Heres chapter 9! Enjoy... No touching Electra!

Lessons and learning

The Scooby gang were located round Giles' table, doing what they knew best. Researching. Giles had encouraged them to stick their heads into the books and find out what Electra's background was really like. There had to be some explanation. Some kind of reason why she had more powers then any of the demons they had come face to face with so far. Angel was sat in the corner. Staring into space. He was still reeling from the events that had followed that night. He'd created this evil. How could he create evil more powerful then him. Vengeance? Pain? Anger? She'd been tracking him down for all these years.

'I think I found something guys..' Willow said, interrupting Angel from his thoughts. He looked over, saw how concerned Buffy was. This wasn't easy on her either. He'd come back after she'd killed him. Stopped his murderous ways.

'What is it Willow?' started Giles.

'Its Electra.. there's a lot more to her then we assumed.' Giles snatched the book from Willow, eager to find out what she was going on about. He read the page. His face dropped, colour draining from his face.

'Giles...' Buffy didn't like the look on Giles' face.

'It seems Electra possess the most evilest of powers.... it says here that Electra summoned Satan himself and absorbed his powers to rule the dark side of the earth..' he looked up from the page and looked at the gang. All there expressions had frozen. Angel rose from his seated position. His face stern.

'Why would she do that?' he asked

'.... well err... she begged for vengeance. She took in his powers to help her overcome the lighter side of her magick... she asked for revenge and took in the powers of Lucifer himself...' Giles tone drifted off. This was serious. Everyone turned to Angel. She'd taken in the powers of Satan to kill Angel. Begged for revenge for what he'd done. To her brother and herself.

'There's a downfall to her powers however.... you see.. she has the purest of evil in her... but she was a pure witch before the transformation due to her watcher. She feels the pain of others. She can sense pure and dark forces. She has no soul, but if she ever falls in love with anyone and announces it... she will then risk gaining her soul and losing all power she has.' Giles removed his glasses once more. Buffy was staring hard at Giles.

'That's it? There's no other way of killing her?'

'Gaining a soul alone will kill her!' snapped Angel. Buffy turned to him. 'You don't get it. All the damage she's done.. gaining her soul back will kill her. She possesses evil but she doesn't want to have it half the time. If she can feel others pain then she can feel her own. She has to kill. Doesn't mean she doesn't feel the guilt... and its all because of.. me.' Angel looked up to face Buffy. His eyes glazed. He wanted to sob so hard. All the confusion. The pain he'd caused.

'Angel this isn't your fault, you didn't..'

'Didn't what?! Didn't mean it? Didn't know! You don't know what it's like to be a vampire. You don't know how much you crave a mortals blood! I did mean it! Back then I didn't care. I loved it! It made me feel alive!' he snapped at her. Confusion on her face told him to stop.

'Err Giles..? So what your saying is if she tells someone she loves them.. and means it... then she will lose her powers and gain a soul? Like Angel did? asked Oz trying to get a clearer picture.

'Well yes it would appear so..' he replied. His voice had faded. He was terrified. He had faced demons, vampires and ghouls but nothing compared to this.

'It's not like me Oz... she'll die if she tells anyone she loves them. She can't take it. She won't be able to hack that she has a soul. She thrived on the power.' murmured Angel.

'Wait a minute... Spike was getting awfully close to her earlier..' Cordelia remarked.

'Yeah because we can just get Electra to say she loves Spike... eewwww. Enough with the imagery! stated Xander. He always found a way of saying things.

'Is that why she's so bitter? Coz she isn't able to love anyone?' Willow asked.

'Well she can.. but she could end up killing herself.' answered Giles taking into account what Angel had said.

'Oh my god that means she's the she devil!' screeched Cordelia.

'And look who just caught up!' snapped Xander. Everyone was getting agitated. The had no way of killing Electra. She was way too powerful for any of them. This wasn't a job for the slayer.

'So she can't love anyone.. hhmm.. I know that feeling..' Buffy whispered. Nobody heard thankfully.

'Oh.. there's something else. She's not just any vampire. She's a day walker. She can walk amongst humans unnoticed.' Giles slammed the book down. He was getting more and more pissed with the more he read. There was no good news that could come of this.

'Well you know what we have to do then..' started Buffy grabbing her coat from the peg near the door. 'I'm off to go find her... she's bound to be out there.. causing trouble.'