Time Explains Us by Erykah Miszti

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Chapter Five: Time Me

The nebulous masses of energy didn't like to leave anything to chance..

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Buffy sat alone in the study watching the logs pop and spark on the fire. A sound behind her alerted her and she turned to see Mortimer walk in through the door, closing it softly again behind him.

"How is he?" Buffy asked, no other thought in her head.

Mortimer sighed and raked a hand through his light brown hair, disheveling it wildly.

"I gave him a sleeping draught." He replied. "So at least one of us will get a good nights sleep."

He crossed to the chair opposite her and sat down, immediately pinning her with a direct look.

"Are you ready tell me the truth now, Miss Elizabeth?"

"Now wait a second here! I want some answers first." Buffy shot back as she sat forward to look at him just as directly. "You tell wild stories about demons. You've got all the right books. You know who the Watcher's Council are. You recognised Angelus by his freaky nickname. Who are YOU?" She paused. "Are you a Watcher?"

He sighed again and slumped back into the dark leather chair.

"Yes." He said simply.

Buffy inhaled sharply.

"And William doesn't know that?" Her mind was whirling madly on the possibilities.

"No, he does not." Mortimer answered her. "My brother - William's father - did not want William to be involved with the Council. He felt that his son was too 'delicate' to survive in the real world of demons and horrors."

"But you don't agree?" Buffy caught on quick and Mortimer smiled at her.

"No, I do not as it happens. William's a bright boy. Much tougher than his father gives him credit for." He laughed bitterly. "It never occurred to Warren that William is a poet in a world full of barbarians. He's a dreamer but that is no crime. He has survived the jibes and insults of his peers for many years now. I am extraordinarily proud of my nephew, actually. He's almost too good for to be a Watcher."

"Too good?" Buffy frowned.

"He believes in beauty and life." Mortimer explained. "While the Council sees only darkness, horror and death." He paused. "Who are you really? Why is any of this your affair?"

Buffy took a deep breath and told him.

"I'm the Slayer." She said softly.

"Impossible." Mortimer stated with a grin. "I've met the Slayer. She's most certainly NOT a brash American."

"Hey! Watch with the brash!" Buffy replied indignantly but then sobered. "You're right." She swallowed the lump in her throat and adopted the most composed and serious expression she could muster. "I'm from the future." Buffy winced at exactly how stupid that sounded.

Mortimer opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. Confusion and suspicion raced across his face before he schooled it away.

"Pray continue." He said when she didn't say any more.

"You believe me?!" She exclaimed with a disbelieving look.

"Miss Elizabeth, if that is your name.."

"I prefer Buffy." She cut in.

"Miss Buffy, I have seen too many strange occurrences in my life to dismiss your statement without hearing your story." He smiled. "I enjoy stories and, if nothing else, I have a feeling that yours may be well worth hearing."

She frowned a lot more but then shrugged.

"Okay then." She paused, trying to think where to start. "There was this Hellgod."

She looked at him to see what he made of that but his face was curiously blank so she carried on.

"She was trapped in our dimension and wanted to get back home to her own. For that she needed the Key. Some monks sent the key to me because I'm the Slayer. They used magicks to change it into something else and they made it out of me."

Her words faltered as she thought of Dawn but she forced herself to continue.

"I was supposed to stop the Hellgod from opening the gate because it would, like, break down all the gates between dimensions." She paused. "I failed."

Mortimer's face had gone very pale.

"The Hellgod managed to get the Key and opened her portal. Which was bad."

"You needed to use up the energy of the Key to close the gate." Mortimer said almost absently, deep in thought.

"I didn't use the Key." Buffy replied. "But I closed it. At least, I hope I did." She licked her lips. "I jumped into the portal." She scrunched up her face and looked around. "And then poof, here I am.. freaky Victoriana World.. only it's not another dimension, I don't think. It's the past. Really really the past."

Mortimer jumped to his feet and there was silence for a long time. Buffy nervously twiddled with the stem of her glass. She stared at his turned back.

"If you hadn't have saved my nephew… would he be dead or would he be a vampire?" Mortimer said at last, without turning around.

Buffy was startled by the question. Not what she'd been expecting at all. She stuttered and he spun back to face her.

"How far into the future was this?" He changed tack again.

"The year? 2001." Buffy replied.

"2001?!" He exclaimed and laughed out loud.

"Er.. are you okay?" Buffy asked in concern. "I didn't think it was a funny story.."

"No, it's not that.. It's just.." He sobered himself and sat down heavily into his chair. "You didn't answer my question about William. Does he get turned?"

"He knows nothing about Slayers?" Buffy tried to change the subject.

"He knows nothing about any demons beyond fairytale monsters." The gaze was penetrating. "You know him, don't you, from this future of yours?"

Buffy stared back for a endless moment.

"Yes." It was barely a whisper. "He's a vampire."

Mortimer sank even further into his chair, his face twisting into a mask of pain. He had suspected but had secretly hoped that she would not confirm it.

"No! Not William." He let his head fall back and closed his eyes. "Of all the people.. why him to become a soulless demon?! An evil creature of the night!!"

Buffy watched horrified as the previously strong-seeming man crumbled in front of her eyes. Plus he was just heading for cheap melodrama now, which was not pretty.

"Tell me, Miss Buffy.." Mortimer stated without opening his eyes. "Tell me what he will do between now and then.. tell me everything you know.."

Buffy grimaced. He really wanted the truth? Oh well, what did it matter now anyway. He wasn't going to be a vampire..

"Um.. well, there's the general killing to feed.. perhaps.. er.. some torture.. and.. er.. He.. um.. sort of.. killed two Slayers.." She stuttered uncomfortably.

Mortimer sat bolt upright with his eyes wide in horror.

"Two Slayers?" He gasped. Buffy nodded.

"And.. er.. tried to kill me a few times…" She continued warily. This all felt very wrong. Bad things to be saying. It seemed disloyal in some strange way.

"Did you slay him?" He demanded hoarsely. "Remove the foul creature polluting my nephew's body from this Earth?"

"Well.. no.. not exactly…" Buffy shifted around and avoided looking at him. "But.." She began. "He's not like that anymore." She offered weakly.

"Miss Buffy, vampire's cannot change.. they are soulless.. evil.." Mortimer insisted even though it obviously hurt - a lot - to say it.

"I know.." She said, confused and pained. "But Spike.. it's really hard to explain.. he got this thing put into his brain that stops him from hurting humans.. this chip.. um.. a sort of scientific thing that I don't really understand exactly.. but it makes him harmless.. he's good now.. well, he's not really good.. but he promised to protect my sister from the Hellgod and I know he'll do it because.." She tailed off. (because he loves me).

"You trusted him with your sister's life?!!" Mortimer didn't notice her abrupt ending.. he was too horrified.

"He's.." Buffy paused, then looked Mortimer in the eye. "Yes, I trusted - I trust - him."

Before Mortimer could say any more there was a knock at the door. The older man composed himself and went to the door.. too smart to issue invitations without checking who's there. Buffy didn't know that the room was protected by incantations that separated it from the house. Vampires could be invited into the house and still not access this room without a specific invite. Mortimer had books that he really didn't want vampires to get their hands on.

Mortimer's hand on the doorknob was shaky. On the threshold stood his valet, Anthony, looking in a terrible state. His eyes were red and his face ashen.

"Master.." The obviously distressed man began.

Buffy, worried by his tone, stood up to watch him and he looked warily at her, as if he didn't want to say anything with her in the room.

"It's alright, man. She knows what we do." Mortimer told him reassuringly, with a sickening dread barely concealed in his tone. "Spit it out."

"Master, it's your brother and his wife." Anthony gulped. "They've been murdered."

"Where were they found?" Buffy demanded hastily. "Somewhere on the road..?" She turned to Mortimer. "Thieves perhaps.. not necessarily Ange.."

"No, miss." The valet cut in, swallowing hard. "They were found outside their home, here in town." His wary eyes darted back to Mortimer, his pallor whitening even more. "With significant blood lost and unaccounted for.." He choked on the next words. "..and in quite a number of maliciously arranged pieces.."