TITLE: Displaced part 2?
AUTHOR: Appomattoxco
FEEDBACK/EMAIL: just let me know.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not making any money off this or anything else actually so don't sue.
TIMELINE/SPOILERS: Wildly AU post "Chosen"
PAIRING/CHARACTERS: Anya/Giles possibly only UST
RATING: FRT
SUMMARY: The Council Library is blown up again and Willow gets Giles out of there the only way she can.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ezagaaikwe I know it doesn't look like it but this is the start of you Giles PI in London story.

This time I landed behind a bunch of barrels on an unfamiliar dock. It was a very good thing that I had cover because the first thing I saw when I peered around them was my own murder.

Well, it would be more accurate to say that the two minions were dumping a body that was already very dead. Even from here in the dim light I could tell it was my double and it was all I could do to keep from being sick. I focused on the minions standing over the body. The lisping British voices of the two vampires carried easily on the night air. I could only hide there hoping that the scent of my double concealed my presence. When she opened the portal Willow must have done a very effective healing spell too because I was no longer bleeding.

The heavier of the two vampires stood wringing his hands while the other took their victim's watch. "The boss is going to dust us for sure!"

"Naw, he's too old school for that, wouldn't want to get his hands all dusty. He'd send a minion to do us."

"You're not making me feel better here, mate. What're we going to do? You heard the boss- he wanted to play with him a little longer then dump him on Slayer's doorstep with a warning. Why did I listen to you? I could've slipped out and had a nice little blonde to eat at the corner shop."

Which Slayer; Buffy, Faith some other new girl? My heart pounded in my ears so loudly I was sure the vampires could hear me. Wherever I was it wasn't any version of the past I was familiar with.

"We'll just dump him here and tell the boss he escaped. Not our fault he got ate on the way home is it?" The unnatural angle of the corpse's legs made me cringe; I'm not sure if it was in sympathy or because I couldn't believe that someone like me had been killed by a vampire so stupid. There was no way their boss would believe his prisoner escaped with both of his legs broken.

Reminding myself that they called it dumb luck for a reason I tried to see if there was anything nearby I could use as a weapon. Just as the bigger of the two looked in my direction, I picked up a nearby piece of broken pallet. A sensible man of my age would've tried to run the other way but having died already made me either brave or foolish. The bigger vampire actually seemed to get paler when he saw me and took off. There was a brief scuffle with the other one before I dusted him. It had been a long time since I'd done any fighting and I was surprised at how well I did. The adrenaline rush tempted me to go after the one that ran away but he was long gone. I braced myself instead to look though my double's pockets and finish dumping the body in the river. It would be simpler not to have to explain a twin.

There was no wallet or ID but I did find a business card for Giles Investigations – Paranormal Spec. with a Brunswick Gardens address and phone number. This struck me as funny- 'Rupert Giles PI'. I wondered if I had a beat-up trench coat and a fedora. Before I could play dress up though I needed to find out exactly where and when I was. By the time, I stood in front of the Victorian home that matched the address on the card it was morning. I was cold and exhausted, my adrenaline rush long over, but at least I was a bit less lost. I had spotted a newspaper kiosk and knew that it was October 1 2003; the autumn after Sunnydale was destroyed, at least in my dimension. World events here seemed to have occurred pretty much as I recalled; there were no anachronistic Nazis roaming the streets anyway. To anyone passing by I'd look like a vagrant huddled on the stoop without a coat but I didn't have a key and had nothing to break in with. I could only hope that I didn't work alone and some employee would show up soon.

"Rupert, did you lose your keys again?" I didn't know I was waking up. At first I thought, oh good my nightmare's over and I'm dreaming of Anya now. Funny, even half-asleep after all these years the sound of her voice is still familiar. She looked as beautiful as I remembered her. Her hair was blonde now and it made me wonder if this Anya colored hers as frequently and I smiled. That was when she realized I was a stranger and reached inside her carry all to pull out a very deadly looking knife. "What are you and what have you done with my business partner?"

"Look I'm Giles, just not your Giles." I tried to sound as harmless as I could and raised my hands slowly. "I need your help and I think you might need mine." I tried what others had called my 'watcher voice' "It's terribly cold down here; may I get up so we can discuss this inside?"

"All right, but don't think you'll catch me off guard just because you were nice enough to have Rupert's body mystically dry cleaned before you took it over. I won't be alone; there's a rogue demon hunter, a really powerful witch and ghost- vampire inside and two out three of them has tried to kill you before."

This would've sounded more like the opening line of a joke than a threat if it weren't for the way her face altered from human to vengeance demon, faint black lines appearing as I watched.

Willow's idea of a safe place was beginning to make some of the lesser-known hell dimensions look restful.