Authors Introduction
Author's Note:
That Giles stammers is a fact of record. That I loathe and despise typing a stammer is now also a fact of record. As you read, add to his dialogue whatever level of stammering you think appropriate. When it's worse than usual, I'll let you know.ChinaRaven, as always, gets a huge thank you at the start for taking the time to beta these stories. Her comments are thoughtful and have helped me produce far better stories than if I'd turned down her offer.
Disclaimer:
If I owned any of these characters, do you honestly think I'd still have a day job? Of course not. Joss Whedon and various corporate entities own the rights to the characters and world of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Laurell K. Hamilton owns the rights to the characters and world of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. I own a ferret who thinks he's king of my Harrod's bears collection. I'm willing to offer Royce in trade for a character owned by either Joss or Laurell, but somehow, I don't think they'll take me up on the offer.Background:
Dark Haven is a spin-off series from The Key's Watcher series. I started that series to explore a father/daughter relationship between Giles and Dawn, who, in my fic, fell through Glory's portal and landed in the Anita Blake universe. When The Key's Watcher stories start, Giles and Dawn have been living there for three and a half years and have settled rather nicely into their new life. All is relatively well until Anita shows up in Giles' bookstore one day with a rather unexpected request — she wants him to hire Nathaniel as a part-time employee. Alas for poor Giles, all his plans to live a quiet and unremarkable life are fairly well shot to hell.By the time Dark Haven starts, Giles has been dragged kicking and screaming into Anita's life. An old claim made by Angelus left him vulnerable, and Jean-Claude stepped in as a white knight to protect him. Unfortunately, what no one counted on was that Giles' magic doesn't mix very well with the magic of Anita's world. He managed to find balance within himself, but when he and Jean-Claude completed the claiming ceremony, plans went awry, and Giles had to stabilize his power not only with Jean-Claude, but also with Anita and Richard. As a result, Jean-Claude is convinced that Giles is now the human servant of the triumvirate.
Warnings:
This story is rated NC-17 for graphic depictions of M/M sexual activity and for language. This is a slash fic, and the pairing is Giles/Jean-Claude. The justification (a.k.a. "cheap rationalization") for this pairing leans heavily on the canon established in Ms. Hamilton's book, Cerulean Sins. If you haven't read it yet, you're going to get a detailed introduction to one of the early plot points in the book.There may or may not be an explicit discussion of rape and/or torture. That scene isn't written yet, and Giles, who is a stubborn son-of-a-bitch, is digging his heels in whenever I mention the possibility of him talking with someone about what Angelus did. At this point, the only way to get him into therapy would be to shoot him with a tranquilizer gun and drag his ass into someone's office, but no reputable psychotherapist would accept a client under those circumstances. sigh
None of the Dark Haven stories will be PWP. I've tried writing PWP, but a plot inevitably finds its way in, so there's no use in me trying again.
Dedications:
Part 1 is dedicated to houses, who is the most consistently upbeat reviewer I've ever had. Writers lucky enough to get her as a regular reader quickly become addicted to her reviews (to illustrate, CaptainBoulanger has even added her as a minor character in his Lady Liberty stories at Twisting the Hellmouth). Additionally, houses paid me a high compliment in her last review for TKW3, when she said that she never thought she would look forward to a Giles/Jean-Claude pairing, but that I made her believe it was possible.Part 2 is dedicated to Yanslana, who wrote one of the most beautiful reviews I've ever received for any of my stories. You can find it in the review section for The Key's Watcher 3: Hunter's Moon. Yanslana is also one of the most thorough readers with whom I've ever had the pleasure to correspond. She sent me an e-mail after I posted the last chapter of TKW3 to ask a very relevant question, and happily for me, I had already answered it in the first draft of part 1 of this story. For various reasons, part 1 eventually became far longer than I prefer, so her answer is now to be found in part 2 of this story.
Part 3 is dedicated to nicola, who very kindly didn't laugh at me or call me crazy when I asked her to beta a short Giles/Jean-Claude fic for me a month and a half or so ago. As it turns out, that particular story will likely make its way into the Dark Haven series, but it will be modified to work as a scene, not a stand-alone fic.
The remainder of the story is dedicated to the readers who decided to give a Giles/Jean-Claude pairing a chance. I truly and sincerely hope I don't disappoint.
Tara Keezer