For Good or Bad, The Memories Remain.
Chapter 23
Disclaimer- I don't still own Buffy and crew, I just use them in my writing, just for fun, never for profit "Because that'd be wrong!"
Spoilers- mid 4th season then everything takes a left turn off the charted path
Rating- May get to R eventually
""Just a moment Mac, I better get that" The older gentleman behind the bar said as he shuffled over to the phone
Duncan continued to sip his beer. The afternoon was one of reflection and remembrance. They were drinking to a good friend of Joe's who was killed recently. He was a Watcher, a member of a group dedicated to documenting the lives and activities of Immortals, their struggles, their movements, activities and histories. Joe was responsible for most of the Watchers on the West Coast. He had been to a lot of funerals. It seems that most Immortals don't like people following them; poking their nose into private things, hence the reason the Watchers has tried to stay a secret organization. Duncan Macleod was one of the exceptions; he had discovered the Watchers and decided that it would be better to know who and what was tracking him rather than a strange face all the time. Joe didn't mind after a while. This way he got better insight to Duncan's history. Joe's friend disappeared while tracking a relatively old Immortal, reputed to be over four hundred years old. He had been found poured into a trash can, chopped into pieces no larger than a paperback book. Joe had taken his death pretty hard, he was one of the last from the class he had taught at the Watcher Academy. Students from his instructing year had shown extraordinary skill and knowledge; therefore they were given the harder and more dangerous assignments. Joe had told Duncan that there were now only three left out of the class. Thirty-eight other bright, brave and dedicated people had died, most in the line of duty. Duncan can understand the feeling that Joe was having; everyone you thought would be there whenever you called them next, or swung by to see them. They aren't there; you'll never see their smiling face again, except in your memories. He can remember far too many faces that he won't meet again in this life. He was broken out of his reverie by Joe's loud proclamations over the phone.
"What!!! She told you what? Look Joyce, I know you were set up wrong in this one. If I though there was a chance of her getting her memory back, I never would have authorized the mission. ......yes, I know what I told you, I'm sorry. You have to come in, you need to be fully briefed, and probably reassigned." Holds the phone away from his ear "I know but this one is too dangerous, I can't .......yes I know but............yes , I'll send you the files, but you are NOT to initiate any surveillance of the subject Period! Do you understand me? I know you can take care of yourself but I can't afford to loose you. I expect your report on the whole situation by the end of the week. You watch your ass! I'll see you soon." He stares at the receiver for a few moments before he hangs it up.
"Joe, is everything alright?"
"That was Joyce Summers, the one I told you that couldn't make the funeral. I set her up in a real shitty situation without her knowledge a few years back. Well it's come back to blow up in her face, and I'm afraid I may need the mourning clothes again real soon." He stares at the bar top and pours himself a fairly large tumbler of whiskey, swirls it as he stares at the bottom of the glass.
"Are you going to fill me in?"
"Yeah, I should. What do you know about vampires?"
"I know they do exist, and that they are pretty rare, but other than that , just a bunch of Bella Lagosi movies and such. Why"
"There are a lot more of them than you think. There's an entire section of the Watchers dedicated to the fight to keep the forces of evil at bay. One side doesn't know the other exists except at the highest levels. The Watcher Council that deals with these things is dedicated to research and assist a 'chosen one', a fighter dedicated to the task of fighting vampires, demons, and other evil. The chosen one receives several improvements to her physical abilities to enable her to be more effective in this fight."
"You said her? Is there only one? And it's a she?"
"Yes, there is one girl chosen to defend humanity from the forces of evil, the Slayer, and the power is passed from one girl to the next at the time of her death. The Watcher's Council tries to identify and train the girl in her endeavors. This has been going on from the dawn of time. "
"You said girl. How old are they?"
"Normally they are called between 11 and 15 years old."
"What! That's outrageous! Sending little girls out to fight demons, that's just murder!"
"We didn't build it that way, it's just the way the magic works and yeah, it is murder. The average Slayer has a life expectancy of 9 months to a year. No Slayer has ever lived past 25."
"That's horrible, but what does this have to do with you? You're on the Immortal side of the house."
"Well, about 900 A.D., a strange thing happened. A Vampire Slayer was mortally wounded in battle, seemed to die, but then she recovered. This was the first documented cross between the two special types of individuals, but not the last. About every two hundred to two hundred and fifty years since, a Slayer becomes an Immortal. There became a theory back in the early 20's that if we follow the cycle, and observe he Slayer, we could actually start our chronicle pre-Immortality and have deeper insight. Granted, we would have the Vampire Slayer Watcher Chronicle, but they focus on different aspects than we do." He paused, and drained half his glass. "I had just finished my final report on a particular sleazebag named Dalcros, when I was approached by a girl. She told me that she knew who I was, who I worked for, what I did, ect. She told me that she wanted to make a deal. She wanted to vanish, disappear, and break clean of her past. She wanted to redeem herself to society. She had two minor problems. One was she had done quite a few things that made a large number of enemies. Two was her past clouded her mind so much that she felt she was ineffective to return to Slaying. She had spoken to Cassandra about a method to blank her mind of all of her history, including her Immortality. She would be the equivalent of a normal fourteen year old girl called to Slayerdom. A second spell would nullify her on the Immortal radar. You could stand next to her and never feel a thing, but it worked both ways, she would never feel you. I agreed to help her on one condition, she would be provided a Watcher for both her cover and to document her to see if her evil and violent nature resurfaced proving predisposition or if she was able to redeem herself she would prove to herself she could. She truly felt she could do good, and wanted to try without the baggage to stop her. I hooked Joyce up with her, as a 'adopted mother' so she could be around her to observe and such. But I lied to Joyce, I had to since I needed Joyce to be completely objective and un colored by what she heard. I told her that she was a suspected Pre-Immortal and she needed to document everything. The only two who knew were Cassandra, whom I never met, and myself. I cleaned up the cross references form her file to the ID of the new girl, went to the appointed cabin Cassandra left the message about, found the girl asleep. When she woke up, she called me 'Uncle Joe' and talked about how much fun she had up here in the woods this weekend. Cassandra had manipulated the memories so all was well. For six years. Until now. Joyce just call to tell me that her charge confronted her and informed her to call me to get briefed. I have no idea this girl's state of mind. I have to go brief Joyce, I owe it to her to do it face to face. I have to get the info straight from her on how the girl is acting now as well. A very lethal girl. "
"Who is this walking nightmare? Do I know them Joe?
"You can't go with me Mac, that would be using me for targeting and I can't let you do that until after I know if she has truly repented. "
"Just tell me a name Joe."
"You would probably recognize her style. She patterned herself off of another Immortal. She would leave a Tarot card in the middle of her handy work. She would....."
"No! You can't be telling me you have been keeping THAT one in hiding. She was one of the most vicious little creatures to come across the pond"
"Yup, the 'Angel of Death' herself"
"What was her name?"
"Genny Dwyer is what she told me. But I have been going back through the Slayer records, and it appears she is seven hundred and some change. She started out as one of the most successful of the earlier Slayers, Elisabetha Dwyer. Usually referred to in the Watcher diaries as Genvieve, later as Genvieve the Invincible."
"How does someone like that go so wrong?"
"Well Mac, you've seen what maybe four or five demons in your four hundred years right?"
"Give or take, so?"
"As a fourteen year old girl, she would fight between two and ten of then a night, just to stay alive. After a while, that level of exposure to death and chaos tends to mess with you."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to go down there, and brief Joyce and try to talk to Genny, see how she is doing and find out where to go from there. You are staying behind. The last thing she needs to see is another Immortal on my coattails, looking like a hit squad. Besides you need to stay here incase Adam gets back anytime soon. When he does, tell him to call me. "
"How soon are you leaving?" the concerned tone in his voice quite evident.
"As soon as I can get to the airport."
"Be careful Joe."
"See you in a week or two." He said as he walked out of the club.
To Be Continued
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