Sins of the Father
Part One
The girl ran through the alley, not knowing what she was running from only that her life was forfeit if it caught her. The heavy mist settled around her legs, making it harder to run. It's cries were a roar in her ears-it wanted her-it wanted her blood. In the darkness she tripped on an empty garbage can. As she landed she turned to face the monster at her heels, she held her hands outwards and screamed...
Liz woke in a cold sweat; the dreams always seemed so real. She looked over at her alarm clock Shit! She thought to herself, she was going to be late for class. Why me? She groaned Why is it always me these things happen to? Don't other people warrant a visit from the Bad luck fairy or am I extra special? Liz scooped up some clothes from the pile she had designated as 'clean'.
"Morning Baxter," She patted the black cat's white ear gently as she opened his can of food, "How's my favorite man today."
"Meow..." He answered purring at the sight of the treat.
Pop always said the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Liz pulled her hair into a half hazard bun and stuffed her long legs into a pair of pants. Her shirt was a bit wrinkled but she didn't have time to think about that-not that anyone would notice. Picking up her textbooks from the pile they had formed when she had grown tired of studying the night before, Liz locked her door and headed out.
********
Classes all ran together in Liz's mind, sociology might have very well have been algebra for all it mattered to her. The images from her nightmare had haunted her all day. Night had fallen long ago, usually she hated walking back to her apartment from the school at night-it actually freaked her out. At night the city lost its veneer of civility, it was a hard and cold place to be-even if it was always a breezy seventy-five degrees outside. Off in the distance a car alarm sounded, filling the air with its fury.
I've really got to move into a better section of town. Liz laughed at herself; she was stuck right where she was-the money her father had left her was almost gone. Kicking a can across the alley Liz vented about her father's recent disappearance. Not that it's anything new. She mused grimly; he had always taken off for long periods of time as she was growing up leaving her with whomever he had been staying with at the time. Jack Giles a.k.a. John Wilson a.k.a. Scott Rupert and many other aliases she knew about and didn't had a motley assortment of associates-guerillas, artists, revolutionaries, archeologists, exiles, witches, terrorists, historians-her childhood following him all over the world had not been the embodiment of normalcy. But sometimes there are benefits to it all, she fingered the expandable baton in her bag-she had been taught to use it by a member of the KGB.
Where ever he was Liz knew her father well enough to know he would be back. He always came back to her eventually; once he had lost what he felt was stalking him. He would find her when he was ready to reenter society. A cat screeched nearby startling Liz, she didn't like the mist rolling in from the west. Deciding the side entrance to her building was the closer bet Liz headed down the alley to her left and plodded onward.
She stopped abruptly upon hearing something in an alley adjoining hers. Curious Liz moved to investigate, her baton out and at the ready. She could see a rather large man bending over a slight girl whose hands were thrown up in defense. Liz froze it was the image from her dream! Not thinking Liz called out, "Hey YOU!"
The man turned his face was grotesquely contorted-almost inhumanly, "Wait your turn," He licked his lips revealing elongated canines and turned back to the girl lying before him.
"What if I don't want to wait Creep?" Liz challenged, not feeling half as brave as she sounded.
Again he-it turned to her but his time he began to advance on her. Shit! This is not good! Liz pressed the release on her baton expanding its length to a foot. "Go get help!" Liz yelled to the girl.
No sooner had she taken this action then it hurled itself at her with a ferocity Liz had never seen before. She decided to use her smaller size to her advantage-this sicko may be the same height but she was easily forty pounds lighter and in better shape. Turning as he passed her Liz brought the baton down on the back of its kneecap, and then ducked away from its punch. Silently thanking her eccentric father's fetish for living amongst dangerous criminals, she barely missed a jab to her mid-section. Liz danced back and forth weaving in and out of its largely unskilled attacks, "Stay still so I can kill you!" It roared in anger and took another swipe at her gut.
This time Liz wasn't fast enough to get out of range, all the air in her lungs was knocked out of her in a rush. Sensing her weakness her opponent seized her throat and began squeezing. Squirming Liz continued to fight but she knew if help didn't come soon she was a goner. Out of nowhere she heard the familiar release of a crossbow bolt. Her assailant cried out as it pierced his flesh, suddenly there was nothing holding her in the air-he was gone! Rolling on her side Liz grasped for air and looked up at the stars focusing on their clarity-then she passed out.
Part Two
Liz let out a gasp and sat straight up, she was in a comfortable bed wrapped in warm blankets and ill-fitting but dry clothes, the man stationed at her bedside jumped out of the chair he had been sleeping in, "What the devil..."
She appraised him tensing just in case he was helping the cretin who had tried to strangle her, "Who are you? Where am I?"
"Well sweetheart..." He began with a thick Irish accent, "You're at my pal Angel's place and you're one ungrateful broad seeing how we saved your butt in that alley. We didn't have to you know."
"I'm not ungrateful," Liz grated, "I don't know you from atom why should I assume you want to help me? Especially after nearly being killed by some freak in an alley. Now tell me who are you where am I and did the girl get out safely?"
"Like I said you're at my friend's place. We saved you from Mr. Tall Dark and Deadly, I'm Doyle you'll meet Angel later and yes, the girl got away safely." He smoothed his gaudy polyester shirt and stood up, "Now would you mind telling me who you are? There must be seven different identities in your bag of tricks."
He was holding out the various forms of counterfeit ID she had accumulated during her life on the run with her father-old habits died hard. "Does it really matter?" Liz asked innocently.
"Yes, it does." A voice spoke out from the doorway behind her, "What possessed you to take on a mugger all by yourself?"
Liz turned to face the tall man standing there-he wore an air of mysterious brooding, something Liz found annoying at best, "The girl needed help. He would have killed her if I hadn't interrupted him, as it is I really doubt that this was any ordinary mugger. From where I'm looking at it everything balanced out, she's alive, I'm alive and now we can all live happily ever after."
She attempted to get out of the bed and on to her feet but a shock of pain stopped Liz in her tracks. "Yeah, everything's a-okay including those broken ribs of yours." Doyle commented.
The man she clearly guessed was Angel came to her side and slid her back into bed and passed her a glass of water and two pills. "Here these should take the edge off the pain but you have to stay still for a while."
"Great," Liz smiled thinly taking the pills-she didn't see a point of arguing-yet, "I'm stuck here for you to cross examine me. Since when do good deeds get this kind of reward?"
Trying to diffuse what could have become a dangerous situation Angel sighed, "I think we've all gotten off on the wrong foot. Shall we begin again? My name is Angel this is my home and earlier I saved your life." He pointed to Doyle, "This is my partner Doyle we run a detective agency and you would be?"
"The only person in this room with a last name." Liz laughed then groaned at the pain she had caused herself, "I'm Liz Rupert, student at UCLA, cat owner and part-time super-hero."
She didn't know why she hadn't given them her real name, somehow using the last name her father had recently begun using had felt right-besides she still didn't know if she could trust these two. She could sense they were hiding something, but so was she-everybody has their secrets. Liz yawned, the pain killers Angel had given her were already starting to work and she slid into a drug induced sleep, but not before she heard Doyle comment to Angel, "Are you getting the funny not quite human feeling from her too?"
********
The halls of the High School echoed the clicking of her heels as she ran. Everything depended on her getting away from the monster chasing her, but her realistic side told her she was going to die just like her uncle had not so long ago. If only she could have told them what she had found! Opening the door she charged into the landing and ran right in to HIM. "Hello Janna." Then 'snap' she was dead...
"NO!!!" Liz screamed aloud, she had to get out of here.
Doyle and Angel came running into the room, "What is it?" Angel asked her.
Liz backed away from him, "Get away from me! You...You're a thing like the one in the alley! You killed her! Stay away!" She found her bag on the nightstand and retrieved the baton extending it expertly.
"Now see here..." Doyle began.
"NO! I'm not going to see anything! My dreams are never wrong..." She pointed at Angel who was looking like a beaten dog, "You are a monster! You just killed her."
"Killed who?" Doyle prompted.
"Janna." Liz sobbed uncontrollably.
Angel sank into a nearby by chair, he wore the look of a dog beaten repeatedly and began sobbing to himself. "Will you pull it together man! You sound like a bleeding woman!!" Doyle shouted at him then turned to calm Liz, "Now listen, there's a few things we need to explain to you. If you stop screaming and listen I can explain them all to you, but I can't do that until you stop and calm down just a wee bit."
Liz bit her lip but stopped, "Okay...What is he...who are you...Why would I see him killing her..."
"Well to tell the truth my friend here is a vampire..." Doyle placed a hand on Liz's arm as she backed farther away, "Once he was a bad vampire and he killed many people-including the Janna in your dream. But a short while back Angel was cursed with a soul so that he'd feel guilt for every bad thing he'd ever done..."
"And how much would that be..." Liz began frightened but believing Doyle- perhaps her father wasn't as crazy as she had thought.
The demon shrugged, "He's two-hundred and fifty years old." He then noticed the way the girl was taking the news. "Are you alright? You seem a bit undisturbed by the fact that I just told you vampires exist."
Now it was Liz's turn to be truthful, "When I was younger my father used to talk about vampires existing-I thought it was a twisted fairy tale to justify why we were always on the run. He told me that I never had to fear the vampires because in every generation a girl was chosen to fight them, he called her a Slayer."
"Oh my God, Buffy!" Angel moaned rocking.
Doyle got off the bed and slapped the vampire across the face, "I've always wanted to do that...Get it together man!" he returned to his perch, "Now tell me about your father...why would he tell you stories like that?"
"Nobody ever believed him he was a drunk. You'd have to be a fool to believe anything that Jack Giles said!" Liz babbled mostly to herself.
"Giles!" Angel lifted his head from his hands, "Did you say your father's last name was Giles?"
Liz blushed they had caught her lie, "Yes, Jack Giles, I'm Elizabeth-Liz. Is there a problem with that??"
The two demons looked at each other, Doyle shrugged while Angel picked up the phone and dialed.
Part Three
Rupert Giles knew something was amiss when he entered his home, the window facing east was open and he remembered closing it before he had left. Slowly he slipped a wooden stake out of his pocket and moved forth, he nearly jumped out of his skin when the lights came on. Standing next to the switch was a tall man with short brown hair and bloodshot gray eyes, "Long time no see big brother."
"Jack!" Giles stared at him opened mouthed, his brother had disappeared nearly twenty years ago.
The man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I used to be brother I'm not so sure of who I am lately. I'm sorry I broke in but I wanted to get you alone and away from your Slayer. I need your help."
Giles felt transported back decades to when he and Jack had been young, Giles as "Ripper" had been bad but next to his younger brother he had been angelic. "After all this time you've come back for a favor? You didn't even attend mother or father's funerals!"
Jack looked stricken, "If it had been safe Liz and I would have been there, I didn't want to involve you Rupert."
Giles continued, "Who is Liz? Your new woman?"
"She's the only thing I've ever done right, I'm here to help her more than myself." The younger Giles smiled thinly at his brother's disbelief, "She's my daughter Rupert, and I can't protect her any more, we have to stop running."
"Your WHAT?!?" Giles nearly choked.
"My daughter." Jack motioned for Rupert to sit, "Before I left do you remember the girl I was with?"
"Yes, she was downright strange even for you..." Giles began lecturing.
"Yeah, she was a demon, using me to proliferate her species. Once Liz was born she planned on killing me," Jack reflected on his own stupidity, "When I found out I took our daughter and ran, I've been running ever since."
Giles didn't know what to say, but his brother continued, "I've done my best to raise Liz, but she's nineteen years old and sick of running. She gets prophetic dreams and one day soon she'll find out what she really is and I don't know how to help her through that." Jack looked at his older brother pleadingly.
"I can't say I'd know what to do." Giles told him, "You've managed to keep the girl from her mother all this time?"
"It hasn't been easy." Jack began rubbing his temples, "I've taught her how to defend herself but I know Elandra will find her eventually if I don't do something to stop her. I can't think of my little girl as a heartless demon-and that's exactly what Elandra will turn her into. Rupert I'm not asking for anything for myself but for my child, please say you'll help."
Giles was at a loss; he had missed his brother through the years-they and the girl were all that was left of the Giles family. "You named her Liz?"
"No, actually," Jack straightened up, "I named her after mother, Elizabeth Cecilia. She always preferred Liz." He pulled out a picture of a tall lean young woman with shoulder length light-brown hair and the hazel eyes of her uncle and father, "She's quite smart Rupert, managed a scholarship to UCLA for history and Medieval studies."
Giles knew he wasn't going to turn his brother down; he wanted to meet his niece for himself. He began to ask more questions about the girl but was interrupted by the ring of the phone. Giles picked it up and spoke into the mouthpiece, "Hello Rupert Giles..."
1 Part Four
Xander couldn't believe his luck, another Saturday spent helping Giles with some research and to top it off he'd heard Angel was in town for a brief visit. He kicked a rock into the side of a classic black mustang, and rushed to see if he had left any permanent damage. "I don't think you hurt it," a voice called from the other side.
Xander looked up to see a pretty girl about his age standing there with a cat carrier in her hand. She was nearly as tall as he was and she was in her bare feet, her long legs peaked out under her rolled up jeans-somehow she made the ratty old Sex Pistols shirt she wore sexy. As always when presented with a pretty girl Xander froze, "Hi...I'm...uh...Xander."
"Nice to meet you," She had a hint of a British accent, "I'm Liz."
A voice called out from a balcony in Giles' building, "Liz will you please come inside, your uncle would like to meet you very much."
She sighed, "Yes, father I'm coming right up." Liz turned to Xander, "Are you meeting someone in the building?"
"Well yeah, Rupert Giles." He told her.
A laugh escaped her lips-nicely shaped lips Xander thought, "What a coincidence he's my uncle."
Xander stayed in a catatonic state as Liz lead him up to the apartment and opened the door. Upon seeing Giles he regained some of his senses, "Hey G- man you've been holding out all these years."
Giles turned to face the boy, "Oh Xander I utterly forgot you'd be coming by today." He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Liz burst out laughing and would have fallen if she hadn't grabbed Xander's arm, "So it is a family thing!!"
"What?" All eyes asked her.
Liz swallowed another round of laugher, "Dad and I do the same thing when we're agitated Uncle, I always thought it was a learned behavior but now I know it's in my genes!!!"
She laughed again and Xander joined her, the other man who Xander guessed was her father began to smile, "She's got you there Rupert."
Even Giles cracked a smile, "Well, seeing how you're here I guess you can help me get Jack and Liz settled in, they're going to stay with me for a bit. You've already introduced yourself to Liz so I'd like you to meet my younger brother Jack-this is Xander Harris one of my former students at Sunnydale High."
The younger Giles shook Xander's hand, "Pleasure to meet you. So how was it enduring old Ripper here as a teacher...he didn't bore you to death did he?"
Xander couldn't help but laugh; he was going to like this guy. "Dad don't be mean you always told me how wonderful Uncle Rupert was." Liz came to the Watcher's rescue.
"Uncle Rupert, I guess that's just a bit formal isn't it?" Giles mused.
"Yeah, just call him Giles," Xander interrupted, "That's all we've ever called him."
"We?" Liz asked.
"Ya know, Willow, Oz, Buffy and me..."
"Oh you're friends with the Slayer?" Liz's eyes glowed.
"I didn't say that..." Xander defended himself.
Giles came to the boy's aid, "There's no need for secrecy, my brother trained as a Watcher as did I and Liz being his daughter has learned a few necessary things."
"Lot of good it all did me," Liz rubbed her sides tenderly, "I only just got around to believing in vampires myself."
Xander took his eyes from her hands, "What led to that?"
"I attacked one in an alley, then got rescued by Doyle and Sir Broods-a- Lot. That's how I got here from LA."
Xander liked her way of thinking, "Sir Broods-a-Lot, does he have dark hair underneath the gel, kind of pale, likes his steak very rare?"
"That would be him that never smiles it would," Liz thickened her accent nodding.
"So they just brought you here and left?" Xander prompted.
Liz smiled, "No, Angel didn't come with me. He kept muttering about people to save, gel to buy. Doyle drove me-we took Angel's car." She grinned devilishly, "You know the classic black one you kicked a rock into."
Xander couldn't believe it, "That's Dead-boy's? Is this Doyle still around?"
"Yeah, he's lurking around the Dale getting info," Liz jerked her thumb at her father and uncle, "For these two old biddies. Doyle's a nice guy, he even let me pick up Baxter so he wouldn't be lonely." She tickled her cat.
The two continued as if they were the only ones in the room, "So did you like the whole cryptic champion thing?" Xander fished.
"Nah, I've always preferred the hopeless romantic. Besides, necrophilia just isn't my thing." Giles nearly choked when Liz pronounced those words, "What?" she asked innocently.
Giles knew nothing serious would get done right now and he needed a chance to find what kind of demon Elandra was before they told the girl about her parentage, "Xander why don't you take Liz out and show her Sunnydale, introduce her to Buffy and Willow."
Xander looked at Giles with glee in his eyes, "No sweat G-man," he held out an arm for Liz, "My lady"
Liz looked to her father and nodded; pulling on her biggest smile she took Xander's arm, "After you brave Sir,"
Neither heard Giles groaning aloud as they walked out the door.
********
Liz followed Xander around the Bronze-Sunnydale's only club-she had exchanged the Sex Pistols shirt for a black tank and leather jacket. Xander was just finishing his story about the Inca Mummy girl when a petite blonde came up to them a red head in tow. "Xander are you going to introduce your new friend?" Buffy stomped on his foot.
"You must be Buffy," Liz held out her hand, "I'm Liz Giles, Xander was just telling me about all the fun you had in high school here."
Willow grew agitated, 'Um...fun...nope just regular high school...nothing out of the ordinary."
"Liz GILES?" Buffy asked, "Any relation to Rupert?"
Liz smiled at Xander, "Tall chap, serious, British accent, rather fond of tweed?"
"That would be him," Willow answered.
"He's my uncle." Liz let the girls breathe, "My father and I are here for a visit. It was rather boring at Uncle Rupert's so he got Xander to bring me out and about."
"But you were telling her things..." Willow babbled, "Crime club things" she added.
"Will, Liz's father trained as a Watcher, she knows all about Buffy." He smiled, "She's even met Angel."
With that the Slayer pounced on the girl, "You have! How is he? I mean..."
"He's fine," Liz looked to Xander, "He's got this whole penance thing going on in LA, he saved me when I decided to take on a very pale mugger and nearly got myself killed."
"You took on a vampire?" Willow asked although she was tall Liz didn't look very strong.
"Yep, got the broken ribs to prove it too." She grimaced, "Which reminds me that even if you have won three out of four rounds those guys are gonna get you in the end."
Now it was Buffy turn for shock, "You lasted three rounds?"
Liz blushed-she hadn't meant to draw attention to her self-and drew out her baton, "Just me and Billy here. But say you haven't told me your name so I'll guess that you're Willow" she added to the redhead.
'Oh...Yes, that's me," She spotted her boyfriend walking towards them, "And this is Oz my boyfriend, Oz this is Giles' niece Liz."
The short boy nodded, "Hey," he saw the pick around her throat, "You play?"
Liz reached up at her good luck charm, "Bass, my dad taught me. He's still living in the glory days of Punk music."
"And he's related to GILES?" Buffy asked in disbelief.
"They had a band when they were younger you know, Uncle Rupert was the drummer." Liz remarked, "My father just never settled down."
Xander laughed, "Oh yeah, and he wears leather the way Giles wears tweed, not to mention that he has a sense of humor!"
Tension dealt with the group settled into an agreeable night talking about everything from parents to how prissy Giles could be to Liz's travels around the world, none of them was aware of the evil lurking in the shadows of the crowded club. From the darkness Elandra watched, she had finally found her child.
Part Five
"I've got it!" Doyle swung Giles' door wide as he entered and was greeted by both Giles.
"Elandra?" Jack asked.
"Well yes, and no," The demon hedged, "What we've got here is a very interesting case..."
"For Christ's sake just tell us what you found!" Giles snapped at the half demon.
Doyle sat and pulled out a hip flask, drinking from it before beginning, "This Elandra you want info on is a pretty nasty character. She's one of the original demons, the ones that fell with Lucifer. She doesn't have her own form, she's a shape shifter-that was the curse put on her when she, it fell."
"But why does she want Liz so badly?" Jack interrupted.
"It seems that millennia of formlessness have not agreed with Elandra, she needs the body of her own half human progeny to..." Doyle took another drink, "Bring herself back to full power. The living body, the soul is what she needs and right now the only one who meets the criteria is Liz."
"Oh no," Jack sat limply.
"It gets worse," Doyle told them, "Apparently there's been this prophesy since the beginning of human existence 'Child of Darkness, Child of Light sacrificed on the alter of love yadda yadda yadda.' Goes on to say that if the child of light dies for the child of darkness then there'll be a cleansing of the earth and only demons will survive it. I think Liz is the Child of Darkness."
"That would make sense," Giles took a deep breath-he had dealt with many prophecies warning about the end of the world-but none of them had his only niece as a catalyst, "We're going to have to tell Liz when she returns, she should at least be aware..."
"I should be aware of what?" Liz asked from the doorway, they hadn't heard her and Xander enter the apartment.
Jack looked up at his only child stricken, "Sit down honey we have to talk."
"Yes," Giles cleared his throat, "Thank you very much Xander I'll see you tomorrow."
Liz seized a surprised Xander by the hand, "NO, he's going to stay and hear this too. I have no secrets from Xander," she looked into his eyes, "I consider him a friend."
"Very well, " Giles sighed.
"I'll begin," Jack on the couch to make room for the two young people, "Liz what do you remember me telling you about your mother?"
"That she wasn't a nice woman," Liz rhymed off, "That she knew she couldn't raise me so she gave me to you and left."
Jack ran a hand through his hair, "That's not quite all true."
Xander held Liz's hand tightly as if to transfer his strength into her, "What do mean 'not quite true' father?"
"Well, I was right she is horrible-but she's not a person. Your mother is a demon..." Jack broke and began to sob quietly.
Liz looked back and forth between Doyle and her uncle, "Is this true?"
Doyle handed his flask to her-he could still remember when he had this talk with his own mother. "Every word toots, that's why you are a bit stronger than the average Joe-that vampire would have killed you otherwise. It also explains the dreams you get."
"Like your visions, right?" Liz didn't believe how calmly she was taking this.
"That would be it." Doyle gave her an understanding glance, "But that's not all. See your mom is one of the vilest demons to ever walk on this earth, however she's weaker now because she has no immutable form of her own. She needs your body and soul to regain all of her powers."
"So she's going to find me, kill me, and take my soul and body?" Liz felt ill, "Gee, Dad you can sure pick the winners can't you?"
"Now Elizabeth..." Jack began.
She let out a brittle laugh, "Now I know it's serious, you never call me 'Elizabeth'." Liz rose pulling Xander with her and headed for the door, "I'll be back later. Don't wait up."
The door slammed, Jack rose to follow his daughter but was stopped by Doyle, "Let her be man. You're the last person she wants to see now. Just let her vent it out, she'll be okay. Get some sleep."
Jack looked to his brother, "Go on Jack there's nothing we can do right now, it's a lot of information for her to process," Giles thought about his reaction to being told he would become a Watcher and Buffy's to becoming the Slayer, "Knowing that your own mother wants to kill you must be a bitter pill."
The younger Giles moved slowly to the room he would be staying in, Giles and Doyle watched him. The Watcher rubbed the bridge of his nose, "At least she's not wondering around by herself."
"How much do you know about this Xander kid?" Doyle asked.
Giles was taken aback, "I've known him for years, he's a bit silly but the good sort. Why do you ask?"
Doyle didn't want to put his hunch to the test just yet there was just something about the boy that he couldn't put his finger on. "I don't know just a feeling."
Part One
The girl ran through the alley, not knowing what she was running from only that her life was forfeit if it caught her. The heavy mist settled around her legs, making it harder to run. It's cries were a roar in her ears-it wanted her-it wanted her blood. In the darkness she tripped on an empty garbage can. As she landed she turned to face the monster at her heels, she held her hands outwards and screamed...
Liz woke in a cold sweat; the dreams always seemed so real. She looked over at her alarm clock Shit! She thought to herself, she was going to be late for class. Why me? She groaned Why is it always me these things happen to? Don't other people warrant a visit from the Bad luck fairy or am I extra special? Liz scooped up some clothes from the pile she had designated as 'clean'.
"Morning Baxter," She patted the black cat's white ear gently as she opened his can of food, "How's my favorite man today."
"Meow..." He answered purring at the sight of the treat.
Pop always said the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Liz pulled her hair into a half hazard bun and stuffed her long legs into a pair of pants. Her shirt was a bit wrinkled but she didn't have time to think about that-not that anyone would notice. Picking up her textbooks from the pile they had formed when she had grown tired of studying the night before, Liz locked her door and headed out.
********
Classes all ran together in Liz's mind, sociology might have very well have been algebra for all it mattered to her. The images from her nightmare had haunted her all day. Night had fallen long ago, usually she hated walking back to her apartment from the school at night-it actually freaked her out. At night the city lost its veneer of civility, it was a hard and cold place to be-even if it was always a breezy seventy-five degrees outside. Off in the distance a car alarm sounded, filling the air with its fury.
I've really got to move into a better section of town. Liz laughed at herself; she was stuck right where she was-the money her father had left her was almost gone. Kicking a can across the alley Liz vented about her father's recent disappearance. Not that it's anything new. She mused grimly; he had always taken off for long periods of time as she was growing up leaving her with whomever he had been staying with at the time. Jack Giles a.k.a. John Wilson a.k.a. Scott Rupert and many other aliases she knew about and didn't had a motley assortment of associates-guerillas, artists, revolutionaries, archeologists, exiles, witches, terrorists, historians-her childhood following him all over the world had not been the embodiment of normalcy. But sometimes there are benefits to it all, she fingered the expandable baton in her bag-she had been taught to use it by a member of the KGB.
Where ever he was Liz knew her father well enough to know he would be back. He always came back to her eventually; once he had lost what he felt was stalking him. He would find her when he was ready to reenter society. A cat screeched nearby startling Liz, she didn't like the mist rolling in from the west. Deciding the side entrance to her building was the closer bet Liz headed down the alley to her left and plodded onward.
She stopped abruptly upon hearing something in an alley adjoining hers. Curious Liz moved to investigate, her baton out and at the ready. She could see a rather large man bending over a slight girl whose hands were thrown up in defense. Liz froze it was the image from her dream! Not thinking Liz called out, "Hey YOU!"
The man turned his face was grotesquely contorted-almost inhumanly, "Wait your turn," He licked his lips revealing elongated canines and turned back to the girl lying before him.
"What if I don't want to wait Creep?" Liz challenged, not feeling half as brave as she sounded.
Again he-it turned to her but his time he began to advance on her. Shit! This is not good! Liz pressed the release on her baton expanding its length to a foot. "Go get help!" Liz yelled to the girl.
No sooner had she taken this action then it hurled itself at her with a ferocity Liz had never seen before. She decided to use her smaller size to her advantage-this sicko may be the same height but she was easily forty pounds lighter and in better shape. Turning as he passed her Liz brought the baton down on the back of its kneecap, and then ducked away from its punch. Silently thanking her eccentric father's fetish for living amongst dangerous criminals, she barely missed a jab to her mid-section. Liz danced back and forth weaving in and out of its largely unskilled attacks, "Stay still so I can kill you!" It roared in anger and took another swipe at her gut.
This time Liz wasn't fast enough to get out of range, all the air in her lungs was knocked out of her in a rush. Sensing her weakness her opponent seized her throat and began squeezing. Squirming Liz continued to fight but she knew if help didn't come soon she was a goner. Out of nowhere she heard the familiar release of a crossbow bolt. Her assailant cried out as it pierced his flesh, suddenly there was nothing holding her in the air-he was gone! Rolling on her side Liz grasped for air and looked up at the stars focusing on their clarity-then she passed out.
Part Two
Liz let out a gasp and sat straight up, she was in a comfortable bed wrapped in warm blankets and ill-fitting but dry clothes, the man stationed at her bedside jumped out of the chair he had been sleeping in, "What the devil..."
She appraised him tensing just in case he was helping the cretin who had tried to strangle her, "Who are you? Where am I?"
"Well sweetheart..." He began with a thick Irish accent, "You're at my pal Angel's place and you're one ungrateful broad seeing how we saved your butt in that alley. We didn't have to you know."
"I'm not ungrateful," Liz grated, "I don't know you from atom why should I assume you want to help me? Especially after nearly being killed by some freak in an alley. Now tell me who are you where am I and did the girl get out safely?"
"Like I said you're at my friend's place. We saved you from Mr. Tall Dark and Deadly, I'm Doyle you'll meet Angel later and yes, the girl got away safely." He smoothed his gaudy polyester shirt and stood up, "Now would you mind telling me who you are? There must be seven different identities in your bag of tricks."
He was holding out the various forms of counterfeit ID she had accumulated during her life on the run with her father-old habits died hard. "Does it really matter?" Liz asked innocently.
"Yes, it does." A voice spoke out from the doorway behind her, "What possessed you to take on a mugger all by yourself?"
Liz turned to face the tall man standing there-he wore an air of mysterious brooding, something Liz found annoying at best, "The girl needed help. He would have killed her if I hadn't interrupted him, as it is I really doubt that this was any ordinary mugger. From where I'm looking at it everything balanced out, she's alive, I'm alive and now we can all live happily ever after."
She attempted to get out of the bed and on to her feet but a shock of pain stopped Liz in her tracks. "Yeah, everything's a-okay including those broken ribs of yours." Doyle commented.
The man she clearly guessed was Angel came to her side and slid her back into bed and passed her a glass of water and two pills. "Here these should take the edge off the pain but you have to stay still for a while."
"Great," Liz smiled thinly taking the pills-she didn't see a point of arguing-yet, "I'm stuck here for you to cross examine me. Since when do good deeds get this kind of reward?"
Trying to diffuse what could have become a dangerous situation Angel sighed, "I think we've all gotten off on the wrong foot. Shall we begin again? My name is Angel this is my home and earlier I saved your life." He pointed to Doyle, "This is my partner Doyle we run a detective agency and you would be?"
"The only person in this room with a last name." Liz laughed then groaned at the pain she had caused herself, "I'm Liz Rupert, student at UCLA, cat owner and part-time super-hero."
She didn't know why she hadn't given them her real name, somehow using the last name her father had recently begun using had felt right-besides she still didn't know if she could trust these two. She could sense they were hiding something, but so was she-everybody has their secrets. Liz yawned, the pain killers Angel had given her were already starting to work and she slid into a drug induced sleep, but not before she heard Doyle comment to Angel, "Are you getting the funny not quite human feeling from her too?"
********
The halls of the High School echoed the clicking of her heels as she ran. Everything depended on her getting away from the monster chasing her, but her realistic side told her she was going to die just like her uncle had not so long ago. If only she could have told them what she had found! Opening the door she charged into the landing and ran right in to HIM. "Hello Janna." Then 'snap' she was dead...
"NO!!!" Liz screamed aloud, she had to get out of here.
Doyle and Angel came running into the room, "What is it?" Angel asked her.
Liz backed away from him, "Get away from me! You...You're a thing like the one in the alley! You killed her! Stay away!" She found her bag on the nightstand and retrieved the baton extending it expertly.
"Now see here..." Doyle began.
"NO! I'm not going to see anything! My dreams are never wrong..." She pointed at Angel who was looking like a beaten dog, "You are a monster! You just killed her."
"Killed who?" Doyle prompted.
"Janna." Liz sobbed uncontrollably.
Angel sank into a nearby by chair, he wore the look of a dog beaten repeatedly and began sobbing to himself. "Will you pull it together man! You sound like a bleeding woman!!" Doyle shouted at him then turned to calm Liz, "Now listen, there's a few things we need to explain to you. If you stop screaming and listen I can explain them all to you, but I can't do that until you stop and calm down just a wee bit."
Liz bit her lip but stopped, "Okay...What is he...who are you...Why would I see him killing her..."
"Well to tell the truth my friend here is a vampire..." Doyle placed a hand on Liz's arm as she backed farther away, "Once he was a bad vampire and he killed many people-including the Janna in your dream. But a short while back Angel was cursed with a soul so that he'd feel guilt for every bad thing he'd ever done..."
"And how much would that be..." Liz began frightened but believing Doyle- perhaps her father wasn't as crazy as she had thought.
The demon shrugged, "He's two-hundred and fifty years old." He then noticed the way the girl was taking the news. "Are you alright? You seem a bit undisturbed by the fact that I just told you vampires exist."
Now it was Liz's turn to be truthful, "When I was younger my father used to talk about vampires existing-I thought it was a twisted fairy tale to justify why we were always on the run. He told me that I never had to fear the vampires because in every generation a girl was chosen to fight them, he called her a Slayer."
"Oh my God, Buffy!" Angel moaned rocking.
Doyle got off the bed and slapped the vampire across the face, "I've always wanted to do that...Get it together man!" he returned to his perch, "Now tell me about your father...why would he tell you stories like that?"
"Nobody ever believed him he was a drunk. You'd have to be a fool to believe anything that Jack Giles said!" Liz babbled mostly to herself.
"Giles!" Angel lifted his head from his hands, "Did you say your father's last name was Giles?"
Liz blushed they had caught her lie, "Yes, Jack Giles, I'm Elizabeth-Liz. Is there a problem with that??"
The two demons looked at each other, Doyle shrugged while Angel picked up the phone and dialed.
Part Three
Rupert Giles knew something was amiss when he entered his home, the window facing east was open and he remembered closing it before he had left. Slowly he slipped a wooden stake out of his pocket and moved forth, he nearly jumped out of his skin when the lights came on. Standing next to the switch was a tall man with short brown hair and bloodshot gray eyes, "Long time no see big brother."
"Jack!" Giles stared at him opened mouthed, his brother had disappeared nearly twenty years ago.
The man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I used to be brother I'm not so sure of who I am lately. I'm sorry I broke in but I wanted to get you alone and away from your Slayer. I need your help."
Giles felt transported back decades to when he and Jack had been young, Giles as "Ripper" had been bad but next to his younger brother he had been angelic. "After all this time you've come back for a favor? You didn't even attend mother or father's funerals!"
Jack looked stricken, "If it had been safe Liz and I would have been there, I didn't want to involve you Rupert."
Giles continued, "Who is Liz? Your new woman?"
"She's the only thing I've ever done right, I'm here to help her more than myself." The younger Giles smiled thinly at his brother's disbelief, "She's my daughter Rupert, and I can't protect her any more, we have to stop running."
"Your WHAT?!?" Giles nearly choked.
"My daughter." Jack motioned for Rupert to sit, "Before I left do you remember the girl I was with?"
"Yes, she was downright strange even for you..." Giles began lecturing.
"Yeah, she was a demon, using me to proliferate her species. Once Liz was born she planned on killing me," Jack reflected on his own stupidity, "When I found out I took our daughter and ran, I've been running ever since."
Giles didn't know what to say, but his brother continued, "I've done my best to raise Liz, but she's nineteen years old and sick of running. She gets prophetic dreams and one day soon she'll find out what she really is and I don't know how to help her through that." Jack looked at his older brother pleadingly.
"I can't say I'd know what to do." Giles told him, "You've managed to keep the girl from her mother all this time?"
"It hasn't been easy." Jack began rubbing his temples, "I've taught her how to defend herself but I know Elandra will find her eventually if I don't do something to stop her. I can't think of my little girl as a heartless demon-and that's exactly what Elandra will turn her into. Rupert I'm not asking for anything for myself but for my child, please say you'll help."
Giles was at a loss; he had missed his brother through the years-they and the girl were all that was left of the Giles family. "You named her Liz?"
"No, actually," Jack straightened up, "I named her after mother, Elizabeth Cecilia. She always preferred Liz." He pulled out a picture of a tall lean young woman with shoulder length light-brown hair and the hazel eyes of her uncle and father, "She's quite smart Rupert, managed a scholarship to UCLA for history and Medieval studies."
Giles knew he wasn't going to turn his brother down; he wanted to meet his niece for himself. He began to ask more questions about the girl but was interrupted by the ring of the phone. Giles picked it up and spoke into the mouthpiece, "Hello Rupert Giles..."
1 Part Four
Xander couldn't believe his luck, another Saturday spent helping Giles with some research and to top it off he'd heard Angel was in town for a brief visit. He kicked a rock into the side of a classic black mustang, and rushed to see if he had left any permanent damage. "I don't think you hurt it," a voice called from the other side.
Xander looked up to see a pretty girl about his age standing there with a cat carrier in her hand. She was nearly as tall as he was and she was in her bare feet, her long legs peaked out under her rolled up jeans-somehow she made the ratty old Sex Pistols shirt she wore sexy. As always when presented with a pretty girl Xander froze, "Hi...I'm...uh...Xander."
"Nice to meet you," She had a hint of a British accent, "I'm Liz."
A voice called out from a balcony in Giles' building, "Liz will you please come inside, your uncle would like to meet you very much."
She sighed, "Yes, father I'm coming right up." Liz turned to Xander, "Are you meeting someone in the building?"
"Well yeah, Rupert Giles." He told her.
A laugh escaped her lips-nicely shaped lips Xander thought, "What a coincidence he's my uncle."
Xander stayed in a catatonic state as Liz lead him up to the apartment and opened the door. Upon seeing Giles he regained some of his senses, "Hey G- man you've been holding out all these years."
Giles turned to face the boy, "Oh Xander I utterly forgot you'd be coming by today." He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Liz burst out laughing and would have fallen if she hadn't grabbed Xander's arm, "So it is a family thing!!"
"What?" All eyes asked her.
Liz swallowed another round of laugher, "Dad and I do the same thing when we're agitated Uncle, I always thought it was a learned behavior but now I know it's in my genes!!!"
She laughed again and Xander joined her, the other man who Xander guessed was her father began to smile, "She's got you there Rupert."
Even Giles cracked a smile, "Well, seeing how you're here I guess you can help me get Jack and Liz settled in, they're going to stay with me for a bit. You've already introduced yourself to Liz so I'd like you to meet my younger brother Jack-this is Xander Harris one of my former students at Sunnydale High."
The younger Giles shook Xander's hand, "Pleasure to meet you. So how was it enduring old Ripper here as a teacher...he didn't bore you to death did he?"
Xander couldn't help but laugh; he was going to like this guy. "Dad don't be mean you always told me how wonderful Uncle Rupert was." Liz came to the Watcher's rescue.
"Uncle Rupert, I guess that's just a bit formal isn't it?" Giles mused.
"Yeah, just call him Giles," Xander interrupted, "That's all we've ever called him."
"We?" Liz asked.
"Ya know, Willow, Oz, Buffy and me..."
"Oh you're friends with the Slayer?" Liz's eyes glowed.
"I didn't say that..." Xander defended himself.
Giles came to the boy's aid, "There's no need for secrecy, my brother trained as a Watcher as did I and Liz being his daughter has learned a few necessary things."
"Lot of good it all did me," Liz rubbed her sides tenderly, "I only just got around to believing in vampires myself."
Xander took his eyes from her hands, "What led to that?"
"I attacked one in an alley, then got rescued by Doyle and Sir Broods-a- Lot. That's how I got here from LA."
Xander liked her way of thinking, "Sir Broods-a-Lot, does he have dark hair underneath the gel, kind of pale, likes his steak very rare?"
"That would be him that never smiles it would," Liz thickened her accent nodding.
"So they just brought you here and left?" Xander prompted.
Liz smiled, "No, Angel didn't come with me. He kept muttering about people to save, gel to buy. Doyle drove me-we took Angel's car." She grinned devilishly, "You know the classic black one you kicked a rock into."
Xander couldn't believe it, "That's Dead-boy's? Is this Doyle still around?"
"Yeah, he's lurking around the Dale getting info," Liz jerked her thumb at her father and uncle, "For these two old biddies. Doyle's a nice guy, he even let me pick up Baxter so he wouldn't be lonely." She tickled her cat.
The two continued as if they were the only ones in the room, "So did you like the whole cryptic champion thing?" Xander fished.
"Nah, I've always preferred the hopeless romantic. Besides, necrophilia just isn't my thing." Giles nearly choked when Liz pronounced those words, "What?" she asked innocently.
Giles knew nothing serious would get done right now and he needed a chance to find what kind of demon Elandra was before they told the girl about her parentage, "Xander why don't you take Liz out and show her Sunnydale, introduce her to Buffy and Willow."
Xander looked at Giles with glee in his eyes, "No sweat G-man," he held out an arm for Liz, "My lady"
Liz looked to her father and nodded; pulling on her biggest smile she took Xander's arm, "After you brave Sir,"
Neither heard Giles groaning aloud as they walked out the door.
********
Liz followed Xander around the Bronze-Sunnydale's only club-she had exchanged the Sex Pistols shirt for a black tank and leather jacket. Xander was just finishing his story about the Inca Mummy girl when a petite blonde came up to them a red head in tow. "Xander are you going to introduce your new friend?" Buffy stomped on his foot.
"You must be Buffy," Liz held out her hand, "I'm Liz Giles, Xander was just telling me about all the fun you had in high school here."
Willow grew agitated, 'Um...fun...nope just regular high school...nothing out of the ordinary."
"Liz GILES?" Buffy asked, "Any relation to Rupert?"
Liz smiled at Xander, "Tall chap, serious, British accent, rather fond of tweed?"
"That would be him," Willow answered.
"He's my uncle." Liz let the girls breathe, "My father and I are here for a visit. It was rather boring at Uncle Rupert's so he got Xander to bring me out and about."
"But you were telling her things..." Willow babbled, "Crime club things" she added.
"Will, Liz's father trained as a Watcher, she knows all about Buffy." He smiled, "She's even met Angel."
With that the Slayer pounced on the girl, "You have! How is he? I mean..."
"He's fine," Liz looked to Xander, "He's got this whole penance thing going on in LA, he saved me when I decided to take on a very pale mugger and nearly got myself killed."
"You took on a vampire?" Willow asked although she was tall Liz didn't look very strong.
"Yep, got the broken ribs to prove it too." She grimaced, "Which reminds me that even if you have won three out of four rounds those guys are gonna get you in the end."
Now it was Buffy turn for shock, "You lasted three rounds?"
Liz blushed-she hadn't meant to draw attention to her self-and drew out her baton, "Just me and Billy here. But say you haven't told me your name so I'll guess that you're Willow" she added to the redhead.
'Oh...Yes, that's me," She spotted her boyfriend walking towards them, "And this is Oz my boyfriend, Oz this is Giles' niece Liz."
The short boy nodded, "Hey," he saw the pick around her throat, "You play?"
Liz reached up at her good luck charm, "Bass, my dad taught me. He's still living in the glory days of Punk music."
"And he's related to GILES?" Buffy asked in disbelief.
"They had a band when they were younger you know, Uncle Rupert was the drummer." Liz remarked, "My father just never settled down."
Xander laughed, "Oh yeah, and he wears leather the way Giles wears tweed, not to mention that he has a sense of humor!"
Tension dealt with the group settled into an agreeable night talking about everything from parents to how prissy Giles could be to Liz's travels around the world, none of them was aware of the evil lurking in the shadows of the crowded club. From the darkness Elandra watched, she had finally found her child.
Part Five
"I've got it!" Doyle swung Giles' door wide as he entered and was greeted by both Giles.
"Elandra?" Jack asked.
"Well yes, and no," The demon hedged, "What we've got here is a very interesting case..."
"For Christ's sake just tell us what you found!" Giles snapped at the half demon.
Doyle sat and pulled out a hip flask, drinking from it before beginning, "This Elandra you want info on is a pretty nasty character. She's one of the original demons, the ones that fell with Lucifer. She doesn't have her own form, she's a shape shifter-that was the curse put on her when she, it fell."
"But why does she want Liz so badly?" Jack interrupted.
"It seems that millennia of formlessness have not agreed with Elandra, she needs the body of her own half human progeny to..." Doyle took another drink, "Bring herself back to full power. The living body, the soul is what she needs and right now the only one who meets the criteria is Liz."
"Oh no," Jack sat limply.
"It gets worse," Doyle told them, "Apparently there's been this prophesy since the beginning of human existence 'Child of Darkness, Child of Light sacrificed on the alter of love yadda yadda yadda.' Goes on to say that if the child of light dies for the child of darkness then there'll be a cleansing of the earth and only demons will survive it. I think Liz is the Child of Darkness."
"That would make sense," Giles took a deep breath-he had dealt with many prophecies warning about the end of the world-but none of them had his only niece as a catalyst, "We're going to have to tell Liz when she returns, she should at least be aware..."
"I should be aware of what?" Liz asked from the doorway, they hadn't heard her and Xander enter the apartment.
Jack looked up at his only child stricken, "Sit down honey we have to talk."
"Yes," Giles cleared his throat, "Thank you very much Xander I'll see you tomorrow."
Liz seized a surprised Xander by the hand, "NO, he's going to stay and hear this too. I have no secrets from Xander," she looked into his eyes, "I consider him a friend."
"Very well, " Giles sighed.
"I'll begin," Jack on the couch to make room for the two young people, "Liz what do you remember me telling you about your mother?"
"That she wasn't a nice woman," Liz rhymed off, "That she knew she couldn't raise me so she gave me to you and left."
Jack ran a hand through his hair, "That's not quite all true."
Xander held Liz's hand tightly as if to transfer his strength into her, "What do mean 'not quite true' father?"
"Well, I was right she is horrible-but she's not a person. Your mother is a demon..." Jack broke and began to sob quietly.
Liz looked back and forth between Doyle and her uncle, "Is this true?"
Doyle handed his flask to her-he could still remember when he had this talk with his own mother. "Every word toots, that's why you are a bit stronger than the average Joe-that vampire would have killed you otherwise. It also explains the dreams you get."
"Like your visions, right?" Liz didn't believe how calmly she was taking this.
"That would be it." Doyle gave her an understanding glance, "But that's not all. See your mom is one of the vilest demons to ever walk on this earth, however she's weaker now because she has no immutable form of her own. She needs your body and soul to regain all of her powers."
"So she's going to find me, kill me, and take my soul and body?" Liz felt ill, "Gee, Dad you can sure pick the winners can't you?"
"Now Elizabeth..." Jack began.
She let out a brittle laugh, "Now I know it's serious, you never call me 'Elizabeth'." Liz rose pulling Xander with her and headed for the door, "I'll be back later. Don't wait up."
The door slammed, Jack rose to follow his daughter but was stopped by Doyle, "Let her be man. You're the last person she wants to see now. Just let her vent it out, she'll be okay. Get some sleep."
Jack looked to his brother, "Go on Jack there's nothing we can do right now, it's a lot of information for her to process," Giles thought about his reaction to being told he would become a Watcher and Buffy's to becoming the Slayer, "Knowing that your own mother wants to kill you must be a bitter pill."
The younger Giles moved slowly to the room he would be staying in, Giles and Doyle watched him. The Watcher rubbed the bridge of his nose, "At least she's not wondering around by herself."
"How much do you know about this Xander kid?" Doyle asked.
Giles was taken aback, "I've known him for years, he's a bit silly but the good sort. Why do you ask?"
Doyle didn't want to put his hunch to the test just yet there was just something about the boy that he couldn't put his finger on. "I don't know just a feeling."