Rating: 12 (British style cos I'm not sure how American works)
Summary: Everything Willow holds dear is threatened.
Pairing: Willow/Spike (sorta)
Author's note: 1) I've played around with history and made it seem
that Willow has gone off to live elsewhere while the others have
pretty much kept to Sunnydale. Because of that you might be better
off thinking of this as a sort of an alternative universe. 2) Keep
in mind this was the first ever piece of fanfiction I wrote so there
are bound to be mistakes that I missed.
Disclaimer: None of the BtVS characters belong to me. They belong to
Joss, Mutant Enemy etc. Don't sue me; I'm a poor, poor student.
Dedication: This is to all my friends who have had to listen to me
drone on and on about writing this fanfic. Thank God you're all
patient people or I might very well be dead by now!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~Part: 1~
Giles looked over at the expectant faces of the two other watchers as they sipped at their cups of tea. Their gaze on him was steady and full of cautionary glances when they thought he was not looking. It was almost if they expected him to suddenly turn on them at any moment. Giles bet they both had stakes at the ready under the respective jackets of their suits.
Beneath the surface of his rational mind Ripper growled something about the fact that they should be bloody thanking him. If it weren’t for him the world would have gone to hell long ago – literally. But no, what did the silly bastards go and do? Fire him! The greatest bloody watcher that had...
The ex-watcher quickly suppressed the more irrational side to his personality knowing it would only lead to trouble if he let Ripper have his way in this conversation. He was having enough problems as it was without Ripper coming out to play.
“S-she shouldn’t be much longer,” Giles stuttered instantly regretting that he had let that slip past. Ripper never stuttered a tiny voice taunted.
“Oh good,” the annoyingly cheerful voice of Miss Harker replied with a surprise smile. Giles had come to the conclusion that she was the one actually in charge not long after these two reminders of his past had shown up on his doorstep an hour or so earlier. He couldn’t decide whether she was actually more inept than Wesley had been or whether it was simply an act to lull him into a false sense of security. Probably the latter if he knew the council.
“I don’t suppose that you would venture to tell me why you’re here?” he asked nervously. There’s no need for that he scolded himself. They’re just watchers not rampaging demons set on the destruction of the known world. Actually, maybe that would have been better...
“We would prefer to wait until the slayer is here Mr Giles,” Thorpe said in an ice-cold, steely voice. And I taught him how to be a watcher Giles thought with an inner sigh. Why the hell didn’t I see what a stuck-up little pillock he actually is?
“And I’m not sure that you understand quite how much Buffy dislikes the council Mr Thorpe. I really do think it would be better if you told me why you’re here and then I could relay the message to her. Give her time to adapt to the idea of the council being around again so to speak.”
“Really Mr Giles?” Thorpe asked in a snide, sarcastic tone. “And we should do that because you’re so very famous for following the wishes of the council when it comes to matters involving slayers?”
Giles chose to ignore the comment. “You’re making a grave mistake facing her head on like this,” he told them. “Really you should think about what I’ve said and…” He spun around at the sound of the door to his apartment opening and a small blond casually walking into the room followed by a taller dark haired young man.
“No way!” the man exclaimed. “Twinkies are much better than popcorn!”
An unfortunate audible sigh escaped Giles. Xander Harris, such a fine example of the tough, no mercy, highly ordered operation we’re running here. About as much as I am a Broadway musical star he added.
The room had fallen suddenly silent. Giles glanced back and forth between the little blond slayer and the two watchers uncomfortably aware that Buffy did not look at all happy at the sight of the two strangers.
“They better not be who I think they are Giles,” she said in low tones. All trace of the previous smile that had been upon her lips had disappeared from her face and there was nothing left but a blank, expressionless stare and glaring, bright eyes.
“Miss Summers…” Thorpe began.
“Don’t ‘Miss Summers’ me watcher!” Buffy exploded. “I’ve had quite enough of all of you to last me a life time and I don’t feel like hearing anymore. Ever!”
“If you would just let us explain,” Miss Harker said in her gentler timbre. She had stood from her position on the sofa and had stepped forwards a few paces towards the irate slayer. Giles took moved slightly towards Buffy himself wondering whether he would be able to stop the young woman if she completely lost control of her reason and decided to hit out at the watcher. His slayer’s hate of the council was legendary with both demons and watchers alike and he couldn’t help but wonder at the bravery of the representative of the latter of the two groups as she tried to talk to Buffy.
“Explaining is not an option. I was done with the watcher’s council a long time ago and I don’t ever plan to go back. You have your own pet slayer so just leave me to get on with my own business.”
Giles saw the Harker woman visibly cringe back from the angry slayer. “Please, Miss Summers its important,” the woman continued.
The fire in Buffy’s eyes grew. “Its always important with your people. Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Cara will of course be aiding us,” Thorpe said. “Our ‘pet slayer’ as you call her was actually the one to suggest that we come talk to you about this Miss Summers. If it was up to most of the council then you would never have known but Cara seems to think that you have some right to.”
“Wow! The council actually listening to what a slayer has to say. That has to be a first right Giles?”
“Buffy certainly does have a point,” he said attempting to bring some order back to the conversation even though he was rapidly losing his temper again. “The council already has a slayer – why would you need Buffy’s help?”
Thorpe stood and went to stand by the other watcher’s side. “Because this is something that appears to concern you as much as it does us in some peoples eyes.”
Buffy stared at him in disbelief. “Look do you actually have any brain cells mister? I don’t work for the council. I don’t ever plan to again. I hate them!”
“Not even if means saving Willow Rosenberg?” Harker asked.
~Part: 2~
The silence pulled out in the room and the tenseness of the situation only grew worse. Buffy collapsed back into chair. “Willow?” she asked weakly. “As in Willow Willow? As in my friend Willow?”
“I was to believe that you only knew one Willow, Miss Summers,” Harker said.
“I do. I just, well, we haven’t heard from her in so long.” The confused expression on the slayer’s face only became stronger as the shock at hearing her friend’s name mentioned started to fall away.
“Are you saying that she’s in some kind of danger?” Giles asked wondering why the council would care about Willow. He’d talked about her in his reports to the council before they had excommunicated him and he assumed that Wesley must have as well but he had never thought that they would actually take an interest in her. Instantly the ex-watcher regretted what he had written down about the young witch and given over to the council.
“Willow Rosenberg isn’t exactly the person that you all once knew,” Thorpe said cautiously but still holding onto his lofty tones. “She seems to have changed a great deal since she left Sunnydale.”
“Well of course she’s changed,” Xander interrupted. “Its almost five years since she left. You can’t expect a person to stay exactly the same for all that time.” There was growing apprehension in the young man’s stomach that he didn’t want to admit existed.
Miss Harker took a deep breath. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant Mr…”
“Harris,” Giles supplied at the woman’s pause.
“Mr Harris, even before Miss Rosenberg left Sunnydale we were aware that she had become interested in the practise of witchcraft and indeed was becoming quite proficient at it. Because of this and because of Miss Summer’s last watcher’s reports on her growing ability we thought it best to keep a close eye on her. At first there was some disagreement on whether we should spend council money on watching her. Some thought that she would quickly become bored with the practise after having left the Hellmouth and the slayer’s company. However, it seems they were wrong. Miss Rosenberg may have become involved with something that gives us all great cause for concern."
“Willow would never do anything to hurt anyone else,” Buffy said snapping out of the trance like stare and defending the girl she still thought of as her best friend.
Miss Harker took a deep breath. “I’m not saying that Miss Rosenberg is doing anything to hurt anyone else – not intentionally anyway. She may not be completely aware of what she is involved in. We do believe however that she needs help and because of her natural distrust of the council since, well, since you left our service, Cara among others I might add, thinks that it would be best if you were to approach her.”
“And this Cara wants to be involved too does she?” Buffy asked.
“Cara and her watcher would accompany you as well, yes,” Thorpe told her. “You have to understand that the council have a vested interest in this business.”
“I don’t suppose that you’d care to tell me what that is would you?” the slayer asked in a deceptively sweet voice.
“The council is always concerned with the safety of innocents Miss Summers.”
Buffy eyed the other woman carefully. “How experienced is this Cara? I don’t like working with people where I have to watch their backs constantly.”
“Cara has been a slayer for three years now Miss Summers. She has faced her fair share of trials and has passed them all with hardly a scratch.” Miss Harker looked up at Giles. “I believe that Mr Giles already knows her watcher, a man called Jonathan Skinner.”
The slayer glanced across at Giles who nodded. “He’s a good man Buffy. Indeed if it had not been for me then he could possibly even have been your watcher.”
Finally Buffy nodded her agreement. “If it’s for Willow I’ll help but that’s all I’ll do. Understand this I don’t work for you anymore and I never will and if I find out that you’re planning on hurting Willow then you won’t know what's hit you.”
~Part: 3~
“I’m not going to let them hurt Willow Giles,” Buffy said as she happily viewed the retreating backs of the two watchers as they hurried off towards their car. “She’s my friend.”
“We don’t know that they want to hurt her,” the ex-watcher replied. “For all they’ve done, despite the fact they’re stuck up little bigots, they still essentially want to help people.”
“Does that include witches?”
“Lets hope so,” he sighed.
~Part: 4~
Cara Adams had stepped off the plane only to find that she already had to climb onto another one. The journey from England had been long and tiring and even with her inbuilt slayer stamina she was already ready to settle down for the night in a comfy bed. If only, her mind exclaimed.
“Rupert should be waiting over here for us,” Jonathan told her pointing in the vague direction of the large airport café. Cara shook her head and smiled at her watcher’s manner. He was nervous about meeting up with his old friend again, she had been able to tell that from the moment that they received a phone call from Mr Thorpe confirming that everything was moving ahead as planned. Plus, she supposed the thought of finally being able to meet the errant slayer who was her predecessor in the council must have had some effect on him. Cara was well aware that even if her actions weren’t condoned many members of the council still admired Buffy Summers’ and Jonathan was secretly one of them.
The younger slayer had to admit that the thought of meeting the one other slayer in existence didn’t exactly have a calming effect on her either. Before leaving England she had managed to get her hands on the file that contained what was known of the life story of Buffy Summers so far. After reading what was in it Cara had been left even more confused than before she had started. How could a slayer fall in love with a vampire of all creatures? Since when could one be a best friend with a witch? How could she renounce the council and proclaim them as evil? Cara just couldn’t understand it!
“Rupert!” Cara heard her watcher call, hastening his pace forwards. The slayer followed easily.
“Jonathan,” the ex-watcher said in a more sedate manner. Jonathan paused a moment as he reached out to shake the other man’s hand obviously slightly taken aback by the colder manner in which his old friend had spoken. “May I introduce you to Miss Buffy Summers and Mr Xander Harris.”
Cara looked aside at the young man who was currently making his way through an extraordinarily large sandwich and the beautiful small blond woman who was sat beside him. For a second she was just as taken aback as her watcher had been at the cold stare that emanated from the older slayer. While the man lifted his hand in a brief greeting as his mouth was still firmly wrapped around the sandwich Buffy Summers did not even blink to register their presence.
“Hi,” Cara said stepping forwards again, not letting herself be intimidated by the blond. I’m just as much a slayer as she is the girl reminded herself. “I’m Cara. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Sure.”
“Buffy…” a warning tone came from the ex-watcher.
“Just because I’m here doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Buffy snapped.
There was an unpleasant silence as the original slayer turned and stared off into the distance with a bored expression on her face. “We should get going,” she said finally. “They already called our flight before you got here.” She stood up and stalked away into the distance with all the grace of a predator. The man, Xander, looked sadly at his unfinished meal and then followed her.
“I get the impression that she doesn’t like me very much,” Cara said forlornly.
“Don’t take it too personally,” Giles told her picking up his bags and making to follow his charge. “Buffy doesn’t really like anyone from the council anymore. Try to bear with her. One of her friends is in danger and she still doesn’t completely know what’s going on and that always makes her somewhat nervous. She shall be suspicious of both of you for a while.”
“I don’t see why. I only want to help her save her friend. That’s all.”
“I know that but she isn’t too sure of that at the moment.”
“Well she’d better learn soon or we’re not going to make any progress,” Jonathan said.
Mr Giles turned to him with a slight smile playing on his lips. “I wouldn’t say that to Buffy if I was you.”
~Part: 5~
Willow Rosenberg formally of Sunnydale, California moved through the stacks of books and towards the check out desk. She placed the books that she was carrying down on the counter and winced as the librarian, a Mr Farmer by his nametag, read the titles out aloud.
“Persiville’s ‘History of the Ancient Demon World’, Lauter and Hilmer’s ‘Encyclopaedia of Demonology’, and Shareson’s ‘Summoning of Simple Fiends’. Not exactly material that I would expect a young woman to be reading.” The greying man looked at her over the rim of his half-moon glasses. “Are you sure that you want to take these books out?”
“Sure,” she answered adding a small lie to back it up. “Its just some reading material for college.”
“Well…” he said appearing unconvinced. “If you’re certain.”
Willow gave him a steady look and the man moved to stamp the books and pass them over the sensor to record their number before handing them over to the pretty red head. Tucking them quickly into the book bag she was carrying and Willow slung it over one shoulder. The weight made her tense for a second before she gained control and headed towards the main exit of the library.
The aging man behind the counter watched her go. When he was sure that she had left the building he walked into his private office and picked up the telephone. After dialling a private number he waited impatiently for the other end to be answered.
“Yes?” a disinterested voice answered.
“Its Farmer. She’s been here again,” he answered.
“The witch?” The person at the other end seemed more interested now.
“It was she.”
“Are you certain?”
The librarian twitched his nose and rubbed his eyes. “I’m certain. She’s definitely one of them. I could smell it on her.”
~Part: 6~
It had been five years since she had moved to New York and Willow still wasn’t used to the summers here. The bag was heavy on her shoulder as she moved through the streets to where she would be able to catch the tube to the stop near her apartment and the heat made it difficult to breathe. She almost wished that she had been strong enough to resist picking up the copy of Persiville but immediately pushed the thought away. It had been so long since she had last had chance to study such a volume that the temptation had been too much.
Stepping inside the cool air-conditioning of her apartment Willow reached a hand up and felt around the edges of the doorframe. Satisfied that the wards she had installed to stop intruders were still in place the young witch closed the door and locked it. New York might not be built on a Hellmouth like Sunnydale was but it still managed to attract plenty of visitors of the non-human variety and Willow had lived in Sunnydale long enough to understand the meaning of being careful.
From the small entrance way she wandered through to the kitchen, dropping her book bag on the couch on the way. Once there she noticed the flashing red light on her answer machine and pressed the button by the side of it and began to make herself a cup of coffee.
“Willow honey,” the familiar voice of her Aunt Ella called out. “Your uncle and I were wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight. Do think about it dear, we haven’t had a family dinner in such a long time. Ring me back when you get in.”
Willow quickly pressed the forward button to go onto the next call. “Hey there Willow,” a distinctly masculine voice purred. Eric, she thought pausing in what she was doing to listen to his disturbingly seductive voice. “I heard you were going to give the club a miss tonight and I simply had to ring and protest.”
“I’ll bet you did,” she mumbled. Willow wondered how long he had been preparing his little speech before he actually called her then instantly reprimanded herself for being so bitchy.
“Anyway if you don’t come out then I’ll never forgive you so I guess I’ll be seeing you later.”
The red head glanced over at the pile of books she had left on one side. “Somehow I don’t think so.”
There was a bleep from the answer machine as it moved onto the next message. Willow nearly dropped her mug when she heard the voice. “Um, hey Willow? Willow Rosenberg? I really hope this is the right number – what am I talking about I just heard you, well not you, your machine but its about the same thing. Anyway, it’s me, Buffy. I just thought I would let you know that me, Giles and Xander are going to be in New York for a few days with some friends and we were wondering whether you wanted to do something. You know, paint the town red and everything although not literally. Anyway, I’ll call back later and see if I catch you or leave the hotel number or something. Bye!”
She blinked twice and wondered whether she had been hearing things. Buffy? Pressing the rewind button Willow listened to the message again. It had to be her. It was she. What on earth was she doing in New York?
Panic spread through Willow’s body. She couldn’t see them! As much as she would like to there be no way that it was possible. Oh goddess what would the Elders say when they found out that she had been in contact with the slayer again? Even with the doubts still filling her mind Willow still found herself staring at the telephone, waiting for it to ring. Realising that she was being silly the young witch shuck herself mentally and sipped at the mug of coffee she had made.
Willow suddenly became angry with herself. What was the point in staring at the phone? The time on the answer phone showed that Buffy had called nearly an hour ago so Willow guessed that she wouldn’t try again for at least another hour.
In a daze she glanced around her tiny apartment. She could imagine what Giles and the others would think when they saw her collection of occult books, craft tools and spell books and it probably wouldn’t be very complimentary. This was not good, not good at all. Moving quickly the young witch began to tidy up as much as she could. It would be impossible to hide all the evidence but the least she could do was to make it as inconspicuous as possible.
She gave up after only half an hour; it was hopeless. Having made a quick call to Eric’s machine to break the news to him that she couldn’t possible make it to the club that night Willow sat back and waited nervously for Buffy to call back. It had been five years since she had last seen her friends. What would you think of her now?
~Part: 7~
“So how did you get the scar?” Buffy asked.
Cara glared at the other slayer for a second before leaning back uncomfortably into the plastic covered seat of the dinner booth. She was really starting to have a dislike for Buffy but she had to admit that the blonde’s awareness and slayer instinct was higher than anything she had ever seen before. When they’d been out on patrol Cara had discovered that Buffy almost had a sixth sense for tracking down all sorts of demons and vampires. The younger girl had been more than a little jealous of the other’s skill.
With one hand she reached up to stroke the long scar on her cheek. It was almost invisible to regular human eyes but slayer sight would be able to pick it up instantly. Cara ducked her head and let her hair fall forwards to cover her face.
“A run in with a chaos demon about a year and a half ago. I killed him.”
The answer was weak but Cara found herself unable to answer any louder.
Once again she saw that scene in her mind that had made looking in the
mirror every morning painful.
“I’m getting really tired of her being cranky,” Cara said as the other slayer disappeared from view. “If she doesn’t quit soon then I’m going to have to hit something and I figure she’ll be the best target.”
“That’s uncalled for Cara,” Jonathan warned. “But I have to wonder why Buffy is still being quite so troublesome. We are trying to help her friend after all.”
“We’ve been through this Jonathan. She’s probably just worried about Willow.”
“I hope you’re right Rupert. There have been certain doubts about Buffy ever since the incident when she decided to retire from the council. Some members are concerned about her tolerance in dealing with others.” Jonathan glanced nervously at his long-standing friend.
“The Buffster doesn’t work for the council and she’s always worked well with us,” Xander pointed out coming to the rescue of the ex-watcher who had just been about to tell his old friend exactly what he thought of his precious council.
“Yes, but we have kept a close eye on her. While Buffy doesn’t work for the council she is still a slayer and therefore a potential ally should we ever need one.”
“Or threat,” Giles replied coolly. He took in Jonathan’s shocked expression.
“Well, yes, I suppose that it might be seen that way but…”
“Look, Jonathan, I’ve known you for years and therefore I know that you’re not really a bad person and I know that its not your fault that you still work for the biggest, most hypocritical, group of bigots that I have ever had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing but leave Buffy to me.” Giles sighed and removed his eyeglasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “You don’t know Buffy, you don’t know how she thinks or how she will react in certain situations. The council never has been able to. She’s been through things you can’t even begin to imagine so try to be a little less judgemental about the way that she acts and try to understand her more not just what the council has told you about her. Try a little freethinking for a change. Don’t be such a puppet.”
Jonathan glared at him in disbelief. “I have had a slayer of my own for the past three years Rupert. I like to think I know a little about looking after one.”
“Its not exactly the same thing Jonathan. I’ve trained three slayers now to a certain degree and each one was a complete individual. I came to realise that the council’s expectations for what they should be was too much. Buffy came to her destiny late, if she had known that she was going to be a slayer when she was younger then she might have been a very different person but she didn’t and because of that she might be the best damn slayer that’s ever lived!” The ex-watcher visibly cringed as he realised that his voice had risen to an indiscreet level.
“This conversation is getting us nowhere,” Cara interrupted as the unexpected voice of reason. “I know I’m not like Buffy and I realise that she’s been through a lot of stuff that I haven’t but that’s no reason for you two to get into an argument. Okay?” There was a brief nod from both the men. “Listen I can deal with Buffy, I’m a slayer too you know. Slayers know slayers.”
“She’s right,” Xander said. “She may be council but she’s right and boy did I never imagine hearing myself say that again. Let them work it out on their own.”
Giles stared at the younger man. “Xander I do believe that is the most sensible thing I have heard you say since I’ve known you,” he exclaimed.
“Thanks G-man,” Xander answered with a grin and stuffed another cheesy fry into his mouth.
~Part: 8~
Buffy was not a happy bunny when she came back from using the telephone. She glared menacingly at Cara and slouched back into the booth without saying a word. The others waited for her to begin something that she obviously had to say with worry building inside. Finally Buffy raised her eyes from the very interesting spot on the table that had been holding her attention for the last five minutes.
“I-Is something the matter Buffy?” Giles asked. “Was Willow out again?”
Her eyes flickered awake at the sound of someone talking to her. Realisation dawned and Buffy opened her mouth to speak before closing it again, then finally opening it again. “Um, what? No, I talked to her.”
“Sooooo,” Xander prompted with a grin. “What did Wills have to say for herself?”
“Well, it was strange. She didn’t say much. I don’t think she was very happy to hear from me and there was this distant sound to her voice. Do you think she knows why we’re here?”
“Buffy, we don’t even know entirely why we’re here,” Jonathan told her. For a second the slayer’s eyes flashed with irritation but she remained quiet. “Miss Rosenberg might know that there is something happening but I cannot imagine that she would know what exactly.”
The slayer’s eyes narrowed at him. “You’re not telling us everything and I’m getting more than a little pissed off at the fact so hop to it mister. I want details.”
“I hardly think that here is the best place for us to discuss this,” Jonathan answered glancing around at the other customers.
“I think Mr Watcher’s trying to get out of tell and show,” Xander said. “Come on G-man’s identical twin – what gives?”
Jonathan glanced out of the corner of his eye at Giles who was giving the young man a quick reprimanding look before frowning and turning back to the older slayer and her friend who were studying him with painfully intent eyes. He hadn’t wanted to tell them about what he knew just yet. It had been his plan to wait and speak with Miss Rosenberg first and see if he could gleam anything from a conversation with her. The idea that they might accidentally let on something to the young witch that he didn’t want her to know was terrible and very large in his mind at this moment.
Wondering how he would be able to get out of this one Jonathan concentrated his gaze on Buffy. No, suddenly the idea of getting out of it seem impossible as there was a distinctly unstable look to the slayer’s eyes all of a sudden. He remembered her previously voiced hate of the council and the reports he had read of Thorpe and Harker’s meeting with her and decided that trying to lie might not be the best idea in the world. If it didn’t get him hurt now it might very well do later when she found out he had lied.
“There’s a prophecy,” he started nervously.
“There’s always a prophecy, what’s new?” Buffy asked impatiently.
“Do you want to hear this of not Miss Summers?” Jonathan snapped. For a moment the slayer looked taken a back but she quickly recovered and nodded as if nothing had happened.
“There’s a prophecy. It’s actually a very interesting case seeing as the prophecy its self was written down over a thousand years ago in a very rare form of Gaelic. Very few records actually still exist from that period and those that do still exist are nearly always illegible, we’re actually very lucky that the archives manager was able to come across it as it seems that someone went to rather a lot of trouble to keep it concealed from the council. Apparently several events needed to take place before it was safe for the prophecy to come to light and it appears that now is that time.”
“Not seeing what this has to do with Willow,” Buffy pointed out. “In fact, I’m started to wonder whether I was right to even listen to you and come all the way to New York and pester my best friend for no apparent reason other than to satisfy your curiosity.”
“Buffy,” Giles warned in a low voice. “Let Jonathan finish what he has to say.”
Her eyes darted to her watcher before settling again with frightening severity on Jonathan. He resisted the urge to swallow knowing that it would give her a certain degree of satisfaction to notice a visible sign of his nervousness and continued as best as he could.
“Anyway, a few weeks ago the prophecy was brought to light and it brought with is some very interesting problems. As you know it is very unusual for a slayer to have friends outside the council so there was little doubt as to who the prophecy referred to when it said ‘Born of the House of Blood yet unbeknownst, Daughter of the Midnight Hour, Slayer’s friend and confident, A soul of the pure light, called together in one form to call upon the One.’"
“And in English that means…” Xander asked leaving it hanging oblivious to the looks that he received from the others at the table.
“He was talking about Willow,” Giles told him.
“And you got that from what in that sentence?” the young man asked baffled.
“I’m not sure about the ‘Born of the House of Blood’ part although it obviously refers to Willow’s heritage, the ‘Daughter of the Midnight Hour’ is bringing her practise as a witch to light and the next part should be obvious to even you Xander as it refers to her being Buffy’s friend. Describing her as a ‘soul of pure light’ could not mean any other than Willow as it refers to her temperament.”
“Oh, why am I not liking the bit about blood?”
“That is also the part which has concerned the council Xander,” Jonathan interrupted. “There are very few references to the ‘House of Blood’ in the codex or the watcher chronicles but in each case violence, danger and the black arts have been connected with them. By all accounts the House of Blood were extremely dangerous witches.”
Buffy flicked a lock of hair away from her eyes. “I’m with Xander-man on this, liking it less and less by the second.”
Holding her eye successfully for the first time since they had met Jonathan felt himself sigh. “As did the council.”
~Part: 9~
The ticking of the clock was way too noisy. Willow was tempted to take it and hide it away in a cupboard but her arms didn’t seem to have the strength to reach up take it down off the wall. They should have been here five minutes ago she thought nervously. Well, four and a half minutes ago but five was close enough. What was keeping them?
She jumped at the sound of a knock on the door to her apartment and leapt out of her chair at the kitchen table. There was an untouched glass of water in front of her that nearly fell before Willow fumbled and caught it. Deciding that appearing at the door flustered was probably not the best thing in the world the young witch straightened herself up, took at deep breath and recited a short mantra in her head. It worked to calm her and Willow was able to make it to the door without any more unfortunate accidents.
“Hi Buf…” she managed before finding the blond girl’s impossibly strong arms wrapped around her upper body. “Oh Goddess, Buffy… Buffy! I think you’re cutting the blood supply off to my arms. Ow! Pins and needles setting in.”
“Sorry, Will,” the slayer replied stepping away from her friend with a huge grin on her face.
“Hey there bestest bud,” Xander said appearing through the doorway. “How ya doing?”
Willow rebounded off the wall from the gentle punch that Xander played off her arm and grinned. “Great Xander. Hi Giles.” She reached up and gave the ex-watcher a brief hug.
“Its good to see you again Willow,” he said returning the hug and gesturing for the two people behind him to enter the apartment. Willow looked from the ex-watcher to the man who appeared to be his twin in tweed and the tall girl who walked in the door in front of him. Willow suddenly felt like she was on display. In addition she was also very glad that she had hid the copy of Shareson that she had picked up at the library earlier in the day.
“Um, well, everyone come in. The living room is just through this way. Does anyone want anything to drink? Can I get you something to eat? I’m pretty sure there’s some cookies somewhere.”
“Cookies?” She could almost see Xander drooling, even with her back to him. It was clear that he was still the same person that she remembered. “Tell you what Wills I’ll find them and you go and look after everyone else.” There was a small smile on her face as she watched Xander expertly seek out the kitchen and disappear inside. No doubt he would find the chocolate cake that she had hidden at the back of the fridge and would soon be tucking into it.
“Willow this is Jonathan Skinner and Cara Adams. Jonathan is a watcher and Cara is a…”
“A slayer,” Willow finished off taking in the scar on the girl’s face and her unique slayer’s aura. “It’s a pleasure to meet you if something of a surprise. I never expected to see another slayer other than Buffy again.”
A smile lighted upon the face of the young slayer and she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “The feeling is reciprocated Miss Rosenberg,” her watcher said shaking Willow’s hand. “The council has heard many things about you.”
Willow caught herself before she could cringe. She could imagine what the council had heard of her and exactly what they had thought of her actions. Their reaction over her recursing of Angel and the whole bringing him back from hell thing had been enough to convince her that the watcher’s council didn’t like or approve of her. Once, before leaving Sunnydale she had half dreamed of one day working for the council as a watcher just like Giles but that was passed now. Like Buffy she realised that their actions were mostly selfish and the code of conduct that they worked by was cruel and unreasonable. Which begged the question of what the Hellmouth were two of their most valued representatives doing in her living room with two other people who were meant to be their sworn enemies.
The witch shook her head. She was pretty sure that New York wasn’t on a Hellmouth but she really was going to have to check it out one day. Too many weird things happened in the city and there had to be some type of explanation for it somewhere. A Hellmouth was as reasonable an explanation as any other.
“Is this what I think it is?” a startled Giles asked from over by her bookshelf. Willow went over to his side and glanced at the title of the book that he was holding.
“Sure is.”
“But I thought the last copy was destroyed during the First World War. Wherever did you find it?” Giles flicked to a page about a practically gruesome demon and glanced over the text with interest alive in his eyes.
“Its amazing what you can find in a flea market,” she told him with a little grin.
Willow turned back to the rest of the people in the room and pulled together her courage. Now was as good a time as ever to see if her suspicions were founded. “Somehow I’m getting the impression that this isn’t the flying visit that I thought it was,” she observed.
“I think – I think you should sit down Willow,” Buffy said.
~Part: 10~
It wasn’t Willow. It couldn’t possibly be Willow. This wasn’t the person that he remembered from five years ago and the last time that he had seen her, walking away across the airport terminal to where her Aunt Ella had been waiting to take her to New York. That Willow had been scared and alone and whenever he looked into her eyes there had been nothing but misery at the loss of her parents. When her parents had died Willow had wanted nothing more than to be away from Sunnydale and everything that reminded her of what the town had caused her to lose. Xander could still remember the day that Willow had finally made her decision, shouting that she was fed up of Sunnydale and everything that was connected with it.
Back then Willow had seemed so small and weak; a completely different person to him and everyone that knew her. Try as hard as he might Xander couldn’t see any of that Willow in the one that was currently sitting across from him in the bright apartment that was her home. This Willow was surprisingly cheerful and apparently quite carefree for the moment.
The chocolate cake he had found in the back of the fridge while hunting for the cookies that he had never found sat heavy in his stomach as he tried to connect his best friend with the young woman who was listening to G-man speak. It was difficult. Occasionally she made a gesture that might have belonged to his Willow but a movement or a comment that was equally not Willow-ish always quickly followed it. How come she changed so much and I didn’t? He hated the idea that the thought brought with it. Because she moved on, he told himself. She’s got a new life while I’m still stuck in the same place.
“But I don’t understand,” Willow was saying. “I wouldn’t raise a demon.”
“We don’t know that it is a demon Willow,” Giles said. “This ‘One’ that the prophecy talks about might be anyone or anything although we are certain that it isn’t going to be a friendly thing so to speak. We are also certain that the prophecy is talking about you and so council thought it necessary to tell you. Personally I’m glad that they decided to go through Buffy and myself rather than just coming straight here and confronting you.”
“Look I hate asking this,” Cara interrupted. “But have you heard anything that might shed some light on what might be going on?”
Willow seemed to hesitate before answering. “No, no I would have phoned Buffy or Giles if I thought that I was going to be involved in something like that. What I can’t understand is why its me that’s meant to do this. I mean, I’m not practically powerful as a witch, well not compared to some of the other witches that live in the city, and my knowledge of raising demons and other such beings is limited at best.” She pushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and for a moment she was the old Willow. “The best I can do is ask around a bit. I have some friends among the witches here in New York, if they’ve heard anything then they’ll tell me about it.”
“Are you sure that’s wise Miss Rosenberg?” Jonathan asked. He was looking decidedly uncomfortable after finding a book that appeared to be about ritual summoning tucked behind the cushion of the chair that he occupied.
“They won’t hurt me, its against what they believe,” she said with a shrug. “And if whatever I’m meant to summon is a baddy then they’ll be as eager to get rid of it as we are.”
“She has a point,” Giles said reluctantly putting down the book he had been looking at with envy. “They might turn out to be powerful allies.”
Sounds like a plan,” Buffy said standing up. “Need someone to go with you Wills?”
Willow glanced at her nervously. “It’d probably be best if I went on my own Buffy. They’re a bit sensitive about strangers after a warlock-demon guy from outta state decided that he needed to kill off all the witches he could find last year to gain more power. Everyone’s still pretty much on edge about that.”
“But if you’re in some kind of danger then who better to look after you than a slayer right?” the blond girl asked cheerfully.
Xander watched as Willow turned with pleading eyes to Giles. “Perhaps Willow is right Buffy,” the ex-watcher said understanding much more quickly than anyone else did. “We wouldn’t want to accidentally offend anyone.”
Buffy pouted slightly before gaining control of herself and realising that the other watcher and his slayer were studying her. She smiled suddenly and grabbed Xander’s hand pulling him to his feet before giving the redheaded witch a hug. “Well, I guess we’re all about done for tonight. We’ll all go back to the hotel and you call us when you find something out Wills.” Willow nodded in agreement.
“Ah, well, yes. Be careful Willow,” Giles said following his slayer and Xander towards the door along with Jonathan and Cara. “Don’t do anything dangerous.”
“I won’t Giles,” she promised sweetly. “I’ll ring you as soon as I’m done.”
“See you later Wills,” Xander called over his shoulder as he hurried
off down the stairs behind Buffy.