CHAPTER THIRTEEN: JANNA
Saturday: 3pm
13th December 1997
Romania: Bucharest
Giles had told her that they would only be in Romania for a month at the most, something for which she was grateful of. She didn't particularly like it at all, and she wished to be somewhere that spoke English as their first language. It had been over ten months since she had been in an English speaking country, and it was beginning to annoy her.
She was dying for good conversation with someone apart from Giles. The letters to Ethan and Faith, now monthly rather than weekly, were a small comfort to her, one that Giles still didn't know about. She was able to send them when she went on patrols by herself. She knew that she should have told him about them, but she had kept her father-figure a secret for so long that it had become a habit.
She trusted Giles with her life, and he trusted her with his. They worked well together, Beth helping him with any research that needed to be done, and Giles occasionally coming on patrol with her when she was feeling unwell for any reason.
She'd been the Slayer for a little over a year now, and she had fought some incredible battles against demons and vampires alike. The latest conflict in Romania, however, was wearing her down slowly. She was more tired than she should have been, and she felt as though her strength was slowly being drained from her.
Giles had been researching for the past two days to see if there was any precedent for this sort of a reaction to the demons that she was facing.
"Anything?" she asked.
He looked up at her and shook his head sadly. He knew he wasn't supposed to become attached to her, but it was hard not to become fond of her. After the incident with Father Pat in Ireland she had basically opened up to him in every area of her life, and he had slowly begun to do the same.
"It looks as though our demon is native to this region," he said. "It feeds on peoples strength, which is probably why you're feeling so vulnerable right now."
She glared at him, snatching the book away from him to read the passage herself.
"I'm a little off, not vulnerable," she corrected angrily. The sudden loss of her strength was making her testy, and even though she was still stronger than the average person, she was weaker than she had become accustomed to.
Giles rolled his eyes and took the book back.
"I'm still searching for ways to eradicate the entire clan. These Kalder demons are surprisingly resilient."
She perked up a little as he said the demons name. "Kalder? I've heard that name."
He looked at her curiously. He truly valued her research skills and had often wondered whether the girl even needed a Watcher to help her. She had shown remarkable intelligence and flair for the intellectual side of the slaying. All round, he couldn't have got a better Slayer than Beth Summers.
She picked up a book that she had gone through the evening before, flicking through it to the section she had been reading. Her eyes lit up a little as she found the appropriate passage.
"Look," she said, pushing the book towards Giles, "The Kalder demon. Named after the near decimation of the Clan of Kalderash, a regional Gypsy tribe in Romania. Persons belonging to the Clan of Kalderash are the only living entities known to this realm that possess the majicks needed to call upon the forces of light to terminate the Kalder demons. The majicks needed require the half-life of a willing Chosen."
Beth's face fell as she registered the words.
"Willing Chosen? Does that mean Chosen as in Slayers?" she asked.
Giles removed his glasses and began polishing them, a gesture that indicated he was nervous.
"Quite possibly. That could explain why you're feeling so drained. If you are indeed the willing Chosen that the tribe is using…it sounds almost as though they need half of your strength," he said.
She looked at him with narrow eyes. "I thought the word 'willing' meant that I had to volunteer for this. I'm not exactly willing."
He did look a little concerned, which made Beth feel a little guilty for snapping at him.
"Perhaps we need to visit this tribe and see what exactly it is that they are doing," he suggested.
She looked stricken at the suggestion and shook her head empathically. "Uh, Giles? While you may be all for offering me up as a willing sacrifice or whatever it is they need, I'm not willing."
He looked at her in the way that she knew would get her to do anything. His head slightly bowed, eye-balling her gently. She sighed knowing he had won. Sometimes she hated that obedience had been ingrained into her.
"Alright, fine…we'll go."
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It took Giles a day to discover the exact location of the Gypsy tribe, and he and Beth set out to find it on the Saturday. She was still reluctant, but, like she had sworn to herself in the previous year, she was going to trust Giles with every part of her life, including the part where she could be killed if anything went wrong.
After a four-hour drive and a two-hour trek through the wooded area, the Watcher and Slayer found themselves in the midst of a gypsy camp. Beth looked towards her Watcher who breathed in deeply and calmly walked forward. Beth sighed and followed him.
There were shouts from the gypsies, warning all the other members of the clan that they had intruders on the premises. Giles and Beth tried to look as unthreatening as possible. A man who was obviously an elder of the tribe approached them.
"Friends or foes?" he asked in Romanian.
Giles gave them small smiles. "We are friends. We've come to ask for your help."
A peal of laughter broke out, making Beth a little nervous. She had no idea what was being said, but she could tell that it couldn't have been good.
"And why would we help you?"
"We've been attacked by the demons that we know attacked your clan," Giles replied.
The laughter immediately stopped and a silence followed Giles statement. Beth shifted nervously, her hands on the dagger in her pocket.
"I'm sorry. We cannot help you there," the elder said, sounding genuinely sorry. "We cannot kill these beasts."
"I read that there was a way," Giles said. He was now completely confused. He had assumed that it was the gypsies performing spells on his Slayer to make her suddenly lose her strength, but it sounded as though they didn't know that Beth was the Chosen One.
"There is a way," the elder said. "But we do not have the final ingredient."
"Which is what?" Giles asked.
"The half-life of a Chosen."
Giles swallowed hard and pressed on, knowing that the wrong wording could get his Slayer killed at any second.
"What do you mean by half-life?" he asked.
"The Chosen's blood. But she must willingly give it to us, or else the demon will not perish. The demon can be defeated by a simple incantation, but the blood is the key ingredient," the elder said.
"And the amount of blood that you need…it wouldn't kill the Chosen would it?"
The elder shook his head. "No, not at all. The Kalder demons drain the Chosen of her strength, but our spell will not only give the Chosen her strength back, but increase it two-fold as well."
Giles looked vaguely pleased at the idea of that. He glanced at Beth and quickly gave her a translation of what they had just said. She looked nervous, but Giles could tell that she was about to volunteer to be the 'willing Chosen'.
"This is Beth Summers," he told the clan. "She is the Chosen One. And she is willing."
A burst of noise went through the camp. In five hundred years, there hadn't ever been any willing Chosen Ones to volunteer their services. There hadn't been any Slayers in the vicinity in centuries, and to have one wander into their midst now seemed like an answer to prayers from long ago.
The elder stepped forward and looked down at Beth, touching her chin and forcing the girl to meet his eyes. He asked her something that she couldn't understand. Beth looked to Giles for a translation.
"She can't speak your language," he told the other man.
The elder nodded and quickly switched to English.
"You are the Chosen One? The Slayer?" he asked.
"I am," she replied.
"And you will willingly give up your blood to help us finally destroy these beasts?" he asked.
"Yes."
The elder nodded and looked towards a young woman behind him.
"Janna! Come forward."
Janna was a young woman of thirty or so years with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She looked at the elder, knowing that he had honoured her greatly by asking her to be part of the ritual.
"Prepare Miss Summers for the bloodletting," he instructed. Janna nodded and looked towards Beth who was still looking a little nervous.
Janna held out a hand to Beth who hesitantly took it.
"It's alright," Janna told her speaking in the English rather than the Romanian that she had used to address the elder. "It won't take long."
Beth nodded and followed the older woman, leaving Giles to worry about what was about to happen. The elder looked towards four of the men standing in a clump together.
"Prepare the spell."
For a moment, the clan seemed to be in shock, but after a few seconds, they jumped to obey the instructions that they had been given. They were excited at the prospect of finally being rid of the Kalder demons that had plagued their country for centuries.
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"Nervous?" Janna asked her as she cleaned a section of Beth's arm.
Beth nodded and swallowed hard.
"I'm still not too sure what I just got myself into."
Janna gave a tiny laugh and smiled at her reassuringly.
"You'll be fine. We'll take a fair bit of your blood, but after a good nights rest and a lot of vitamins, you'll be at one hundred and fifty percent in no time," she said.
"Is it true about my strength increasing?" she asked.
Janna nodded and Beth could only sit and worry in silence as to what that would mean. Surely she would be far safer if she was stronger, but at the same time, she didn't really want the added pressure of being the strongest Slayer in history. It would mean that when she died, it would have to be more spectacular than the previous Slayers. She knew that it was an absurd train of though to have, but it was there in the back of her mind.
"You'll be able to control it Beth," Janna assured her. "But don't let it control you."
"You think I couldn't handle it?" she asked, sounding a lot like Faith had when she had asked Beth whether she had thought that Faith could hack being a Slayer.
"I think that it takes someone with a world of strength within them to do what you must do. Being the Chosen is a thankless task, one that will eventually mean death," Janna said.
Beth nodded, having being drilled with this information since she was a child.
"I know all of this. Why do you think I couldn't handle it?" she asked.
"Because you are slowly losing your focus," Janna said gently.
Beth glared at her, wondering how the gypsy could know that. Janna just laughed gently and placed Buffy's arm above a bowl. She looked at Beth who followed Janna's gaze to a silver dagger that she was holding. Beth nodded and watched as Janna drew a line across her wrist, and turned Beth's arm so that the blood could flow into the bowl.
"You fight for certain people, yes?" Janna asked.
Beth nodded. "Yeah. I do."
"But they aren't as much of a comfort as they were when you first began, are they? You miss them terribly," she stated.
Beth nodded once more. "I haven't seen either of them in over a year."
Janna gave her a small smile and held Beth's arm steady when it began to shake from blood loss.
"I'll offer you one piece of advice, young Slayer," Janna said. "You will meet both of them again, very soon. You'll probably find that they are both a little lost without you as well."
"But, how do I regain my focus?" she asked.
Janna smiled and moved to gather some material to staunch the blood flow now that the bowl was full.
"You'll regain your focus when you find your place in the world."
"I know my place. I help people…that's what I do," Beth said.
Janna nodded gently and bandaged Beth's arm.
"I don't mean that sort of place. I mean a proper location. A home. Friends. Your family."
"Slayers can't have that luxury," Beth said.
Janna smiled and patted Beth's hand softly.
"You'll find all of it. Sooner than you think. You'll be moved soon. And you'll find your place there. You'll find where you belong."
Beth frowned as Janna stood up and moved away.
"How do you know all this?" she asked.
"I see things that the others do not, little one. I see your future laid out very clearly in front of you. There are two ways that you can go, and you must be careful which path you take. Just remember to accept the gifts that you are given and learn to live with the fact that you can't have the things that everyone else has," she said cryptically. "Your acceptance will be the first step on your true path."
With that, Janna took the bowl and left Beth to sit and ponder what had just been said.
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"Well, that was successful, wouldn't you say?" Giles asked happily.
Beth nodded, unusually quiet.
"Are you alright?" Giles asked.
She nodded again. "Just a bit tired," she explained.
"Yes, Janna said that you might be a little fatigued after that," Giles said.
Beth smiled at the tinge of red that appeared on Giles' face when he mentioned Janna. It was a shame that they would be moving on so soon.
They walked into their small two-bedroom house, throwing their coats over the chair.
"I'm gonna head to bed if you don't need me for anything," Beth said tiredly.
"Yes, of course. That-"
He was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. He sighed and looked at her. "Hold that thought."
Beth stood and waited for her Watcher to answer the phone, not wanting to go to bed until she found out what Giles had been called for. Most of the phone calls had usually been about the Council wanting them to take a new assignment.
"Giles here," Giles said.
"Where? Yes. Yes, alright. Tomorrow? Yes. Yes, that's fine. We'll be ready. Yes thank you. Good night."
He hung up and looked towards Beth.
"New location?" she asked.
He nodded. "A small town in the States."
"What's it called?"
"Sunnydale."
*grins* Well…I think that answers a few questions that were brought up. Will they ever go to Sunnydale…yup!
To clarify: this fic will stay non-shippy, BUT cos a lot of ppl like reading shippy stuff, I have written a few chapters that have bugger all to do with the story, but work quite well as stand-alones with the basic fic background. They're not for HEAPS ages though…you'll kinda understand more when we get up to the stand alone parts. ;)
Thank you soooooo much to everyone who has been giving feedback! It's fully encouraging!!!
Toodles.
K.