Chapter 3
"Buffy," Joyce Summers called, "are you awake?"
Buffy rolled over and looked at her alarm clock. It was 8:30. What in the world can she want at 8:30 in the morning?
There was a knock on the door, "Buffy?"
"Yeah, mom, I'm up," Buffy called.
"Willow and Xander are here, honey," Joyce said from the other side of the door.
Buffy got out of bed, got dressed, and headed down stairs. Xander and Willow sat on the couch in the family room. "Morning Buffster," Xander called as soon as he saw Buffy coming down the stairs.
"What's with the early morning wake up call?" Buffy asked them.
Willow got up and gave him a hug, "Giles got his new book translated. He wants to meet with the Scoobies at the library."
"Hey, Mom, we're going to the library," Buffy called to her mother in the kitchen.
"Okay, dear, just be home for dinner."
"Sure, mom. Let's go guys."
¥©¥©¥©¥
"It's full of accounts of the gods touching the lives of and even walking amongst mortals." Giles laid the book open in front of them.
"The gods?" Willow asked, "Like Hecatate, and Jesus, and Allah."
"No," Giles flipped through the book and pointed out pictures, "The Olympians, like Aphrodite and Apollo, Hera and Zeus."
"Giles, the Olympians don't exist, they're myths." Buffy told him calmly.
"After almost three years on the hellmouth, how can you still believe that anything is just a myth?" Xander said, picking up the book and flipping though it. "Wow, who is that?" He put the book back on the table. There was a picture of a woman with long, golden blond hair, a revealing short tunic and a short bow.
"The caption says her name is Nemisis." Willow pointed to the name below the picture.
"Yeah, but who is she?"
Giles cleared his throat, "If the stories are to be believed, she is the Greek goddess of revenge, and she only showed herself right before she killed someone. They say also that she is a perfect shot; that she never misses."
"Well what is the point of being that hott if no one gets to see you?"
"Xander!" Willow cried exasperated.
"What? It's a valid question."
"Are we done here?" Buffy cut in.
"Excuse me?" Giles was thrown off by the question.
"Done? Here? Are we?" Giles gave her a skeptical look, "I just meant, is there anything else you needed to talk about, because if not..."
"You have someplace more important to be?" Giles asked.
"No, it's just..."
"She wants to go see Angel," Xander said.
"I see, well, we are done, so I do not see how I can keep you, but I doubt that I need to remind you that I do not approve of this in the least."
"Of course not, Giles," Buffy said picking up her things, "I understood that the first 20 times you told me."
¥©¥©¥©¥
"Angel," Buffy called as she walked through the door, "Angel." She walked though the hall and pushed past the curtain, "Are you here?" She was just about to climb the stairs to his room when she heard a noise in the kitchen. "Angel, are you in ther..." A young raven haired woman, dressed like the picture in the book, ran out of the kitchen, pushed past Buffy, and ran into the entrance hall, but when Buffy ran after her it was like she had just disappeared.
"Angel!" Buffy called frantically, "Where are you?" She ran into the kitchen. There was a pool of blood forming on the kitchen floor. As far as Buffy could tell, the source was one of Angel's blood packets. As Buffy got closer she could see that the packet had been punctured by a syringe. "Angel!" Buffy yelled at the top of her lungs. She bent down and dipped two fingers into the blood. She couldn't smell anything; she moved her fingers to her lips.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, it's been poisoned." Angel said from the kitchen doorway.
"Poisoned?" Buffy asked. "It doesn't smell like there garlic in it."
"Not garlic," Angel told her, "arsenic."
Buffy wiped her hands on her blue jeans. "Arsenic," Buffy said, "but why would you put arsenic in your... you didn't do it did you, it was that woman. Oh, Angel," Buffy hugged him, "I was so worried. I came in and there was a woman in ..., then she ..., and, Angel, she looked so much like the woman in... Oh, I've got to tell Giles." Buffy ran towards the door.
"Buffy, slow down. What are you talking about? What do you need to tell Giles?" Angel ran after her. Buffy stopped and turned to face him. "Okay, now, how about we sit down, and you can calmly tell me what in the world you are talking about."
"There was a woman in your kitchen."
"I know," Angel told her, "I can smell her."
"She looked like the woman in one of Giles's books. I think she was trying to kill you."
Angel gave a small chuckle. "She must have been a pretty poor assassin, Buffy, if she tried to poison me with arsenic. The most that would have done is leave a bad taste in my mouth, and maybe give me an upset stomach."
"The woman she looked like was Nemisis, Angel, the Greek goddess of revenge. That woman's whole job description is killing people, if she didn't know that poison won't kill you she'll find out soon enough, and then she'll be back."
Angel thought about this for a moment, finally he said, "Go, tell Giles."
"What are you going to do?" Buffy asked.
"Well, I have a kitchen to clean-up. And I need to make sure she didn't poison anything else, like your Diet Coke."
Buffy hadn't thought about that, she had been so worried about Angel, that she forgot that she could have been killed. She nodded, "I'll come see you tonight when we know something more."
¥©¥©¥©¥
"Are you sure?" Giles asked. He, Xander, Willow, Oz, and Buffy were sitting around the table in the library. "This is the woman you saw at Angel's?"
"Well, yeah. Except she was a brunette, not a blonde."
"Ancient goddesses are using hair dye now?" Xander asked.
"This doesn't make any senses." Willow said.
"You're right, why would a blonde want to become brunette? Don't blondes have more fun?"
"Xander! That's not what I was talking about!" Willow continued, "What I mean is, didn't you say that this goddess only reveals herself before she kills you. So, even if she was there to kill Angel, how did Buffy see her?"
"I don't rightly know," Giles admitted.
"What if she wasn't the goddess?" Oz put in. "What if she is one of her priestesses or something. You know with Nemisis's intentions but not her abilities. That would also explain the differences in physical appearance."
"Okay," Willow said, "so why would a priestess of Nemisis want to kill Angel."
"I'm thinking 100 years of mass murdering might be a decent reason for a woman devoted to justice." Xander couldn't believe how easily Willow forgot these things.
"Nemisis isn't devoted to justice, Xander," Giles said calmly, "she is devoted to revenge. And revenge is usually taken for a specific incident, not a series of unrelated events spanning 100 years."
"So how do we stop this priestess?" Willow asked.
"There in lies our problem. The priestess, who is mortal, presumably, should be easy enough to defeat, but Nemisis would just send another one."
"So we defeat Nemisis," Buffy broke in.
"Nemisis is a goddess," Willow explained, "she's immortal, you can't kill her."
"Well we'll worry about that when the time comes," Buffy said.
"And in the mean time," Giles said, "perhaps, Buffy should go and see if Angel has any clue what particular offense Nemisis is after him for."
"Can do," Buffy gave Giles a mock salute.
Willow suddenly remembered something important she needed to tell Buffy, "Buffy I have to talk to you, I'll walk with you for awhile." Willow followed Buffy out.
"So what's up, Will?" Buffy asked her best-friend.
"I was looking through the files on Miss Calendar's computer, and I think I found the spell we are looking for."
"That's great, Will. How long until it's ready to go."
"Well the spell is closely related to the restoration spell I performed on Angel last year, so, though it may be a little difficult, I think we should be able to manage it. There are just a few things I'm going to have to pick up from the Magic Box on my way home tonight. I say we'll be ready tomorrow afternoon."
"Great!" Buffy smiled largely, "My house or yours."
"Yours," Willow said after careful deliberation, "the spell is going to take a lot of room, and you have a bigger basement than me."
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow," Buffy hugged Willow excitedly, "Thanks again, Will."
¥©¥©¥©¥
