces
and Giles was looking decidedly ill.
Buffy
composed herself “We have to stop this.
We have to wipe them from the face of the earth” her hands curled into
fists at her side and she felt the overwhelming need to hit something. She unconsciously looked towards Spike at
that thought before once again looking away in shame.
“Anya is
it possible for us to enlist the aid of the residents of Midian?” Giles was
already trying to form some kind of battle plan.
“I will
speak to the elders when I return. Does
anyone have any more questions?” Anya was tired and wanted to be able to
relax. Her back was killing her from
having to sit so straight.
“Um I
just have one”
Rebecca
answered for Anya “Vengeance demons aren’t evil, they’re neutral. It depends on the wish you make.”
“You wish
it, I dish it” commented Anya “And they sent me because I know Buffy. Less likely to be slayed if you know the
Slayer.”
Just then
Xander and Dawn returned from their snack run.
Xander's eye’s lit up when he saw Anya was still there. “Anya please just hear me out, let me
explain.”
Anya
jumped up and started to shout, unfortunately as the spell was still in effect
so all Xander saw was Anya gesturing wildly and moving her mouth with no sound
coming out.
Anya
stamped her foot in frustration “You can all break the spell now, just wipe the
blood from your lips.” She reached for a
tissue when she noticed how Spike and Rebecca were removing theirs.
Spike’s
lips were on fire the feel of the potent blood on them had been driving him
crazy. He quickly darted his tongue out
to lick his lips clean when he caught sight of Rebecca’s blood red lips. He gently caught her face and moved his mouth
towards hers; he ran his tongue across her soft lips lapping at the blood like
a kitten at milk. When her lips were
free of all traces he covered her mouth with his letting his tongue search for
any traces that may have been left. The
couple groaned and deepened their kiss.
Anya
looked at the others,
Giles was
desperately trying to avoid looking at the couples while he searched for
something to clean his own lips with.
Anya stood there staring at his full lips, Xander completely forgotten. A speculative look filled her eyes and she
moved forward to sit on his lap “Let me get that for you”. Anya let her tongue
move softly across Giles’s lips until she felt his body relax then she pressed
her lips against his seeking entrance into his mouth with her tongue.
Xander
felt like his heart was breaking as he watched Anya kiss Giles; he whirled
round and rushed out. Even the slam of
the door didn’t register to the kissing couples.
Buffy
clutched her knees close to her chest as she watched the three couples
kissing. Her eyes kept moving back to
Spike and Rebecca, she felt a knot form in her chest as tears started to fill
her eyes. Suddenly she jumped up and
rushed upstairs a sob bursting forth as she reached the bathroom and proceeded
to scrub the blood from her lips.
Dawn just stood in the doorway staring at the couple trying to memorise just what it was they were doing to each other to elicit those tiny moany sounds. She really needed to write some of this stuff down so she and Janice could work out what to do if they ever got boyfriends.