"Anyanka. Been back long?"
Xander jerked in shock. "Anyanka? What?"
The Buffy replied, "Anyanka has returned to us. Haven't you?"
"Yes. Xander hurt me very badly at the church. D'Hoffryn offered me my job back. First One, what brings you here? Is it as before?" Xander visibly paled and moved to stand behind Willow.
"Yes, but not as it should be. We came to see if you or Giles could help decipher this." Buffy placed the photocopies on a table near the back of the shop. Anya and Giles studied them for several minutes.
"This seems to be from the Ascendancy."
"Oh goody, more big snakes." Buffy started to pace. "Dawn..."
"I know, don't touch anything." Dawn sat and stared at the pages in front of Giles.
"No, the Ascendancy deals with the Stairs of Heaven, a mystic way to attain heaven itself without having to die first. Anya, could you help me with this? My understanding of Malshazurn is very poor. Buffy, could you not do that? It's making me nervous." Anya sat down next to Giles and began examining the text while Buffy sat and fidgeted nearby. Suddenly Giles looked up, "Good lord, Anya, look at this. Is this what I think it is?" Giles asked.
"Oh god, not that," Anya backed away.
"Guys, what?" Buffy asked, suddenly worried.
"The last section, it requires a vampire, a slayer, and the Key of Byzantium."
"And?"
"The the Key of Byzantium is another name for the Key, for Dawn." Giles whispered.
"No way. No way are those creeps getting my sister."
"No, no, of course not. Anya what else does it say? What would be the best way to stop this?"
Anya frowned as she went back to the text. "Something's not right here. This won't do what it claims."
"What do you mean?" Giles asked.
"It's wrong. The steps won't actually open the Door to Heaven. It'll open something, just not that." She peered closer, "Giles, do you recognize these marks?"
Giles bent down and looked closely. "They look like dirt on the copier to me."
"That's what I thought as well, but they're too similar, and they're around certain paragraphs. Do you know if there are any other copies of this?"
"I don't know. There is a bookseller I could contact. The council uses them quite often and they are very discrete."
"Wait a minute. All we have to do is keep Dawn and me away from them. Does this thing have a time limit or something? Or do I have to thump on them and take their book?"
"No, there isn't a time limit. You have to get the book away from them and keep them from getting another copy." Anya answered. "Giles, you should call that bookseller of yours."
"Guys, what about Buffy?" Dawn asked as Giles and Anya rambled off about lost books and rare volumes.
"Hm, um, yes, uh right." Giles stammered. "Anya, Willow, could you get the slayer chronicles? Willow, you, Xander, and Dawn could start there. You as well Buffy. I'll get a call in to the booksellers and tell them to call me straight away, regardless of time."
"Maybe I should go patrol or something. While you guys do that research thing..."
"He'll be here Buffy, just as soon as it gets dark." Dawn commented. Buffy turned red as Giles looked up.
"Whom will be here?"
"Dead boy junior." Xander spat.
"Spike?" Giles asked.
"Watcher." Spike spoke from the door. "Glad you could join us mate."
The rush hit even before she turned to him. Just his voice was enough. 'When did I turn into such a love struck girl?' she wondered as she turned and threw herself into his arms, oblivious to Giles stunned look. The term bitch in heat floated through her mind as she struggled not to rub herself against him. "Buffy, we've scandalized your friends," he said softly in her ear. 'Gods how I love the way he says my name,' she thought. "What's the matter with you wankers? Never seen love before?" he commented with a wicked grin. Everyone except Dawn studiously examined other places in the room. Dawn just flashed her a thumbs up and grinned.
"Umm, yes, well.." Giles began nonplussed. "Maybe we should get back to business then." Holding hands they joined Giles at the table. He struggled to bring his mind back to the books in front of him but it didn't work. "When...how long have you two been...oh good lord."
Spike just smirked at Buffy, forcing her to answer. "Since, well, umm, since I got back."
"Not long then." Giles pulled off his glasses and began polishing them on his shirt.
"Back from the dead. Not back from London. It's kinda a long story, which could wait till later? Right now there're two of us in here and we aren't getting very well..."
Anya giggled at Giles look. "What, you think this is the first time this has happened? Slayers and vampires have fallen in love before. Most of the time the council killed the slayer once they found out."
Giles paled, "They never mentioned that. Even with Angel..."
"I'm sure they don't tell you Watchers much. There was one time though where they got the vampire first. That's how I know. The slayer called me for vengeance." She paused at the shock, "The council always has its agenda, usually taking power away from the slayer and women in general, but the idea behind slayers is to maintain balance. D'Hoffryn was very clear about this to me. He told me as long as I did not disturb the balance very much the slayers would leave me alone."
"The lover that kills, the demon that loves, more balance..." Buffy mumbled.
"What was that pet?"
"Something I told Willow."
Anya beamed, "Exactly. That is the way it is. The First One and the Slayer join and often take a vampire lover. Buffy, I'm so happy for you, just please don't ask me for vengeance later, I like you both."
"Yes, of course." Giles stared at Buffy and Spike for long moments before turning back to the stack of books for comfort. "I know I've seen something on this..." He shook his head and mumbled as he pulled one from the middle of the stack. After several minutes of searching he continued, "Here it is. The current slayer was able to reach out to the spirit of the first through mediation and herbs. This trance allowed the slayer to temporarily gain the strengths of the first. Sounds like what we did with the magic before Adam. Still nothing on actually merging together though. I'm sure I have seen something on this in one of these chronicles." Giles returned to searching through the stack of books.
Half an hour later Willow looked up and said, "Here's something. In the third year of her slaying Marguerite was thrown against a wall of the tomb. As she lay there bloody and bruised a new force seemed to grow within her." Willow stopped reading for a few moments, then continued, "She become animalistic, her civility stripped away and she howled as a beast and rent the vampire with her very hands. Once the fight was over she spoke no more. In this state she remained until death took her at the hands of Narishtaloph."
"Guys, that's not encouraging. I'm still in here with her, remember?"
"I'm sure they do pet."
"Ah, yes, we'll keep looking." Giles commented. Half an hour later he looked up and said, "Well this seems rather more vague than I remembered, but here it is. 'So much has happened that I can't take it all in. The rebellion flared into life in the outer villages first. Sensing the unrest vampires flocked to the town, waiting to feast on the dying. Ming was everywhere, slaying as rapidly as she could. I gave her more of the strengthening draught than ever before and then it happened. Something older moved in with her. She alternated between herself and some new, wild being. As the days wore on a change was building in her. Word came of a nest of vampires living under one of the temples. Ming rushed to take them down as the battles raged through the streets. I was following close behind her when she ran into the building. There a vampire leapt out at her. Showing no fear he taunted and fought with her. They were a match with neither able to gain the upper hand. An explosion startled Ming and I heard her cry out then say, 'Tell my mother I'm sorry.' As I huddled in the shadows a second vampire, a woman, slithered up to the first and I heard him offer her slayer blood...what happened next I won't recount here."
"Bloody hell. I knew that bird."
"Was that the first one? The first slayer you..."
"Yes that was her." He winked at her and whispered softly, "Y'know pet, she didn't taste nearly as good as you."
She blushed deeply and hissed back through a smile, "Shut up sweetie."
"Well, that's not going to help us much. I could have sworn there was something more. Let's try farther back shall we?" Giles quickly looked away from Buffy and Spike where they sat curled up together on the couch.
Anya paused as she reached for the next book. "Giles, is there anything here that deals with the history of the council itself?"
"There should be Trevers Histories, it's the commonly accepted volume on the council, why?"
"I was in London in the mid fifteen hundreds for a particularly juicy bit of vengeance. My target was a member of the council and I remember something about book burning and taming of the slayers' powers. Something about removing certain inconvenient items from their training program."
Giles stood and searched through the shelves. "Here it is." He thumbed through the pages until he found what he wanted. "This might be it. During the Protestant Reformation the council began to grow into more than just a small support group for the Slayer. After this is when they began to collect and catalog sources of knowledge and began the more formalized training slayers receive now."
Buffy stirred on the couch and the First One spoke through her again, "The ritual. They no longer performed the Ritual of Acceptance with the slayers. For us to be whole this must be done, otherwise we shall fight and die." Spike pulled her closer to him.
"But the council does. It performs a right of passage when the slayer turns eighteen. It is a test of Watcher and Slayer. Remember Buffy, that was when I lost my position?"
"The Acceptance is performed when the slayer is called. The Slayer and the First One are bound together during this ritual. Otherwise the slayer remains only a shell of what she can be."
Willow raced back into the stacks rapidly scanning bindings until she pulled a small worn volume out. She carefully opened it back at the table and scanned through it. "Here, I remember seeing this when we were researching the mayor." She turned the book so Giles could see.
"The Ritual of Acceptance came down through the writings of Imhadri ibn Ishmael, most notably the Scroll of Isfahan. Herein is detailed the rituals and preparations of the slayer for the joining with those that have gone before her."
Willow beamed at everyone. "Now all we have to do is find a copy of the scroll, perform the ritual, and we are fine."
"Yes, I'm sure it will be that simple, really."
"Giles, was that sarcasm?" Buffy asked.
"No, of course not." Giles looked back at the couch briefly. "I just haven't slept. I'll call the bookseller, then I must get a hotel."
"Do you have to make the call from here? I try not to have long distance calls made from here. It's expensive." Anya asked worriedly.
"Giles, you can stay at my place and call from there too," Buffy added. "Willow or I will call if we figure anything out before my burger flipping tomorrow night."
"Buffy, I'd like to talk to you for a few minutes," Giles announced when they arrived back at her house.
"Sure. Spike, I'll be up in a few minutes. Dawn, bedtime. School tomorrow, remember?"
"Buffy, about you and Spike..."
"No, this is so not happening. It is not up for discussion. I know you can't condone or even understand, but I no longer will rule my private life based on what my friends expect."
"I was going to say that, yes. I was also going to say I understand. It's really obvious watching the two of you. I want you to follow your heart, but if he ever..."
"I know, if he ever hurts me you'll stake him. You'll have to stand in line."
