First line is a quote from The Face and the Mask by Robert Barr. Sorry about the lack of updates!
She crossed the river twice every day - once in the morning when the sun was shining, and again at night when the radiant lights along the river's bank glittered like jewels in a long necklace. There was a bridge some half a mile further up the road, but he had yet to see her bother with it.
There was something wonderfully picturesque about the whole thing, though the whole of Devon was damnably picturesque, and he was loath to spoil the picture she made. He had happened upon her quite by accident, and after watching her for a moment, taking in her bright cheeks, soft-looking hair, and cream colored dress, he decided to kill her. He was musing whether or not to make a game of it- to introduce himself before pushing her to the riverbank and covering her mouth with one hand as the other ripped her dress to pieces- when she stopped by the river and lifted her skirts up. He watched, bemused, as she removed leather slippers and fine stockings, tucking them under her arm. Then she hiked her skirt up to her knees and slipped into the river.
It was a small and shallow thing, little more than a stream this time of summer, and she crossed it quickly, making an agile little leap over the muddy strip by the edge of it. She shook out each delicate ankle on the grass, wiped her feet off with a handkerchief, and put on her stockings and shoes again. Then, folding the dirty piece of cloth twice, she place it in the bag she wore and set off again, as though all this were perfectly ordinary.
Angelus stepped behind a tree, eyeing the sunlight on his skin with amazement. When the Gem of Amara had found its way into his hands a year ago he had hardly believed his luck. Even after all this time moving safely in the sunlight, he couldn't quite grow used to the oddity of the whole thing.
When the girl was a little ways ahead he followed her, keeping a safe distance. Once or twice he almost fancied that she knew she was being followed. When they approached the manor home that he assumed to be her destination, he almost laughed. Rupert Giles, country squire and sorcerer of some power greeted her on the lawn. He watched them exchange pleasantries with real warmth behind the polite words. He didn't want to risk getting closer to the house, possibly risking some sort of magical detection, but he did wait for her to return back to her place of origin. He was forced to wait sometime, and seriously considered killing her again in his impatience. But then when she emerged from the country pile, the low sun striking her in such a way that she looked like some goddess of spring come to earth, he was so struck by the picture she made that he vowed not to ruin it unless he thought he could improve upon it.
She did not live far from where he first encountered her, in a respectable country home that the upper-middle classes affectionately called a 'cottage'. She was greeted by a woman that he assumed was her mother, and urged to hurry and change before her aunt came to dinner. Her name was Elizabeth, called Buffy. Angelus was determined to learn more.