DISCLAIMER: Not mine, don't sue.
TIMELINE: About a year after Angel left Sunnydale
SPOILERS: Just say the first three seasons of BtVS, just to be safe.
SYNOPSIS: As it turns out, Buffy's not the only Chosen One.
DISTRIBUTION: Anyone who has permission for my other stories can take this, as well.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I wrote this waaaaay back toward the middle of season three, as soon as rumors about Angel moving to Los Angeles began to emerge. It was my first multi-part, and took almost six months to complete. And it still isn't very good. *grin* I have, however, only made really MINOR revisions to the original manuscript, just because my grammar was so bad, I couldn't STAND it! My many thanks to so many teachers in writing and life, that I've met since this story was first written: Shirley, Anja, Ria, rosi, Deb, Pia, Ivy, Garnet, and Angela, most especially... thank you, guys!
FEEDBACK: Well, YEAH!
RATING: R for language, violence, and adult situations

Prologue

From the Journal of Constance Marie Kryten, Watchers' Council of Britain

April 15, 2247

The books of Be'lheran have recently come into my possession, and they serve perfectly as the backdrop of the story of Angel, the first restored vampire, whose legend Dr. Johnson introduced me to several months ago (see Vol. 27, 4.) These rare volumes, in addition to the journals of Watchers Rupert Giles and Wesley Windham Price, complete the framework for the three-dimensional portrait I hope to build of this amazing and sympathetic creature.

The man known as Angelus, is said to have been born to a house of Irish nobility around 1734, in County Galway, although accounts of the exact date vary. So too do reports of his turning by an infamous vampire named Darla, around 1753, when Angelus was 19 years old. The demon now in Angelus' body became a notorious mass murderer, driving a bloody path across Europe for nearly 150 years. He was known, during that time, as being particularly cruel and vicious, playing psychological games with his intended victims -- killing their friends and family, for example -- before killing or turning them. Angelus dropped out of vampire lore for some 100 years, until he was encountered once again by the Watcher, Rupert Giles in 1997. (Slayer - Buffy Summers, Location: Sunnydale, California, USA.)

Mr. Giles recounts Angelus' (now known as "Angel") own recounting of his soul's restoration by a clan of Gypsies from the Romany province of Eastern Europe in 1898, which explains his disappearance. Such magicks were once thought to be plentiful among the magickians of the world, but were once again lost. Angel is said to have suffered blinding guilt and torment during his self-imposed exile, having regained his conscience along with his soul, while still retaining the memory of the entirety of his years as the demon, Angelus.

Sometime in the late 20th century (approximately 1997), Angelus was tracked down by a lower-demon, a chaotic-good creature known as The Whistler, who encouraged the vampire to do something with his rather sad, pathetic life. By way of support for Angel, the Whistler pointed him to witness the calling of the next Slayer, Mr. Giles' Buffy Summers.

Ms. Summers was a Slayer of some repute for a number of reasons, not the least of which was her involvement with Angel. This Slayer was unique in several ways, the most noteworthy being:

1.) Her troupe of friend/helpers, known popularly in the literature as "The Slayerettes" or "The Scooby Gang", known by name as Willow Rosenburg (Now Watcher), Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, and a musician/werewolf known only as "Oz."

2.) Her unique operating style, relying more on instinct and wit than convention.

3.) Her familial relationship with her Watcher, the aforementioned Mr. Giles. In fact, Mr. Giles was dismissed from his duties as Watcher due to just that reason.

4.) Her notoriety among the citizens of Sunnydale. She was widely known as a protector of her fellow classmates, who honored her with the title "Class Protector".

5.) Her insistence on maintaining some semblance of what she considered a "normal life" -- attending public school and college, dating, marrying, etc. It is posited that this was the result of a rather late onset of training.

6.) Her resounding success against many formidable opponents, most notably, The Master and the Mayor of Sunnydale, as well as a number of run-ins with the resurrected demon, Angelus.

7.) Her death and subsequent rebirth, resulting in what is now known as the "Slayer Paradox", wherein there are two Slayers, when convention has called for only one.

8.) She was the first (and only, to my knowledge) Slayer to resign from the position, refusing to take guidance from the Council, and effectively being the first Slayer to "retire" by a manner other than death.

and, frankly:

9.) Her long lifespan. Buffy Summers married, produced and raised two children, and died at the age of 100 years, of heart failure.

Ms. Summers' importance to the story of Angel is rather astounding, as the aforementioned journals can attest. The pair were the foundation and spark of the "End Days" of humanity, and the "Dark Wars" of the vampire kingdom. The recounting given in my research, I believe, is the most complete of the Prophecies of Angelus currently available. To understand them is to understand the continuing evolution of humanity, as well as our ever-confounding relationship to the creatures known as vampires.

The late 20th and early 21st centuries were a time of great change in the Earth and all Her creatures. I find that the tale of Angel haunts me, and I am unable to even back away from it for even a short while...

CMK 4/15/47

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter One- Lost and Found

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else-Emerson

Buffy was screaming -- he could hear her cries clearly through the heavy fog that surrounded the scene. When he arrived in the clearing, the sight that met his eyes made him question whether he'd ever returned from Hell at all. The six-headed Hellmouth Demon had Buffy clenched in one set of its of powerful jaws.

"Don't leave me, Angel! I NEED YOU!" She screamed, and the sound of it tore through his ears like shards of glass...

...the pain in his soul was worse...

"Buffy!" he yelled her name, over and over, but with no effect. He struggled to run to her aid, but he found he wasn't a part of the moment at all -- he was somewhere else, and he could not move, despite his best efforts.

The demon used its tentacles to tear at her flesh. Terror etched every detail of her face -- a terrible look Angel knew he would take with him to his grave... if he ever had one. With a final, gut-wrenching scream, she exploded into a shower of gore, which sprayed over him, coating him in the scent of her death... the scent of hunger and loss, the scent of pain...

"NOOOOOOO!" he screamed.

Angel woke with a start, sweating, panting, drained. The nightmare was always like this. He'd had it virtually every night since he left Sunnydale... left Buffy... left what he had been so sure had been his destiny...

He sat up in bed and looked forlornly around the apartment. It looked more or less like all of the others he'd had over the years -- dark, sparse, lonely...

He sighed. Now loneliness was his destiny -- to continue the work he and the Slayer shared -- but hundreds of miles away from her, alone.

"Buffy..." he whispered to the empty room.

******

She could smell him. He wore some rich, earthy oil on his skin rather than the cologne that was so fashionable these days. But she could smell other things in his air, too; like death, and longing, tragic sorrow and regret... and just a hint of fear.

She smiled to herself. It was as she expected -- Some ancient part of him knew she was there. Her goal was near at hand.

She descended the stairs into the basement.

*****

Feeding was automatic, now, the goblet of fresh pig's blood taunting him as he watched the thick gore spin in the glass. He heard a noise and looked up from his meal. "Finger lickin' good," Buffy used to say.

He shook his head to clear it of thoughts of her. It didn't work. It never did. But he had learned to ignore them... sometimes.

What he couldn't ignore were the sounds coming from the hallway outside his apartment -- Los Angeles was dangerous, even for a vampire. All manner of evils walked, crawled, and slithered the night -- and not all of them were monsters in the classic Lon Chaney/Bela Lagosi sense. Angel was no more fond of psychopathic crackheads than he was of flesh-eating demons.

He crept quietly (full "stealth-guy" mode -- he cringed at yet another Buffy thought) toward the door. Poised, ready for a fight -- ready for anything -- he flung it open.

What he wasn't ready for was the vision that stood before him -- the most stunning woman he had ever seen, and he had seen a lot of them. She was barely an inch shorter than his 6 foot 1, with a ton of thick, red hair, deep, blue eyes and a regal bearing. She smiled warmly at him.

Angel didn't relax his guard.

"Yes?" He asked the vision. He noticed immediately that she smelled...well... undead, under her expensive perfume, and there was a distinct hum of magick about her.

"Hello, Angel. I'm Dana."

*****

Her voice was thick velvet, like the blood red fabric of her dress. Her blue eyes seemed to draw him, her pale skin fairly glowed in the dark of the basement, so fine and thin that he could see tiny blue veins pulsing under the flesh of her throat.

He mistrusted her immediately.

"You're a vampire," he informed her.

She cocked a wry eyebrow at him. "Excellent instincts, my dear..." She purred, and immediately moved around him, coolly intending on entering his lair.

Only he pushed back, not budging. They stood nose to nose, Angel growling menacingly.

Dana laughed in his face.

"Aren't you the disagreeable fellow..." She laughed again, and licked the tip of Angel's nose, causing him to jump halfway across the room.

He made a frightened yelping noise as he looked up at the titian-haired demon again. Dana moved into the room, undaunted, looking around, touching the artifacts, examining the photographs, sketches and paintings. She clearly felt justified in being there.

`Uninvited,' Angel thought.

He glared at her, growling. He was fully vamped, his limbs twitching as if her were struggling to attack her. She remained unruffled, turning to where he was frozen in space.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Angelus. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean *Angel*," she said with a patronizing sneer. She was grinning at him, firing his fury all the more. He struggled to calm his nerves, regaining his composure and returned to his human face, still tense, and struggling against his invisible bonds. Finally, she released him, and he stumbled momentarily.

"Why don't I believe that?" he said, regaining his footing, and rushed her.

She turned away from him with a haughty toss of her hair, and he bounced off of the air several feet from her back, smashing into the wall behind him. He lay on the floor, groaning softly.

"Angel," she said quietly, not bothering to turn and face him, "Please... you are only hurting *yourself*. I simply want to talk to you... can't you spare me just a few moments of your eternal life?"

He sat, glaring at her, bristling at her sarcasm, saying nothing.

"Fine, then. I'll take that as a yes." she said.

Dana made herself comfortable on his couch. She crossed her long legs, relaxed, and smiled at him again.

"My dear, I am here to change your life." She said with an impish smile.

*****

"You have been laboring under the impression that you are alone -- the only vampire with a soul and a positive agenda around.. Well, I'm here to tell you that you are mistaken. And greatly so.

You see, Angel, what no one has ever told you... mostly because hardly anyone knows... is that there are millions of us, all over the world. Vampires that for one reason or another choose not to, or simply can't be, killers -- who choose to walk quietly and peacefully alongside the living -- among them... and over the centuries we have banded together to form a society of our own. I estimate in L.A. alone there are close to a hundred thousand of us -- around the world there are millions more. We choose to live under the decisions made by a democratically elected Council of elders, and offer support, companionship, services... anything a vampire could need if one chose to live this way. We have our own education system, careers, homes, even families, of sorts... we are teachers, scientists, musicians -- a whole world of people who walk the night... and none of us hunts living creatures for food."

Angel sat, shocked. He shook his head.

"Why haven't I ever heard of this before?"

"For a number of reasons. One, you are too young, really... it is rare for anyone under 500 years old to be approached by the Council... two, the Council didn't think it was appropriate to approach you considering your... uh... colorful history. You see, Angel, we are VERY careful about who we inform of our existence. It is, after all, how we have managed to survive all these many centuries. First you were a monster among monsters, and then, you were the consort of a Slayer."

"Buffy?" There was that pain again...

Dana gave him a pointed look. "She may have been your lover, Angel, but she is still a killer of vampires. It is rare for any of our kind to be obvious enough for the Slayer to pay us any heed, but there *have* been instances in the past...."

He nodded. He imagined there would have been. Buffy wasn't exactly one to take the time to get to know her enemies before she staked them...

"So you can see why you are not a favorite with the Council. I should not even be here, by rights... I have been forbidden to contact you. But you are an important man, and I feel you have been done a great wrong..."

She seemed to hesitate suddenly, as if catching herself saying something she shouldn't...

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

She shook her head, recovering quickly. "Considering what you have been through, you should have been contacted long ago, in my opinion..."

Angel was silent for a long time. He couldn't believe this was happening, it had to be some kind of trick...

But what if it wasn't?

"How do you possibly expect me to believe any of this? You force your way into my home, attack me, and then tell me this? Why? Who are you?"

She regarded him seriously for a few moments.

"I told you, my name is Dana."

He was unimpressed. "That means nothing to me. That doesn't tell me why you're here or how you know so much about me..."

"Granted. But there are many things I simply can't tell you..."

"Then how about telling me what you can?"

"Alright..." She smiled again, "I have the powers that I have because I am very old, and have been a Witch since my days as a mortal..."

"How old?" Angel interrupted.

"What?"

"You said you were very old. How old *are* you?" He could smell her age like blood beneath her flowery perfume, like the scent of fine wine left long aging in a cool cellar.

"That's not a very polite question to ask a lady..." she quipped.

He scowled at her.

"Fine... well, I am about 2500 years old, give or take a century..."

Angel's eyebrows shot up.

She smiled and went on, "I am telling you this, as I said, because I felt it was time that you knew."

"How do you even know who I am?"

"I've been watching you, Angel, for a long time. I knew about you long before you, or even your ancestors, were born. There are prophecies, you see... prophecies written at the beginning of mortal time, prophecies no one but the highest born, oldest immortals have ever seen... incredible stories of our existence. And in some of them, you are a prominent figure... you and your Slayer... I have studied these prophecies for more centuries than I can count. These days that we walk in are important ones -- what happens to us now will guide the future of all the races of the Earth...and your fate is the key..."

Angel was confused. All of this sounded wrong, to him... like a bad movie...

"Millions of vampires..." he recapped incredulously, "and a 2500 year old Witch."

He stared at her, and she held his gaze, unwavering. His jaw worked nervously, and she noticed his eyes were still wide, his breathing slightly heavy.

She rose from her seat and crossed the room to him, reaching out her fine, fair hand and gently caressing his temple. He immediately felt filled with warmth and caring... like being touched by a cherished lover. He snapped his head away to break the obvious magick and frowned at her. She did not move away, but continued to hold his angry stare with soft concern.

"Angel, I want to show you... I want you to have the life that you've always longed for -- with friends, a home, a shared purpose. I want for you not to have to feel so incredibly alone anymore... I want for you to be happy and content... whole. I want to help you fulfill your destiny."

His face became suddenly, profoundly, sad. "I can never be truly happy," he said.

Her face registered sympathetic amusement. She smiled widely.

"You would be surprised, my dear one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Two-The Council

"Politics consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable..." - John Galbraith

"You have broken your sacred vow, Dannan. The situation you have created is *UNACCEPTABLE*!"

The elder's voice thundered through the cavernous meeting hall, causing the chandeliers to rattle and the gathered audience to whisper and mumble excitedly in the gallery.

Dana sat in her huge chair at the head of the Council table, looking unconcerned as she casually smoothed a wrinkle in her black velvet robe. She had expected such a reaction -- worse, actually. But she was not about to let this impertinent whelp talk to her like an underling.

She looked up slowly, regarding each vampire at the table with a hard glare... she projected a personal thought to each of the 20 of them. When her examination reached the elderly woman at her left, she paused, looking into the woman's eyes with an ancient trust, and the woman returned Dana's gaze with concern, but she knew there was nothing she could do for the woman she considered her daughter. Dannan was the Prelate of the Council -- she was a big girl, and besides -- the law was the law, and she was as much bound by it as any other citizen, despite her age and power.

"Dannan, do not try to work your magicks on us! You will not sway us from our decision, nor distract us from the law! Your contact with Angelus violates one of our most ancient laws... one that you were directly involved in creating! It puts the future of our whole RACE at risk, and it spits in the face of all we have worked toward. You have acted like an impetuous child, and your selfish dalliance must end! Or... you will be punished..."

Dana's gaze coolly turned toward Martonius... he was barely 1/5 of her age... she smiled with obvious disdain, distaste, and more than a little impatience at his angry grey stare.

"Do not presume to threaten me, Martonius." She said calmly, "I am well aware that none of you are pleased with my decision, but that is of little matter to me. The prophecy cannot be thwarted -- Be'lheran has never written one word that did not come to pass. Angelus will fulfill his destiny, and all of our arrogance and deceit will not discourage him."

She sat back and sighed deeply, regarding her ringed, carefully manicured hands with apparent lack of concern about the proceedings, but continued.

"Besides, As the humans say, `the cat is out of the bag'. Angelus will not rest now until he finds the truth. The events of the prophecy are coming to pass, as written. Despite what we have done to try and stand in the way."

"NO!" Shouted Martonius, "I will NOT allow this!"

"You will not allow it?" Dana mocked, "and what do you propose to do -- throw your tiny being in the way of a destiny bigger than anything we can imagine; one that is bearing down on us like a freight train?" She laughed. "I would be FASCINATED to see you try."

"You insolent BITCH!" He roared, charging around the table toward her. She sat, unruffled, as he barreled into her energy field. Several court guards approached and began remove him, but Dana shook her head and waved them off.

"You are acting like a child, Martonius," said Rachan, another councilman -- a wise Roman only barely Dana's junior.

"The child that he is...", Dana mocked.

Martonius gave her a panther-growl and returned to his seat.

Rachan scowled at Dana, "Dannan, do not be so quick to judge... Martonius is at least correct in his assessment of your actions toward Angelus."

Dana cocked her eyebrow sarcastically, "Do you suggest the Council send me to my room?"

A third councilwoman, Arisha, spoke up, "Dana, you have been a leader of our people for time immemorial. But you have acted rashly..."

"And against the express wishes of the council... based on a democratic vote that was nearly unanimous...", her foster Mother, Erishka, said.

"Not you, too, mother..." Dana whispered.

A young-looking girl, Dana's companion, Maella, rose and move around the table to stand at Dana's right shoulder. "Dana is right. Fate cannot be thwarted... at least not for long... Angelus would have found his way to his destiny with or without her intervention. But this way, at least we have some control over his actions... at least we know exactly what he is up to... perhaps we can make this time a little less violent...the transition less disastrous."

Dana looked up at the blonde girl and smiled warmly.

"Did anyone ASK the opinion of a SERVANT GIRL???" shouted Bennic, a member of Martonius' inner circle of dissenters. The group insisted that vampires were the superior race of beings upon the Earth, and objected to any idea of a shared existence. They belonged to the Society and the Council out of safety and convenience only, and constantly struggled to convince the others that *ruling* humans was the proper way to deal with them, rather than hiding hiding in the shadows like frightened newborns. They were also elitist within vampire society, believing certain clans of vampires superior to others, and disdaining those they felt were below them. The democratic nature of the council was a particular thorn in their sides, and the prophecies of the change in vampire society, the ones involving Angelus, were a source of great fear.

Dana shot daggers at him with her eyes.

Another council member offered, "All have a right to speak at Council. It is written."

Martonius said, "It is also written that Angelus will *DESTROY* us! And you all act as if Dannan had violated a traffic regulation! She has unleashed our extinction upon us! It is only a matter of time before Angelus discovers the wrong done to him by this very council, and use it as a means of annihilating us!!!!"

"Don't be such a drama queen, Martonius." Dana quipped. She stood to address the gathering. "I offer three cheers to Mr. Overreaction, people, but let us not fool ourselves into thinking we can avert our eventual," she shot another look at Martonius, "...evolution. All things pass away -- it is the way of nature, and we are not immune to it. Death makes way for new life..."

"We are not FLOWERS, Dannan!" Martonius' partner, an equally angry young woman named Christiana, added, "We do not bloom in the sun and wither and die at the end of a summer! We are IMMORTAL!!! We, more than any other creature in existence, have control over our destinies -- individual AND collective! Do not try to smooth over your crime with platitudes of "the circle of life"! You took a sacred vow, as did we all, that whether Angelus met his destiny or no, we may not be able to control, but we agreed we would NEVER offer our assistance. Because he is a favorite of yours does not make him any less our mortal enemy!"

Dana rolled her eyes.

The man to Dana's right had remained thoughtful and quiet throughout the proceeding. Toloshan, one of the only vampires her senior on the council, offered his wisdom from beneath furrowed brow.

"While it is true that Dana has broken a vow, it is also true that she only took it grudgingly to begin with, and because she was forced to do so. She has studied the Be'lheran scriptures since before the time of your ancestors." He addressed the table and rose so that the gallery could hear, "She, more than any of us, understands the prophecies of Angelus. It is she who has followed his life. So, we must conclude that it is she who best knows how to handle him."

"But when her curse comes to bear, Toloshan, what then? Who will feed her boy-dog when she is dust?" Martonius snarled.

"I don't propose to control him, Martonius, only to guide him." Dana said.

Toloshan looked back at her, "All the same, Dannan, we must forbid you to tell him explicitly of his destiny or our role in it. And if you should find them, we must forbid you to provide him with the means of fulfilling that destiny. If the Angelus Prophecies should come to pass, they will do so without your magickal assistance."

"How dare you?" Dana finally felt anger slipping through her cool facade, "How dare you forbid me from doing ANYTHING for Angelus, when it is YOU who have broken our laws and meddled in prophesied affairs at the outset!!! You have done Angelus an incredible injustice, and for what??? To delay our extinction by a year? Two? You robbed him of his rightful place at Council, at my side... you robbed him of his right to live among his own kind. You have caused him pain beyond imagining! And you dare to tell me you FORBID me to offer him some small comfort -- some sorely needed counsel and guidance??? He is the last, the youngest, and the most noteworthy of us -- whatever the final product of his life, he is still our brother!"

Silence prevailed for several minutes.

"You may love him, Dannan, but he is still a murderer of our people. And the `product of his life', as you say, is the eventual extinction of our entire species." Christiana said with disdain.

"Not our extinction," Dana replied, "our evolution."

"Whatever you choose to call it," Erishka piped in, "The end result is the same. However, the cat, as you put it, is out of the bag. What is done is done. There is naught we can do about it now, but continue to watch Angelus carefully. Without the Magicks of Incarnation, he might still not meet his destiny in the way we think...and" She turned to Dana with a pointed look, "I am certain that not even Dannan will break that vow."

Toloshan nodded. "It is so. I suggest that Dannan continue to interact with Angelus -- to do what she can to prevent his returning to Sunnydale and the Slayer." He turned to Dana, "You will stay with him -- teach him our ways. Keep him out of trouble, so to speak. Your sacred duty now is to protect our kind from him, even as you take him into our fold. Until your death, you will be his guide... doing your best to steer him away from the Incantations... Does this meet with your satisfaction, Dannan?"

"It does." She said -- it didn't, she thought. She knew it wasn't enough. She knew that she must work to restore Angel to the life he was meant to lead -- the life her people had stolen from him in their fear. It was the council's greatest hubris, and she would move mountains to see it reversed.

"Fine. Then we are agreed." Toloshan said, "I move that the council be adjourned."

Dana agreed, and as prelate, this marked the end of a tense meeting.

******

Dana, Erishka and Maella strolled arm in arm through the throngs of vampires leaving the main council chamber and spilling out into the halls.

"Another fun day at work." Maella quipped. She had been Dana's companion for some 200 years, nearly 1/3 of her life. She respected Dana; shared her vision of the evolution of their race. She also knew of Dana's special affinity for Angelus, and agreed that what the council had done to him was a horrible crime. However, she also greatly feared one so young who wielded so much power, especially if he was the consort of a Slayer.

Dana and Erishka, on the other hand, knew that Slayers were only people, in the end, and held little fear of them. Between the two of them, they had seen the rise and fall of hundreds of the Sisterhood, or more. So long as the souled ones kept to themselves, they had little to fear from her. Angelus was another story. Erishka knew the whole history, as well, including Dana's feelings, the prophecies, and what the Council had done to the young vampire--she had been one of 5 to vote no on the proposition. Whatever happened to their race was the way of nature. While they should by no means be stupid about letting themselves be wiped out, Erishka felt it was wrong to interfere in the destinies of others. In other words, she was torn in this matter. Slayers and souled ones were usually a non-issue

"But this Slayer is different." She reminded her family aloud. "She is the most powerful of all. And Angelus' love of her will change the world"

Dana put her arm around her foster mother's shoulders, "Erishka, my dear mother, do you not think that I know that, down to my core? I knew Angelus for a thousand years before he was born. So, I know the boy he will do great things for us and for humanity. And you know full well" her smile faded slightly, "that it is only through the love of his Slayer that he is able to achieve his heights. He will be a great leader among us... a bridge between our world and that of the humans. The time for our isolation may soon be coming to an end."

"I know the prophecy, Dannan. I also know that his path will lead to the destruction of the peace we have worked for so many centuries to build. Many of our people will die. He is the reason the soul-restoring magicks have been lost, Dana... too many magicians feared his coming..."

"They are not lost, mother, remember? Not all of them. And those that were had nothing to do with the Angelus prophecies... Angel was restored once not so long ago by a mortal girl -- a companion of the Slayer."

"Dannan, sometimes your sentimentality is frightening. You are the only one who possesses the magicks to reverse what the council has wrought upon the Chosen and his Slayer."

"Mother, SH!" Maella cried.

"Yes, mother, please. If the council learned that I had deciphered the Spells of Incarnation, I would not get away with a reprimand or a shout-down from Martonius and his cronies. I have vowed not to use them, and use them I shan't... for now. There's no guarantee they would work, anyhow. There has never been anyone on which to test them. So don't worry so much." She kissed her mother on the cheek and took Maella's hand, "My dear family, I must be off. I have a date."

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