Buffy tossed her leather jacket over a nearby chair and began removing
weaponry from about her person, once she had most of it stowed safely in
her trunk she reached for the telephone and dialled Giles' number.
"Hello, Rupert Giles speaking," grumbled a tired voice.
"Giles! It's Buffy. I'm really, really sorry to pester you this late but something weird is up with my brother's friends."
Giles smothered his yawn at once, "Yes of course Buffy, how can I help with that? Define the weirdness."
Buffy sighed with relief, he didn't sound annoyed at all, more like flattered to be consulted and pleased that she was doing her job properly. "Well, it's not really so much them as what they seem to be involved in." She paused as she fumbled for her diary. "Giles, does a book title 'Rites and rituals of the Q-U-A-A-Z something' mean anything to you?"
There was a brief silence as Giles muttered to himself before hesitantly replying, "not right off no, should it?"
"It was a fairly old looking book and the guy holding it kinda tried to hide the title from me, so I was curious and it didn't look or sound as if it would be out of place in your collection."
"Well, I can certainly check and let you know if I find something, was there anything else?"
"Well, Angel, which is one of the other guys fought some vampires and staked them and everything so obviously they know about demons, which kinda reinforced the whole demon book idea."
"Interesting. You say this man actually did battle with these vampires?"
"Yeah, there was total butt-kicking, He just waded in to save these two kids and killed three of the four."
"Fascinating."
"Yeah."
Now how do I work in the Angel won against the vampires cause he's a big strong vampire himself pondered Buffy as Giles excitedly searched for books, asking again for the spelling of the partial word she had glimpsed. Then he began asking her how long she estimated the rest of the title to have been and Buffy just plumped out her question.
"Giles is it possible for a vampire to be a good person?"
Momentarily diverted from his hunt through his filing system for demons and cults beginning with 'Q' Giles replied, "Well, technically a vampire isn't a person at all."
Buffy interrupted quickly before he got off onto his favourite explanation and she lost him entirely. "Yeah, you taught me the whole when you die the demon takes the body and memories but not the soul, which is the essence of humanity and makes us what we are thing. But could a vampire maybe, I dunno; maybe retain his soul?"
"Buffy, that is an impossible notion and even if, impossibly a vampire retained it's soul it would still have the urge to hunt and kill because vampires are predators by nature, only you can make them prey. So even then the prospect of this implausible creature being a good person is very slim."
"Oh, okay." Muttered Buffy somewhat defeated as Giles began firing questions again about the book.
Suddenly, as she gazed into her open trunk she got an idea, "Giles?"
"Mmm?"
"Would it be possible to change the nature of a vampire with magick? Maybe even restore its soul?
There was a long silence before Giles spoke again, "I hesitate to ask Buffy, but why are you suddenly so interested in the possibility of good vampires?"
Buffy pounced, "So it is a possibility then?"
Giles sighed audibly and Buffy could just imagine him polishing his glasses on his clean starchy handkerchief. Eventually he spoke. "I suppose theoretically the magickal restoration of a soul is possible but I would imagine it to be a very complex spell, not lightly undertaken. Then of course if the spell was successful there would be other implications to consider."
"Like what?"
"Well if the vampire has killed, particularly somebody close to them the restoration of the soul would be a terrible thing. If a vampire takes the memories of the human it has killed, why should the soul not remember the acts of the demon while it was in unchallenged control?"
That was something Buffy hadn't thought of. Angel; a killer? She imagined him wracked with guilt and her heart ached for him. Vampire or not she still thought he was the nicest, handsomest guy she had ever met. He hadn't deserved whatever his deal was.
"Buffy, is there a reason you wanted to know that?"
"Huh? No. I'm just curiosity gal today. The 'Q' word was probably another five or six letters by the way."
There was a loud exclamation from Giles and then some rustling and banging noises. "Uh, Giles? You okay?"
"Here it is!" Giles said happily, "Rites and rituals of the Quaazberoon demon. Does that sound about right?"
"Freaky name, but yeah about the right length."
"Oh, and I have another even more in depth book about them too. Plus a few snippets in more generalized tomes."
Buffy listened patiently as Giles described the demons; by the sound of it they weren't the lumpy boys she and Angel had decked between them. Who else was down on poor Angel? Whoa! Poor Angel? When did he become poor Angel?
She drifted into an impossible fantasy of a vampire and a vampire slayer falling in love with each other and living happily ever after.
Defying her common sense and her slayer sense she silently and deliberately listed the pro points of Angel as a boyfriend while listening with half an ear on Giles. The biggest bonus she could see would be his less than easy to dent body, any boyfriend she might have would probably get battered occasionally, how much easier for Angel to bounce back than a human. Also she wouldn't have to treat him gently or hide her strength for fear of intimidating him. Then there was his kindness and good humour and his impossibly cute little ghost of a smile, his gorgeous piercing eyes and awesomely sexy body. The pancakes were pretty nice too.
Mm, Angel really was the stuff of dreams and if he really was a good vampire that could work out almost better than him being a regular human guy. Yeah right Buffy, she reminded herself, like he'd be interested in dating you, particularly slayer you.
Then Giles described an unpleasant plan the demons had for world domination. Buffy sat bolt upright on the edge of the bed, "Say again," she asked calmly.
"Er, they plan to make a series of half-blood sacrifices, by which I presume they mean half man, half demon beings at a time when the stars align to a certain pattern. If they complete the ritual they will ascend to great power. The book describes the last time such a sacrifice was attempted. A slayer thwarted it on that occasion almost eight hundred years ago, hmm and it looks as if the stars are about due to align again, I'll just check my astronomy books to be sure, hold on a moment please."
Buffy sat with her heart in her mouth. So a bunch of detectives had a book about demons that were planning to make half-blood sacrifices and one of the detectives was nowhere to be seen - alleged to be very busy with an unexpected case, the one detective that just happened to be a half blood man/demon. Buffy's mind whirled; it was a highly possible and somewhat terrifying explanation. Either way she needed to talk to the rest of them, and soon.
Just then Giles came back on the line interrupting her panicked thoughts, "Yes, there is about two days before the stars align Buffy, it's a good thing you called, you really need to put a stop this as soon as you can."
"Wonderful, just what I needed. Well, thanks Giles, I think I'll go and look into this a little more closely."
"Certainly Buffy, best of luck with this. If you need me to come to Los Angeles to assist in any way I will."
"Thanks Giles. I'll see how I do first though."
"Okay, goodbye Buffy."
"Bye Giles."
"Hello, Rupert Giles speaking," grumbled a tired voice.
"Giles! It's Buffy. I'm really, really sorry to pester you this late but something weird is up with my brother's friends."
Giles smothered his yawn at once, "Yes of course Buffy, how can I help with that? Define the weirdness."
Buffy sighed with relief, he didn't sound annoyed at all, more like flattered to be consulted and pleased that she was doing her job properly. "Well, it's not really so much them as what they seem to be involved in." She paused as she fumbled for her diary. "Giles, does a book title 'Rites and rituals of the Q-U-A-A-Z something' mean anything to you?"
There was a brief silence as Giles muttered to himself before hesitantly replying, "not right off no, should it?"
"It was a fairly old looking book and the guy holding it kinda tried to hide the title from me, so I was curious and it didn't look or sound as if it would be out of place in your collection."
"Well, I can certainly check and let you know if I find something, was there anything else?"
"Well, Angel, which is one of the other guys fought some vampires and staked them and everything so obviously they know about demons, which kinda reinforced the whole demon book idea."
"Interesting. You say this man actually did battle with these vampires?"
"Yeah, there was total butt-kicking, He just waded in to save these two kids and killed three of the four."
"Fascinating."
"Yeah."
Now how do I work in the Angel won against the vampires cause he's a big strong vampire himself pondered Buffy as Giles excitedly searched for books, asking again for the spelling of the partial word she had glimpsed. Then he began asking her how long she estimated the rest of the title to have been and Buffy just plumped out her question.
"Giles is it possible for a vampire to be a good person?"
Momentarily diverted from his hunt through his filing system for demons and cults beginning with 'Q' Giles replied, "Well, technically a vampire isn't a person at all."
Buffy interrupted quickly before he got off onto his favourite explanation and she lost him entirely. "Yeah, you taught me the whole when you die the demon takes the body and memories but not the soul, which is the essence of humanity and makes us what we are thing. But could a vampire maybe, I dunno; maybe retain his soul?"
"Buffy, that is an impossible notion and even if, impossibly a vampire retained it's soul it would still have the urge to hunt and kill because vampires are predators by nature, only you can make them prey. So even then the prospect of this implausible creature being a good person is very slim."
"Oh, okay." Muttered Buffy somewhat defeated as Giles began firing questions again about the book.
Suddenly, as she gazed into her open trunk she got an idea, "Giles?"
"Mmm?"
"Would it be possible to change the nature of a vampire with magick? Maybe even restore its soul?
There was a long silence before Giles spoke again, "I hesitate to ask Buffy, but why are you suddenly so interested in the possibility of good vampires?"
Buffy pounced, "So it is a possibility then?"
Giles sighed audibly and Buffy could just imagine him polishing his glasses on his clean starchy handkerchief. Eventually he spoke. "I suppose theoretically the magickal restoration of a soul is possible but I would imagine it to be a very complex spell, not lightly undertaken. Then of course if the spell was successful there would be other implications to consider."
"Like what?"
"Well if the vampire has killed, particularly somebody close to them the restoration of the soul would be a terrible thing. If a vampire takes the memories of the human it has killed, why should the soul not remember the acts of the demon while it was in unchallenged control?"
That was something Buffy hadn't thought of. Angel; a killer? She imagined him wracked with guilt and her heart ached for him. Vampire or not she still thought he was the nicest, handsomest guy she had ever met. He hadn't deserved whatever his deal was.
"Buffy, is there a reason you wanted to know that?"
"Huh? No. I'm just curiosity gal today. The 'Q' word was probably another five or six letters by the way."
There was a loud exclamation from Giles and then some rustling and banging noises. "Uh, Giles? You okay?"
"Here it is!" Giles said happily, "Rites and rituals of the Quaazberoon demon. Does that sound about right?"
"Freaky name, but yeah about the right length."
"Oh, and I have another even more in depth book about them too. Plus a few snippets in more generalized tomes."
Buffy listened patiently as Giles described the demons; by the sound of it they weren't the lumpy boys she and Angel had decked between them. Who else was down on poor Angel? Whoa! Poor Angel? When did he become poor Angel?
She drifted into an impossible fantasy of a vampire and a vampire slayer falling in love with each other and living happily ever after.
Defying her common sense and her slayer sense she silently and deliberately listed the pro points of Angel as a boyfriend while listening with half an ear on Giles. The biggest bonus she could see would be his less than easy to dent body, any boyfriend she might have would probably get battered occasionally, how much easier for Angel to bounce back than a human. Also she wouldn't have to treat him gently or hide her strength for fear of intimidating him. Then there was his kindness and good humour and his impossibly cute little ghost of a smile, his gorgeous piercing eyes and awesomely sexy body. The pancakes were pretty nice too.
Mm, Angel really was the stuff of dreams and if he really was a good vampire that could work out almost better than him being a regular human guy. Yeah right Buffy, she reminded herself, like he'd be interested in dating you, particularly slayer you.
Then Giles described an unpleasant plan the demons had for world domination. Buffy sat bolt upright on the edge of the bed, "Say again," she asked calmly.
"Er, they plan to make a series of half-blood sacrifices, by which I presume they mean half man, half demon beings at a time when the stars align to a certain pattern. If they complete the ritual they will ascend to great power. The book describes the last time such a sacrifice was attempted. A slayer thwarted it on that occasion almost eight hundred years ago, hmm and it looks as if the stars are about due to align again, I'll just check my astronomy books to be sure, hold on a moment please."
Buffy sat with her heart in her mouth. So a bunch of detectives had a book about demons that were planning to make half-blood sacrifices and one of the detectives was nowhere to be seen - alleged to be very busy with an unexpected case, the one detective that just happened to be a half blood man/demon. Buffy's mind whirled; it was a highly possible and somewhat terrifying explanation. Either way she needed to talk to the rest of them, and soon.
Just then Giles came back on the line interrupting her panicked thoughts, "Yes, there is about two days before the stars align Buffy, it's a good thing you called, you really need to put a stop this as soon as you can."
"Wonderful, just what I needed. Well, thanks Giles, I think I'll go and look into this a little more closely."
"Certainly Buffy, best of luck with this. If you need me to come to Los Angeles to assist in any way I will."
"Thanks Giles. I'll see how I do first though."
"Okay, goodbye Buffy."
"Bye Giles."
