For once that night, Spike didn't go completely dumb at what the girl was saying to him. Instead he came back with and instant, and very vehmenant "Oh hell no! No! There is absolutely no way I am getting involved with more bloody prophecies."
"Spike, calm down," said Wren, calmly, "this isn't a prophecy about you...It's about me."
Spike paused mid-tirade. "Oh. Right then. Sorry, it's just I've kinda had my fill of them this last year or so."
"Yeah, I get that. So you want me to explain or should I start moving to minimum safe distance?"
"No, sorry love, please, carry on."
"OK, so, prophecy right? How do I explain this clearly?" Wren paused and looked speculative for a moment, but Spike didn't press her to answer.
"The vampires, that night, in England, they kidnapped me because they'd found out from some dark magic bloke that I was a part of this prophecy. Y'see...it's...well..." For the first time that night, Wren found it difficult to make her words, and stumbled into a troubled silence. She took a deep breath, and started again.
"As you already know, I'm a slayer, right?" SPike nodded, and she continued. "Right, so, with slayers it's sometimes possible to tell that they have the potenial, that they're just waiting to be called. Well, that's what happened to me, trouble was, the cult found out about me before the Watchers Council did and staged by death."
"So the watchers came looking for you, but thought you were dead." Spike interupted
"I guess so. Chances are that they just never knew about me in the first place. Anyway, they took me in and raised me, as I've already said. They figured if they could train the slayer in the manner of a demon from a young enough age, they could have themselves a very powerful warrior when she was called, and the whole pesky morality thing wouldn't matter. Nurture over nature, sorta thing."
Spike nodded, but then his brow furrowed and he asked, "But how exactly did they know that they would get a slayer out of this? I mean, chances were that you'd just be another of the countless girls who weren't ever called, right?"
"Well, yes, that would be true. But you're forgetting, prophecy."
"Ah, yeah. Say no more. Or, rather, carry on."
"Yeah, see, here's where we get down to the real crux, nub and point of the matter. This prophecy said that there would be a girl, part slayer, but also part...something else, that would become stronger than any fighter before her. A great destroyer, a bringer of death, destruction and untold horror. And that's me."
Wren paused and watched what she said sink in to Spike's head. His blank expression broke into a disbelieveing smile and she frowned at his response.
"No way, I mean, no offense love, but you're hardly the most fearsome person I've met. I mean, even Angel's scarier than you...again, no offense."
"Yeah, that's what they all say," Wren said in a dejected tone, before grinning evilly and adding "right up until I throw them through the nearest wall."
Spike raised his eyebrows at this, and his mind replayed the events of the night. It seemed hours ago since he had watched the fight in the alley, and after spending time with Wren he had completely forgotten that she had been the one who had taken on over twenty demons on her own with absolutely no difficulty. He blinked and looked at Wren with an expression of mixed puzzlement, fear and awe.
"Yeah, that was you wasn't it...I mean, you did that."
"Yes I did, and believe me, that was nothing," said Wren, knowing exactly what he was talking about.
"So," she continued, "I guess that's still not really the whole story. The propecy had more to it than a simple promise...there was a ritual...a binding of two spirits, resulting in the creation of..."
"You," Spike finsished. "So what exactly was this ritual?"
Wren's eyes began to lose focus, as if reading something only she could see, and when she spoke her voice was distant and hesitant.
"The Chosen One shall be called when the Mouth of Hell is destroyed in the Valley of the Sun. She shall be merged with her enemy and will rise again to live as Darkness and Light combined to bring Death to the World."
"The Mouth of Hell..." Spike repeated, "But that means...you were called when Red did the whole Slayer mojo thing! That's how they knew they would get a slayer from a potential!"
"Pretty much," Wren said, rather more quietly than she had been before.
"But, Darkness and Light...merged with her enemy? What does that-" Spike broke off mid sentence, his eyes going wide in realisation. "But, that must mean that you're..."
"Yeah," said Wren, taking another breath before continuing, "I'm a Vampire."