Disclaimer: Don't own BTVS, don't own the characters, and don't own
anything else except for Alethea, the Orobas clan, Sebastian, Sylvia,
Kendall, and Vera. Well, I guess I can say that I own those because they
come straight from my own mind.
Authors note: Two chapters in one day! I'm really on a role now aren't I? Thanks to my faithful readers and reviewers and I hope you enjoy. -Grace
Giles lifted his head briefly before drowning out the incessant knocking with a well-placed pillow over his ears. He lifted the bedside clock to where he could see the red numbers glaring 4:36 and groaned. Only one person would wake him up like this and he didn't exactly want to see him right now. The banging at his door continued and regretfully Giles pulled himself from the bed, throwing a housecoat around himself and lazily making his way to the door. The sound of Spikes voice from the other side was enough for him to hurry a bit, he certainly didn't need the neighbors complaining about a noise violation at four in the morning.
"Wait a goddamn minute will you?" he muttered quietly before throwing open the door. "You'd better have a damn good reason for waking me up this time of morning, vampire!"
"Well Rupert, good to see you too."
"Just for the record Spike, Buffy is not scheduled to call so if you're thinking of spending the night again you can just forget." for the first time Giles seemed to notice the blond girl standing by Spike's side. "You know, for someone who supposedly loves Buffy so much you sure move on quickly in her absence."
"Get over the shock old man, this is my great niece, not my date, alright? Now focus will you?"
"What is so important that you're here once again at four in the morning? I somehow doubt that it's just my company you're looking for."
"Right you are, as I was saying, this is my great niece Laurea and she's a seer. She's got some information on this upcoming prophecy that I think may be helpful."
At those words Giles stuck out his hand in greeting and Laurea kindly took it, shaking it while being ushered inside by the older man. Spike followed the two of them and after pulling a beer from the fridge, fell comfortably onto the couch. Giles excused himself for a moment to his room and returned fully dressed and obviously more comfortable than he had been in the housecoat. Laurea found a seat in one of the armchairs and after refusing a beverage from the host of the household, began her story from the beginning. Although Spike already knew most of it, he listened intently anyway, hoping that he would be able to discover something of why Buffy had gone to London to get his soul.
"So how is it that you two have come to be related?"
"Spike's sister was my great grandmother, that's how. I didn't come to Sunnydale to get to know Spike; however, I was recruited by a vampiress named Alethea for my seeing abilities. Meeting Spike was just sort of a bonus you know? I had seen him in my dreams before, but of course at that time I didn't know he was my great uncle, just that he was some miscellaneous blonde vampire that was in trouble somewhere. My ability isn't very fine-tuned; it seems to be more of a wide beacon type thing. It was completely a coincidence that my great uncle and that blonde vampire were one in the same."
"How do we know that you're still not working with Alethea and here to get information from us?"
"Well, I guess my word is it. When Alethea brought me to Sunnydale she told me that after the prophecy I would get sort of a get out of jail free card."
"Get out of hell free card you mean." Spike quietly mumbled before taking another swig of beer.
"Please continue Laurea." Giles pleaded after Spikes blatant disregard of manners "Spike will be quiet from this point on."
"I trusted her, I believed her, she sold me on the thought. I should have realized before that she never intended to keep that promise. Vampire's don't have morals."
"Uh, excuse me? Vampire here, and just because some of the breed aren't exactly trustworthy, doesn't mean that we all aren't. I happen to have kept a lot of promises in my day."
"Oh, sorry William I."
"Spike, Laurea, Spike."
"Right, Spike I wasn't thinking, sorry?"
"So long as it doesn't happen again."
Giles rolled his eyes at the conversation playing out in front of his eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had apologized to Spike and actually meant it. He was still amazed that Spike actually had family and that this particular "family" wanted to have anything to do with him. She was a seer after all, well, at least that's what she claimed, shouldn't she know what Spike is really like? Shouldn't she be able to feel the evil just boiling beneath this skin? The Council would really be insane if they ever gave Buffy Spikes soul, not that he wanted to see Buffy hurt, it was just that he knew she could do so much better for herself than Spike.
"What made you finally realize that Alethea was just using you?"
"I had a dream, about two hours ago now, it showed a lot of things, some things pertaining to the prophecy, but the one thing that bothered me the most was Alethea slashing my throat and letting her minions feed off of my blood. That pretty much gave me the "she's not the best person in the world" vibe. Besides, I saw Buffy in this dream, and I realized that I just couldn't let that happen to an innocent person."
Giles nodded his understanding, seemingly in agreement with what she was saying. He couldn't think of anyway that this Alethea would benefit by sending her seer out to meet with the so-called enemies. He'd seen enough people lie in his life to know that she wasn't. The fact that she was related to Spike just freaked him out to say the least and he'd remember to check up on that fact later on, to make absolute sure that she wasn't just using Spike as a way to get close to the gang. No, better yet, he'd call Willow and have her do a truth spell on her, that would work just as well if not better and it wouldn't take so much time. Too bad it was only five, well, they'd been up that early for prophecies before and they certainly all deserved to be in on whatever Laurea knew. He picked up the phone and dialed Willows number.
An hour later everyone was seated around Giles living room coffee table, waiting for the meeting to start and waiting for Xander to show. Spike was on his fourth beer and Giles had officially cut him off, stating that if he was going to be of any help at all, that he would have to be completely focused. Spike grudgingly complied thinking that it would show well on him in Buffy's eyes when she got back from London. He thought to himself of how when everyone left he would be sure to ask the watcher just what he knew about Buffy's oh so sudden disappearance.
"Where is Xander anyway?"
"He said he was going to stop and get some donuts but it shouldn't have taken this long, for gods sakes, he's had nearly an hour to do it." Anya pulled the blanket tighter around her before closing her eyes "will you just wake me up when he gets here?"
"Your donuts have arrived!" Xander announced as he threw the door open "no need to worry any longer."
"Well, that's bloody wonderful, can we get on with it now? A blokes got to sleep you know, not to mention the whole sun issue doesn't seem to bode well with me. And as I'm sure we all know, there's less than an hour to go so I suggest we forget the damn donuts and get to the talking."
"Oh great, who invited the great un-dead? Did he really need to be here?" Xander stopped mid rant to look at the new face in the circle. "And who exactly is this?"
"I'll tell you who she's not," Anya pulled the blanket from her face "your girlfriend, I am."
"Jeez Ahn, I just thought I'd introduce myself is all."
"Laurea, this is Xander, my boyfriend, he's a little strange and so there'll be no need to flirt with him. There." she turned back to Xander taking his hand and pulling him onto the couch with her "better?"
"Willow, are you ready to do the spell?" Giles questioned the redhead while pulling another bottle from Spikes hands.
"Yeah, Tara just has to finish lighting the candles and we're good to go. You're not scared are you?"
"A little I guess, all of this" Laurea motioned her hand across the room "is sort of new to me you know?"
"You'll be fine, just sit back and enjoy."
It didn't take the witches long to find what they were looking for, Laurea was completely pure when it came to lies, it hardly seemed like she had told a lie in her life she was that clear. Every question that any of them could shoot her way always came back as truth, even Giles questions about her relationship with Spike. Well, he at least had to say he was glad that Spike hadn't been lying about being her great uncle. And it also seemed that from any other viewpoint, Laurea was telling them all the truth about everything. About having been recruited by Alethea, about the dreams, about all of it.
"So this prophecy, what do you know about it?"
"Not much I'm afraid, I'm just the seer, but I have seen Buffy bleeding from a bite wound, and I do know that her blood is needed to open the portal to the hell dimensions. Other than that I cannot say, the building is the only other thing that I've seen. It's very large, like a big warehouse or office building, but it doesn't have a roof. I don't know why that is, there must be some reason."
"It's far past time that we had this conversation, we should have all gotten together weeks ago, now, we only have a week and a half before it happens. Buffy's gone, we still don't know exactly what's happening, but at least now we have a starting point. Willow, you and Tara will look up Alethea and the Orobas clan won't you? Xander and Anya, you're going to need to start stockpiling weapons. Chances are that we're going to need a great amount of them and so don't skimp, and I will research the event itself and Laurea, well, you just stay away from Alethea. She's probably got minions out looking around and I'm sure that they'll have seen you by now, move into Spikes crypt for the time being, he is probably the only one besides Buffy that is strong enough to protect you from Alethea and the rest of the Orobas clan. Now, what is it that we do know?"
"Well," Willow began quietly "the prophecy is going to happening in seven days at midnight. And by what it says here, Buffy's blood will be shed to open the portal but it won't be taken forcefully. Why would it say that?"
"I'm really pretty sure she's not just going to hand it over" Spike announced "wonder how they're planning on getting it then? I'll ask around, maybe one of the newer demons in town knows."
Giles nodded his agreement before returning to the book he had been reading out of. This was going to be a long process, it seemed like there was hardly anything written anywhere about this particular prophecy and he was rather surprised they hadn't found what they needed yet. Never were these things so secretive, weren't there any more texts that they could gain information from? Had the Council forgotten to send something when they forwarded everything they had to him? Things were falling apart and there was only seven days until the possible end of the world. He closed his eyes a moment, unknowingly cleaning his glasses as he did so.
"Please Buffy, finish whatever it is that is keeping you so long, we need you more than ever now."
He glanced among the group, at all of the serious faces, at all of the youth still there, at all of the life in this room and for the first time since Glory allowed the thought that they just might not make it seep into his brain. How could they possibly stop a prophecy that they knew nothing about?
Authors note: Two chapters in one day! I'm really on a role now aren't I? Thanks to my faithful readers and reviewers and I hope you enjoy. -Grace
Giles lifted his head briefly before drowning out the incessant knocking with a well-placed pillow over his ears. He lifted the bedside clock to where he could see the red numbers glaring 4:36 and groaned. Only one person would wake him up like this and he didn't exactly want to see him right now. The banging at his door continued and regretfully Giles pulled himself from the bed, throwing a housecoat around himself and lazily making his way to the door. The sound of Spikes voice from the other side was enough for him to hurry a bit, he certainly didn't need the neighbors complaining about a noise violation at four in the morning.
"Wait a goddamn minute will you?" he muttered quietly before throwing open the door. "You'd better have a damn good reason for waking me up this time of morning, vampire!"
"Well Rupert, good to see you too."
"Just for the record Spike, Buffy is not scheduled to call so if you're thinking of spending the night again you can just forget." for the first time Giles seemed to notice the blond girl standing by Spike's side. "You know, for someone who supposedly loves Buffy so much you sure move on quickly in her absence."
"Get over the shock old man, this is my great niece, not my date, alright? Now focus will you?"
"What is so important that you're here once again at four in the morning? I somehow doubt that it's just my company you're looking for."
"Right you are, as I was saying, this is my great niece Laurea and she's a seer. She's got some information on this upcoming prophecy that I think may be helpful."
At those words Giles stuck out his hand in greeting and Laurea kindly took it, shaking it while being ushered inside by the older man. Spike followed the two of them and after pulling a beer from the fridge, fell comfortably onto the couch. Giles excused himself for a moment to his room and returned fully dressed and obviously more comfortable than he had been in the housecoat. Laurea found a seat in one of the armchairs and after refusing a beverage from the host of the household, began her story from the beginning. Although Spike already knew most of it, he listened intently anyway, hoping that he would be able to discover something of why Buffy had gone to London to get his soul.
"So how is it that you two have come to be related?"
"Spike's sister was my great grandmother, that's how. I didn't come to Sunnydale to get to know Spike; however, I was recruited by a vampiress named Alethea for my seeing abilities. Meeting Spike was just sort of a bonus you know? I had seen him in my dreams before, but of course at that time I didn't know he was my great uncle, just that he was some miscellaneous blonde vampire that was in trouble somewhere. My ability isn't very fine-tuned; it seems to be more of a wide beacon type thing. It was completely a coincidence that my great uncle and that blonde vampire were one in the same."
"How do we know that you're still not working with Alethea and here to get information from us?"
"Well, I guess my word is it. When Alethea brought me to Sunnydale she told me that after the prophecy I would get sort of a get out of jail free card."
"Get out of hell free card you mean." Spike quietly mumbled before taking another swig of beer.
"Please continue Laurea." Giles pleaded after Spikes blatant disregard of manners "Spike will be quiet from this point on."
"I trusted her, I believed her, she sold me on the thought. I should have realized before that she never intended to keep that promise. Vampire's don't have morals."
"Uh, excuse me? Vampire here, and just because some of the breed aren't exactly trustworthy, doesn't mean that we all aren't. I happen to have kept a lot of promises in my day."
"Oh, sorry William I."
"Spike, Laurea, Spike."
"Right, Spike I wasn't thinking, sorry?"
"So long as it doesn't happen again."
Giles rolled his eyes at the conversation playing out in front of his eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had apologized to Spike and actually meant it. He was still amazed that Spike actually had family and that this particular "family" wanted to have anything to do with him. She was a seer after all, well, at least that's what she claimed, shouldn't she know what Spike is really like? Shouldn't she be able to feel the evil just boiling beneath this skin? The Council would really be insane if they ever gave Buffy Spikes soul, not that he wanted to see Buffy hurt, it was just that he knew she could do so much better for herself than Spike.
"What made you finally realize that Alethea was just using you?"
"I had a dream, about two hours ago now, it showed a lot of things, some things pertaining to the prophecy, but the one thing that bothered me the most was Alethea slashing my throat and letting her minions feed off of my blood. That pretty much gave me the "she's not the best person in the world" vibe. Besides, I saw Buffy in this dream, and I realized that I just couldn't let that happen to an innocent person."
Giles nodded his understanding, seemingly in agreement with what she was saying. He couldn't think of anyway that this Alethea would benefit by sending her seer out to meet with the so-called enemies. He'd seen enough people lie in his life to know that she wasn't. The fact that she was related to Spike just freaked him out to say the least and he'd remember to check up on that fact later on, to make absolute sure that she wasn't just using Spike as a way to get close to the gang. No, better yet, he'd call Willow and have her do a truth spell on her, that would work just as well if not better and it wouldn't take so much time. Too bad it was only five, well, they'd been up that early for prophecies before and they certainly all deserved to be in on whatever Laurea knew. He picked up the phone and dialed Willows number.
An hour later everyone was seated around Giles living room coffee table, waiting for the meeting to start and waiting for Xander to show. Spike was on his fourth beer and Giles had officially cut him off, stating that if he was going to be of any help at all, that he would have to be completely focused. Spike grudgingly complied thinking that it would show well on him in Buffy's eyes when she got back from London. He thought to himself of how when everyone left he would be sure to ask the watcher just what he knew about Buffy's oh so sudden disappearance.
"Where is Xander anyway?"
"He said he was going to stop and get some donuts but it shouldn't have taken this long, for gods sakes, he's had nearly an hour to do it." Anya pulled the blanket tighter around her before closing her eyes "will you just wake me up when he gets here?"
"Your donuts have arrived!" Xander announced as he threw the door open "no need to worry any longer."
"Well, that's bloody wonderful, can we get on with it now? A blokes got to sleep you know, not to mention the whole sun issue doesn't seem to bode well with me. And as I'm sure we all know, there's less than an hour to go so I suggest we forget the damn donuts and get to the talking."
"Oh great, who invited the great un-dead? Did he really need to be here?" Xander stopped mid rant to look at the new face in the circle. "And who exactly is this?"
"I'll tell you who she's not," Anya pulled the blanket from her face "your girlfriend, I am."
"Jeez Ahn, I just thought I'd introduce myself is all."
"Laurea, this is Xander, my boyfriend, he's a little strange and so there'll be no need to flirt with him. There." she turned back to Xander taking his hand and pulling him onto the couch with her "better?"
"Willow, are you ready to do the spell?" Giles questioned the redhead while pulling another bottle from Spikes hands.
"Yeah, Tara just has to finish lighting the candles and we're good to go. You're not scared are you?"
"A little I guess, all of this" Laurea motioned her hand across the room "is sort of new to me you know?"
"You'll be fine, just sit back and enjoy."
It didn't take the witches long to find what they were looking for, Laurea was completely pure when it came to lies, it hardly seemed like she had told a lie in her life she was that clear. Every question that any of them could shoot her way always came back as truth, even Giles questions about her relationship with Spike. Well, he at least had to say he was glad that Spike hadn't been lying about being her great uncle. And it also seemed that from any other viewpoint, Laurea was telling them all the truth about everything. About having been recruited by Alethea, about the dreams, about all of it.
"So this prophecy, what do you know about it?"
"Not much I'm afraid, I'm just the seer, but I have seen Buffy bleeding from a bite wound, and I do know that her blood is needed to open the portal to the hell dimensions. Other than that I cannot say, the building is the only other thing that I've seen. It's very large, like a big warehouse or office building, but it doesn't have a roof. I don't know why that is, there must be some reason."
"It's far past time that we had this conversation, we should have all gotten together weeks ago, now, we only have a week and a half before it happens. Buffy's gone, we still don't know exactly what's happening, but at least now we have a starting point. Willow, you and Tara will look up Alethea and the Orobas clan won't you? Xander and Anya, you're going to need to start stockpiling weapons. Chances are that we're going to need a great amount of them and so don't skimp, and I will research the event itself and Laurea, well, you just stay away from Alethea. She's probably got minions out looking around and I'm sure that they'll have seen you by now, move into Spikes crypt for the time being, he is probably the only one besides Buffy that is strong enough to protect you from Alethea and the rest of the Orobas clan. Now, what is it that we do know?"
"Well," Willow began quietly "the prophecy is going to happening in seven days at midnight. And by what it says here, Buffy's blood will be shed to open the portal but it won't be taken forcefully. Why would it say that?"
"I'm really pretty sure she's not just going to hand it over" Spike announced "wonder how they're planning on getting it then? I'll ask around, maybe one of the newer demons in town knows."
Giles nodded his agreement before returning to the book he had been reading out of. This was going to be a long process, it seemed like there was hardly anything written anywhere about this particular prophecy and he was rather surprised they hadn't found what they needed yet. Never were these things so secretive, weren't there any more texts that they could gain information from? Had the Council forgotten to send something when they forwarded everything they had to him? Things were falling apart and there was only seven days until the possible end of the world. He closed his eyes a moment, unknowingly cleaning his glasses as he did so.
"Please Buffy, finish whatever it is that is keeping you so long, we need you more than ever now."
He glanced among the group, at all of the serious faces, at all of the youth still there, at all of the life in this room and for the first time since Glory allowed the thought that they just might not make it seep into his brain. How could they possibly stop a prophecy that they knew nothing about?